I see. But playing single can´t count as legit rounds anyeay, can it? (where I live we need a qualified marker).

I can´t imagine that playing two balls parallel would not be cheating for both of them.

Heh, I wouldn't call it "cheating" but it seems there would be a slight advantage to playing two balls on the same course at the same time. I'm pretty sure playing alone you can count as HC or else I've been doing it wrong this whole time!

Maybe I have read your post wrong. You were talking about handicap counting and in the following posts I asumed that HC refered to that, but now I am in doubt? :-)

Holliday mentioned that he played 2 balls at the same time.

Let's assume I try this. Course is empty so I play 2 balls on each hole (effectively playing 36 holes in one day for the price of 18). "First ball" I hit 100, "second ball" I hit 95.

When I get home I log onto OOBgolf.com to enter my scores. Do I enter both scores as "standard" (rules of golf followed) scores or just the first one?

Because, it would seem that playing the 2nd ball wouldn't exactly be "standard" since your first ball become a "practice" tee shot/putt for your 2nd ball. ie you gain some knowledge about how the wind affects your tee shot/approach shot and how your putt breaks (assuming you are putting from same spot). You don't have this knowledge on the first ball.

If what I'm saying does not make sense, PM me.

I just play 2 because I need all the practice I can get. Not calculating a HC at all yet.

The second would seem to be an advantage off the tee, but truth be told i'm usually surprised how close the balls are to each other when I clearly hit one much better than the other. Mostly my scores fluctuate based on # of mis****s. And pretty familiar with this course, so already know what I want to do.

Plus, at a point I decide which ball to play for score and which to try new stuff with. I guess one of these days I should just play one and see how it compares.

Actually, now that I think about it, the effect would be to lower both scores since after the tee you're just hitting the furthest from the hole first. So probably touch shots are helped as well as "iron certainty". Speed of greens and features, even if putting from different spots. You'd actually have to go pretty far out of your way to make it legit, or just pick up the second ball if you got out of whack.

So in other words, my mediocre scores are inflated? Great.

Isn't this even less legit than scoring both balls? Don't see why you would "pick one" a few holes in to use as your score. HC already allows best 10 of last 20 so at least you should keep both scores. At best, you should play the first ball only and use the 2nd as non-recorded practice. Though I suppose your first ball would still benefit from the practice of the 2nd ball...

I also assumed "first ball" meant you hit that ball first no matter what but it seems that's not even the case. So it's not really first or second ball it's just 2 mixed balls both with a slight edge over a normal round.

I mean this stuff isn't that big a deal obv. I just really wanted some clarifying, that's all. lol. It sounds like you're learning the game and aren't betting anyway. I'm also a high handicapper who doesn't bet.

I would like to try this next time out but want to do it in the most legit way possible. Though I suppose you have to not let the Marshall see you playing two balls huh?

Umm, I can't speak to the legality at your course but I'm not hiding anything at the two courses I play. Working under the assumption that as long as I keep my pace up and don't slow traffic two balls or self-scramble is OK. Pretty sure they know I'm kind of a newbie learning to play though, so maybe being indulged.

Went out around 6:40 PM tonight. Fairly slow play in front of me after the first 3 holes and played with 2 other people. Shot 33 (-2) on the front and tried to make the turn and play really fast back nine at 8:20. Of course there was a threesome teeing off and they didn't let me play through until after the 1st hole. Ended up making birdie on 10 and then going bogey, par, bogey, double and pretty much just couldn't see my ball anymore and quit.

If you're playing two balls, you can't count either toward your handicap. There's a rule in the USGA's handicapping system that addresses it.

If you're playing by yourself, that does count toward your handicap--assuming you're playing by the rules, of course. The USGA has a specific rule mentioning that. Not sure if it differs outside of the US.

I bet that's a rule that is almost never followed by the typical weekend warrior. They probably don't recognize the advantage.

I recently played two balls and counted both for hdcp (only one helped my hdcp anyway, and it was my "first" ball off every tee weirdly enough).

today good: played trump national, wow that's a pretty golf course
today bad: shot 96 in a lot of wind

That 2nd ball could help your handicap at a later time.

mehh i get it but who cares. I can't think of any time in the history of golf where the slight advantage you are getting affects anything. It's not like there is a million dollar golf tournament out there where your handicap is factored into it. (unless there is)

54-55-109

no three putts for the first time ever!

134 6th time ever playing 18 holes.

Ugh, struggling a lot with the putter this year. Killing it off the tee and controlling the ball nicely. Short game is decent, although a little flakey at times. I'm not playing all that much right now so that's not surprising, but wow is my putting just horrendous. I'm easily leaving 5-10 shots a round on the green with 3-putts and easy putts missed for par saves and birdies. Played yesterday and had at least 5 3-putts, all from a lack of feel on lag putts. I'd be par or better for my rounds if I was even an average putter right now. My putting has always been sub par thus far and really held me back. Part of it is not being a great reader of the greens, but I've improved on that quite a bit. Mostly though, I started out as a slice putter. I would try and keep the putter on line, which meant I tried to keep the face square through impact and all the way through the swing instead of having a slightly open to slightly closed natural swing. This led to very inconsistent putts that came off the club face with underspin sometimes. Once I started taking lessons my instructor quickly noticed that and had me practicing an exaggerated open face to close faced putting stroke. He also had me move the ball up in my stance. I've taken this too far now though, which has led to a putting stroke that is has too much 'swing' in it. It's very difficult to control the distance and keep it on line this way obviously. The putter is only square for a very small window of the putting stroke so I'll often hit with a slightly open (goes to the right and comes up short) or slightly closed (goes to the left and too far) putter face. And, when I do hit it square that's a completely different feel from hitting it open or closed so it's really difficult to develop a feel for my stroke. Anyway, I'm determined to become a good putter one day. Any drills for developing feel with the putter would be appreciated.

50-47-97 on a 4800 yd. par-67 course.

4 pars
8 bogeys
a bunch of bad holes
4/12 fairways
3 GIR
31 putts

Started off +6 through 6 holes, messed up the next five, then played 11-17 in +5 before finishing with a quad. Pissed away a bunch of shots with bad chips/pitches. One hole I hit a solid 7i over some trees, carried a bunker in front of the green, and landed the ball on the green only to have it run off the back into the rough. Hit a bad chip that didn't get on the green. Made a double. So frustrating after a really good approach shot that barely missed. Semi-skulled a SW from about 100 yards and went about 40 yards past the green, then hit a couple bad LW pitches.

Driving was pretty erratic. But my last two drivers of the day each went about 280. I had topped one and hit a couple of ground balls, so I just tried to aim toward the left edge of the fairway, open the face a smidge and play the ball a little bit farther back and try for a high fade. They ended up being slight pushes with an almost dead straight ball flight, and both of them found the right half of the fairway. Really, really pleased with those shots.

Putting was pretty good considering I hadn't played that course in months and the greens were way faster than I expected. I ran a bunch of putts past the hole but the only 3 putt I had was from 50 feet. Made a 16 footer and a couple in the 5-10 foot range. Missed a 5-footer for birdie, though. I had hooked a drive but it caught a good bounce on the cart path and went about 260, barely squeaking past a tree. I was in fairly deep rough but hit a low SW that stopped about 5 feet short of the hole.

I was really hoping to be in the low 90s or even break into the 80s, but not awful considering I hadn't played there in quite a while.

Horrible round today. WTFFFFFFFFFFF I need to hit up the range. Haven't gone in over 2 months. Was 105 today with a heat advisory and index above 110. Played from 2:30-5:20 lol. Anyway the heat was not the problem. Golf was.

58-54-112
37 putts
1 quit hole after a tee shot that settled in a pine tree, punch out 10 feet to left, then 2 attempts to clear the lake with an iron that were topped into the lake. So , laying 6 about 150 yards out. **** just drove off.

2/14 FIR
1/18 GIR
1 par
5 bogeys
1 up-and-down
37 putts
7 penalties
1 sand shot
7 triples
2 quads
WTF

I was to the point where a bad hole for me was a double. Now back to the triples and quads.

Best shot was a lob wedge chip from just off the green with drastic ball-below-feet lie as well as uphill lie settled it 1 foot from pin. That was my 1 up and down for par. Had 1 solid drive (after a re-tee) that went 270 just left of the FW. Nothing else was close to that.

In general everything was bad. Just an atrocious round. Probably doesn't help that I played on the worst manicured course around. Hardpan dirt fairways and greens riddled with ball marks. But anyway I've hit 91 and 90 here in similar conditions so it's not just the course. My ball-striking has plumetted. No idea why. I used to drive the ball 250 with like 42% FIR now a good drive is 220 and just off the fairway. Also lost some touch on my lob wedge which had been incredible for me 1-2 months ago.

Shot first even par on 9 today, went 4over and then even on the back making a pretty huge luckbox/epic 40footer for bird on 18. Pretty sick I had 3 three putts as well. 76 is my best 18 ever as well

3 putts are so painful when you are otherwise playing well

Got to play 9 holes today shot a 41 with three 3 puts = ( Still unsure of the new driver I got might take it back.

Im not making fun but this blooows my mind that you consistently ball strike this badly with a putter... just wow. The only work my instructor ever gave me was to tighten up my lower half for stability but everything else was good... I recently put the ball more forward and I get a better more consistent roll now thats for sure but that wont help you...

...seriously this blows my mind that there are probably kids out there at mini golf places with a better putting stroke then you from what you are saying.

It certainly feels that way right now. My ball striking could probably get me under par if someone else would come putt right now. I'm probably exaggerating about how bad it is, but not by much. I had a lot of 3-putts on my last round and missed a bunch of birdies/pars that should have gone in 80-90%. :/

Absolution, if you track your first putt distances, kbfc can quantify how many putts per round you are losing to an average PGA tour player.

I'm also awful and have been losing 5-8 strokes per round to an average PGA putter. Really it would be more than that since they are putting on wavier greens.