My scores

[MR MIZUN0]

depending on the course

At my local muni, I can shoot in the 70's, and on a bad day shoot low 80's. But if I go to a difficult course, my score sky-rockets up. But all of the other local kids shoot 70's no matter what course they play, even at the muni. I could eaisly compete w/ them at the muni, but put ne on a hard course, this will beat me every single day.

HELP,
Mr. Mizzy

[BFC]

What part kills ya on the other courses? Yardage, green speed, soft deep bunkers, the layout? There's a bunch of possibilities, you'll have to be a bit more specific.

[300_yard_drives]

It sounds like you have trouble with course managment and knowing when a bogey is a good score. Sometimes you have to settle with a bogey to keep the big numbers off the card, which make your round much more difficult to keep in the 70's.

[italianstallion]

Sometimes feeling comfortable on a course is the reason why you do good on some courses and terrible on others. My course is a fairly new design type, long, lots of hazards, etc. I'll shoot high 70s on a so so day at my course any day of the week. When I go to other courses similar in design to my course, long, lots of trouble, etc, for one reason or another, I don't have an issue shooting a decent score. Maybe because its that kind of course that suits my eye. My highest round this year came on a parkland type (tall pine and oak trees) public course with no bunkers and about 2 water hazards on the entire course. Somehow shot a 99 there, and when I look back on it I kno why: I felt I was too good to be playing such a piece of crud course, so i felt I could tear it up without any effort. I shot even through the first 6 holes, then proceeded to start my downfall to a 99. I got too relaxed.

But, thats just me

[Ridgecrest18]

Everyone tends to play better at their home course than they do when away. The combination of comfort and local knowledge are valuable allies. However, in order to have a game that will "travel" to tougher courses, you really need to boil your game down to fairways and greens. How many fairways do you typically hit during a round? How many GIR's? I don't know what your local muni is like, but often times city courses will let you spray it right or left off the tee, while still allowing you relatively easy access (on your approach shots) to the greens. If you're only hitting 4 or 5 fairways out of the usual 14 at the muni, but still scoring well, it's clear that those stats' are not going to lead to good scores on courses that are more demanding off the tee. Similarly, if you're only hitting 9 or 10 greens in regulation, you may be saving your rounds with well practiced knowledge around the greens.

Try this, the next time you play your home course, forget about scoring and focus instead on "how you play the course". Instead of just writing down your score on each hole, mark down whether or not you hit the fairway w/ your tee shot. Similarly, keep track of your greens in regulation. Finally, write down the number of putts you took on each hole. If you'll commit to this for a couple of weeks, you'll begin to understand your own strengths and weaknesses and know what to work on. At the very least charting your play should provide you with some insight as to how to manage your game around other courses.

If you chart your game and don't find any glaring weaknesses, then try 'taking your home course with you" the next time you go to a more difficult one. That is to say, try to play holes at the unfamiliar course, by picturing a hole at your home muni that is similar in its general character. If its a dogleg left, envision a hole from your home track that shapes right-to-left and play that hole the way you would if you were at home.

Good luck out there and remember to ease up on yourself .....we humans don't do all that well under too much stress.