How seriously do you take your game?

[Under2hours]

On here and other sites too often & think too much about the game. Love the game and getting out whenever I can. Conversely I don't practice and because of weather here, don't play for 6 months.

The range I never bother with and while I want to score, it means little until I add it up at the end and more important is simply striking the ball well and hitting good putts. I will replay the round in my head, but would never put it down on a scorecard and then review as to where I could review.

No club ho, no idea about lofts & lies or what is right for me. Solid set of clubs, mostly bought used or a few years in the bag. I refuse Demo Days as I don't want to be seduced into $2,000 in new clubs. Lessons would mean a change in my swing and sorry at 56 no interest (maybe a tweak max, but that would be all).

Here though we run the gamut. Reading how upset some people are about one bad round is interesting. I may have posted a similar thread as just a throwaway, but nothing that bothered me to no end like some threads I read, where people just seem distraught after a bad round.

So where do you stand?

[Ferguson]

53%

[LeftDaddy]

Very serious. Too serious. I am obsessed with golf and getting better.

[Santiago Golf]

Im an instructor and i take it somewhat seriously. I dont mind shooting a bad number, but i get fustrated when i make multiple bad swings in a row (im talking foul balls, not miss hits) or i dont grind out a round. I dont get that frustated because my practice is 20 balls/10 minutes of putting before work and i play 6 holes twice week, play 18 maybe once a month. When i was younger and practicing 3+ hours a day and playing 27+ a day, i think i had a right to get mad when my game never did really improve much or the slight improvement didnt last. Though in the end, no one else cares what you shoot but yourself, so why should anyone get that frustrated unless im watching you tv and you livelyhood is on the line.

 

When i play, i always go through my routine on every shot, its pretty consistent routine as well, and i enjoy playing for some money (though i dont playing games like wolf); i could really care less if i lose, its just money, it just makes me focus more on ever shot and i do play better

[andrue]

Not very. I dislike striking the ball badly and I'd prefer to be more consistent but I've always said that I just want to be good enough to play with a group of people on any golf course and not embarrass myself.

 

It would be nice to get a mid-teens handicap as I feel that anything above 20 is 'not very good at golf' but I don't sweat it. There's plenty of other people with a high handicap and apart from the occasional mis-hit I usually progress the ball a reasonable distance toward the hole.

[SNIPERBBB]

Somewhat serious. Currently at a 6 cap. Usually at the range twice a week once league season kicks in. Had one or two lessons, mostly self taught through books and videos. Bad rounds bother me, until I can get to the range. Certainly I'll never run to the 'net to rant about a bad round

[MelloYello]

Golf is enjoyable, even fun...but nothing compares to arguing on GolfWRX!

[RuffingIt]

I would say i was fair weathered up until my last round this past weekend. I walked on as a solo at a pretty rough track, no one in front or behind, so pretty much had the course to myself. Wasn't keeping score and just wanted to get out and play. Come up to a driver inviting par 4. No punishing penalties missing the fairway for this hole, but of course, i completely foul-ball blocked my tee shot. Typically, i would just take a drop to where i think the ball carried, but I honestly got so triggered for missing such an easy fairway to split. Shamefully, donated a sleeve on the tee and none found anywhere near the fairway. This was the 6th hole, and every part my game just got as bad or a little worse the rest of the round.

 

[powerpushfade]

> @MelloYello said:

> Golf is enjoyable, even fun...but nothing compares to arguing on GolfWRX!

 

Wow you are confrontational for a fellow Upstater!

[cardoustie]

depends on the day or the event and/or who I am playing with

I'm going with 60% ... of the time it works every time

[Moo]

Very serious, but maybe that is not the best word. I'm committed. Committed to playing my best, every single shot.

Why? I love that feeling when I hit a 3 wood from a poor lie 242 yards online to the target. Or when I drain a 12 footer (a 12 footer could be all skill, while a 20 footer is probably skill and a bit of luck).

And, there is no reason for it and there is no objective. I'm not out to beat anyone or play competitive.

 

[taporsnap17]

Somewhat seriously. I'll look for ways to improve, but unfortunately, I'm the "short cut" guy because I don't have the asset to invest what I really need to do to improve which is time (for practice).

 

So I'll do all sorts of reading to try work on different ways of thinking about the game to get better.

[Kevlar10]

I’m probably harder on myself than I am serious about golf. I’ve been pretty athletic my entire life and golf is the one sport that I have never been able to compete to the level that I feel I’m capable of. I can start off parring the front nine or close to it and then implode on the back nine and equally capable of posting a 55 on the front and finishing up in the low nineties. I feel that I lack the focus to perform consistently on every shot. I’m the type of player who can smash a 300 yard drive on one hole and hit a 220 yard banana hook on the next. Recently I have spent more time on the range than on the course because it’s easier to get away or take the kids with me for an hour and a half than it is to play for four plus hours. At the end of the day, I love golf and enjoy the challenge, and I daydream about being able to play at least once a week. As far as seriousness level, I’m probably about 50%.

[BB28403]

100% Commitment. I know the eventual outcome will be good if I am patient and use common sense. To me, it’s not about results , it’s about the journey.

I think when you forget about score as Chevy Chase did in caddy shack. That is true enlightenment. That is true golf.

[GSDriver]

Not as seriously as I take my day job. Golf is an escape of the rest of life for a few hours. I still prefer to play well, but if I don't I certainly don't let that ruin my or my playing partners day.

[Zen_Golfer]

I dont take it all that seriously. I bring whatever swing I have that day and dont get upset when I dont hit a perfect shot. I do want to improve and do want to constantly shoot lower scores but Im also not going to get mad if I dont and dont think about it all that much.

[CircleC29]

I'd have to have game to take it seriously.

 

 

 

Have fun! Enjoy the day.

[jbrunk]

Seriously enough to keep a strokes gained spreadsheet. Not seriously enough to work on my fitness.

[Baitkiller]

30% I try as hard as I can to play well but I do not practice. While playing I will grind it out hard then leave it on the grass. I have come to the stage where I can play any shot on the course and any club in the bag but seldom consecutively it seems. So I post huge numbers, small numbers and hieroglyphics. Any given day I can shoot 82 or 92, heck a 102 isn't out of the picture if Im honest. I'm please with the 82 and resigned for the 92 and blame the 102 squarely where the fault belongs upon Anheuser Busch. . Point is that I am beyond being upset. Maybe its an age thing but I actually I think the real reason is after all these years I finally realized that nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear about it and it really doesn't matter once its over.

[Railroading13]

occupies my thoughts all day, pretty much obsessed, other than family time I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. For me and a lot of people it's an escape. For the 4-5 hours i'm playing or the days I practice, I put the phone away and disconnect from reality which is great. Outside world can be depressing, work can be a grind, politics is a mess, corruption, bad news stories, interpersonal conflicts and drama. Once the tee is in the ground none of that matters and I think that's why a lot of people need golf... or a similar hobby, that escapism can be had doing other things too, it's important for people and their happiness IMO

[Hawkeye77]

RFS . . . . . or not!

 

As I'm sure June Allyson would agree, it depends.

[Stanks]

How serious do I take golf? Depends on who I'm playing with. If it's league, then I wanna win. If I am just playing with the brahs out here in Cali, little to no seriousness. Practicing and range time is semi-serious.

[elthrill]

Im a perfectionist to the highest degree. Golf is an awful game for me. But ive never loved a game like i love golf. I would practice 12 hours a day 7 days a week if i could. I never get tired of the journey to get better. Its just a game. But its a damned gorgeous game.

[Nard_S]

I take it seriously but I don't in the least. It has meaning, it is meaningless, it has meaning in it's meaninglessness.

[msg]

I used to take it seriously. Too seriously. Now that I cannot play that much and realizing that I will never be a golf pro, I just play for fun and for exercise. I am enjoying it more but my scores have suffered though.

[Kanzas_Anthony]

I've had to practice in an empty parking lot for the better part of a year. I found that if I hit the Almost Ball or the Callaway Hx ball and make sure to film everything that is sufficient to make huge improvements. The main thing is to film the swing, set off course goals (flexibility, and position goals) If you can find 50m of free space and a camera with tripod, you can improve a lot with spending not much time. I never want to ingrain bad swing stuff so I do short 30 min sessions at full concentration and film everything.

[wmblake2000]

I work at my game very hard. It is important to me to play as well as I can. But I don't get too frustrated when I don't. It's golf... it's hard.

[Krt22]

> @wmblake2000 said:

> I work at my game very hard. It is important to me to play as well as I can. But I don't get too frustrated when I don't. It's golf... it's hard.

 

Same. For me the journey is what is most important and what I take the most seriously. The results are what they are, as long as I am continually improving I am happy. The scores will naturally drop when things continue to come together.

[Moo]

I think that having a zen thing going can help. No one ever sees me angry with a shot. It just wouldn't happen. That bad shot is now an opportunity to make a great shot. It sounds like fluff, but it's not.

This book has been presented here on the forum dozens of times, but one more won't hurt. This book completely changed my perspective on the game. It's probably where the root of my dislike of the word, "serious" originates.

https://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Golf-Art-Possible-Perigee/dp/039952276X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=extraordinary+golf&qid=1557883294&s=gateway&sr=8-1

[smashdn]

Not at all. My goal is to not embarrass myself and be good enough that people are not afraid to ask me to play nice course.

 

I play to hit fun golf shots. It is fun for me to move the ball both ways and up and down. If it works so much the better, if it doesn't oh well.