Jgarner

I have an 8.6 index right now and it has dropped 3 strokes a year for the past 2 years. With that being said , my game only improved when I learned to manage my ocd. I had to stop wearing a watch for several years because I would obsess over time. I stopped using a range finder because I obsessed over exact distances. I stopped putting a line on my ball because I would obsess over putt alignment ( I would Remark my ball several times before putting) Since I stopped doing these things my game got much better and my enjoyment and passion for the game increased. So in the end I would say that a little ' controllable ocd' might be good for the practice range, in a real game it is crippling.

Lots of good info.....thanks. Where do you get the EAS shakes?

I have noticed that I run out of energy and focus somewhere in the last 9 holes of a round and I am sure that it is because I don't really eat much during a round. (Or at least not the right things) I have also noticed that in my afternoon league I am very inconsistent (mentally and physically) probably due to the fact that it is 4 hours after I have eaten lunch but before dinner. I am looking for suggestions on how to manage my diet both before and during a competitive round in order to maintain an even keel throughout. Any tried and true methods out there?

I also noticed somewhere in the Rules on Amateur Status where it states that it does not matter if the competition takes place on the course, on the putting green or on the driving range. So I guess that covers just about any type of game that you use a golf club and a golf ball whether its played under the rules of golf or not.

This may sound like a silly question but does it make a difference that a 4 man scramble isn't really a game of golf (i.e. played under the rules of golf) and is really just a gambling event? As with the previous poster, I have to wonder who would really be willing to put money into an event where there will be cheating everywhere.

I find this discussion very interesting as it is very relevant to the desert golf courses we play here in Arizona. I understand that you should just not post your scores when not played under the rules of golf, but what do you do if the committee or tournament club posts the scores? Many courses here will list the "desert rule" right on the scorecards as will many (but not all) of the tournament rules sheet. What is a person to do in those situations? I never play 'desert rules' in my casual rounds but I am certainly not giving away strokes in a tournament where everyone else is taking them and since I am not the one posting those scores, what is my responsibility then. I tried to get a bogus posted score changed once that was posted from the City of Phoenix amateur tournament this year and it turned into an act of god, and in the end did not get changed. (They did not apply esc to my score) At the end of the day it does not effect my index, but trying to do the right thing took alot of time and got me nowhere. On a side note: the 'desert rule' states the boundary as where the grass line ends. That seems like a definable area no? Not that I advocate the desert rule because I don't. When my handicap was 5 or 6 strokes higher it was a godsend though and I do think it speeds up play and makes the game more enjoyable if you are spraying the ball around. John