Tell us about your game today...

First topic message reminder :

Fresh thread - you know the score: share some of your tales of woe, indifference and banditry with us all.

Due to the weather and one of the guys recovering from illness we went of at 7.30 yesterday and viewed the game in front with some trepidation.3 gents 1 ladies trolleys being pulled not pushed and walked like they were building the bridge over the river kwai.Luckily one found the hay on the second and we were through.As we passed one of the lads pulled out a foil packet and started eating his sandwiches!As we were walking up 18 at about 10.45 they had just teed off on 11.That would be 3 hours 15 minutes for 10 holes in the blistering heat.Probably the worst slow play I have ever seen in the context of no rough to speak of after the third hole.To be fair they had let a couple of other games through.
Played pretty poor its links type shots required now and only worked it out on the back nine when it as too late.Had a chat with the junior organiser after and he has a 15 year old lass gone down from 17 to 7 since the start of the season just starting the school hols and all the min comps so be interesting to see where she finishes the season at.Hits a drive 250!

Due to the weather and one of the guys recovering from illness we went of at 7.30 yesterday and viewed the game in front with some trepidation.3 gents 1 ladies trolleys being pulled not pushed and walked like they were building the bridge over the river kwai.Luckily one found the hay on the second and we were through.As we passed one of the lads pulled out a foil packet and started eating his sandwiches!As we were walking up 18 at about 10.45 they had just teed off on 11.That would be 3 hours 15 minutes for 10 holes in the blistering heat.Probably the worst slow play I have ever seen in the context of no rough to speak of after the third hole.To be fair they had let a couple of other games through.
Played pretty poor its links type shots required now and only worked it out on the back nine when it as too late.Had a chat with the junior organiser after and he has a 15 year old lass gone down from 17 to 7 since the start of the season just starting the school hols and all the min comps so be interesting to see where she finishes the season at.Hits a drive 250!

Spent last two days playing a UK Seniors (UKSGA) event at Sundridge Park, Bromley. 2 courses, though we only played the East, par 71 sss72 6500ish yards. I'm told West is shorter and tighter. Well worth a visit if anyone is in the area. Good nick and very friendly club.

Beautiful day spent golfing. My course (Leatherhead) hasn't been in better condition for a decade. Thanks to new owners investment and in particular a wonderful new head greenkeeper.

I play a lot of competition/qualifying golf, probably too much, and it was really nice just to play for the crack.

Few beers and a sandwich after topped off a lovely relaxing day which reminds you why it is you took up golf in the first place. Only 25 or so years until I can retire and do it everyday.

Finally in the winners circle tonight after last season's bundle of runner-up spots. 3man team event at my away club, better ball (nett) format and we played some great stuff (two 5 handicappers and a 20 handicapper), shooting -10 scratch and -18 nett to win by 3 shots. Really pleased with my game after a month off from competitive golf after getting a bit fed up. Long game was decent, few loose ones but was going for a lot of shots. Pitching from inside 50 yards was good, short game good, and holing out solid too. Made 5 birdies including one on the 2nd (our last - shotgun start) which included my shot of the day, a six iron from the edge of the whins from 190 to three feet. LOVE GOLF AGAIN! ( At least until the medal tomorrow).

Thoroughly enjoyable day around Saunton East yesterday in the company of Plunky and Mr Plunky. One of those halcyon days where it doesn't matter what you score, you get reminded of why you love the game, sunshine, a mere zephyr of a breeze, fast fairways and holding greens. Have to say the change in the nature of the course since my last visit has been remarkable. At Easter the water table was still full to overflowing and there was standing water on some fairways, a few months later and the fairways are now auditioning for a place in the Gobi desert!!

The golf? well, a lot of encouragement to be taken for Sundays comp. Mr & Mrs Plunky should now be well practiced in the phrase "Nice Par". A knifed chip from an awkward like just off the 9th green resulting in a double was the only blemish on the card before the 14th. Reloads on the 14th and 18th prevented a really good score but in saying that, I didn't want to peak too early for Sunday's 36 holer

I enjoyed watching with interest as my transatlantic guests adapted to proper links golf. An impressive chip from the rough by Plunky on the 8th and an insanely good use of the Texas wedge from the most awkward of positions on the 16th by Mr Plunky was great to see . I do hope both enjoyed the day and I look forward to being reciprocated at Bethpage sometime in the relatively near future.

And we had a terrific time !  Never seen so many consecutive pars other than on TV.  We have fallen in love with links golf and have already booked a time to play the west course later this week.  Thanks again JAS -- good luck tomorrow and hope to see you in NY soon !  

Sounds good ladies and gents.Just the four thousand miles for the return match!

Brief but had a real good back nine in the week dropped just two.Then did the same on the front nine yesterday,so four over for 18.Sadly thats not the way it works !Ended up loosing out to the two others yesterday by one shot.One made 3 birdies and the other four hit the stick full on one of the par threes out of our sight from the tee but we heard it.Encouraging though

Oh the perils of playing practice rounds!!!

After shooting 77 round Saunton West yesterday I felt I was in fine fettle for today, like Friday on the East I had 2 reloads (on 5 &14).

So with expectations way to high I had a shocking start this morning, infact a jumbo jet start (7,4,7). Began to play better from 8 onwards, so gets to 14 and like yesterday pulled a big left, reload and boomed one down the line. Went for a cursory look in the knee high stuf and lo and behold I saw the unmistakable big blue cross that I use to mark my ball. I somehow managed to hack it about 20 feet then onto the fairway, and subsequently the green, as I went to mark it to clean it on the green the horrible truth became clear...it wasn't my Titleist 3 original...it was my Titleist 8 from yesterday...aaaarrrgghh!!! So a DQ

Not a great start to the afternoon round and another 0.1 was beckoning, started striking the ball really well and 4 over through 3 became 4 over thru 6, I was turning it round... Then came a couple of brainfart holes and all of a sudden 9 over at the turn. Came back in 38 which included 3 3putts. So 83 net 77 (with a triple) so should comfortably make the buffer as CSS was projecting at 75 when I left. Not exactly what I'd hoped for but some positives to take away.

JAS - wrong ball is a real p....r! Unlucky, especially with same marking, and original owner!
I had similar scoring experience at Sundridge Park in a 2 day event this week. One of them was a gross 80 nett 75, CSS 75 but with 2 stableford adjustments for 3 over 7s on par 4s I actually got cut, but it didn't feel good.
Anyway keep smiling, always next time. And we'll done owning up to the wrong ball - some would have chanced it!!!!

Why was it a DQ JAS? Yeah, you played the wrong ball but once it is realised it becomes a two shot penalty and you go to the original ball or in this case the provisional. All shots played with the wrong ball are cancelled and you would have been playing six with your next shot.

Cheers Puligny, and no way would I have contemplated chancing it once I realised it. When I realised it Grumps I was on the green in 4. I had long since picked up my provisional so I'd have had to walk 440 yards back to the tee in a heavy shower ( btw I think it's a 2 shot penalty EVERY time you hit the wrong ball so I'd have been playing something like 11 off the tee). Also I was heading for a 0.1 anyway and due to a late withdrawal we were a 2 ball and my playing partner was on a decent score. Its never a good thing to do but in the circumstances the best course of action was to take the DQ on the chin.

Nr'd on Saturday after 10 when only +4. What an idiot. Minus 1 for remaining holes.

Got you JAS. I think you're wrong about the strokes counting though as that would be overly penal in my opinion. Think we need someone like GolferMartin to weigh in on this one. I think you might have been entitled to put the provisional back where it was under a 1(?) shot penalty as you inadvertently lifted what became the ball in play.

Two Man Scramble on Saturday, partner and I were 1 under gross standing on 15th tee.. finished 3 over. D'oh!

hit 14 greens in regulation yesterday yet only shot +6. 3 poor shots and 3 doubles cost me.
chipping has been decent recently but hitting so many greens usually makes me jittery when i do have them
thinned one chip into a bunker and didnt get up and down and thinned another over the other side of green into a hazard -did well to make double on that one actually!
other double was a drive OB.
i only 1 putted 2 greens i hit in regulation- thankfully both par 3s so i'm in the money twice for the 2s , something to show for my efforts at least!

I bought my new clubs on Saturday morning, and hit the course with my Dad to play 9 holes.

I'd been on the range earlier in the day with them, and the adjustment was quite easy.

I shot a +4 over for the nine, which I was really happy with. The clubs were lovely, and responsive. However, my main improvement was with my driver. It's the first time I've used my driver on the course in about 2 years, but I've been hammering away with it on the the range. I drove my first ever par 4 too which was great.

super_realist wrote:Nr'd on Saturday after 10 when only +4. What an idiot. Minus 1 for remaining holes.

Why did you NR?

Don't really know Mac, wasn't enjoying it, just picked my ball up. Don't really enjoy competitions anymore. Hadn't played for a month and wasn't swinging it too well so lost interest.

Sad to hear you are not enjoying the game super. Maybe you need to make use of the great matchplay qualities of the old course and play some fun after work matchplay games with your mates.

or How about getting yourself onto cruden bay if you are still stuck up north.

Mac, I still love the game, just losing the enjoyment from playing medals.
Was still nice however to play TOC with all the scoreboards and stuff up. Even though it's playing very short. Expect some low scoring this week.

Still love Matchplay even though TOC is a poor Matchplay course, but can't be arsed with strokeplay really, prefer bounce games with the lads.

Golf is a game that is meant to be fun, no point beating yourself up about your performance. I have never played in a proper club competition, but I feel it would take away the enjoyment factor. Mr super realist, just get back to enjoying it as a game no matter what happens.

Though dont necessarily listen to me as i am bobbins.

I have improved my ability to enjoy golf immeasurably, but bizarrely only in comps. Very rarely go and play the game for the sake of it on my own this year (other than 45 mins putting and/or chipping every so often). Fortunately there have been a lot of comps and I've been allowed 2 knocks a weekend quite frequently.

Ben's right and it is about fun. I think enjoy was number one target this year. Putting a card together can be good, but if it's not fun at the moment then stick to the bounce games. Makes it easier to go for and pull off those risk and reward shots that (when they work) are world class and ignite the spark of enjoyment that might be missing when trying to craft a score over 3/4 hours. They're often funnier when they go wrong in a bounce too!

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Got you JAS. I think you're wrong about the strokes counting though as that would be overly penal in my opinion. Think we need someone like GolferMartin to weigh in on this one. I think you might have been entitled to put the provisional back where it was under a 1(?) shot penalty as you inadvertently lifted what became the ball in play.

Since strokes plural played with a wrong ball do not count, it is a two stroke penalty for the one infringement. Also I'm fairly sure that since the one act resulted in the breaking of two rules: ie hitting a wrong ball and picking up what transpired to be the ball in play, only the more severe penalty applies - 2 strokes.

Thanks GM

Played for our B team last night for the 2nd time. Started on 10 and 4 down after 7. Playing against an 8 and 11 h'cap who it transpires played off 4 n 5 a few years ago. Managed a good run of holes on our back 9 (2 under gross) to get it back to level going up the last (par 3 167yds) where our opposition kindly spanked their balls into the boondocks for the most unlikely win I've ever been involved in. After 10 holes my partner said he'd be happy with a half and I replied I'd be happy at just 2 down, so to win on the last was a great buzz. the oppos were not best pleased tho...

cruised a little bumpily into the semis of the club singles knockout last night v's a solid 11 handicapper. i got off to a solid start, lovely 7iron on the second hole to 6 feet and holed, and a great 2iron to 20 feet on 4 for a kick in birdie and a few pars and a couple of bogeys later went 4up through 8. pegged back to 2up with some sloppy play on 9, 10 and 11, but finished strongly parring 12-15 all with good birdie chances, but enough for a 4&3 win. my opponent certainly didn't play his best, but had me sweating a little after 11. pleased i was able to refind my focus and hit every fairway and green from there on to close out.

end to a good fortnight of golf for me, 6 competitive rounds, 1 team comp win, 1 win and a 2nd place in medals (1st scratch in all three too), a couple of steady but forgettable medals and topped by progressing to the semis in the knockout for the first time - not to mention getting down to my lowest ever exact hcp - 4.6. glad my 5 week break from competitive play has paid off!

bounce game tomorrow and another one or two during the week, so a chance to work on one or two of the slight issues creeping back with my long game for now.

Same old same old for me, lost my quarter final singles on Thurs 2&1 to the club champ. Was holding my own until my back went properly on 12th tee (it was twinging from the 1st). Struggled on (grunting like Monica Seles on each shot) but ultimately to no avail. Got an Osteopath treatment straight after (turns out I'd popped 2 ribs out) and spent yesterday resting, icing and consuming Voltarol.

Started a bit gingerly today, went up a club on distances and swung easily...lo and behold level par at the turn...Got to the 12th tee, just 1 over. For some inexplicable reason on the teeshot I contorted into a hideous snap hook o.o.b. Almost repeated it with the 3 off the tee. Ended up scraping a triple, raging at myself because it was clearly a head thing. Had a couple of further unlucky breaks and ended up 7 over...so much promise, so much disappointment. Our course is famed for having a good score through 12 then the back 6 completely burning the handicap and then some. Played some good stuff coming back despite dropping another 3 shots. the 12th ain't a stroke hole so if the CSS stays as normal I should sneak a wee 0.2 to get me back to 6

Club championship net yesterday.An evil pin position on the par 5 second resulted in an 8( edge of the green in 3),approach shot hit a swan on 4 for another dropped shot,chip hit the pin 5.All going wrong so 8 over on the front nine.Act together on the back with 6 single putts and Im 10 over on the 17th tee.Pushed the tee shot right into the base of a tree no shot double bogey,again on the last second shot hit the smallest tree and came back at me, ran up a triple with an OB third shot trying the impossible. Very trying but still enjoyed it.Playing once a week only again now so looking forward to the games more.

decent game on saturday. friendly 4bbb. off to a solid start with a par. then flushed a 6 iron to 2 feet on 2 for a nice bird. dropped a shot after a sloppy drive on 3, but got it straight back after a good drive and nice 6 iron into the par 5 fourth. missed a 6 foot birdie putt on 5 and an thought i'd left another stone dead on the par 3 sixth. turned out i left a slippery 5 footer back to the hole which i also missed. disapointing bogey on 7, again a sloppy tee shot, then went awol on 8 after a great drive went for the green in two and pushed my 3 wood into the jungle. chipped out into a bunker and ended up taking 7... straight back with a birdie at 9 after a super 3wood off the tee into the wind and a nice little gap wedge to 8 feet. smashed a 6 iron up 10 to 4 feet and dribbled the putt left... great drive up 11, 5iron to pin high and solid 2 putt for par on s.i.1. messed up 12 a little - poor drive again leaving too much work - and took bogey. another bogey on 13 after finding a fairway bunker and then hit a horribly thinned 9iron right of 14 - indecision on the tee... solid enough tee shot on 15 and hit a nice wedge to 4 feet and sunk the putt. dropped a shot on 16 after finding a greenside bunker then finished with two pars, missing from 4 feet and 15 feet for birdies. finished +4 with a major slump from 12-16 (excl. 15) not to mention the double on 8, but also disapointed not to have converted more than 4/8 short birdie chances. thought the one on 18 was in all the way too only for a cheeky horse-shoe. positives to take though - quality of striking with the irons on the whole was excellent with the exception of 14, and distance control was more or less spot on throughout the round

Barra you're a birdie machine, I'm two per round if playing well! Sounds like your game is in good shape. Is that hard work paying off or just everything falling into place?

7 rounds in a fortnight is going to help. Was struggling before that tbh. Got the gap wedge singing from 75-95 yards so trying to leave that sort of distance on a lot of holes. Seems to be working but could do with a bit of driver practice.

Holed a Seven Iron from 160 yards on Saturday. A nice Eagle sandwiched between two birdies. 4-2-2.

21 points yesterday. bloody game...

while navy's been holding the fort...quiet morning by the look of things...i've been out enjoying myself!
managed 11 holes over an extended lunch break. 3 birdies, 7 regulation pars and a dirty double bogey sandwiched in the middle.

Gotta love those doubles!

second time in the last three rounds i've dumped it in a fairway bunker on 9 and flumped it straight into the burn short of the green  need to sort out my long game as my mid irons in are really singing right now (by my standards anyway).

barragan wrote:second time in the last three rounds i've dumped it in a fairway bunker on 9 and flumped it straight into the burn short of the green  need to sort out my long game as my mid irons in are really singing right now (by my standards anyway).

make that 3 times out of the last 4 rounds... fairway bunker on 9 - you know the rest

exciting match today, the final of our group's 4bbb league (13 teams split into 2 leagues playing through the winter, top 2 from each league through to semis and so on). off to a poor start, 3down after 3 losing to birdie,par,par...not so hot. I made a great up and down to steal the 5th with everyone messing around, but we lost 9 (as alluded to in part above) and 3 down at the turn. Really disappointed with my game up to there, had a good rhythm going but was really struggling to hit greens in some fairly fierce blustery conditions. back nine, off to the perfect start, 7iron to 15 feet on 10, par was enough, then I and my partner made use of our shots on 11 with a solid drives and approaches, 2putt par nett birdie back to 1 down. halved the next two, then I dropped a 25 footer for a 2 on the 14th to take it to all square. Hit a great approach into 15 after a slightly wayward tee shot and knocked in the resulting 10 footer for another bird to go 1up. My partner halved the next with nett birdie v nett birdie, and the par 5 17th was halved with birdies all round. Closed out on 18 with a nice approach to 20 feet, our opponents imploded slightly and I wasn't required to putt. Won 2up from 3 down at the turn - a great feeling (for us anyway!). Really pleased with my back nine, a bogey on 12, but three birdies in the last 5 to come home in 33 after going out in a sloppy 43. Really tough conditions too, one of those days you'd expect the css to be at least sss+2 so lots to be positive about heading into next weekend's medal. Just hope I can keep my run of solid scoring going and perhaps get a wee cut which would get me down to 4 for the first time ever

78 - 48 pointer and a 3 shot cut to 16.6 (online handicap tracker)

11 pars, 5 bogeys and a double. 5 over through 6, 3 other for the next 12.

First time I have ever beat 80 so really buzzing at the moment. If only I could hit the fairway from the tee.

48 ,48 points -garlic bread,garlic,bread.

I have no idea what the means I'm afraid. Sorry

Probably some reference to 48 points being totally outrageous. I shot my best round yesterday ever ... for 44 pts where honestly I was a little embarrassed - even though I felt I missed a couple of points I maybe should have got I couldn't possibly even dream of getting an extra 4 points on top of the round I played.

If you say you didn't hit enough fairways and still score 48 points (12 shots better than handicap!) then I'd suggest your handicap is even more unrealistic than mine

very disappointing end to my run in the singles matchplay on friday evening - fell victim to a new member with a new handicap of '12', who would have absolutely wiped the floor with both the 11 handicappers i faced in previous rounds. didn't feel like i played particularly well, but on reflection that was due to the fact i was really having to elevate my expectations of myself throughout the match as he banged in birdies, par nett birdies and a lot of pars... so, 5 down after 10, my opponent 1 under gross, i picked up 11 and 12 thanks to a super birdie on our s.i. 1, and a solid par on the next - also a toughie, but got into a little trouble on the next (annoyingly my opponent was about 30 yards further off target with his drive but could go over the trees i needed to thread my way through), and shook hands on the 14th. Can't be too hard on myself, I was only +3 (-1 hcp), but totally spanked by a guy who struck iron after iron as sweet as could be, chipped solidly, and holed some outrageous putts - sure most nights not all of them would drop, but its the consistency of ball striking that makes me frustrated at what clearly was a dubious handicap. haven't come across many 12 handicappers who make two 2s in a round (lipped out for a third 2 on the closing hole from 10 feet)! i feel robbed! i've played some really solid golf throughout the five rounds, never worse than level handicap in any of the matches, but was bulldozed by a bandit (see the underlined above). even our pro warned me about the guy, seems he's been lower at previous clubs, same old story. hey ho, i'd rather be off 4.6 than off 12 i guess - got to look on the brightside.


one final closing note before i rest my case - i asked him after the game if he'd had some good tight matches leading up to the semi? 'no, not really', was the reply 'won a couple 5&4, one 7&6, and another 9&8'...

Davie wrote:Probably some reference to 48 points being totally outrageous. I shot my best round yesterday ever ... for 44 pts where honestly I was a little embarrassed - even though I felt I missed a couple of points I maybe should have got I couldn't possibly even dream of getting an extra 4 points on top of the round I played.

If you say you didn't hit enough fairways and still score 48 points (12 shots better than handicap!) then I'd suggest your handicap is even more unrealistic than mine

My course is really open, but my miss at weekend was I kept topping the drive, so it went straight just short. I have only shot under 90 4 times this year with my best score ever being 82 before the weekend. I'm not really sure what happened at the weekend but short game was excellent with only 28 putts.

As I have said before I don't play competitively so my handicap is based on every round being recorded on Todays Golfer Online Handicap.

still at carrickknowe nay? good scoring!

Yes, still playing at Carrickknowe.

Cheers, hopefully a sign of things to come though I suspect normal service will resume next week of trying to beat 90 again.

had a lovely run of seven consecutive 3's from 9-15 last time i played there - good times!

barragan wrote:very disappointing end to my run in the singles matchplay on friday evening - fell victim to a new member with a new handicap of '12', who would have absolutely wiped the floor with both the 11 handicappers i faced in previous rounds. didn't feel like i played particularly well, but on reflection that was due to the fact i was really having to elevate my expectations of myself throughout the match as he banged in birdies, par nett birdies and a lot of pars... so, 5 down after 10, my opponent 1 under gross, i picked up 11 and 12 thanks to a super birdie on our s.i. 1, and a solid par on the next - also a toughie, but got into a little trouble on the next (annoyingly my opponent was about 30 yards further off target with his drive but could go over the trees i needed to thread my way through), and shook hands on the 14th. Can't be too hard on myself, I was only +3 (-1 hcp), but totally spanked by a guy who struck iron after iron as sweet as could be, chipped solidly, and holed some outrageous putts - sure most nights not all of them would drop, but its the consistency of ball striking that makes me frustrated at what clearly was a dubious handicap. haven't come across many 12 handicappers who make two 2s in a round (lipped out for a third 2 on the closing hole from 10 feet)! i feel robbed! i've played some really solid golf throughout the five rounds, never worse than level handicap in any of the matches, but was bulldozed by a bandit (see the underlined above). even our pro warned me about the guy, seems he's been lower at previous clubs, same old story. hey ho, i'd rather be off 4.6 than off 12 i guess - got to look on the brightside.


one final closing note before i rest my case - i asked him after the game if he'd had some good tight matches leading up to the semi? 'no, not really', was the reply 'won a couple 5&4, one 7&6, and another 9&8'...

Ouch Barra!! that's a sore one to take. I had a similar one last year and it's frustrating when you're playing well but you know fine well you're not playing on a level playing field (which is supposed to be what the handicap system provides). I did ask a competition committee member afterwards to check if his handicap was genuine (it was, he was just on a big improvement curve last season although the amount of medals he actually played leading into the early rounds was the minimal he could get away with).

How your bandit has marched through the previous rounds and how he played yesterday suggests that your handicap and Competition Committee may want to take a closer look at his playing record (e.g. has he played enough medals to be active?) and have a "quiet word" with him.

Blinding game yesterday. -4 and could have been -7 or 8. Most greens I've hit in ages.
New regular shafts really doing the business.