Does anyone keep two scores, "coulda" and "did"?

[millsan1]

Great responses, thank you.

To be clear, I do not count the "coulda" rounds for my score.  I count my first ball, all bad shots, OOB, 4 putts, etc.  The "coulda" is just for brain training.  The only place the "coulda" round exists is in my mind. 

I am not one to delude myself.  My rounds should be in the mid 90s right now, and most are.  I put up a stinker here and there and those stinkers get recorded.  I also put up a 90 or better here or there, and those get recorded.  I know there are players out there who live and die by how low their handicap is, but unless you can prove that handicap out on the course, you are fooling yourself and you look bad.

I personally am proud of my 23.5.  I was 35+ 3 months ago.  Most of my playing partners and league players think my handicap is too high, but as my scores show, it is right where it should be.  There are days and holes where I look like the man, and there are days and holes that look like I am a monkey with brain damage.

This concept is not intended to make me feel better, rather to assure myself that I can hit the shot I intended.  It is purely a mental health thing.  Positive reinforcement kind of idea.  I am not deluding myself or doing it to feel good.  It is to set my own goals and ensure my brain knows these shots can and should be made.

My score is the score I shoot with my duffs, OOB, 4 putts etc.  The "coulda" is my personal goal.  At this point, I wouldn't be a scratch golfer if every single shot I hit was perfect.  I do not have the length nor course management skills for that yet.

 

22 hours ago, allenc said:

Sorry to break it to you, but just because you shoot some score with a bunch of mulligans does not mean you “coulda” shot that.  We are all better than scratch if we get do overs on our bad ones.

YOu bring up a fair point.  The rehits aren't to for the score, per se, they are for the brain training on the shots.  Trying to ingrain in my head "if you have a 125 yard shot, that is your 9 iron", rather than "the last time you hit a 125 with your 9 iron, you duffed it.  Don't duff, don't duff....duff"

[Yukari]

I don't see the point of "coulda" score.  Seriously.  That just makes no sense.  You are fooling yourself if you think you could actually score the "coulda" score.  If you can, then you would have.

[LeftyWhiff]

I remember an episode of Haney's show on the Golf Channel with Michael Phelps, the swimmer. He made Phelps shoot 2 ball and kept score with the best shots to show Phelps what his potential was. He was using it as a motivator.

I've played 9-hole practice rounds this season where I would hit 2-balls in at some point, just to compare results. Sometimes on duffs, sometimes when I couldn't decide which shot to take, like Bump and runs vs. high wedge shots and the like. I kept the score on the 1st ball, but it didn't make much difference. It's a decent way to practice IMO. 

[millsan1]

48 minutes ago, Yukari said:

I don't see the point of "coulda" score.  Seriously.  That just makes no sense.  You are fooling yourself if you think you could actually score the "coulda" score.  If you can, then you would have.

The point, for me, is to give myself a goal.  If I shoot a 95, but coulda shot a 90, then that means I should be aiming for that 90.

But again, the score is not the real goal in this exercise.  The goal is to reinforce, in my mind, that I can hit that particular shot well.

It's like when my grandmother passed.  I did not go to the funeral.  My last memory of my gram is her laughing and being the wise ass she was.  Had I gone to the funeral, my last memory would be her body sitting in a box.

[Patch]

I suppose if one were to keep a "coulda" score, they could look back on specific misses. Maybe they could have thought that if they had practiced more on that specific, or similar missed shot, they "could" made it. 

Maybe keeping a second score is the wrong way to go about it. Perhaps just listing missed shots that should have been made, for future practices is a better way to go about it. 

[iacas]

3 hours ago, LeftyWhiff said:

I remember an episode of Haney's show on the Golf Channel with Michael Phelps, the swimmer. He made Phelps shoot 2 ball and kept score with the best shots to show Phelps what his potential was. He was using it as a motivator.

I don’t really feel that’s a great motivator. I can shoot 62 in a one-man-two-ball scramble. Doesn’t mean that’s actually my potential. It means I can learn from the first shot and have two to choose from every time.

[Golfingdad]

Like others have said ... I sometimes go over a "coulda" score in my head after the round.  Last Saturday I played somewhat OK, but made 3 dumb mistakes that cost me 5 strokes, so I just think "dang, that 77 was not all that far from a 72" and hopefully I learn from those for next time.

[GolfLug]

The coulda score would be a perfect bait for a post in the 'con yourself' thread at some later date..  .  

 

[billchao]

12 hours ago, iacas said:

This sounds like a great way to depress yourself.

This is how I feel at the end of every round when I count up my score and the number of penalties I took.

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, millsan1 said:

Great responses, thank you.

To be clear, I do not count the "coulda" rounds for my score.  I count my first ball, all bad shots, OOB, 4 putts, etc.  The "coulda" is just for brain training.  The only place the "coulda" round exists is in my mind. 

Not wanting to make what you are doing sound even worse, but hitting more than one ball could be deemed as practice during a round which carries penalty.

That round can’t be used for handicap purposes if you don’t have at least 13 holes where you hit and score properly then take either ESC or your expected score on all other holes.