48 Stableford points

[Singapore Joe]

How's that for a statistical anomaly!

Haven't been playing (or spending time at the forum) much over the last couple of years and frustratingly, the game hasn't got any better no matter how much I don't practice. The HC index has climbed to 17.1 (went as high as 17.5) as I have been posting the rounds no matter how embarrassing the scores. The highest slope played to in the last 20 rounds has been 26.9 and the lowest (minus this round) 16.7. The lowest HC I have ever played to was around 11.

Went to a golf trip to Thailand over Christmas where I played almost every day for about three weeks, and had a sort of a swing epiphany. It just all got together.

Today was the first round back home and I scored 40+40=80. Don't think I have ever shot anything below 85 in my life and recently even breaking hundred has been a struggle. With Slope 135 and scratch rate 71, that gave me 48 Stableford points and is equivalent of playing to slope 7.5.

Good thing there was no money involved as this could have looked seriously bad but I just can't get my head around this thing. Golf scores are pretty statistical and this kind of deviations just do not happen.

Now, what's going to happen next? Am I going to keep the form or get back to the 'normal' and drive myself to a mental asylum trying to figure out how to reproduce the round?

[mdthornton]

First of all, congrats on the great round. Hopefully going forward, this frees you up mentally (at least a little) as you clearly have the physical ability to shoot lower numbers.

Out of interest, what did the new WHS make of your round? Did you get an “adjustment”?

[Singapore Joe]

Thank you. I think the important revelation from the round was that to shoot low(ish), one doesn't need to attack like crazy. A round like that "only" had two birdies but also three double bogies plus a number of bogies. Just playing steady and staying out of major trouble is enough. Plus a stroke or two of good luck.

I'm in Australia so the WHS won't kick in until January 20. Until that, the HC is calculated from the eight best scores of the last twenty rounds, adjusted by the Daily Scratch Rate and multiplied by 0.93. As a result, the HC went from 17.1 to 15.6. Under the WHS I would presumably have been assigned an additional two stroke adjustment but I need to try this again after January 20 to find out whether it happens. I presume that's a perfectly valid excuse to cancel a longish overseas business trip ;)

[aramirez24]

Awesome stuff. That would be a net 28 for me in my monthly league. You're right people would probably flip!

 

Still looking for my aha moment.

[Singapore Joe]

Re: aha moment, have you tried a three-week golf trip to Pattaya, Thailand? Seems to work wonders. The downside is I get a lot of strange looks and people put on rubber gloves before talking to me after hearing I've recently been there "to play golf". I also know people who go there "to play golf" and don't even bother taking clubs with them ;) Unfortunately it's quite expensive right now (I am talking of actual golf) so the value isn't quite what it used to be.

[aramirez24]

LMAO I will tell my wife I need to go to Thailand for my game.

[Singapore Joe]

It's actually your duty as a global citizen. The tourism is down big time so you have to do what you can to contribute to the global economy and fiscal equality. What's good for the world is good for the individuals as well.

I was paired up with some Canadians who had come to Pattaya with their wives to play without knowing the type of area it is and got a great, cheap accommodation deal. As if golf wasn't enough to get your a divorce in normal times... There are nice and family friendly areas but also lots of areas that definitely are not.

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

I feel you OP. Played 9 holes as a single the last two days and had a 42 and a 44. Usually, I’m hovering between 46 and 54 on that tough course (narrow fairways, water everywhere). I could have scored even lower today, hit two balls in the water.

I’m playing on Sunday with two buddies and expect my game to fold big time. It’s the law. Golf is just a big mystery.

 

Enjoy the epiphany!

[Singapore Joe]

So, how did your game go today?

I played 41 SF points which I'm happy with but the game was a bit of a struggle. Had a bad start and from that on everything was a bit off and had to grind and grind. Just didn't get that feel of ease of the last round. Let's see what happens on Tuesday, going to be a black tee challenge at the same course (The Dunes Golf Links that is) which means it will be crazy long and very tough. Fun, for a suitable definition of "fun" ;)

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

What do you think? ;)

Stopped keeping my personal score after a few holes but won the four ball game thanks mostly to my buddy’s performance.

It went the same like your round: a bad first tee shot, couple putts not going in and the round doesn’t get rolling. But I know this is purely a mental thing, so looking forward to next time.

41 Stableford is great! Congrats man.

[Singapore Joe]

Thanks :) Meanwhile, I came crashing down back to earth. Played the black tee challenge and was totally murdered. At about 7065 yards, misbehaving driver - I mean, a round of seriously bad drives - is not what one wants especially when one is not exactly tour long to start with. Then the bad luck (for the lack of a more suitable but polite word) starts piling up and one simply runs out of ability to plan and execute. At 5:30h of waiting and griding, it was also mentally very taxing. Had a strategy in mind to give myself a number of easy third shots to the greens and eliminate big numbers but with awful drives execution of the strategy didn't happen. I was probably subconsciously holding back due to a back injury but also let the course intimidate myself. There are some positives to take home but in general I'm just happy to be out of there alive.

[doctormizuno]

The previously stated “you don’t always have to attack” rings true. My iron game was off, I knew it couldn’t be me,

so I bought a new set of irons. I wanted to get used to them and dial in the distances, so I went out to play and had

decided I wasn’t going to hit anything longer than a 6 iron. 1st hole Par 5, 6 iron, 6 iron and a 7 iron. Guess who was

putting for birdie. That kinda continued for most of the day. A lot of par 4’s I couldn’t reach in 2, so just pitch on with

a wedge and 1 or 2 putt. I was in no bunkers, made no double bogeys and hit every fairway. Shot very close to what

I would consider my normal range. Bottom line, it was a very fun round.

[swh0507]

Have a buddy who is a legit GHIN 26 HC. We play in a league that doesn't use official handicap, but does handicap based on scores for the year. Several weeks in he was getting 14 (9 holes), so fairly close to his actual HC. Stars aligned and he shot a gross 39 (par 35). He threw up a net 25 on the guy. I told him if he gets punched he was on his own.

[Singapore Joe]

Steady golf is only boring and annoying when played by one's playing partners, and watched by oneself from the woods and hazards.

[Singapore Joe]

Was your friend able to maintain that streak afterwards?

[swh0507]

Definitely not. We played the other nine the next week, he sunk a five foot putt on the last hole to shoot 50. 1st time he ever broke 90.

[Singapore Joe]

Seems that my reign is also coming to an end. 32 points yesterday but my official excuse is that the back is still troubling me. Unfortunately that doesn't go well with the actual events on the course - really good driving but couldn't drop a putt if my life depended on it. This would be a horrible game if one ran out of excuses and had to blame himself for bad shots.

Not sure if this is a tall person thing (i'm 6'4" and mostly made of arms and legs) but I need to put the ball a bit forward in address - about a ball width more than usually instructed - to hit it well. That then tends to cause a ball flight to the right (I play leftie) for which I have to compensate in the aiming. A ball just a bit too far forward produces highly entertaining shot outcomes but hardly contributes to low scores. My mission this week is to get organised with an instructor and start fixing that damn swing. Don't seem to be able to do it without assistance.

[CanaryKid]

To be honest, whenever I see scores of 40+ points, I think BANDIT! However, you have shown that it can genuinely be done ... congrats. But a genuine score of that magnitude must be a rarity indeed.