Pete

A small group of members at our club get together on a Wednesday evening from spring to autumn (fall). We play different formats depending on the number of players who turn up, typically: 3 players - split sixes 4 - better ball match play 5 - individual stableford 6 - 2 teams of 3, 1 or 2 scores to count stableford 7 - individual stableford 8 - 2 teams of 4, 2 scores to count stableford I think 8 is the most we have ever had. We would like to have an order or merit running and crown a winner for the best individual player throughout the season, but I can't think of an obvious way to do this due to the changing number of players per week, and the different number of events that each player will play in total. We could just always record individual scores even when playing team games, but ideally we would somehow award individual points for winning regardless of team or individual format. Also, I want to make sure that winning a 7 man individual stableford is rewarded as being much harder than winning a 2 x 4 man team stableford. Do any of you guys run anything similarly informal and/or do you have any ideas of what we can do?

Yep, weight definitely forward. When the ground is that wet, which is every time I play at the moment in UK, I'm concentrating on having my hands in front of the ball at impact. Go 'niners! "BLUDGEON!"

Could be an amazing masters with Scott coming in hot, Rory starting to fire, Speith coming back after breaking records last year, Bubba contending most weeks and Mickleson looking strong. Throw in Ricky Fowler and maybe (hopefully) Justin Rose and it could be one to remember for a long time. I think Bubba or Phil will win again. I just think they suit the course so well. The course gives them a big advantage.

PING is going to help me be more consistent with the new G Driver and Crossover! 1) Justin Rose -12 2) Branden Grace - 13 3) Marc Leishman - 14

G30 LS Tec driver. Mizuno MP-63 irons

@Fourputt I'm with you mate.

To me they are both things you can do that are within the rules, that are against the spirit of the game. I guess we have a different idea of what the spirit of the game is. I think I'm in the minority.

Guys c'mon.... I understand that it is within the rules to search against his wishes, but so is not reminding your opponent that he moved his ball out of your putting line on the green before he replaces it, and calling a penalty on him for it. Seriously not cool. This is NOT how golf should be played. Would you NOT search for his ball if he hadn't hit a provisional because his first ball is probably in a decent spot but he might not find it on his own within 5 minutes (for arguments sake it is hit into a large area of rough that has a decent chance of a shot to the green, but it's large enough that one person searching alone dramatically decreases the chances of finding it)?

I'm pretty much spot on 1 in 3 so only just in the 30 to 44.9 range. My home course bunkers aren't that difficult though (not very deep) so I'm probably not as good out of bunkers generally as this stat would have me believe.

This makes sense to me. I-like-it-a-lot.

The best I've done is started with 3 birdies... which was pretty nice.

When you go to the practice range, place a golf towel on the practice green at different spots and practice chipping so the ball lands on the towel. This drill really worked for me. Much better chip shots out on the course.

I do this a lot. After every round I pick out exactly the shots that I threw away or the bad luck that cost me. A three putt, 4 to get down from 130 yards or three off the tee. The reason I think is because when we hole a 30 foot putt, that is what we were trying to do. When we slice our opening tee shot out of bounds, it is not what we are trying to do. So we are always working backwards from what we are trying to do (perfection).

Given one week, the easiest must be course management. In one week you can learn to aim at safe targets given your likely misses. Cutting out OOB, bunkers and water hazards etc. No new mechanics required, purely decision making. You can learn better decision making in a week.

For me, the 18 hole score is the main reason I play golf. I'm always trying to achieve the lowest score possible. My final total tells me how well I played. Anything else is just practice but done on a golf course.

Draw with the driver. Second favourite is fade with the driver.

I think a lot of the first tee nerves is simply because you have no recent memories of hitting shots. Every shot after that, you have some very recent history to reassure you. Praciticing on a driving range immediately before you tee off should help you to feel more trusting about the result of your first tee shot.

Pre-shot routine. Try to become automatic about your pre-shot routine. If you can focus purely on that one shot, and go though the same motions of making a decision, lining up, address, waggle, whatever, then your results will become much more consistent. Just for that short moment in time, you are not concerned with what you want to score on that whole, what mistakes have been made, what your overall score is etc. Just be that stupid monkey for that 30 seconds each shot. If you commit to doing that each shot, for an entire round, then you should notice that although you will of course hit some bad shots, they will not be grouped together like they are now, and less overall.

Imagine how much more accurate you would have to be, to outweigh hitting a 9 iron instead of a 5 iron into the green? I think my 20+ handicap old man is more accurate with a 9 iron than I am with my 5 iron. I'm sure iacas could work out how much more accurate you would need to be to negate the 10% distance gain.

I've won a number of club competitions (is this what you guys call a tournament?). The best being a stroke play comp last summer with 140 guys in the field? My best golfing achievement to date. I've had only a handful of eagles. Less than one per year.

Had my first only a month ago between Xmas and new year. Par 3 where the green slopes back to front so we saw it pitch on the front of the green and roll all the way in, which was nice. 205 yards with a 4 iron. Nice way to get my first one. But I a calculated that it was roughly my 2000th attempt on a par 3 since I started playing so I guess it was going to happen one day.

I broke par twice last summer and had my first hole in 1 on 30 Dec! I also own and have read LSW. In fact I read LSW last winter so perhaps this contributed to breaking par and hole in one?

I agree. In the UK, our handicap is based on tournament scores ONLY. I play plenty of rounds on my own, and plenty with others not in a competition. We still keep score, but it doesn't change my handicap. It puts pressure on the tournament rounds but more importantly, it means you can rely on the handicaps of competitors because you know the scores used to determine their index, were under full rules of golf, scored and signed by another competitor. I would not enter a tournament if the other players handicaps were self assessed. No chance. It would make more sense for the USGA to have just added a 'tournament handicap' option so you can all keep your own self assessed handicaps so you have an index that reflects your general golfing ability, but those who want to play in tournaments, use their tournament handicap which reflects your ability to score under the full rules of golf and you can rely on all competitors' tournament handicaps being accurate too. I realise that your system reflects your current general playing ability more accurately than ours. Ours reflects your playing ability in tournaments more accurately but not necessarily your general ability at that time. My handicap based on the average of the 10 best scores from my last 20 rounds (USGA styles) would be 2 to 3. In the summer, it would have been close to 0. My handicap is 5.

Go under par gross in a club competition. Only done this out of comps so far and one round level gross in a comp.

I think solving issue no 1 will also solve issue no 2. It sounds obvious. but the more you play, even just by yourself, but holing out every time and recording your score, the more confidence you will gain. Smashing range balls all day is great fun, and getting in the groove of bombing your driver out the end of the range is impressive for the newcomers to the game to watch. But it isn't teaching you the actual game of golf. Just the swing mechanics. I'm not saying that isn't important but it sounds like you already have the mechanics to get your handicap down. But to overcome the mental side when playing, then you have to get used to playing. I try to play as many 18 hole rounds of golf, with a single ball, counting every shot just as in a competition, as often as I can. It gets you familiar and comfortable with the game of golf. When you start notching up consecutive 18 hole scores in low 80s/high 70s, doing it on competitions will become less daunting and your handicap will come down.