All or Nothing Golf

[Tony Covey MGS]

Yesterday afternoon around 2:00 I snuck out to play 9. It' was about 45 degrees, mostly cloudy, but otherwise tolerable. These days it's dark by about 4:30, so I figured 9 would be the limit. Very early on I learned I didn't have my swing (fatting everything), and putting is almost pointless (late enough into the season where they don't mow the greens anymore, so shaggy doesn't begin to cover it). My point is, I wasn't scoring well.

 

It only took about an hour and 20 to make it through the front 9, so I decided to keep going. With the combination of a lousy swing and not a lot of daylight I decided to speed things up a bit by playing what I decided to call "All or Nothing Golf". The premise is simple...as soon as I've played my par stroke for the hole, I'm done. So basically if not a birdie or a par, I'm in my pocket and on to the next hole (and basically jogging to get there).

 

Holes 10 and 11 were just as ugly as the front, but...the rest of the way I was either picking up bogey putts inside of 2 feet, or making pars. What I found is that picking up once I'd hit par kept me from dwelling on bad shots, or worrying about 6s, 7s, or worse. By the time I got to the 15th I was actually playing very fairly solid golf. I was hitting fairways, and finally hitting crisp iron shots on (or near) the green. Granted I missed putts I might normally have made, but again the greens are shaggy, so leaving a putt a foot or two short is nothing to get upset about.

 

It's not something I can do all the time, but I had the course to myself, and we're past our posting date for scores, so I figured what the hell.

 

If you're ever struggling with a round, and find yourself in your own head a bit too much, I suggest giving it a try. Not only did I start playing better, I managed to get 18 holes in under 2.5 hours.

[GolfSpy Tim]

I like this idea, I end up getting out to my home course a lot late in the afternoon and jamming through the front nine trying to beat the sunset this time of year, and playing that fast, hitting a hole and getting up to 7+ strokes does my head in. I'll try this next time and see how it affects my game.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[RoverRick]

For the past 4 years, I have played with the same group of guys just about every weekend (actually, Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday). There are actually 9 of us in the group, we send out text messages of the tee times and there are usually 5 or 6 that can make it at any one time. Rarely, do we have more than 6. The problem is that there is a wide variety of handicaps. So how do we accommodate every one. Originally, we gave strokes but this was always difficult. So we went to a quota system.

1 point for bogey, 2 for par, 3 for birdie, 4 eagle. And based on about 2 years worth of cards we arrived at a "quota" for everyone. If you bogied every hole you would get 18 points. Sounds easy. My quota is 26 points (the highest) and we have one guy that has a 10. Winner is who ever gets the most over their quota. This is usually coupled with a hole bet of some type, usually wolf or some team event.

The bottom line is a double bogey counts the same as an 8 or 10. This accomplishes two things. Even if someone eagles a hole the other people continue to play hard to get their points. The other thing is that when someone chunks their third shot in the water, they move on to the next hole and think about that. It is no worse than lipping out a bogey putt. Nothing is every written down over a double bogey. It speeds up play, and there are no snowmen staring up at you from the card.

I have noticed an improvement in the higher handicap guys play because of this. One of the drawbacks is for the higher quote (lower handicap) guys. The hardest three holes on our course are the first three, if I fail to get a couple of points on the first three holes, making the quota is very difficult. My goal is to never double bogey. (Seldom achieved)

[Matt Saternus]

RoverRick: That sounds like a great way to play. I really like the idea of not writing down anything more than bogey; there's nothing worse than make a double, triple, or worse, early in the round and then spending the rest of the round trying to "fight back" from that. I think I'll try this game with my dad the next time we play.

[RoverRick]

No matter what you play, or how you keep score, you must have selective memory.

 

Last year in the first round of the club championship, I went O.B. on the first 4 holes, in the water on 5 and 6. I was 6 down with 12 to play. I tied it up on the 18th hole. And won on the seventh sudden death hole.

 

The next match, because of the long playoff, was already waiting so I had to immediately tee off in the new match. And went O.B. on the first hole and the second. And lost the third hole.

 

I ended up winning my flight because I only "remembered" or thought about the good shots. I won 6 matches in 3 days doing this. I trailed at some point during every match. And all but the last match went at least 18 holes.

[Tony Covey MGS]

No matter what you play, or how you keep score, you must have selective memory.

 

Last year in the first round of the club championship, I went O.B. on the first 4 holes, in the water on 5 and 6. I was 6 down with 12 to play. I tied it up on the 18th hole. And won on the seventh sudden death hole.

 

The next match, because of the long playoff, was already waiting so I had to immediately tee off in the new match. And went O.B. on the first hole and the second. And lost the third hole.

 

I ended up winning my flight because I only "remembered" or thought about the good shots. I won 6 matches in 3 days doing this. I trailed at some point during every match. And all but the last match went at least 18 holes.

 

Couple my total lack of concentration with a very long memory and you've basically touched on why my game is the inconsistent mess that it is.

[Dave]

This is the main reason slow play kills most people's game. The more think, the worse the result I've always found.

[Golfool7]

I agree anything you can do to let go of the bad shots and just focus on the shot at hand will help you play so much better. When my game goes sideways I play a game where all I am trying to do is hit the ball from one point to another specific point. I narrow my focus down to real definite target. If I don't hit it I just go on to focusing on the next spot and I do this all the way to the hole. This frees up all my mechanical thoughts and my swing becomes free and I start hitting more quality shots.

[Golfool7]

I agree anything you can do to let go of the bad shots and just focus on the shot at hand will help you play so much better. When my game goes sideways I play a game where all I am trying to do is hit the ball from one point to another specific point. I narrow my focus down to real definite target. If I don't hit it I just go on to focusing on the next spot and I do this all the way to the hole. This frees up all my mechanical thoughts and my swing becomes free and I start hitting more quality shots.

[RoverRick]

After 6 rounds in the low 70's I absolutely did not have it today. I got to the course late with my back hurting, while waiting at the first tee for my first shot, my partner called and told all of the problems in Europe, I teed off into a 25 mph wind, no warm up and hit a tree. Hit the same tree with my second shot and went down hill from there. I have no idea what I shot because after the forth hole I already had four double bogeys to my opponents three birdies and a par so I started working on my game for tomorrow. I did not hit a good shot until 8 and he was still under par. I ended up loosing 11 to 7 but he won the first 11 of 12 holes. I ended with some possitive holes and that is all I care to remember.

 

He did have to pay the bar bill and my wife did have to come get me so it was not a total loss.