Dave Ireland
I'm sizzlin tonite
- Aug 31, 2004
- 1,388
- 0
This is where I'm at ... at the start of this year's golf season I set myself the goal of a single figure h/c ... hoping for around 8 currently playing off 11. I thought 8 was a realistic target based on my ball striking and reasonably good iron play. The grey area was greenside .. ropey chipping and cold flatstick.
I'm playing 2-3 times a week, making a point of getting 30mins practice on putting/chipping greens before I go out, anyway the heel of the hunt being my scoring hasn't improved a jot. I'm still tracking around on average 80 - 85, but get this ... I'm playing so much better. If I analyse my scorecard now I find that I don't bogey as many holes, I bag 2/3 birds a round... but and the big but .... I'm having 3 or 4 absolute calamities - doubles, triples which usually follow within a hole or a couple of holes of one another..
Point in case was last Sunday's qualifying for President's Day - front nine was so so - turned +6, proceeded to go - bird, par, bird, bird. So now I'm motoring, playing to a standard that I know I'm capable of .... good enough golf to be considered the play of a very low handicapper ....
#14 is a 605 yard par 5 (downhill), 3rd shot was 90 yard lob wedge, which I shanked OB ended with a double. #15 par 5 greenside in two - thinned pitch into bunker, left it in there with next and put another double on the card. # 17 172 yard par3, pulled an 8iron straight OB broke the nib of the pen as I scratched a triple onto the card !! #18 was just a straightforward 3 putt to add insult to injury... the wheels well and truly fell off, I just couldn't stop the bleeding and ended up playing like a 20 odd handicapper (no disresepect)
So to make a long story even longer ... I look at my h/c of 11 and think to myself I'm a much better player than that .... then I look at the calamities and think that they're aren't too many 11 h/c's that would've let that happen .. so all in all there's far more than meets the eye when you judge the ability of someone based on their stated handicap ....
*crash* ........ oooops that's just my broken dreams ...
I'm playing 2-3 times a week, making a point of getting 30mins practice on putting/chipping greens before I go out, anyway the heel of the hunt being my scoring hasn't improved a jot. I'm still tracking around on average 80 - 85, but get this ... I'm playing so much better. If I analyse my scorecard now I find that I don't bogey as many holes, I bag 2/3 birds a round... but and the big but .... I'm having 3 or 4 absolute calamities - doubles, triples which usually follow within a hole or a couple of holes of one another..
Point in case was last Sunday's qualifying for President's Day - front nine was so so - turned +6, proceeded to go - bird, par, bird, bird. So now I'm motoring, playing to a standard that I know I'm capable of .... good enough golf to be considered the play of a very low handicapper ....
#14 is a 605 yard par 5 (downhill), 3rd shot was 90 yard lob wedge, which I shanked OB ended with a double. #15 par 5 greenside in two - thinned pitch into bunker, left it in there with next and put another double on the card. # 17 172 yard par3, pulled an 8iron straight OB broke the nib of the pen as I scratched a triple onto the card !! #18 was just a straightforward 3 putt to add insult to injury... the wheels well and truly fell off, I just couldn't stop the bleeding and ended up playing like a 20 odd handicapper (no disresepect)
So to make a long story even longer ... I look at my h/c of 11 and think to myself I'm a much better player than that .... then I look at the calamities and think that they're aren't too many 11 h/c's that would've let that happen .. so all in all there's far more than meets the eye when you judge the ability of someone based on their stated handicap ....
*crash* ........ oooops that's just my broken dreams ...