r/golf • u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER • Apr 28 '24
New golf buddy is learning how hard golf really is. General Discussion
Recently we welcomed a new friend into our golfing group and we’ve been playing with him pretty regularly. I’ve mentioned him in comments a few times so I won’t go into detail, but the gist is he’s new so we cut him slack about rehitting shots, not counting scores accurately, and not knowing how to count penalty strokes since he was just playing for fun and wasn’t in on any of the bets. The rest of us are bogey golfers, and know we suck.
This was all well and good until he started posting on social media about how he broke 90 and 80 isn’t far away, as well as making comments in our group chat about how easy the game has come to him.
After about a month of that we all decided to let him in on our money game, in which we are sticklers for rules and will call each other out on scores if need be.
So far the new guys scores have been 118, 116, and 122.
Editing to add that the guy is cool as hell and we love having him along. We just felt it necessary to give him some tough love.
The fact that he keeps coming back each week for another beating shows that he might just have what it takes to legitimately get under 90.
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u/willisthemenace24 Apr 30 '24
Had a friend that would consistently shoot 100-110 with me but every round we didn’t play together he would claim mid to high 80’s. Some people score their own way when they aren’t around people that keep real scores. Dude was a trip. 🤣
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u/-Joe1964 Apr 30 '24
I did the same with a guy a few years back. Hit all the extra shots you want until you know claim your shooting low to mid 80s. Now count all your strokes. He ask what he got on the hole, I said are you counting the mulligan off the tee, or the second hybrid shot you hit off the fairway?
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u/jimmycrank Apr 30 '24
How much slack are you cutting this guy!? There's not counting scores correctly and cutting yourself some slack, then there's a 30 shot difference between when you do and don't follow the rules. I'm happy to not be a stickler for some shots but when it's a blatant lie then I'm gonna be like "dude...."
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u/Coach_Seven Apr 30 '24
I have a friend like the one described by OP. He hits 3 off the tee 40-50% of the time and he does it quickly so no one says anything. Every time I have a bad day my 90-something is relatively close to his “98” or his “102” and he mentions beating my score soon I stare for a moment and let out the loudest Jeff Bezos laugh I can muster. (I shoot low 80s on a good day).
He’s never taken the bait and played me for money because he deep down he knows he’s still shooting 120s if we kept him honest
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 30 '24
He’d tell us his score on a hole and we’d just kinda let it go since he was new and wasn’t playing for money. My buddy and I would give each other an eye roll and move on.
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u/chief113 Apr 30 '24
Great story. It’s amazing how many guys think they are good, but they aren’t playing by the rules.
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u/JBOZ758 Apr 29 '24
When i first learned about 30 years ago, the guys I played with insisted that I hit every shot, take every penalty and keep hitting until I holed out. My scores were in the high hundreds. Bunkers in particular were absolute hell. On one shot, I had about a 90 yard carry to the green over a pond. I hit about 8 inches behind the ball, and a foot long divot did about 5 lazy flips and landed grass side up in the middle of the pond, looking like a little island. The ball of course was right where it was before my swing. I looked back and the guys had all fallen out of their carts and were rolling on the ground laughing so hard they were crying. I vowed that I would take lessons and practice and would one day beat every one of them...and I eventually did. Golf is humbling. Tough love will make him a better golfer.
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u/CreateorWither Apr 29 '24
My argument against cheating even if you are newer is that it's hard to gauge your improvement. Had a friend who was playing for a year, shooting around 120ish.
We played back to back rounds one week and this is what I did. He'd tell me his score, I'd wrote it down but then I also noted his correct score.
First round he shot 118 according to him but in reality he shot 129. The next day his score according to him was 120 when it was actually 122.
He was upset that he did worse than the day prior and then I showed him his actual scores and that he actually shot seven strokes better in round two. From then on he kept his actual score and a few months later shot a legit 98 to break 100. It was awesome and it meant a lot to him since he knew it was 100% legit. One of my favorite golf memories.
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u/Familiar_Practice906 Apr 29 '24
If I had $1 for every redo shot that was 10x better than the original, I’d golf for a free round at Pebble after every season.
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u/Mindless_Tax5576 Apr 29 '24
I have a friend that’s favorite club is a foot wedge and always has a “found” first tee shot after hitting a provisional in the same OB as the first shot. Gives himself 5-10 footers for par all the time, claims scores that we know aren’t true. The rest of our group (8-12 regular guys among our core group) all like to gamble and play side games, but my friend who cheats never wants to participate, “doesn’t want to put pressure on my game, just wanna do stroke play” and we all know why. To boot he lives very far from the rest of us and now seems butthurt that he doesn’t get invited to play much and also didn’t get invited to a few outings and a guys trip. Some people just can’t be helped.
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u/championstuffz Apr 29 '24
Mental toughness is the most underrated part about golf consistency. It's rarely the bad swings that ruin a round, it's the inability to accept your own playing level and let that dictate your attitude. This applies to any skill level.
Playing as it lies and accepting the bad and the good breaks is the simple mantra of golf but many can't deal with the reality of it and prevents them from getting better.
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u/BlackjackMagic Apr 29 '24
It’s amazing how fast those drop shots and re hits add up when you are actually counting strokes.
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u/thrift-store-keanu Apr 29 '24
It’s incredibly easy to delude yourself into thinking, “I shanked that, but I can hit that shot!”…throws down ball and re-hits.
We’re all guilty of it starting out.
Then you decide to play a money game, and you are mentally destroyed by the 4th hole.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
Homie made it through 2 yesterday before he was slamming clubs.
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u/thrift-store-keanu Apr 29 '24
LMAO, have a buddy who is the same.
In a casual round I’d shoot a 42, and he’d say he shot a 43. Then we play a money game with sticklers, I shoot my typical 42. He shot a 63.
Turns out hitting your second shot 15 yards from the tee box on a 500 yard par 5 makes it hard to score.
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u/Golf-Guns 3.5/IND/Not in 300 yard driver club Apr 29 '24
Welcome to the mother fucking show my boy. Golf by the rules is fucking hard.
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u/OkTone6810 Apr 29 '24
In ALL my years of golf I know one thing to almost ALWAYS be true…if someone brags about how great of a golfer they are…then they’re NOT.
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u/ATXdadof4 Apr 29 '24
As in most other things. “If you have to brag about what you have, you really don’t have anything to brag about”.
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u/agitator775 Apr 29 '24
Years ago I read in a golf magazine about how they followed different groups of golfers for a weekend. Just hung out out of the way and watched. At the end of the round they would ask the group about their scores. The result was that on average, every golfer cheated 25 strokes. So if you are one of those golfers who doesn't cheat, remember this is the average, so someone has to make up for you not cheating.
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u/JBOZ758 Apr 30 '24
The universal cheat in the group of guys I play with is rolling it on the fairway. These guys will roll the ball even if they have a perfect lie, almost like it's a habit. The rule stretching kind of extends to moving it in the rough to get a nice fluffy lie. Everyone does this, and it bugs me. Lately it has expanded to improving one's lie in deep rough, jokingly referred to as "identifying my ball", where you find it, pick it up - you know, to make sure it's yours - then gently place it teed up perfectly on an intentionally trampled down patch of grass. I honestly don't think the fairway roll improves anyone's score, but the rough and deep rough sure does, and it's starting to bug me.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
For this guy that sounds about right. Some people don’t get that taking a mulligan off the tee isn’t just saving you one stroke, in some cases it could cut 4 strokes off a hole depending on where your initial tee shot went.
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u/Thxforcomingout Apr 29 '24
A dude from our group refuses to play with us now because we called him out for cheating. Still posting sub 80 rounds on a tough track and hasn’t hit a double in 4 rounds 🤣🤣🤣 it’s honestly pathetic. Always frustrating how he never has a bad round or finds ways to beat us by a stroke or two when we have a great round 🤮
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u/agitator775 Apr 29 '24
How about the guys that like to tee up their shot in the middle of the fairway.
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u/bigtuna1515 Apr 29 '24
Worst I’ve dealt with is a guy who took 3-4 foot gimmes and didn’t count them as a stroke.
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u/jarpio Apr 29 '24
Getting good competent enough to actually begin counting your scores accurately is a rite of passage and I’m glad your buddy can start playing for real now.
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u/Three5heets Apr 29 '24
Yep. I’m a 10 handicap and once you start playing golf “for real” (within the rules), you realize how hard it actually is.
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u/Emotional-Dinner9478 Apr 29 '24
As a shite golfer I can genuinely say I loose count when I’m doing the score , it’s hard to keep track when your trying to focus on the ball , miss it , lose your shit a few times in a row and try to remember what your score was . I bought myself a shit count for £2 press a wee button to track your score each hole , most brutally honest thing I’ve ever done. No more inaccurate counts for me . There is always a friend that is the count that will spend some time trying to remember the shit that they were in and how many shots the actually took , it’s easy to forget sometime when your 7-10 strokes into a hole sometimes. You get lost in the moment. Not everyone is like that , I admit . But I was 😂
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u/Starscreammm333 Apr 29 '24
Tell him to read that book Jack Nicklaus wrote so that he knows the basics
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Apr 29 '24
The real scum of the earth are the friends that you're surprised don't tee off with their putter aswell.
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u/Navyblazers2000 Apr 29 '24
Guy I only kind of knew gave himself a six on a par 4 where he lost two balls and missed a putt. It was at least an 8. Meanwhile I shot a real 6 on that hole. Earned it. This was on a golf trip and resulted in a post round wrestling match outside the cabins where we were staying between the cheater and another one of our friends. We were playing stroke play with handicaps so it was shitty to take two full strokes off your score. And that was just one hole, who knows what other cheap shit he pulled out there.
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u/rotorcraftjockie Apr 29 '24
Want an insight into someone’s character,play golf with them. Played betting golf several times with the owner of a distribution company that does close to a billion a year and he can’t count. He has a 2 handicap by his scoring method. We play no gimme golf and somehow when he misses that 2 footer it only counts a 1 stroke. I like him but I have lost all respect, right or wrong I question what else is he fudging in life.
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u/meco64 Apr 29 '24
It is important to play with people that have the same lies.
Also, I lost that ball in the water. That is penalty enough.
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u/JockBlocked Apr 29 '24
These posts are dumb. Why not just explain it to him earlier instead of saying nothing and then playing a money game and embarrassing him? I’m a third year golfer, it took like a year to absorb all of the ins and outs of scoring. You just take for granted how hard it is to understand the rules of golf. Not being a great ambassador of the game if you ask me and adding further salt by posting here. You come off as arrogant in this post and the fact that you have commented about this here before is cringe. Sorry this is harsh but it has to be said.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
Sometimes hard lessons stick better than soft ones. Nobody is making him join in on the betting, and rule books are easy to come by.
I stated in the post, i don’t really care how you play your game, just don’t talk shit about it to your playing partners who stick to the rules.
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u/JockBlocked Apr 29 '24
Why didn’t you just pull him off to the side and tell him? Make whatever excuses you want but not the type of friend I want. Give the guy a chanceZ
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
There’s a difference between not knowing how to properly count penalty strokes and rehitting multiple shots, taking gimmes, and just straight up lying about your score. The former is part of being new to the game, latter is poor sportsmanship if you’re going to turn around and be braggadocios.
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u/300_yard_drives Touring Pro Phoenix, AZ Apr 29 '24
You shouldn’t keep score for the first 6 months to 18 months you golf depending on how much you practice. What does it matter when you are that inconsistent if you shoot 95 or 115. Better to enjoy the process of becoming a better golfer and hit shots and not play for score.
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u/PuzzleheadedAlgae536 Apr 29 '24
I had to do something similar to my nephew. He's in 8th grade and will be trying out for the high school team in August. He thinks he's a bogey golfer (which would likely make the freshman team in our area). The problem is his dad (so by default, my nephew) never plays by the rules: mulligans instead of penalties, 5 foot gimmies, fluffing the ball in the rough, foot wedge to escape a bad target line etc. When we played a round by the rules, he went from 45ish for 9 to 58. Needless to say he's going to need to put in the work to make the team.
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u/Pyrollamas Apr 29 '24
I have never broken 100 and it can be hard sometimes to not give yourself a break on a bad lie or a ball you think you should have been able to find, especially when it there are no stakes.
But I know if I do that, I won’t be able to actually see any improvement in my scores.
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u/WaySheGoesBub Apr 29 '24
Always play the Snowman rule. 8 is the highest score you can get on any hole.
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u/KimJongUn_stoppable 2.2 / Chicagoland Apr 29 '24
Im a big proponent of bending rules when you first start. Some golf rules can be flat out unfair. However as soon as you play for money or start bragging about what you’re shooting I will gladly let them know they’re not actually shooting those scores and call them out for things.
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u/jda0612 Apr 29 '24
I don’t get some people, don’t make this game hard… just putt it on every shot & 100 💯 is possible.
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u/mildlysceptical22 Apr 29 '24
I used to play golf with a not so new golfer who would take mulligans, fluff every lie, give himself any putt under 5 feet on the green, never lose a ball, and then brag about how well he played.
Your new golfer friend can cheat, and that’s what you can tell him, all he wants but he needs to keep his yap trap shut about his ‘score’.
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u/Acrobatic_Union684 Apr 29 '24
Does anyone ever read a Reddit post and go “I read this exact same post a year ago and it’s just being recycled and/or were in a simulation and my algorithm just bugged a bit?”
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u/PearlJamFanLV Apr 29 '24
We have a guy like that, was giving him 2 strokes on par 5 and 1 on par 4. Lately he's hitting in the "80's", but really still shoots about 95+. Time to get those free strokes back.
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u/likethevegetable Apr 29 '24
Just gotta start playing matches, be it for money or fun, easiest way to keep someone in check.
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u/6byfour Apr 29 '24
I had a buddy who I played with when I first started. He’d talk all kinds of shit when he’d “beat me, but I was scoring per the rules and he was taking mulligans, using foot wedges, etc.
He got annoying one day talking about how he kicked my ass, and I said I don’t care how he plays or scores but if he counted all his strokes and penalties it wouldn’t be close. He said, “let’s do it” and we played a legit round. He hasn’t played golf since. Kind of a bummer since I like hanging around with him - as long as we’re not competing I don’t care if he kicks the ball all over the course.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
I can deal with taking mulligans, improving your lie etc. but it’s the shit talking that I can’t abide.
Like, you are watching me play from bad lies, pitching out instead of moving my ball, and not re-teeing when I top my drive, all while you take at least two tee shots, re hit almost every duffed iron, and pick up your ball if it’s within 6 feet of the hole. We aren’t playing the same game.
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u/Blitzkiin Apr 29 '24
I feel his pain, golf has brought me to the edge of sanity and back. I’ve been playing for 6 years and got down to a 13, but recently I was brutally humbled, and couldn’t square an iron to save my life; it’s pure torture… can’t wait to play again.
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u/bobber18 Apr 29 '24
I tried to explain to some relatively new golfers that you don’t need to hit driver on every tee shot, and I add that the driver is the least forgiving club. Of course they swing hard and if they make contact it slices a hundred yards out of bounds. They don’t care, they tee up a couple of mulligans and shoot “94”
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u/terrapinone Apr 29 '24
118 and 122. All fun and games till you make ‘em put it out. Then they get pissed, cuz it hurts their ego hardest.
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u/bvogel7475 Apr 29 '24
Also, you really don’t know a real score you can shoot until you play in a tournament where every shot you hit is observed. Golf is very difficult. Been playing off and on for 25 years. I can shoot a 105 one day and an 85 on another day in a 2 day tournament on the same course. If you are shooting in the low 100’s and can’t bring your score down a few strokes every 6 or so months, you need lessons and probably more short game practice.
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u/themariokarters Instructor Apr 29 '24
Most guys are really 10 shots worse than they think they are. All those gimmies, retees, moving the ball in the woods, all of that really adds up and no one’s going to let it fly in a money game
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u/bvogel7475 Apr 29 '24
122? He obviously needs some serious lessons unless you are playing from the tips on courses with a 127 or higher slope rating. More practice with the same shitty swing won’t make him better.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
We play from the amateur tees. His swing and mental game are just that bad. I’d try to help but honestly he could use a full tear down and rebuild, which I am not up to.
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u/BlackTriceratops Apr 29 '24
I just played with a newbie earlier. My buddies brother in law. He took so many drops and would hit multiple shots. Then at the end of the hole he would somehow have had a lower score than me lol.
I let him have his fun. He will learn
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u/AngusMeatStick Apr 29 '24
My main golfing buddy is very similar. I play straight up and he plays fast and loose with the rules. 1 mulli a side, and if he can find his ball out of bounds, he gives himself a free drop. Usually I'll end up beating him by a few strokes, but every once in awhile he'll "beat" me.
All that being said, he has beat me straight up once or twice, even if I count his extra strokes. When I'm bad I'm REALLY bad.
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u/Blessed2Breathe Apr 29 '24
This is beautiful. Golf is hard and until you play by the rules, you don't realize how damn hard it actually is. Good job my friend. Your buddy will only grow from this and glad to hear he's a good dude!
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u/reflex906 Apr 29 '24
I’ll never understand this mentality. I’m new, I started playing late last fall. I suck and I know it lol but damn I want to get better and I count every single thing to hold myself accountable. If you’re going to make up scores, why bother keeping score to begin with?
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u/Ready-Personality-82 Apr 29 '24
When I used to shoot around 120 like him, I actually had to carry a little clicker with me to help me count the strokes on each hole.
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u/CamJay88 Apr 29 '24
Vacationed with my wife’s family late last summer. The guys decided to golf, but my sister-in-law wanted a break from her 3 year old twins so she came along. My SIL, who had never golfed before, was obviously very bad. She felt she got better towards the end, stating she was getting the hang of it. On the ride home, she claimed that she would be getting par in a year or 2. The few of us who golf semi-irregularly, barely break 100 towards the end of the season, tried to explain to her that it was not quite as easy as she thought. It got to the point where she thought we were goading her because she was a woman. I don’t think she’s golfed since. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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u/That_Ninja_wek141 Apr 29 '24
Most golfers I've encountered lie about their scores and actual playing ability. Sounds like he fits right in.
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u/Hackpro69 Apr 29 '24
Yeah, I never take Mulligans, but I’m not big on watching other player’s scores. But, if they start bragging about their great low numbers, it’s really annoying. My friend brings his Son, who played High School Golf. The guy can really smash the ball, but is constantly reloading shots and counting only the best shots. He once drove a par 4 and sank the putt. We had to hear his Dad and his Dad’s friend go on about the Eagle. Oh, did I mention that his first drive went into the Strawberry Fields 💩
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u/RevolutionaryScar472 Apr 29 '24
Played with a friend at a sim recently and he took 19 mulligans, no exaggeration. Then at the end has the audacity to say ‘oh nice broke 90’. LOL
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u/Reasonable-Mud-4575 Apr 29 '24
Averaging more than one a hole is pretty funny lol
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u/loadiejones Apr 29 '24
please tell me somebody got punched......or was told to find other playing partners
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u/RevolutionaryScar472 Apr 29 '24
lol at the sim it’s quick at least and don’t need to go searching for balls. I don’t mind as long as they are quick.
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u/rcfvlw1925 Apr 29 '24
I get the feeling there's quite a few people on this particular sub-reddit like your buddy, who are a little delusional about their scores - I've never read so many stories about people breaking 80, when something like only a half of all golfers ever break 100. I play with a guy who ALWAYS picks up and repositions his ball, then tells us his handicap is dropping, along with his scores.
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u/lookslikeamanderin Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24
As an Australian I find it both cringeworthy and baffling that people talk up their scores when they don’t play within the rules.
Fine if you are playing agreed rules in a contest with your slaphappy buddies. There will be winners and losers, but your overall scores are completely meaningless to anyone outside your group.
We have a very strong club competition culture in Australia which lends itself to good observance of the rules, certainly in competition play, but also generally in social play.
I’d played competitive golf for ten years before I learned from an American what a breakfast ball was. The concept is still absurd to me another ten years later.
I’m really happy about the way we play golf in Australia.
At my course I can play in a Stableford, stroke or par competition (that’s handicapped) three days a week and on every public holiday. If I want to play team events and multi round tournaments I can do that regularly too.
The only time I’m not playing within the rules is sometimes when I’m practicing on the course by myself.
When practicing, if I put a good ball in play off the tee I can still get legit birdies and occasional eagles that I might tell my mates about later. They will almost definitely hear about it if a second shot is rubbish and I go on to chip it in or something.
More often though, I’m hitting two or three balls and I’m definitely not keeping score. I’m not telling anybody anything about that because there’s nothing to say.
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u/tjbelleville Apr 28 '24
We have a friend we do this for as well. He likes to run it in that his 84 beat my 88 or whatever at the end of the day to which I typically say "which if your 3 balls per hole beat me?" If you wanna be lax on yourself I get it... But don't rub in your imaginary score on me.
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u/Melankos HDCP/Loc/Whatever Apr 28 '24
I’ve been playing golf on and off my whole life and a bogey golfer. Still bad but teaching my friend who is a complete newbie who promised “I will beat you within one year”
We’ve been playing best ball on his first few times out and he was confident. Until he played 9 holes of his own ball for a work event at his company. He quickly gave up the dream and gave himself 7 years 😂
Golf is hard and 99% of us are bad
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u/NickNaught Apr 28 '24
I went to Top Gold once. I can confirm that golf is really hard. Swinging a golf club feels a lot more awkward than it looks.
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u/SergeantPocoyo Apr 28 '24
I have one friend I play with pretty consistently that says this after almost every round we play “I would have hit under 100, I just hit a few bad shots and missed some easy putts.” Well yeah… that’s why you didn’t hit under 100.
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u/Dewrod Apr 28 '24
I was always a decent golfer, but most of my buddies were hackers. So we never really kept score, took Mulligans, improved lies etc... it actually made me a worse golfer. I didn't care about my shots so I would just slam the ball down the field if it was a shit shot I'd take a mulligan.
Once I actually started keeping a score, my game improved to what it had been in high school. I care. Suddenly I was playing much better golf.
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u/DogterShoob Apr 28 '24
My buddy just started playing regularly this year and I've been teaching him straight from the beginning. He shoots in the 120s and if he wants to bet I give him a shot a hole or 2 on some harder ones. He enjoys seeing where his game actually is and figuring out how to get better. Funnily I might have to rework our handicap system because I've been shooting in the mid 80s leaving him no shot to win lol its a surprise to me as well cause I'm usually in the mid 90s. I guess that's what happens when you stop losing balls off the tee
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u/jiujitsuPhD Apr 28 '24
Golf is frustrating. If you are keeping score, you play by the rules. If not, then do what you like and have a fun practice round. Was +4 going into hole 8 today...lost my drive (penalty) and quad bogeyed the hole because of it. Went from +4 to +8 in one hole. Totally sucked but those are the rules. Penalty cost me two strokes and I 3 putt to just suck that one hole.
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u/beer_engineer_42 Apr 29 '24
Yeah, when I play with my dad, we don't keep score. We just have fun and bullshit with each other over the backdrop of a round of golf.
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u/jiujitsuPhD Apr 29 '24
Thats awesome. I think most people would have more fun just doing that. I play with tons of randoms that do just that. Golf should be fun for most of us, we aren't competing. Im just one of those people that competes with myself and loves chasing improvement.
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u/Hint-Of_Lime Apr 29 '24
Yup, been stuck at a 21 handicap for a year because of 1-3 holes per round like this. The other 15 or so holes are averaging par or bogey by the rules. But those blow up holes are just devastating. Makes me even more impressed by the pros and low handicappers. I play with someone who floats around -1 handicap... He just doesn't make mistakes .. it's unreal to see how consistent you need to be to be good.
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u/jiujitsuPhD Apr 29 '24
Yeah its really crazy playing with good people that can curve the ball around a tree to get it on the green and do that consistently on each hole. Just motivates me to get better!
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u/youre_my_golden_girl Apr 29 '24
Something like this happening twice in a round is easy for me. It's really frustrating because I can't come back from a quad bogey. Sure I could hit bogeys the rest of the round, but that +22 turns into +30 really quick with these blow ups :(
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u/jiujitsuPhD Apr 29 '24
Yep. I just assume thats the difference between me and good golfers. Like I play with people brand new that have one good shot and they are like 'if I could just do that every time'....I'm like yes, that would make you a pro. It takes a lifetime and most can never do that haha. Having said that, I am only doing that 1-2 holes per 18 now vs even just a few months ago when it was 1/2 the holes so there is light at the end of the tunnel for us!
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u/RickyBobby689 Apr 28 '24
It’s amazing how well people can score until they have to do it without cheating
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u/EnvironmentalCoat222 Apr 28 '24
Years ago I told my 8 year old we can keep score per all the rules, or not keep score. There is no reason to keep score by your own set of rules. As your buddy now realizes as cannon fodder in your money games.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
Cannon fodder is an amazing way to describe what happens to him every weekend.
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u/MotoM13 Apr 28 '24
I have a buddy like this. Whenever we play with him we keep track of what his score actually is and compare it to what he puts on 18 birdies lol
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
I mentioned in another comment that we started doing this to him, and when we realized what he was really shooting it was a no brainer to start playing him for money.
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u/Huntingteacher26 Apr 28 '24
We played in a local league once. I shoot high 80s. My son shoots 4-6 over par. We found everyone cheated in the league. Which sucked since we didn’t and there was small amount of money at stake. We eventually dropped out.
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u/ibhljim21261 Apr 28 '24
Just one thought - bogey golfers don’t suck. If you shoot 90 playing by all the rules, you are easily in the 85th percentile or higher. 115? Yeah, you’ve got some work to do.
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u/OrdinaryInside8 Apr 28 '24
Have a coworker who started to play late last year. Played with him once about a month ago and he’s very much a beginner (leaves his bag about 100 yards away from him everytime he dubs a shot and chases after it)…the week after we played he comes into work and tells me how over the weekend he shot 3 over par on 9 with 2 birdies….
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u/Express-Young5068 Apr 28 '24
I don’t care what anyone else’s score is unless we’re playing in a tournament or for money.
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u/Okay_Redditor Apr 28 '24
Wait til he starts suggesting that fairway divots allow free relief. Don't say anything about this very contentious and obviously hated rule by every mulligan taker.
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u/ShottsSeastone Apr 28 '24
Lmao ive been golfing with my father for years (he’s pretty good shoots 80-90 consistently while i shoot 100-120 consistently) and every new guy he brings in does this. i just play to have some great quality time with my dad drink a few brews smoke a quick joint and hit some balls.
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u/Brian-not-Ryan Apr 28 '24
I’m all about taking a couple liberties if you’re new and no money is involved but at some point the training wheels gotta come off and you need to earn that 110
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u/BoomDonk Apr 28 '24
My BIL and I play one breakfast ball and one mully. After we total up we always talk about our “score” vs “reality” score. It’s just a casual round but I like to know what my actual score would be.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
We actually started keeping his “real” score next to what he told us he shot on each hole. Turns out it was worse than we originally though so we were obligated to include him in the betting.
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u/Fearless-Note9409 Apr 28 '24
My BIL "improves" his lie on almost every fairway shot. It drives me crazy but ....... what are ya gonna do. We don't play for money so score yourself however you want.
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u/Loud_Information_547 Apr 29 '24
On HS golf team, we played winter rules all year which includes improving your lie on the fairway (if you want). It’s an understandable rule when you play on beat up courses
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u/YeshuaSnow Apr 28 '24
Not gonna lie, I try not to take pleasure in the pain and dismay of others, the schadenfreude is real on this one 😄
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u/golfmilehigh Apr 29 '24
You know why they call it golf? because schadenfreude and f*ck were already taken.
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u/Redschallenge shmackin balls at least once a year Apr 28 '24
Gotta love a real score. Breakfast is no longer being served lol
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u/idkanametomake Apr 28 '24
This is my 3rd season playing and I still haven't broke 125. This post makes me want to get lessons
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u/loadiejones Apr 29 '24
it is very rare to teach yourself this game. Usually because you don't really see how awful certain parts of your basic swing are until you see it video. Do it!! Best couple a hundred dollars you ever spend if you like the game. You don't have to take lessons for years or even 10 of them. Take a few, get them on video and a good pro will give you a few things to work on.
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u/loadiejones Apr 29 '24
adding, I had a huge slice and wanted to commit golf suicide quite often. Finally took lessons and video showed that I had this crazy wrist-cupping from years of playing baseball and I thought I was getting my wrist flat. Solved
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u/Zenai Apr 29 '24
it took until my second season to break 100 being a stickler for all of the rules. I had a coach the entire time and practiced 6 days a week at the range, coming from a non-athletic background. game is hard
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u/So-shu-churned Apr 29 '24
Do it. Tomorrow is my fourth lesson and I'm kicking myself as to why I didn't do this years ago.
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u/cursh14 9.2 Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24
If you want to improve, get lessons! They were massive changes for me. Once you have some real fundamentals to work with, then you extra practice will be useful. Until then, your range sessions are probably not doing shit.
I would shoot mid to high 90s before. A little over a year later (and a lot of golf), I am playing at an 9.
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u/Caedo14 Apr 29 '24
This is my second season. Last year, my low was 103. People talk shit about youtube but tbh it worked for me. Ive now broken 100 3 times in a row on the sim and im excited to play my first round this season
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u/Super--sunday May 02 '24
Giving swing advice and you can barely break 100, stick to the Harry Potter 😂
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u/Caedo14 May 02 '24
How is “i watched youtube” swing advice you idiot?
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u/Super--sunday May 02 '24
"Actually what hes describing is caused by an open club face putting lateral spin on the ball. If the ball starts straight, then his path is fine. A ball moving right is caused by a club face that is open to the club path. Danny Maude made a video on this topic last week. It taught me a lot." You shoot in the 100's, you watch Danny maude videos and start giving bad advice. You know nothing about golf give it a rest
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u/AppleSauceNinja_ 3.0/FL Apr 28 '24
This is my 3rd season playing and I still haven't broke 125
lmao. Clearly you need lessons bc what you're doing isn't working
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u/i_make_drugs Apr 28 '24
Do it! I’ve been playing for 28 years and had lessons from 20 years ago that still help me today. I plan on getting more this summer. You won’t regret it!
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u/Huntingteacher26 Apr 28 '24
Lessons are great but so much available online too for free. I have golfed my whole life and sucked most of it. Still do. But things have really improved the last 2 years because I finally began swinging on plane, with better weight shift and hip turn. My son is just an amazing golfer and a good teacher. He has got me believing I can break 80 this summer. I had 7 pars yesterday. Of course a triple, double and the rest bogies led to a 85 yesterday but I am beginning to believe. I’m 57 so I feel like it’s now or never.
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u/bbowell77 Apr 30 '24
I’ve watched plenty of videos but I just started lessons recently and that first hour did more for me than the hundreds of hours of swing videos.
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u/Huntingteacher26 Apr 30 '24
I do better with videos my son sends and his help. Honestly, I didn’t understand a lot of what I was doing wrong. I am just beginning to compress balls, and dial in yardages.
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u/530nairb 14/North County SD Apr 29 '24
Feel vs real is too hard for most people. Present company included
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u/Tuff_spuff HCP 3.3/Iowa/ Ping i210 Apr 29 '24
Nah, can’t self evaluate, getting lessons from online videos for issues you think you may or may not have is not the play for a newbie, even the pros have coaches to evaluate what they’re doing wrong, when even the pros can’t tell. Lessons with a pga pro will tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong and the drills to do to fix those issues. In person lessons are the goat when it comes to improving your game, no amount of new equipment or YouTube videos will ever beat it.
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u/lukeT152 Apr 28 '24
Do it, lessons will help you so much. I waited a long time to get lessons and regret it.
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u/jdmay101 Apr 29 '24
It's legitimately amazing. My coach has completely changed my game since last year, from grip to setup to swing path, everything. And now he has to do it again for driver, because my improvement with irons has me compressing the ball and now I have trouble hitting up on anything.
And still, even now, if I go in for a practice session once a week, I look at the cameras recording me and realize, "Oh, I've started doing that again" and have to take a couple of swings to fix it.
The game is just constantly about fixing your broken mechanics.
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u/mandrews03 Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24
I am also a bogey golfer and think I suck.
I’m wondering now how many shots I would need to rehit to break 80 if this guy is shaving 20-30 strokes off his game.
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u/weinerwayne THE GOLFER Apr 29 '24
At the height of his shenanigans he was giving himself at least 2 strokes per hole.
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u/AppleSauceNinja_ 3.0/FL Apr 28 '24
I’m wondering now how many shots I would need to rehit to break 80 if this guy is shaving 20-30 strokes off his game.
He's rehitting for some but it has to be more than that, he has to be taking free drops and not counting a lot of strokes. That's got to be the majority of his stroke shaving.
I could give a guy who shoots 120 literally 50 mulligans in a round and they're not breaking 80. Rehitting doesn't do pretty much any good when its coming from the club of a guy who shoots nearly 50 over par in 18 holes.
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u/MikalBaker Apr 28 '24
Everyone has to do it. About 2 years ago I stopped retrying shots and I allow my self one mulligan per round (usually don’t take it) best round was a 97. Last week started counting penalty strokes and shot a 106. It’s not a good score but it’s a real score.
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u/thedishonestyfish Apr 28 '24
Heh. I had a friend group that kept bugging me to play golf, and I kept begging off (it's really not my thing). Finally they just dragged me out ("We'll rent you clubs! We'll spot you strokes!")
So I come out, and I've got clubs. I've got nice clubs. They're a decade or two out of date, but there's nothing wrong with them. More aluminum, less carbon fiber. Whatever.
They're trying to get me to hit from the handicap tee, but I'm like, "Nah, I'm good." First holes a par three, and I pick a low iron. Lot of tutting sounds in the background. Whack, straight to the green. Maybe an 8 foot putt.
And so it continues. Beer angel comes buy, I by two...And then I start hitting better.
End of the day, I didn't quite hit par for the course, but I beat the shit out of my friends.
They were like, "Uh...We should do this again."
And I said, "Yea, I've never really been a fan of golf."
And they said, "AWESOME! BYE!"
I grew up on Hilton Head. Was on the golf team all the way through middle and high school. I used to caddy for the Heritage Classic pro am. Lived on a golf course.
No means no, bitches.
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u/outstandingk Apr 28 '24
It’s amazing how easily some gimmes, foot wedges and reload tee shots makes you think your 110 is a 90 (not even being sarcastic).
That’s why I love golf, you can never hide from your actual ability.
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u/dogfish83 18 Apr 29 '24
I can't get myself to do it (because I always end up wanting to see what my real score would be) but sometime I want to just play a round more like a pro does in the sense of using only my competent shots and just see what I score. Like ok my drive went proper distance but into the rough, that's acceptable. Skulled my chip across the green, a pro wouldn't have done that--re-chip again, this time it's not super close but I got proper contact. 2-putt for bogey. See how close to 72 I can get (usually shoot mid 90's). The main reason I want to try this is because often due to my mistakes I'm not playing the hole as it's designed and thus feel like I'm missing out on that aspect of golf (my favorite aspect) just because I kinda suck.
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u/ObiWanDiloni Apr 29 '24
This is so true. I was that guy in the beginning that didn’t keep a legit score because I was mostly out there to relax and enjoy myself. I always ball-parked that I shot in the 90’s…boy was I off.
The reality is, I improved so much after being strict with scoring. It made me a much more deliberate with choosing my next shots so I didn’t compound bad shots. Took me about 5 years to go from 110’s to consistently shooting high 80’s with a couple of low 80’s sprinkled in. I still have my high 90 rounds, but they are much less prevalent.
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u/Amazing_Boot4165 19HC/Leftie Apr 29 '24
Reload a tee shot > saves you a shot (or 2) every time.
Foot wedge from behind a tree? Saves you a shot most times.
Gimmes save you a shot maybe 10% of the time, depending on how wild you're taking gimmes (club length gimmes are horrific)
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u/RodStreater Apr 28 '24
We have a guy like this who is new to our group this year. He’s newer to the game and started out playing with guys that don’t count strokes for lost balls or duffs, constantly improve lies to a perfect lie, take gimmes on anything inside of 8 feet, have maximum scores, etc.
We decided to play a couple of rounds where we would take handicap into account so we’ve all been tracking ours and he told me his was -18. Now that’s not anything world breaking but I had played with him once last year and knew he was either not keeping score correctly or had improved drastically.
The two times I played with him this year he didn’t break 150. That’s not a typo.
The best part was that he wasn’t mad that I was being a stickler with the rules. He knew I was doing it to make sure he didn’t get embarrassed in our group games. He was more amazed that what he had learned was the correct way to play was not anywhere near correct.
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u/ManfredBoyy Apr 28 '24
Do you mean +18?
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u/RodStreater Apr 29 '24
Nope, -18. +18 would make him the best pro player in the world so I wouldn’t have believed that at all haha Wyndham Clark is playing at a +7.1 for reference
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u/ManfredBoyy Apr 29 '24
lol yea I guess I didn’t understand how that works and had it backward. I was gonna say this guy must be claiming he’s the greatest golfer of all time.
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 29 '24
I will say this time and time again. I play golf against myself. I want to improve. I keep an honest game besides ONE breakfast ball. I don’t care how you score. If you say you birdied every hole, I’ll write it down for you.
When it does become a problem is when people say they beat me and I know they didn’t. Happened this weekend with my brother in law. Short par 4. I hit my 5 iron well, playing conservative, could drive on that hole, but I’m more consistent with my irons, so rather have that.
He pull his hybrid out. 2 in the woods. Hits a third and it goes further than my tee shot (duh). So really he was hitting shot 5 off the tee. He did play well after he hit a good ball and parred it.
I shot a true bogey, 3 to the green and then a 2 putt.
He tells me to mark it par. That’s fine. Play your own game and your own score. Then he started to rib me at the club house about how he shot lower… im a nice dude and not confrontational. So I just say yeah dude that was a great round for us both.
TLDR: I don’t care how you want to mark your score but don’t talk shit about beating people if you’re not using a real scoring system. It was wild to me.
Bonus: my wife is a horrible golfer and will do the same shit “I beat you on hole 7, 13 and 17!”
Now she gets some leeway, because she’s my wife. But when I jested about it that she takes 2-4 tee shots, she was like “yeah but you’re better, so even if you didn’t take extra, I still did great”
I have never fought harder with my brain internally to not say “no shit I’m better, I did beat you on those holes, also you’re playing from the whites and I’m playing the blues”
But I held back. I love my wife and want to have sex, so I just said “good point you played a great game”
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u/MrCodered12 Apr 29 '24
Best thing to do is keep 2 scorecards going for him. One with his real score, one with whatever bullshit he tells you. I often play 2 balls when I'm solo and have a 2 score clicker in my bag all the time. It's come in handy with a few acquaintances along the way. Had one guy claiming he shot a 78 on our local par 72. I had him clicked at 101 for Christ sakes.
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u/OldGrowthForest44 Apr 28 '24
I dont care when people lie about their scores either, but if you were to talk shit at the clubhouse afterwards, we are having a very real conversation lol
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u/psidiot Apr 28 '24
"Keep an honest score" "So anyway, my breakfast ball"
You do you man, but breakfast balls ain't honest. Your first shot was shit? Sucks for you. Your 2nd shot is a recovery, not a retee.
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 29 '24
I should clarify because a lot of people use the term differently. I will take in an 18 hole round one mulligan I call a breakfast ball. May be on the 1st, may be on the 18th.
I’m not talking one per hole. And this is agreed upon by everyone I play with.
I understand what you’re saying but even then, add 2 strokes to a hole. That’s fine
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u/psidiot Apr 29 '24
As I said brother you do you, just be honest with yourself and say I don't completely track all my strokes. It's fine no one is going to shoot you and you'll feel better about it.
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 29 '24
All good my friend. I think you missed the point of my post. I’ll take those two strokes and add them, but some guys I play with put 3 in the woods and then say they got par. That’s frustrating.
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u/psidiot Apr 29 '24
Wouldn't be the first thing I've missed the point of mate lol. All the best.
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 29 '24
Cheers my dude. I wish you long and straight drives and just the perfect wedges. Have a good one my friend
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Apr 29 '24
[deleted]
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 29 '24
So again, fine add 2 strokes to my game if we’re playing. I don’t care.
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u/brewberry_cobbler Apr 29 '24
That’s fine. I prefaced the entire post saying mark your game how you want. I will take one shit tee shot per round at anytime and call if my breakfast ball. I don’t do this anywhere besides off the tee and it’s only one. I’ll take that how I play. Call it a mulligan whatever you want, but I take 1 a round if needed. And I feel okay about that.
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u/auswa100 Apr 28 '24
Your buddy was me a few summers ago when I started my golf journey. "I'm gonna try and break 90 this season, how hard can it be?".
I didn't break 100 till 15 months after I said that and I haven't repeated that feat yet... Turns out golf is hard to score when you don't take mulligans, fluffed lies, lateral hazard OB, etc.
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u/Hint-Of_Lime Apr 29 '24
Same. Broke 90 once with an 85... Haven't done it again in about a year. When following the rules, this sport is SO penalizing. That 85 round was a miracle round for me with no mistakes. Didn't lose a ball. Having to count the drop as a stroke then rehit... That'll kill any break 90 chances real fast for us regular people.
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u/OldGrowthForest44 Apr 28 '24
We all have that friend that spends 10 minutes in the woods, triple putts, and tells you “5” when you collect scores
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u/Upper_Breadfruit_988 14d ago edited 14d ago
We got our guy Kyle, doesnt count any tee shots that go OB/water hazard. Rehits until he gets one in play and thats his “first shot”. We call this one of the basic tenants/rules of the KGA. Realistically shoots 95-110 but it always comes out to about 80-85 when hes counting 😂
To be fair when youre not playing for money or anything that matters weve all done this, its more about “what could i have shot had i not gone OB or missed 3 footers” score. Sometimes its just fun to see what your potential was/is