Scoring Patterns

[Hey_Porter]

Today exemplified my frustrations with the game, and it was fairly typical. I shot an 87, with a 47 on the front and a 40 on the back. The difference between sides isn't what concerns me, it's the way I got to those scores. This was what the score card looked like:
Par-Quad-Triple-Par-Bogey-Triple-Par-Par-Par
Bogey-Par-Double-Par-Par-Par-Par-Double-Birdie

In sum:
Birdies = 1
Pars = 10
Bogeys = 2
Doubles = 2
Triples = 2
Quad = 1

As I mentioned, this tends to be what my scorecard looks like, minus the quad, and usually no triples: a good amount of pars, a few scattered bogeys, then I throw in few doubles for good measure. What the hell? Is this normal? I only vaguely remember when I last played to a 13 or so ten years ago (I improved to a 7 before I stopped playing), but I seem to recall that scoring high had a lot more to do with having trouble making par and knotching a lot of bogeys than it did the blow up holes I'm having now. I'm well aware that consistency is the problem, but this just seems like too much. I can't even go out and pin point one area of my game that especially needs work. I.e., it might be nicer if I shot an 87 and could say "yea, my iron play was horrible today," or "I suck at putting." Instead, my iron play will be great for a 10-11 holes, my short game will suck 5-6 holes, can't get off the tee, etc. The other thing that frustrates me is on for instance the course I played today, there are maybe two holes where I step up to the tee box and am pretty sure I can't make easy par (one is a par 4 long enough that I can't reach in two without hitting driver, but the tee shot is set up so you HAVE to hit dead straight or fade it (at best I have a slight draw), the other is long, has an extremely narrow landing area, and a long uphill second shot)). Otherwise, I feel confident enough that I step up to the box and expect par. This is all just frustration, and I know that consistency is obviously what's keeping me down, but I just think that one of the many times out this past summer I should have been able to put it all together and score low (relatively).

But with all of that ranting, I'm still curious, you mid-handicappers out there, what is your scoring pattern like?

[41eater]

I consider myself a mid-handicapper (about an 8).

It's pretty simple for me. When I score well I avoid the doubles, triples, and worse. When I don't score well those big numbers stack up. Birdies, pars, bogies -- they all kind of come out in the wash. So one of my goals for every round is to have nothing worse than bogey.

After every round I mentally replay the doubles-or-worse holes to try to figure out why they happened. If it's a bad shot I can live with that -- I'm not good enough to expect to hit every shot well. Sometimes, though, it's a bad shot followed by a poor choice followed by another poor choice. Getting rid of those follow-on mistakes, as I think of them, is one of my goals.

Example: Last weekend I hit a semi-poor drive on a dogleg left that was underneath some branches from the trees that protect the corner. I had to chip out to about 100 yards. A bit irritated by the drive, I didn't really commit to the chip out (a poor choice). I stubbed it into a bush, had to take an unplayable, then wedged onto the green and two-putted for a double. This kind of mistake is something that real low handicappers don't make. They play the chip out correctly and wedge onto the green to get a putt for par. Every time they do that.

[KingGordy]

Your scoring pattern is pretty similar to mine OP. For me it comes down to the driver. I hit it long but crooked, so when I'm keeping the ball in play I usually have like 125 or less into the green, so I typically make pars as long as I keep it on the course, but I have a few holes a round where I bomb it OB, lost ball, trees etc. so I make double or worse on those holes and end up in the 80's.

[black knight]

When you're inconsistent, you're going to have 'blow' up holes due to penalty strokes. OB and water. Why are you so surprised? My dad is between a 13 and 18 (depending on how he's played the last month :P), and his good rounds are like 6-8 over because he avoids doubles and is making a lot of pars, but days like today (shot 17 over, +5 in the last 3holes) he might snap a 2nd shot ob, or put himself into jail on a simple hole. These things happen when you're >14 cap.

Conversely, as a scratch, my good rounds are generally lots of birdies and maybe only one bogey...the good rounds have birdie putts nearly every hole, and my scrambling will be very good. However, bad days (like +6 or whatever), I'm struggling for par and missing my birdie putts. Sometimes they'll include a double from an OB or something, or sometimes I just hit one bad shot that puts me in jail.

If you don't play/practice a lot, and aren't really consistent, you have to expect bad shots to cost you a good score.

[ArcticKnight]

Scoring patterns for me are pretty predictable. I am average/below average length off the tee (240y driver, 140y 8 iron) and play to about a 10 handicap.

My card will tend to look like 1 birdie, one double, and the rest are pars and bogeys.

Almost always my score is reflective of how well I play from 60 yards in, including putting. If the short game is on then I get 77-79, if not, then 84-85. I hardly shoot less than 76 or more than 86, but that tight range really comes from keeping the ball in play off the tee. Also, I'm a good lag putter (few three putts), but not so hot at the 8-20 foot range. I'm not agressive enough with my putting weight.

[Butcho22]

A quad and two triples makes for a rough day, lolz.

Care to explain those shot-by-shot for the hell of it?

[bonds]

I've typed up and deleted a couple responses before posting, mostly because I wasn't quite sure how to respond. So here's an inflammatory comment: Course management is overrated as an issue for mid 'cappers.

For me it's not so much a question of course management as it is of execution. My scores have been all over the map the last month or so and a lot of the painful rounds have been ones where I just can't take care of business on simple shots. When you don't know where or how far a shot is going to go, that's an execution problem. When you can't get the ball anywhere on the green from a good lie on a greenside bunker, that's an execution problem. When you three putt from inside two feet, that's an execution problem. When you can't manage to chip out of the trees through a giant gap, that's an execution problem. I've done all of those things and they've resulted in double bogeys or worse.

A poorly executed shot (e.g. mishitting a standard shot from the fairway and dumping it in the bunker) will often compound itself. A lot of the time this isn't the result of bad course management - it's just a bad shot.

When I can control the ball, my card is mostly pars and bogeys with the occasional birdie - I don't get up and down often enough to be a low 'capper. When I can't execute standard shots, bogey is a good score and everything else tends to be an 'other'.

[black knight]

Just from my personal experience playing with a lot of mid to high handicappers, I think that management is UNDERrated. Of course it's important to be able to execute shots, but given that you can't change that on the course, the biggest influence you DO have control over - and one that is very very easy to work on - is course management. It's rarely ever practiced, or even thought about as something you CAN practice...but it is, and you can.

Here's a great example. You're on a 490 par 5 and you hit your drive 260 into the fairway. There's trees left and right, but no other real trouble...what do you hit for your second shot?

[bonds]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's a great example. You're on a 490 par 5 and you hit your drive 260 into the fairway. There's trees left and right, but no other real trouble...what do you hit for your second shot?

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, I'm going to pretend that we're talking about my game. That's a pretty decent drive, but not unrealistic.

230 left to the middle of the green. Going left or right is trouble, will likely drop at least one shot. I do not hit 3 wood well, although the distance is borderline reachable. A good shot would likely leave a chip or short pitch. Assuming this is just regular play for score, I'm likely to pass on the 3 wood - too much variance left and right and the 20-40 yard pitch resulting from a good but not great shot is not a strength.

One optimal wedge distance for me is 80 yards. To get there, assuming a middle pin, I need 150 yards, which (assuming little to no wind) means one of two shots - a full 7 iron or a punched 4 or 5 iron. The punch shot has lower horizontal (left or right) variance but greater distance variance than the 7 iron. Assuming that I'm having a decent ballstriking day, I'll take the punch shot to minimize the risk of shot loss - it doesn't make that much difference if I'm at 70, 80, 90 or 100 yards, a wedge from the fairway is a high percentage shot.

Okay, sensei?

ETA: When I say course management is overrated, I'm basing my opinion on a pretty limited sample size. I mostly play with 6-14 handicaps and I don't feel like I see all that many glaring mental errors. There are some - being overagressive on long putts, for one - but I see more execution errors.

[black knight]

Yeah, that's exactly how you should be thinking...but I've NEVER played with a 12+ handicapper who did that...they all hit 3iron or some sort of wood trying to get it as close as possible...when even if they hit it good and leave themselves 40yds short, they SUCK from that distance anyway...so they should just hit it to a good full-ish wedge and try that...but I find that thought process to be amazingly rare.