Sandbagger or vanity cap or random chance...

[Nickb333]

58 minutes ago, Strategery said:

75-84 spread is not exceptional IMO.

In my regular golf group there is one fellow who I swear was 82-85 for 150 rounds all season. That's an amazing std deviation. Also in our group is this guy who was 72-102 on consecutive days.

I suppose I’m coming at this from 2 different eras of golf for me. 
 

When I played regularly, a few tournaments but mostly men’s club stuff. Everything was by the book no gimme golf. My scores never varied more than 4 strokes. Everything depended upon the number of birdies. 
 

As my physical ability wanes, the spread has grown. Some shots feel flushed. Some feel like I’m swatting flys with a wet rag. 
 

So (and I hate this term) “back in the day”, a 10 stroke swing felt wild to me. 

[EddieEdwards]

18 hours ago, nsxguy said:

 

90% within that range sounds incredibly consistent.

 

Did you actually go through your last 12 months rounds ?

No, so I may be wrong but it should be pretty close.

[SurfDuffer]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:48 PM, Nels55 said:

Two weeks ago today I shot an even par 71.  My course handicap was 9 at that time so I had a net 62.  I hit the ball well and was extremely lucky.  Today I shot a 54 on the front nine and finished with a 93 on a 7 handicap for a net 86.  Sandbagger to vanity cap real quick.  Actually I shot an 88 two rounds after the 71.  Consistency is not my strong suit. 

 

Several years ago I wrote a program that would select random scores on holes from my excel sheet where I log all of my rounds and create 18 hole rounds.  The program predicted scores from my high to low in a distribution that matched my actual scores fairly closely.  So golf for me and probably for everyone else is simply a matter of random chance.  Some days I accidently hit the ball well and other days I don't while most are in between somewhere.

 

Have you had similar scoring swings?  Maybe you are a very consistent golfer with scores that are fairly close to average most of the time?  Anybody do anything like 71 to 93 within two weeks?

Its easy to have an unusually high score.  Its less common to have an unusually low score.  A 9 shooting a 71 would be extremely rare.

 

I'm a 6 and on my home course I've very consistent between 75 and 78 with an occasional 82 but every once in a blue moon there might be a score between 86 and 92.   Rare but it happens.  Its probably even easier on courses that have a lot of trouble where you can easily not find your ball.

 

I'm a dedicated walker too and I've had a number of rounds go bad in the last five holes as my legs run out of gas.

Edited March 11 by SurfDuffer