Reflecting on my best 9 hole round

[MJAlworth]

Back story, I am a 9 handicap golfer. Lowest round ever is an 80, (39 for 9 holes). I usually shoot mid-80s, depending on difficulty/knowledge of course, etc.

I went out today on a whim, had my brother and friend cancel on me. Almost canceled going, but another friend said he would go.

We hit the course, spent about 10 minutes on the practice green (driving range closed for the season, I'm in NJ) then hit the course.

Now on the other end of this is my buddy Adam. He is the nicest guy you have ever met, usually shoots low 100s, can get to low 90s.

He was asking for tips on how to play better, as he knows in 3 years my handicap went from 26 to 9, through diligent practice, a few lessons, and a general obsession with listening to experts/pros talking about the game.

As we were talking about things, I found myself starting to play some of the best golf I had played. Honestly curious if discussing the swing thoughts and processes ended up impacting the play.

Regardless, on this par 36 9 hole course, I got to the last hole at even par. Ended up on the fringe and was going between chipping and putting. I had chipped well, but I also knew how well I was playing and I think intrusively effected my swing, ended up duffing the chip. 2 putted for a bogey and shot a 37.

As excited as I was, my buddy Adam was even more excited. He signed a score card for me and pumped me up big time. Always nice having a friend like that.

Most excitingly for me was seeing improvement. I basically spent the entire year shooting similar scores, never really feeling like I was making much progress.

Cannot wait to continue this golf journey! If you're still reading, thanks for hanging out tonight.

[Kenny B]

Congratulations on your lowest round!!  It's amazing, but once you have a really low round, you will begin seeing more and more of them... it's a confidence factor, knowing that you have done it before.  Best wishes for many more!!

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 hours ago, MJAlworth said:

Back story, I am a 9 handicap golfer. Lowest round ever is an 80, (39 for 9 holes). I usually shoot mid-80s, depending on difficulty/knowledge of course, etc.

I went out today on a whim, had my brother and friend cancel on me. Almost canceled going, but another friend said he would go.

We hit the course, spent about 10 minutes on the practice green (driving range closed for the season, I'm in NJ) then hit the course.

Now on the other end of this is my buddy Adam. He is the nicest guy you have ever met, usually shoots low 100s, can get to low 90s.

He was asking for tips on how to play better, as he knows in 3 years my handicap went from 26 to 9, through diligent practice, a few lessons, and a general obsession with listening to experts/pros talking about the game.

As we were talking about things, I found myself starting to play some of the best golf I had played. Honestly curious if discussing the swing thoughts and processes ended up impacting the play.

Regardless, on this par 36 9 hole course, I got to the last hole at even par. Ended up on the fringe and was going between chipping and putting. I had chipped well, but I also knew how well I was playing and I think intrusively effected my swing, ended up duffing the chip. 2 putted for a bogey and shot a 37.

As excited as I was, my buddy Adam was even more excited. He signed a score card for me and pumped me up big time. Always nice having a friend like that.

Most excitingly for me was seeing improvement. I basically spent the entire year shooting similar scores, never really feeling like I was making much progress.

Cannot wait to continue this golf journey! If you're still reading, thanks for hanging out tonight.

Huge congrats and thanks for sharing. 

That's awesome and cool you have a friend who is enjoying the game like he is. Great to hear about your round and looking forward to hearing more about future rounds! 

Again big congrats! 37 is s big deal for sure and hopefully will be a boost for your game moving forward.

[GingerBubba]

7 hours ago, MJAlworth said:

Back story, I am a 9 handicap golfer. Lowest round ever is an 80, (39 for 9 holes). I usually shoot mid-80s, depending on difficulty/knowledge of course, etc.

Is it just me that finds something weird about your handicap? That your all time best is only an 80, so roughly +8, yet you handicap is 9? I'm not meaning to criticise or accuse you of anything btw, it's just in my experience someone's best ever score tends to be quite a bit lower than their handicap. I guess that's more true the higher the handicap, but as a 9 cap, I would have expected the odd mid 70s? I say this as someone with no clue about handicaps - I just stick the scores in the machine and wait till it tells me what I am!

[MJAlworth]

2 biggest factors to that are

1) I generally play as far back as I can without feeling like a nuisance to my 4some.

2) I rarely play the same course multiple times a season. I played about 20 rounds of golf this season on 14 different courses. The 2 courses I repeated are also the homes of my lowest rounds.

For this season 8 of those rounds were on 9 hole courses, only 1 was above a 42

Of the 12 18-hole rounds, all rounds were between 80-88

Somehow according to my app, that results in a 9.1 lol

[GolfSpy_APH]

12 minutes ago, MJAlworth said:

2 biggest factors to that are

1) I generally play as far back as I can without feeling like a nuisance to my 4some.

2) I rarely play the same course multiple times a season. I played about 20 rounds of golf this season on 14 different courses. The 2 courses I repeated are also the homes of my lowest rounds.

For this season 8 of those rounds were on 9 hole courses, only 1 was above a 42

Of the 12 18-hole rounds, all rounds were between 80-88

Somehow according to my app, that results in a 9.1 lol

So many courses! That's awesome. Have any you are itching to get back to next season?

[Tom the Golf Nut]

@MJAlworth congrats on the low round. I have a friend that used to live in Lincoln Park NJ which is about 15 min from you. I used to play a few courses in that area. For the life of me I can't remember the names of the courses but seeing Parsippany NJ brought back my early golfing memories with friends.

[MJAlworth]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

So many courses! That's awesome. Have any you are itching to get back to next season?

Oh man, NJ has some beautiful courses. Ballyowen is one that I love. Got to play Twisted Dune as well which was incredible. I still have quite a list of courses I want to get to and I'm looking forward to continuing to experience different courses and architecture.

[MJAlworth]

33 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

@MJAlworth congrats on the low round. I have a friend that used to live in Lincoln Park NJ which is about 15 min from you. I used to play a few courses in that area. For the life of me I can't remember the names of the courses but seeing Parsippany NJ brought back my early golfing memories with friends.

That is awesome! I'm enjoying that stage of my golfing life now and I'm making as many memories with friends and my dad/brother as I can.

[David Leighton Reid]

My most memorable 9 hole round came in our Wednesday night league which is stroke and match play.  I had to give 6 strokes to my opponent and started by taking an 8 on our opening Par 4 hole.  First tee shot was OB and second was unplayable.  The next hole was a Par 4 and my tee ball missed the fairway right and came to rest behind a tree.  Punch out to approximately 100 yards, third shot to maybe 10 feet and I sunk the par putt.  Hole #3 birdie and a par on hole #4.  Hole #5 my approach shot missed the green, hit the cart path, and bounded behind the green.  With the green running away from me, I lobbed to maybe 25 feet and made the par putt.  Hole #6, a par 5, made birdie.  Hole # 7, another par 5, made birdie.  Hole # 8 made par.  On hole # 9, a par 3, my tee ball was approximately 6 feet and I made the birdie putt.  I shot even and won my match and also won closest to the pin on our closing hole.  Not my best score for 9 holes, but definitely the most memorable.  

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I don't remember what I shot but it was in our work league championship round about 6 years ago. 18 holes stroke play with handicap. I was down 2 going into the 18th hole which was a par 5 up hill. Both of us drove the fairway well. Second shots were equal again he was a yard or two ahead so I was up first with the approach. I pulled out my 60 degree and hit a beautiful lob shot right at the pin. It did a one hop just behind the up and spun back and in the cup for eagle. Well the pressure got to him and he sailed one over the green. Then chunked his chip and three putted. I was tickled with my shot but obviously it got to my opponent. League Champion and took home the cash for 1st place!

For  9 hole rounds. Last season I was keeping stats and scores. I had 12 rounds in the 60's so it was probably a 34 for best 9 holes. Lowest rounds were a 68 for 18. GHIN doesn't seem to show me front 9 or back 9 scores once they are posted. 

 

[cksurfdude]

@MJAlworth CONGRATS! on your new 9 hole almost even par PB!!

..but your good buddy Adam really should get all the credit, right