was he sandbagging?

Played an awesome/fun round today. One of my buddy's is getting married and the girls did bridal shower thing in the banquet hall on the course while we went out and played.

He got 6 tee times in a row and we played a best ball scramble of 6 4somes. It was like we had our own tourney going on at the course, fun was had. Our team ended up winning with an LOL score of 4 under on a ridiculously short, easy course.

^Wow that's awesome.

Shot a 45 tonight on a short, easy 9. Missed birdie putts of 12 and 8 feet. Left both short. The 12 footer was always low side even if I hit it but the 8 footer was tracking dead center but stopped 4" short. Sigh.

4 pars
2 bogeys
2 doubles
1 triple
1/7 FIR
3/9 GIR
16 putts
1 penalty.

Penalty was an unplayable after a slightly wayward drive that settled right behind a shrub. I could have punched it out but it would have not shortened my approach shot any.

Triple was unplayable lie, flew the green with my 7i. Had to flop over a tree right in front of me, settled just short of green. Putted through fringe about 30 feet to 4 feet and missed the putt.

Double was hitting my tee'd iron on #1 super fat then missing the green not by much and chipping + 2 putt.

Other double was a par 3 I came up just short and right. Flubbed my chip. Then chip and 2-putt from 9 feet.

Shot my career low score the other day. 80 from the whites at the Pinehills - Nicklaus course.


10 GIR
10/14 FIR
32 Putts (1 3-putt/5 1-putts)

Beat: Was +3 thru 15 and finished Triple, Bogey, Bogey

82 44-38 was 8 over for holes 5-9
5 GIR
5/12 FIR
28 putts

shot my career low score yesterday after playing for nearly 20 years.
+1 71. 11 GIR. Easy course but still pretty stoked. Didn't lose a single shot from drives which was awesome.

45-44-89

39 putts. 41 points.

No 1 putts, only 2 3 putts. Lag putting was pretty good.

Double bogeyed 3 par 3's, 2 of which were SI 17 and 18.

18 over.

Is this 38 putts?

87 or so on tough course. play single walker with 3 guys on carts. didn't feel comfortable.

have gone to quick tempo. great shots are amazing but too much inconsistency.

slowing down tempo. and i think i'm going to widen stance a bit. looking for stability.

anyway, encouraging in general

Sorry. I rechecked my scorecard.
3 3-putts.

Had one of my best ball-striking rounds ever today- didn't translate to an amazing score (+7 42) but not too worried about that. My putting was good, but they just weren't quite falling. That said, I had one of my most proud golfing moments ever today.

When I got to the course I saw that there was a group of 4 guys that were just finishing up on number 1, but other than that the course looked pretty empty (turns out that they were literally the only group on the front 9 at the time). As a walking single I knew I would catch up to them pretty quick, but I figured they'd let me play through. I first caught up to them after my tee shot on number 3. I had to wait a solid minute and a half while they putted out, and then caught up to them again on the 4th tee after I putted out. I got there just as their last took his tee shot, but I like to give people a chance to offer to let me play through first before I ask, so I didn't say anything. They just hopped in their carts and drove off without giving me a second look.

At that point I was playing well and it was hot outside so I wasn't going to sit there for a minute and a half before every one of my shots and let them ruin my round, so I decided that I would ask them to play through when I caught up to them on the 5th tee. After again waiting another minute and a half or so to take my approach shot on number 4 I putted out and caught up to them again on the 5th tee after only 2 of the 4 of them had hit their tee shots. I waited until they all finished, then as they were walking to their carts I stepped up and asked if I could play through. The alpha in the group (without turning around to face me or otherwise acknowledge my presence) says to me "do whatever you want, man" in a sarcastic tone of voice.

So at that point I have to get up there and hit a tee shot with 4 hostile strangers looking on, which is a pretty intimidating situations for a hacker like me. I do my best to just go through my normal pre-shot routine (which makes it a little bit worse, because my pre-shot routine is a little on the long side) and proceed to absolutely stripe one right down the center of the fairway about 280. It's not that I'm not capable of hitting those shots normally or anything, but I only get a couple of those per round usually. As I'm picking up my tee like it's no big deal I get a "nice shot" or "great ball" from literally every single person in the group (including the sarcastic dude). They're practically asking for tips as I walk after my shot. I then proceed to stick my wedge about 12 feet below the pin on a very steep and tricky green like I intended to, and barely short the birdie putt for a nice tap-in par while they're all looking on from their wildly inaccurate tee shots. It wasn't a huge thing or anything, but it was really nice to play well like that in front of jerks like that to put them in their place. I didn't say a thing to escalate the conflict, or even let on to them that I recognized the sarcastic tone in the dude's voice, but I still shut the dude up all the same.

Didn't mean to write a novella, but it was just one of those moments that make you love the game, and none of my friends play enough (or at all) to appreciate the story like other avid golfers would.

I love the feeling when you play through and play the hole well when everyone is watching. Get out of their way with a quick par and people will feel they made the right decision letting you play through
Nothing worse than asking to play through and then duffing your tee shot 50y down the fairway.

I get the yips every time theres people watching, yet when I play with friends/people let me play with them I generally shoot better. If its just a group behind pressing O just spray it all over.

You have low scores for such high putt totals. Is your ball-striking way better than your putting? Or do you play on nice courses with super large greens?

It's tough to get any respect as a single. Any group ahead of you is greater in number so there's no real reason for them to take notice of you other than going out of their way to be cognizant and courteous.

Last 2 times I played through I striped nice drives both at least 260 down the fairway. It does feel nice. The first time was after 3 holes of waiting on a twosome that was being stupidly slow. One guy hit, both drive to other ball on other side of fairway and circle around for 2 minutes. That guy then gets out and hits, then both hop in and drive to other side, ad nauseum. Just the absolute least cognizant way to play golf. This happened on first 3 holes. I'm a 27 handicap but I would clean both of these guys' clocks based on what I saw. Third hole is a short par 3 both guys are just skulling their chips across the green and twirling their clubs while I'm standing on the tee. So I go back to my cart and grab my wedge and start practicing little pitch shots around the tee box in the 97 degree heat. They finish and walk off the green super slow - as if they were stoned. Whatever. I finish the third hole and drive to tee 4 and both guys are waiting (sweet). So they knew they should wait for me to play through which was nice. One brotha is playing with his phone and the other dude is sitting there so I step up and lace it low down the middle and get a couple "nice shot, bud". "Thanks guys" I say as I pick up my tee like some single. "Any time". And I'm off.

Later on hole 10 I skipped the Gatorade stop at the turn and got to 10 and was finishing a water while a 4-some rolls up behind me (they were ahead of me earlier but must have stopped at the turn). They roll up, see me, stop 40 yards back. I see them and hop out and hurry up to the tee and drill it down the middle and it settles right by the pole. Hop in, lay up, then wedge to 30 feet and miss the birdie putt (par 5). Never saw them again.

I'm convinced I hit the ball better with a crowd. Maybe harkens back to my past as a baseball pitcher - being out there with all eyes on me.

I think it has more to do with how I learnt. Most of my lessons took place on the driving range because the little 9 hole course that was at that club was absolutely terrible and the greens were non existent with bug chunks out of them.
So when i had these lessons I would predominantly work on my short irons. I stopped playing for a while. Started back a few months ago, and my irons are generally pretty sweet. And I drive the ball pretty well. However the only putting practice I really get is when I am actually playing.
If I could putt better then I could possibly challenge breaking 80.

My general theory on the average par 4 is put it in play.
Get it on or close to the green.
(chip it on if I just missed the green)
2 putt.
Scoring me a 4/5.

That's what I try and aim to do. But my short game needs a lot of work.

43
2/9 GIR
3/7 FIR
16 putts with a 3 putt
1 ball in the drink and my ball striking was awful

Had another tie for my career best 9 hole round today: +4 40. Choked on the last couple holes again when I had a shot at a even par 9 (was +1 after 7). Putting and short game were phenomenal today- kind of masked what was only a marginal ball striking day for me. Took 14 putts on the day (5 2 putts and 4 1 putts) to make 3 up and downs for par and 1 up and down for bogie. Should have had another up and down for bogie on 17 that would have resulted in a +3 final score, but I missed the 4 footer (doh!) after a great chip.

Tee for 9 at this course is 20 steps from the pin for the par 3 8th.

Missed the hipsters by about 5 feet and got up and down for par.

didn't keep score twilight. probably would be been slightly better than average. some amazing stuff but a couple blowups (played alot of ball and a tough 9 so not that bad)

widened my stance. helps alot in eliminating the horrible and seems like you can hit the ball really hard.

slowed down tempo on putting. went to more metronome model. worked very very well.

moving to all stiff shafts. so that i don't have inconsisentcies sp? in my setup. nice that you can swing really hard with stiff shafts.

strange thing is that hitting balls at driving range with feet together feels great and is great for swing tempo, but then wide stance works better on course than narrow. i guess the feet together is just grooving a feeling.

very excited about my game.

I played Monday here in Sacramento at Haggin Oaks, shot a 40, 37.

Overall happy how I played, my 6th round of the year, first breaking 80 due to huge issues off the tee. Was playing well on the back, 1 under, through 14, then bogeyed 15, 16, and reached the par five 18th in 2 and three putted, grrr.

Highlights on the back were making 2 5-foot downhill putts with about a foot of break each, both for par (obviously left my pitches in terrible spots for the par save.) Also draining a 40 footer for birdie on 14, luckbox, ha.

Also on the front 9 I hit a drive about 30 yards in front of the green, duffed my 62 degree into the bunker 15 yards short of the green, lol, then blasted my bunked shot to 6 feet and saved par.

I am playing 9 holes after work tomorrow so hopefully I can continue my solid iron play and work on my tee and short game.

74 in a foursome and 76 in a best ball. LOL

so i've been out several times this year after only going out maybe 10 times total in the last 5 years. i've kept score 7 times at the same course. i've shot 105, 96, 95, 94, 95, 105, 102.

How the **** do I shoot 4 scores in the mid 90s and then can't break 100 the next two rounds. I hate this stupid game.

Scramble today. We shot -11. Felt like it was 120 degrees out there.

-12 won. Doh.

41-X
37-40-77
(Par 70)

Played 27 holes. Finished front nine with a triple for 41, after having a pretty solid first 8 holes. Get to 10 and there are at least six and possibly seven in the group ahead of me. (Three carts and at least one walking, but can't see far enough to determine cart occupants.)

Turn around, head to pro shop to ask if I can play front again. No problem. Tell him there's a six- or seven-some on the back nine. "It's ladies' day," he says. OK. Whatever.

Play much better on second front nine (37) decide to make the turn to see if I can keep it going. Play 1-over 10-14, then stagger to a bogey-bogey-par-bogey finish.

Not unhappy with 77, though, especially with 0 birdies on the day. Lots of up and downs, 28 putts.

Bonus: I walk into pro shop to pay for my extra nine, and it's a different guy than before. I explain the situation, and he says, "I don't care. Don't worry about it." Free golf is always good.

Shot a strange 44-36 for an 80 (71.7/134). The even par back 9 was my best 9 ever. Hit 10/14 fairways and 12 GIRs; both of which are the most I've ever hit in a round. 19-16 for 35 putts.

I have been struggling all season hitting the driver consistently but in the last week I've really committed to exaggerating the inside-out swing path and it's getting better. Still a few of my misses were big slices and 2 were OOB which lead to doubles.