Play against your handicap - not course par

[Hank Hill]

I have been struggling lately and not scoring as well as I wanted. I want to shoot consistantly in the 90s and hopefully break 90 before the season's end.

I found I was getting annoyed with myself, trying stupid recovery shots and dwelling on past mistakes.

I realised that my mental game needed a checkup so I went back to a book I read a couple of years ago, "Zen Golf" by Joseph Parent. I skipped all the blah blah and found some uselful sections that really hit home.

I would turn up to a course and think, I want to break 90 today regardless of its difficulty. In the book there is a section about playing to your personal par and not course par. I am a 23.8 handicap, so why I should think that I could just turn up and shoot 89 or less? If I play to my handicap, which is the average of my best 10 rounds in the last 20 on a course with a slope rating of 115 I would score 96. So in this sense I would have to play a bit above my best (23.8 is the lowest I have managed in my short time playing golf) to score under 90.

With this mindset I took a suggestion from the book and took an extra score card, crossed out the par for each hole and inserted a new one. 23.8 rounded up to 24 means an extra 24 shots on a 115 slope (there is a coversion table in the handicappping part of this site that lets you know how many shots you would get for slopes of higher and lessor value than 115). I simply added 1 shot to each par and an additional shot to the 3 holes on the front I find the hardest and the 3 holes on the back that I find the hardest.

Now instead of standing on the tee-box looking a a tricky par 5, I now look at a managable par 7, or instead of a long par 3 it's now a short par 4.

If you make a 6 on a hole that you have converted to a 6 then it feels good to have made your personal par (a net par). In fact I actually made a "personal" (net) eagle and 4 "personal" (net) birdies. I finished the front 9 on +12 which is actually net even par for me and the back nine on +15 which is net +2 for me, so I ended up carding a 97 (par71).

I have to say that I really enjoyed the round and felt really good about my +2, I was back in the 90s and if it were not for 4 holes where I made the most alarming brain cramps I would have been under my personal par. I need to go back to the chapters on staying in the present as I got a little too ambitions on those blow-up holes and put myself in trouble.

So if you are like me and suffer from unrealistic expectations on the course, give this a try as at feels great to play to and do better than (on some holes) your personal par.

What's great is that it works for all handicaps. Say you are a 12, then simply add a shot to the 6 holes on the front that "you" find hardest and 6 holes on the back that "you" find hardest and your away.

["Richard"]

I think you might have better luck if you club up and take a nice relaxed smooth swing and just always aim for the middle. Middle of the fairway, middle of the green, middle of the cup If you can get your short game going you can get under 90 no problem but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try what you just posted

I did the two rounds following my match with dan and it made a huge difference. Right now my game is in the gutter but when it gets back I'm going to club up and swing easy

[Hank Hill]

I think you might have better luck if you club up and take a nice relaxed smooth swing and just always aim for the middle. Middle of the fairway, middle of the green, middle of the cup If you can get your short game going you can get under 90 no problem but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try what you just posted

I did the two rounds following my match with dan and it made a huge difference. Right now my game is in the gutter but when it gets back I'm going to club up and swing easy

I have tried the "nice smooth relaxed swing" idea in the past and it didn't work for me. I'd end up decelerating into the ball and end up with pretty much every flavour of mis-hit. Clubbing up is not always the best route either, nothing worse than airmailing greens. You just have to know your "average" yardages and know that the stick in the fairway is yards to the center of the green and therefore you need make a club selection based on whether the pin is back it front, and try and get the ball "pin high".

I realised I needed a reality check, I only play 10-15 times a year and my handicap has been steadily dropping since I started 3 years ago. I wanted to be able to really enjoy my round thinking, "well played today Hank, that was a lot of fun", than, "dammit another chance missed, why do I play this game".

You have to bear in mind that I have been struggling to break 100 lately so this new mind set really helped my game and more importantly my enjoyment of the game.

["Richard"]

sounds good to me! you know what else helps breaking 100? playing from the ladies tees

[Hank Hill]

sounds good to me! you know what else helps breaking 100? playing from the ladies tees

I think I will stick to the "whites".

[bobblehead]

I might give this a try since I've been struggling mentally lately. I broke 80(shot an 77) for the first time about a month ago and have not come close since then. I'm a 14 handicap. I guess my expectations were too high...have to lower them like i did before breaking 80.

[Hank Hill]

I might give this a try since I've been struggling mentally lately. I broke 80(shot an 77) for the first time about a month ago and have not come close since then. I'm a 14 handicap. I guess my expectations were too high...have to lower them like i did before breaking 80.

I wouldn't hurt to give it a try. If you can "stay in the present" and play to your personal par it really helps free you up for the shot in hand. Instead of, "boy that was a bad tee shot, I'll need to really smash this 5 wood to get there in 2......*whack*.....oh no O.B. now you're really in trouble" to, "okay this is a par 5 for me, 220 out and I still have two shots to get there". I'm not saying it's flawless, but it really helped me free up my mind and play the shot in hand.

[ironmaster15213]

Hank, that's a perfectly logical way to play golf and be happy . Unfortunately most golfers think par and wind up miserable even when they shoot under their scoring index.

[Hank Hill]

Hank, that's a perfectly logical way to play golf and be happy . Unfortunately most golfers think par and wind up miserable even when they shoot under their scoring index.

Exactly!

I'm a short hitter and have always been intimidated by the 10th at Champlain, it's nearly 600 yards long from the whites. In the past I would slash at the ball trying in vain to get those extra yards causing horrible mis-hits and 8s and 9s on that hole. Yesterday I stood on the tee-box thinking par 7, no need to swing out of my shoes, got there easily in 4 even with the wind in my face and was unlucky not to par.

[Kiwi battler]

When i play against my handicap i bum out ....even against the courses i bum out
Both are just numbers
When i play shot by shot , hole by hole i seem to play way better
Matchplay is the same , i find myself living outside the NOW...........if I can play the course "shot by shot" and forget about my opponent "except when its time to attack for the half or whatever strategy is forced opon me"

Take yesterday , started par/double then decided it wasnt going to be a good day so started focusing on my swing , not caring about my score .....finished the round eagle/birdie to be 1 under
Trying to play against a number , is selling yourself short in my book

[hhk]

I recently played with this 70 year old guy who shot 80 and kicked my butt on a really difficult course. His philosophy is this - play away from trouble. If there is trouble to the right, he plays it left and vice versa - pretty obvious. But, where his advice has really helped me is in club selection. If there's a hazard behind the green, be short. If there's water in front of the green, be long.

I'm also finding that club selection is key to not blowing up par 5s. On the second shot, I try to lay it up between the 100 and 150 markers. This way, I'm using a 7 or 8 iron for my second shot instead of a 4 iron or 3 wood and blowing it into the trees.

[MattGrass]

I find that a simple question is key for me on those "difficult" shots. Can I make this shot?

I like to have a quick thought about the risk/reward of a shot before I try that tough, over the water/bunker type shot that can turn a par/bogey into a teeth grinding triple bogey because I had to try the tin cup hero shot.

Play within your shot making ability. If you have to bump it down the middle, do so.

Aaron

[manitoulin]

Yes i agree just play to your handicap. It stops you from making stupid unmakable shots.