Most statistically unlikely round you have seen from someone you knew

[golfandfishing]

lol. In a college tournament I was 5 under after 6 and did not break 40 on the front nine or 80 for the day.

[farmer]

After 6 months off after surgery, I shot 73 my first time out. 20 putts.

[b.mattay]

1.) A legitimate 8-10 handicapper shooting 68.

2.) Myself, shooting -2 without a single fairway hit!

[anythingfinite]

Growing up my brother and I played a lot, but were absolute hacks. If we broke 100, we were through the roof.

One day, we were playing a course we loved but didn't get to play much bc it was about an hour away. He turned in 47 and I was somewhere around there. The reason I remember his score is because he came home in 39 to shoot 86. That included a sculled bunker shot that hit the flag stick about 3/4 of the way up going 100mph and fell straight down into the cup.

To this day it was one of the most shocking rounds of golf I have played just because it was my little brother absolutely torching anything I ever thought I would be able to do.

[jonsnow]

About 15 years ago when I was playing to about 3-4, I played in a 2-day local tournament & the second day I did not hit a single fairway the entire round. The course wasn't even particularly tight. I didn't realize it until I was driving home & thought, "Man, I sure was in the rough a lot today" & went back over my round mentally.

[Lobby]

As a 10 handicapper, I shot 2 under 34 on the front nine. I didn't break 80 for the full 18.

Sigh.

[MtlJeff]

One of my most disappointing days was when i played Torrey Pines, i actually only hit 1 fairway the whole round and it was a month before the PGA event there LOL....talk about making the experience less enjoyable!

Not to mention the only fairway i hit was 13 into the wind (long par 4) so i still had 215 in haha. That was my reward

[DavePelz4]

Our group used to do an annual weekend of competition with handicaps. 1 round Friday, 2 Saturday and 1 on Sunday. One of the guys in the group who we played with for years, was a legit 20+ and when he broke 95 it was a good day. His net score for the 4 rounds was something like -40 including a gross round of 79 which on that course was a net 57. Beyond a statistical anomaly. He caught lightening in a bottle for those rounds and when we played the subsequent weekend, he shot 110. I can see someone having that one round but to have 4 rounds all 10+ shots under your index is a freaking miracle.

[SnapHooker_307]

I had a tournament in high school where I shot 88 with only 23 putts. Didn't hit a single green in regulation, and hit a tree on every hole that was not a par 3. Made a lot of crazy up and down bogies, but just could not get anything else together.

[Pepperturbo]

Was there to watch a 16 handicap buddy card a 77 on a challenging course. He damn near beat me. If he did that in a tournament or $$$ game, someone would blurt out sandbagger, and it might be me.

[mneumann]

3 Weeks ago completely legit 18 cap shot 83 with 4 triples, so the other 14 holes he was 1 under.

 

His 3 prior rounds on the same course were 109, 104, 103 and 3 rounds since are 99, 98, 100

[ttttttt1432]

I chipped in for birdie on back to back holes a few weeks ago. That seems like a statistical anomaly.

[Kjboisen]

Buddy of mine today missed 16 greens. 3 of those holes he had difficult recovery shots, and had to stress over two 10ft par putts. Made them all. Holed a bunker shot on our 9th hole. He shot -1.

[Kjboisen]

One of our mates is a +3. Had a stretch of rounds going 67 69 64 70. He had a week where he had back to back casual rounds where he couldn't break 85. He was missing small and having the funniest things happen to him. Drives landing cartpath and going OB, approach shots landing on sprinkler heads... lip-out putts all day. Dude... it was GREAT to watch and give him crap for. Nothing better than giving some banter to your groups Ace player

[bub72ck]

I wear contacts and in high school i got Pink Eye before a match and was forced to wear glasses which never happened. The ground looked closer to me than I thought and it was really hard to hit shots.

Bogey,bogey,birdie,eagle,bogey,birdie,birdie,bogey,birdie. -2 (34) with no pars

[manku]

I'm a 19 right now...as low at 16 as high as 22.

I've had three birdies in my life numerous times...like most crappy golfers, our biggest issue is consistency...when our games go south, they go way south - easy to have 4 x's in a row.

Last year, when I was a 21, I shot a 37 on the front nine at Woodley...probably one of the easier courses to go low for an average golfer. Shot an 83 that day...lowered my handicap 2 strokes.

[jonnymc44]

This week's midweek stableford competition at our golf club and the winning score came in with 51 points off 20 hcp. Here's the guy's score...

[tangojay]

About 6 years ago, my brother-in-law shot 45 in front nine, 36 in back nine,

[WristySwing]

I was a 10 and shot probably 110 at Sawgrass, never seen the course in person.

It was just a really bad combination of things. Our plane was super delayed so we got to Florida about 12 hours later then we were supposed to so we roared into the hotel at midnight for an 8:30 tee time. Had to unpack and scramble to get ready and hopefully get some decent sleep. Anybody who is ever rushed/panicked/stressed + is excited + has something to do early in the AM knows how well you'll sleep that night...I think I got maybe 2-3 hours of sleep total. We got to the course and I was surprisingly striping it on the range. I was excited because my lessons had finally taken hold and I was really doing well in my previous rounds leading up to this. I even had a quick tuneup a couple of days ahead of time to fix some minor issues I saw with the fairways and drivers that took about 3 seconds to fix.

As we are waiting on the first tee to go off I bend down and my expensive Ray Bans fell out of my shirt pocket and shattered on the cart path. Literally a 1:1,000,000 chance I've done this so many times before and since and nothing. It bothered me a lot as I really liked those sunglasses. Then we tee off and I feel like my swing is completely gone. I had been playing a draw shape for about 3 months, first tee: push slice that was super low, it barely got to the bunker past the water. Okay weird. Go to the ball, low shank like push....okay weird....haven't done that in a long time and this 2 in a row and the range was the complete opposite. Blade the third shot green side, pitch over the green, and 3 jack. Nice quad to start the round and it never recovered from there! Nice day with my dad and something we want to repeat again but it sucked that everything fell apart. On top of that on 16 I broke my 9 iron just from hitting the shot from the fairway. No trees, no anger, nothing. It just snapped. Guess what iron I needed for 17? I used my dad's 9 iron and it came up short into the water. Just about sums up that round lol!

[7ironDave]

I have a buddy who will play golf every chance he gets, he loves being out there but it is more of a social thing for him, beers are always in play. He is perfectly content losing 12 balls and shooting 110+. He just loves being out there and unplugging from his hectic life. He refuses to practice or take a lesson. Luckily he has great course etiquette and knows when to just pick it up and drop it on the green to putt.

One of our first rounds back after courses reopened he goes out and shoots a 92, 42/50. The 42 was unbelievable he was always on or around the greens and putting like he had been practicing for months. He wasn’t really striking the ball but his misses were not as damaging.

He says he just wasn’t thinking about it and just swinging. Back 9 I think the 42 on the front got in his head and he kind of imploded.

He has not sniffed a score in the 90s since.

I know he will be talking about that round for years and I love it.

[MtlJeff]

Not an individual round but i'm on quite a streak here. I have now gone 7 rounds without a birdie. This is definitely the longest streak i've ever had without one. Some of this is naturally COVID rust but i'm actually hitting it pretty solid, just a lot of leaving it 20ft away....Most of my scores are 75-79 type range , just no birdies.

I'm starting to wonder how long i can go without one.

[cardoustie]

Yikes, eagle time

[MtlJeff]

I'm figuring i'll hole out 3 times in my round tomorrow and shoot 63!

[cardoustie]

that is very strange to go that many rounds, for me it is very rare to not have a birdie in a round .. and that usually aggravates me because it means the game is trash

do you normally make 2 or 3 per 18 .. that’s my guess

[MtlJeff]

Yeah normally I'd say I average 2 or slightly above that , maybe 2.1, 2.2 if you really average it

Putting has been weak. But was 76-76 this weekend. Didn't make one today. It hurts not being able to use the putting green

That's 8 rounds. I'll snap out of it

[beluga99]

Playing with three buddies last year in a fourball on a golf trip. Front nine I was one over on my ball (4 index) and my partner was playing well. We were three down as my 11 index opponent poured in four birdies all outside 25 feet. It was ridiculous as none of us had played the course before. Back nine he nails another two birdies on the 12th and 14th, neither of them tap ins, one over 40 feet. I think he was -1 on his own ball, as he had a double and three other bogies. Previous best round was 77. He then goes triple, triple, triple, birdie to finish the round for a 79 from memory. Smashed both legs clean off his standbag on the 17th hole after sculling his sand wedge from a green side bunker OOB. The birdie on the 18th par five was the only tap in. He may see the funny side one day.

[Ferguson]

As we all know, golf can provide for an unlikely turn of events. Perhaps a better title may have included the word uncharacteristically?

Case in point:

Many years ago, I used to play with a guy twice a month. He was super nice. We were in a Wednesday night league and often played together. He lost his wife to cancer at a very young age. He was successful in his work life and took up golf after she died; and had a hard time moving on. He was always uptight and a wreck most of the time but I listened when he needed it. I used to tell him to slow down and relax before hitting a shot. Anyway, he was an 18-20 HC but I enjoyed his company because he tried really hard and it was fun to watch him learn. It all changed on a Saturday round - JUST A REGULAR DAY. We teed off on #1 and he went on a tear with 6 pars, 2 bogeys and a birdie on the front. He shot +2 on the inward nine. We talked very little until the 18th fairway. His life literally changed when he stepped off 18 - he shook my hand and said, I get it - I need to relax more. He dedicated his free time to getting better. HE DID. In roughly 14 months he dropped to a 6 HC and started dating a recently divorced friend of my wife. She was a golfer as well. They married within a year, started a family and he remains a solid 7-8 HC to this day many years later. We see them often and he gives me credit for encouraging him to stick with it and keep trying both at golf and life.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

It was all downhill after the ace, of course. Lol

As a 12, I shot 76. I don’t think anyone I know has ever been flagged? It happens, good or bad.

[MtlJeff]

I have a friend (and i don't consider this super unlikely because i know him) who shot a round once that made him quite unpopular in our clubhouse LOL

He was a 12-13 index at the time but he was a former 1-2 when he used to play in Scotland. He moved here and stopped playing golf for a while but then started back up again. He had a beautiful swing even as a 12-13 and could hit these really nice low stingers and creative short game shots (again, was from Scotland). But his index was totally legit, at the time i was playing with him 30 times a year and he was still shaking off 5-6 years of rust. Anyway he joins our club, and his first year at the club joins a handicapped match play event. His first round opponent had to GIVE him shots and my friend went out and shot 72.....He was not very popular after that

(he shot 72 because he finished the last 5-6 holes for fun, the match was over on like 12)

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

The thing is, there are times when par is really easy, and other rounds where you kind of wonder “what the b* h* happened”?

I hit 12 greens one time and didn’t even break 80. My putting was just awful, then other days when I can’t miss from 8 feet and shoot an easy 78.

It never quite fully comes together, but most of the fun is wanting to play better.

I used to play right handed, and it was just not quite as fun any more, so I switched to left about 10 years ago, and I had another chance to become a beginner again. Now, I play about the same right or left, but completely different games. I play against my daughter right handed with persimmon clubs and Balata balls, but other than that I play all modern equipment right or left. I thoroughly enjoy rounds with old equipment, but don’t wish to wear them out. Sorry for droning on.

Yes, good or bad rounds just happen, and your story illustrates that nicely.