Are you content with your golf game?

[HardcoreLooper]

No.

 

I've gotten my handicap down to my target for the year, and now I'm looking to see if I can get lower.

 

But...

 

I have to admit, my game isn't the most important one in the household. So practice sessions usually consist of me hitting a ball or two, then watching the girls practice what their pro is working on with them for about 10 minutes, then hit another couple of balls, lather, rinse repeat. But I wouldn't change it for anything.

[Mr. 82]

I think I was fine with my 7 handicap game until I played in this fourball tournament this past weekend. Witnessing two +2 handicaps in person on every shot just depressed the hell out of me. Here I am seeing two guys hit flawless shot after flawless shot, hitting every green, and every fairway, and dropping putts from all over the place for birdies just made me look on my game and exposed about 10,000 flaws I knew were there but I was blissfully ignorant about how bad it actually is.

 

I mean, I guess my only respite from this is that even with these guys at +2, they rarely win amateur events that they enter, and the competition at their level is almost more fierce then any tournament I could ever hope to enter or win.

 

I guess I say this to say that it's all a matter of perspective. As with anything else in life, golf is all relative as to contentment. Did you marry someone that looks like Rachel McAdams or Kate Beckinsale, or did you settle for what is currently occupying your bedroom? Did you get the dream job making at least 6 figures a year, or are you scratching out a living and thrilled when you have enough money to pay all your bills this month, and that next month will be another story?

 

Back to golf. I've been playing for over 40 years off and on, and when I get into a groove I can sniff par on the course. But I've spent the past couple of months hovering right around 80 strokes a round, not just on average, but pretty much as a score every time. For some of you this will sound like spoiled complaining, but with golf when you get to a certain level of skill, and then you regress to a higher scoring average overnight you wonder what changed to make you suck so bad again, relatively speaking.

 

I guess the hardest part with golf is that you can spend a ton of time practicing and putting in the work to try and get better, but even if you devoted 24/7 to the game you chances of improving much are slim. So your ROI is extremely small, which is why I think you get to the point where you say screw it and stop trying.

 

Basically it's about goals in this game. Set realistic goals and see what happens with them. Or do like Chevy Chase in Caddyshack, play alone, and don't keep score, and measure yourself like he does against other golfers, "by height."

 

"Don't sell yourself short, Judge; you're a tremendous slouch."

 

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[HardcoreLooper]

Back to golf. I've been playing for over 40 years off and on, and when I get into a groove I can sniff par on the course. But I've spent the past couple of months hovering right around 80 strokes a round, not just on average, but pretty much as a score every time. For some of you this will sound like spoiled complaining, but with golf when you get to a certain level of skill, and then you regress to a higher scoring average overnight you wonder what changed to make you suck so bad again, relatively speaking.

Watching your handicap go north is the most frustrating thing there is. Some of my fondest memories in golf were as a young teen when I started working at a club and playing quite a bit, and I just started getting better and better. To see my index go up now is just galling.

[Bonks]

I'm not sure I'll ever be completely content with my golf game. I know I have a lot of work still but I want to get better. I usually take lessons in the winter to work on things I need with the pro I work with. My goal for next year is to consistently shoot in the 70's and then it'll be another goal. So, I'm somewhat content for the moment but not completely content.

 

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[tony@CIC]

Nope! I continue to make improvements but not as fast as I'd like.

 

 

 

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[fixyurdivot]

Nope! I continue to make improvements but not as fast as I'd like.

 

 

 

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Yeah, I get that and it seems consistent with most replies here.  I think where I'm trying to go with the question (and perhaps did not state correctly) is at what point the quest for a better game starts to detract from the pure joy of playing.  That's what happened to me at a couple of junctures over my now 5 decades of golf. It seems that most will simply reach a plateau in lowering their handicap beyond a certain point - and further improvement becomes asymptotic.  Don't get me wrong, I still like to practice on aspects of my game, but I've just come to accept that any significant shift in scoring is unlikely and no longer allow that to drive me to a point of frustration.

[MDGolfHacker]

Try to be. I was as low as an 8 when I played frequently but after a long break I'm about a 14 ish. I'm never content but have no time to practice which makes the game more frustrating than ever.

 

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Sounds like my game right now, LOL.

 

MDGolfHacker

[MDGolfHacker]

Am I content with my game ?  No, we're golfers - we are never content with all aspects with our game .  As with others, I was driven when I first started golfing.  Read every magazine, online article, listened to every opinion, practiced a bazillion hours a week, and played as much as I could.  Got down to a 7.8 index, but even that wasn't good enough.  Practiced more, played more and the scores started going up WTH ?  Scores are not supposed to  do that when you put more time into golf right!?  LOL...then my kids came, practice time dried up, and play was limited to a few times a year and annual charity tournaments I always played...and scores kept on going up.  Today, the kids are older, I still don't get to practice as much as I used to and I do play a league once a week.  Scores have remained consistent and are dropping a little at a time.

 

What I take away from this is that I can probably still get down to a single digit handicap putting in just a little more time for golf, but am I willing to sacrifice the time I have to spend with my kids or wife ? The answer is No.  They are growing up way to quick and I don't want to miss a single moment of it.  So I accept that I am where I am for now until I retire and devote more time for golf.  I also use to chase the dream of dropping strokes by buying every club under the sun too, but even that has waned for me as I'll 2 college tuitions to pay for in a few years.

 

MDGolfHacker

[Kenny B]

I guess my idea of contentment is to not get upset when I mishit or make poor decisions.  Getting mad because I screwed up is not an option anymore.  No need to keep score either.

 

I'm not there, and honestly don't think I ever will be.  To me, that would be something other than the game of golf.

[Kanoito]

Never! I know I still have a lot room for improvement.

[HardcoreLooper]

Yeah, I get that and it seems consistent with most replies here.  I think where I'm trying to go with the question (and perhaps did not state correctly) is at what point the quest for a better game starts to detract from the pure joy of playing.  That's what happened to me at a couple of junctures over my now 5 decades of golf. It seems that most will simply reach a plateau in lowering their handicap beyond a certain point - and further improvement becomes asymptotic.  Don't get me wrong, I still like to practice on aspects of my game, but I've just come to accept that any significant shift in scoring is unlikely and no longer allow that to drive me to a point of frustration.

This I definitely agree with.

 

I had to mature quite a bit to get to where I could enjoy playing "bad" golf. Once I had a real job and lots of other time commitments, playing golf became enjoyable no matter what I shot. And now that my girls play, just getting to spend several hours with them makes me the luckiest guy on earth. I'll still get mad after a bad shot, but once the club is back in the bag, I'm over it.

[GB13]

This I definitely agree with.

 

I had to mature quite a bit to get to where I could enjoy playing "bad" golf. Once I had a real job and lots of other time commitments, playing golf became enjoyable no matter what I shot. And now that my girls play, just getting to spend several hours with them makes me the luckiest guy on earth. I'll still get mad after a bad shot, but once the club is back in the bag, I'm over it.

I had to make that agreement with myself. I used to get really mad on the golf course but all it served to do was make the round miserable.

I had to promise myself that while I can be upset after a bad shot, it can't continue after the club goes back in the bag. It has made golf more enjoyable and actually lowered my scores quite a bit.

[LeftyHawk]

I can certainly understand where you're coming from. As for me, I started back in college, left handed clubs were scarce to say the least and used ones even worst. Managed to find a set and began hacking away learning on my own. Now at 58 I'm getting things figured out, Reading books by Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, and Jack to name a few really helped me figure things out. My goal is to shot my age by 60. And I WILL make it one way or another. The modern equipment really helps not like what I started with back I the 70's...

 

Chris

[fixyurdivot]

Having shot a 76 a month ago while still in MT, and now having shot several rounds where eliminating a brain fart hole would have yielded another sub 80 score, I'm kind of getting a hankering to mettle around with the game.  My inner-self is saying NO... just play and don't go getting all serious about it.  You've been down that road before and the results were not good.   

[fixyurdivot]

So I've decided no lessons, just time working on my 8i bump and run chips and putting.  I'm simply not snugging up chips close enough.  The rounds I score really well are when that part of the game is working.  I'm doing pretty well with lag putts but not as well with the chips.  It's more a lack of consistency.  What I have started doing is taking a closer look at chips as if they were putts - like how they will roll out and adjusting alignment accordingly.  Need to get inside that "3 foot radius" more often than not.

[PlaidJacket]

On 12/4/2018 at 9:04 AM, fixyurdivot said:

Having shot a 76 a month ago while still in MT, and now having shot several rounds where eliminating a brain fart hole would have yielded another sub 80 score, I'm kind of getting a hankering to mettle around with the game.

Haaa.... you're like the rest of us. You just can't shake it off can you? The golf gods granted you a round that you'd like to see again. You know it's in you somewhere don't you? If only....

Sure... you're content. But not really? Am I right? 

[fixyurdivot]

1 minute ago, PlaidJacket said:

Haaa.... you're like the rest of us. You just can't shake it off can you? The golf gods granted you a round that you'd like to see again. You know it's in you somewhere don't you? If only....

Sure... you're content. But not really? Am I right? 

Content enough that I no longer allow it to dictate the fun meter.  That was the key point in my OP.  But yeah, you're right, the desire to get some more rounds in the 70's is there. 

[Jmikecpa]

Yes and no. I have been scratch or better for all of my adult life and stopped playing competitively about 10 years ago. Now that I am north of 40 years old I think I am going to give competition one more go this upcoming season. Towards the end of last year I starting taking lessons for the first time in my life and the small changes that I have made are paying huge dividends. I finished the season at a +.3 index and think I can get better next year with some more consistency. I also have been getting pushed a bit by my son and my wife to give competitive golf one more shot and see how I do with it. My son told my wife after we played in Florida that “Dad really makes golf look so easy and should play more tournaments.” Which my wife has been saying for a few years now. I hate to admit it but I was not in good enough physical shape to try and play. Now that I am what do I have to lose.

So I am happy right now with where my game currently is at, compared to where I was in the middle of the summer, but I think it could be a lot better.

For 2019 I am going to focus less on buying clubs and more on understanding how to hit them more consistently. The only club in my bag that is on thin ice is my hybrid but the ice really is not that thin to be honest. Finally found a putter that I am very comfortable with and toned my ego down and moved on from X100s to something lighter and more manageable. Looking forward to 2019.


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[MattF]

@Jmikecpa No mo ho?

[Jmikecpa]

[mention=604]Jmikecpa[/mention] No mo ho?

I will still buy putters to collect but no more revolving golf bag. Can’t go complete cold turkey.


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[revkev]

Never


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[perseveringgolfer]

The thing is with golf it's a challenge, a constant challenge. Even if you played the same hole 100 times in a row you would want to improve each time you played it!

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....I shot 3 sub par rounds in a row! -5, -3, -2 I've never captured that feeling ever again, but if you can do it once....!

Since then I average over 80 blows/hacks a round and h/cap goes up 0.1 everytime

So I don't think any golfer will ever be content with their game, but I'd like to get back to a place that I'm happy with my game.

Maybe next year  

[revkev]

The thing is with golf it's a challenge, a constant challenge. Even if you played the same hole 100 times in a row you would want to improve each time you played it!
A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....I shot 3 sub par rounds in a row! -5, -3, -2 I've never captured that feeling ever again, but if you can do it once....!
Since then I average over 80 blows/hacks a round and h/cap goes up 0.1 everytime
So I don't think any golfer will ever be content with their game, but I'd like to get back to a place that I'm happy with my game.
Maybe next year  

Well said!


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[RickyBobby_PR]

I’m not satisfied with the inconsistency in my scoring. Some is my fault and some is inconsistency in playing and practice time this year after some work schedule changes and Mother Nature not cooperating with schedule. 

I’ll be working with a pro around March to fix somethings and get back to playing golf and not swing