2013 Handicap Watch

First topic message reminder :

Right - all you competition addicts, a thread to share our handicap adjustments (perhaps some tales of woe...hopefully some tales of banditry) this year. Geeky or what

Went to the local club today. Never liked it because Im sure half the holes are anti-left handers. A few years ago I shot 69, and I generally shoot 71-74 there (Par 72). Shot a glorious 83... Im a very competitive player and it meant nothing to me that the guy who beat me is a nationally ranked player... He is still 15 years old!!! Will be back on the course next week at a pro-am (sports journo), so the bosses have given me the week off to at least beat the rugby okes!

After a 5 year hiatus from golf (up until 6 rounds last autumn) i have rejoined my old golf club this month.

I have 3 cards which i will hand in this week so should have my handicap in a week or so. But im guessing it will be roundabout 6.

Iv put in cards of 78, 76, 78 on a par 72 from the competition tees, and based on my rounds at other courses over the past month i think 6 would be a fair handicap.
Only problem is that the last official handicap i held at the club was 1.3 so the comittee arent keen to give me too many shots. Annoying seeing as this handicap was in 2007 and i hadnt picked up a club in 5 years until last September!!

Iv not really got a handicap goal for this year. the only goal i have set myself is to shoot level par or better at least once

Welcome 1/3!
Given the best card is used as a basis for establishing a new handicap for a player who has never held a handicap, you can discard the other two cards. Because you have had a handicap before, it's a given that this will be taken into consideration, and your notional hcp of 4 will receive a dash of salt. I'd expect the options being considered would be : 1.3, 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0.

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes I'm another one who bounces between 5 and 6. Played two qualifiers this month without finding the buffer zone so up 0.2 and currently on 5.4

One more chance to discover a bit of form or it's back to 6!

Neither form or buffer zone discovered in Saturdays qualifier so it's another 0.1 and back to 6

BlueCoverman wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes I'm another one who bounces between 5 and 6. Played two qualifiers this month without finding the buffer zone so up 0.2 and currently on 5.4

One more chance to discover a bit of form or it's back to 6!

Neither form or buffer zone discovered in Saturdays qualifier so it's another 0.1 and back to 6

Chopper!

On the plus side it's one less shot that I have to give you next week Grumps

I've spent much of the last week bouncing between 6&7
From 6.6...medal at home club last Weds
77 net 70 CSS 71 so cut to 6.4
Men's Champs at 2nd club Sat 84 net 78 CSS 73 up 0.1
Men's Champs round 2 Sunday 79 net 73 CSS 74 so 0.2 cut
Medal at home club Bank holiday Monday 83 net 77 CSS 71 up 0.1 so clinging on to 6.4

Annoying amount of shots frittered away including an unforgivable 2 shot penalty for teeing up outside the tee area on one hole...doh!!!

Before the 84 on the Sat I had averaged 77 in my previous 5 rounds and thought I was developing a bit of consistency but no, I still have the capacity to rack up a big score out of the blue

JAS - you left it all at Remedy!!

Lol not all of it, I had 3 rounds at Elea in Cyprus (77, 75 & 79 - the 79 included 3 to get out an unraked bunker on 11 when level par). So there was form there, indeed the first midweek medal was decent as well so the 84 was a big bolt from the blue.

Never got round to doing a review of the round at Remedy but suffice to say I loved it, great test as well. When does regional qualifying take place again Puligny?

JAS - 24 June. Witha bit of warmth the course has really livened up. Played it a few times last few weeks and it is close to its best. Greens just speeding up nicely!

Oneorthree (off the tee?)

What did they land you with? I'd guess split the difference between old h/cap and best card so say 3.

Having practised for the entire week, and following a trip to the physio for a golf-related shoulder injury, I shot a pretty solid one-over par 72 at my local course. A far cry from the depths of 83 with which I started.

EmmDee57 wrote:

EmmDee57 wrote:Starting Exact Handicap: 9.7
Target: 12.5 - Fed up being good and more to be made with handicap of 13, playing in Division 2.
Number of planned hcp counting comps in 2013: around 30
First counting comp planned: 7th April.

2 medals played, up 0.1 in each so 9.9 now. Plan to be up to 12.5 has taken a back seat due to a 3 week spell of Greensome & Texas Scramble competitions. Normal service resumes next Saturday. In current form, I'm confident there'll be another 0.1 increase.

Played on Saturday. After opening to my usual standard of late, +6 through 5 holes and facing the prospect of another 0.1 increase, something seemed to click and with my drives continually finding the fairways, I played the remaining 13 holes in +2, resulting in a scratch score of 76 (nett 66) and being cut by 0.2 so I'm currently back to where I started the season at 9.7.

Roller Coaster....

I got 6 dead in the end (which I am pleased with!)

I put in a 78,76 and an 80 (I shot the 80 the day I went to the golf club to put cards in)

Playing in my 1st medal next week so will post an update of how I get on.
Frustratingly we have a board comp this Friday which I would like to play in but iv been told new members have to play 3 qualifying comps to play in board comps. I pointed out that I wasn't a new member but a returning member and if he cared to check that board my name is on it from 2006 (along with the club championship and about 2 others)
Alas im sarcasm was lost on said committee member - I think the majority of committee members are missing a sens of humour/people skills gene!!!!

Hibbz wrote:Frittered away a .1 in today's stableford. At one point (after 8) I was three better than handicap but through a combination of crap putting and some weak tee shots on the par 3's ended up 2 worse.

More devastating was the fact that none of my four ball had time to stop for a pint!!!!! Something I said lads?

Now 5.6

The bouncing continues. 75 on Sunday against a CSS of 71 got me back to 5.3 but dog awful in today's Midweek medal put me back up to 5.4

Presidents day on Sunday should be enough to see me back up to 6.

Couple of games since last update.
Awful, awful round last Wednesday. Off to a decent start 4,4,4. Smashed a lovely drive up the par 5 4th, then snap-sliced my hybrid, leaving a chip out sideways which caught up in the nettles. 6 shots later i tapped in for an 8, and even after following up with a couple of pars, my game spiralled out of control until the 15th. Finished -1 for the last 4, to card a very nasty 85.
Got back on track at the weekend with another steady 78. Didn't get into much of a groove, but kept a cleanish card - 12 pars 6 bogeys, which after the previous error strewn round, was a relief. Off to Ladybank on Saturday for the Mens open, hoping i can follow up a cut at Lundin a fortnight ago with another away cut.

01 JUN___78n73___CSS/72___+1___t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY___85n80___CSS/72___+8___t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY___78n73___CSS/74___-1___t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0
04 MAY___78n73___CSS/73___EV___t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR___78n73___CSS/70___+3___t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1
20 APR___75n70___CSS/73___-3___ t4/151___-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR___81n76___CSS/74___+2___t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

Men's open at Ladybank yesterday. A delight of a golf course, excellent condition, warm and sunny. Shame the round took 4h40, add a 40min delay to the start time too, but still a great day and will hopefully have another crack next year.
Golf wise a steady start and +2 after 8 with a couple of silly 3putts. Back nine was disappointing though as I leaked a few tee shots, and paid the price. Despite the card yardage of 6600+ off the back tee, I only used driver twice and frankly didn't need to. Hit many 2iron hybrids off the tee for position and seemed like the sensible play on most occasions. Great fun - a good course for exercising course management skills. Unfortunately I couldn't capitalise my good play with the putter - struggled to see the lines on putts longer than 10feet. Still came away with much to be positive about (as noted on the chipping thread), and another buffer zone.

08 JUN___80n75___CSS/75___EV___t18/141___0.0 = 5.1

01 JUN___78n73___CSS/72___+1___t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY___85n80___CSS/72___+8___t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY___78n73___CSS/74___-1___t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0
04 MAY___78n73___CSS/73___EV___t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR___78n73___CSS/70___+3___t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1
20 APR___75n70___CSS/73___-3___ t4/151___-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR___81n76___CSS/74___+2___t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

Played the monthly medal yesterday, and it was a game of 3 3rds. Made a good bogey on the first after finding my pushed tee shot under a bush where I could only play it out back and sideways onto the adjacent fairway. Birdied the next and parred 3, so far so good. I then missed a slippery four footer for par on the next, and my confidence took a nosedive. I went double, double, double, par, quadruple and so turned +11 off of 9. Determined to stop the rot I set a target of level par on the back 9, which got off to the best possible start with a birdie. I sadly gave that shot straight back but battled through to 16 on my target. Missed another slippery left to righter for par there, and dropped another on 17 but managed a rare par on the last for an 85. Because of the quad, that will be a net 74 for handicap purposes against a likely css of 73 so I'll hopefully have avoided getting .1 back. That will be 2 buffers and 2 x .1 back in 4 qualifiers so far this year. No idea when my next one might come, though.

It was all going so well... 8 pars and a solitary bogey (a slightly unlucky on at that) to the turn in our club champs qualifier this morning. 3 doubles, 5 bogeys from 10-17...and a birdie to finish to scrape into R2 tomorrow right on the cut line thanks to a few withdrawals. The weird thing was, at no point did I feel like I'd tightened up. I felt like nearly every swing was a good one, the ball just had a mind of its own. I kept putting it down to the strong gusts of wind that got up as the round progressed, but some of the shots were just plain bizarre that I can't help thinking that I was playing the last six holes with a damaged ball. Even my birdie on the last was the result of a very odd ball flight with a pitch from 100 yards, and a crazy bounce forward that just seemed loaded with top spin... The thing is, on reflection, the oddities all occurred from the hole after I had to hit a pitch off a grassed over concrete plinth which was hidden in the rough on 12. I wasn't sure if I could take relief, so just played it as it lay, but wonder if consequentially the compression between club and concrete at impact may have screwed up the balance of the ball. Or, it was just a rubbish 9 holes  Need to dig in tomorrow, and only a really solid round will get me into the last 16.

15 JUN___83n78___CSS/73___+5___t56/109___+0.1 = 5.2



08 JUN___80n75___CSS/75___EV___t18/141___0.0 = 5.1
01 JUN___78n73___CSS/72___+1___t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY___85n80___CSS/72___+8___t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY___78n73___CSS/74___-1___t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0
04 MAY___78n73___CSS/73___EV___t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR___78n73___CSS/70___+3___t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1
20 APR___75n70___CSS/73___-3___ t4/151___-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR___81n76___CSS/74___+2___t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

Now played 17 qualifying rounds since staring back at end of March after missing some golf, so been busy time. Last reported after 7 rounds and had got to 5.3. Now 10 rounds on am at 5.3. Latest rounds have included English Seniors, County Seniors and Frame Trophy (50+) at Worplesdon - all good fun and well organised. Great to be playing again, and not witnessed any noteable slow play.

Captain's day on Saturday and kicked off at 6.30 - bit too early but did manage to avoid the inevitable slow play with the course so full, refreshment tent etc.

Never really felt in control - wayward tee shots, iffy irons, short game was ok and putting pretty inconsistent. 8 over after 9 and only 1 shot left which rapidly disappeared on 10th thanks to a 3 putt. Double 11 and bogey on 12 meant I was looking at 1 under for the last 6 to hit the buffer. Bogeyed 15 but birdied 16 so stood on 18th tee thinking birdie needed - needless to say it all went pear shaped!! 2nd shot flew about 30 yards too long OOB and ended up taking 7 for 0.1 increase. As it happened par would have been enough as CSS was +1 but would still probably have played the same shot.

Still 0.4 lower than the start of the season but don't feel anywhere near as confident as I did at the start of the season.

5 qualifiers so far this year - what with representing to club in matches and having to go on holiday, I've missed a few. Got to the cusp of going up to 9 again, but managed a 2 under in the nick of time. Since then I've gone 5 over, 1 over and 1 under, so getting a little bit of consistency going. Down 0.3 since the start of the year, so going in the right direction. If I can get the chipping and putting sorted I'll shoot a really low score!

Superb weekend two laps, one under for 36 holes, 83 points and a point 7 reduction to 4.3. Lowest yet.

Well done Roller! I managed another 1 over nett, so no change in handicap. But it's a 2 round comp with the second later in the year - so in the hunt (and defending champion).

Played a couple of comps lately.

Medal 13th June. 78 net 72
Medal 16th June. 81 net 75

Club championship was sat / sun.
Played the best 9 holes of my season so far. went out in 34 (-2) but came back in 42 for a 76. Didn't play the Saturday despite only being 4 behind leaders as I haven't played enough qualifiers to win it.
was won with +3 for the 2 rounds (good scores on our course at the moment) only 1 player has broken par in a comp in June and there are about 30 players off 5 or less.

Could have had a really decent number Saturday but went 7,7,5 from the 11th to go from -2 to +5
Onwards and upwards though.

Sand wrote:Few more medals since last update...37 stableford points so down to 3.3.

Disappointing NR after being +1 thru 11. Heavens opened and my score went quickly offline. Up to 3.4.

Second course medal yesterday CSS 71 score 70 less 3 for 67 and -4 cut down to 3.0. Good day for scoring but first time I've ever came off course slightly disappointed with a round of -2. Missed so many chances, but can't complain with that score!

Didn't realise it was so long since id posted an update although sadly theres not been a lot to report   (well good anyway!). After that last round noted I have had another cut .1 followed by pretty much 7 rounds up .1 so im back where I started the season at 3.6. Oh well thinks can only get better, hopefully starting tonight!

Midweek medal on Weds - 8 pars and a bogey on the front nine, a combination of decent ish ball striking and sharp short game. Ball striking went off a bit on the back nine, however, still only 4 over after 15 (playing off 9) - then went treble, double on 16 & 17 and finished with a par to play to my handicap. Very much a case of what might have been...

However, positives were my short game and only had 27 putts, including a 3 putt. Lipped out 3 birdie putts but on the flip side holed pretty much everything inside 10 feet so swings and roundabouts.

Having set myself a target of getting to 8.something this year, this was definitely an opportunity missed but something to work from

After the metaphorical week in the sun last weekend and the point 7 cut, it was merely a literal weekend in the sun literal sense. 78 (32 pts) for point 1 and 77 (34 points) for point 1. Back up to 5 (4.5).

Was bloody lovely out though.

Another round in the buffer. It could have been so much better. It was President's Day and he stands a drink after nine unless you start of the 5th in which case you stop with 4 holes to go. So comfortably under handicap with 4 to go and finsihed 6, 5, 3, 5 against par of 4, 3, 3, 4, so 5 shots in 4 holes and two over nett. Oh how I wish I hadn't had to stop! Dropped 6 out of 10 on three holes.  Wouldn't have won though - first and second 5 and 4 under nett, but it would have been a nice cut. On the plus side another pretty consistant round.

Hibbz wrote:

Hibbz wrote:Frittered away a .1 in today's stableford. At one point (after 8) I was three better than handicap but through a combination of crap putting and some weak tee shots on the par 3's ended up 2 worse.

More devastating was the fact that none of my four ball had time to stop for a pint!!!!! Something I said lads?

Now 5.6

The bouncing continues. 75 on Sunday against a CSS of 71 got me back to 5.3 but dog awful in today's Midweek medal put me back up to 5.4

Presidents day on Sunday should be enough to see me back up to 6.

Tis a while since this was updated. Presidents day was as predicted and since then a 36 hole Open at Farnham (up 0.2) a couple of buffers and a couple more weak home track efforts have seen me to a season high of 5.9.

Captain's Day this Sunday and as mentioned on another thread all of the irritating giddyness isn't my thing but there are some decent prizes so it would be a great time to arrest the slide!

I forgot about this thread too. Professional's Trophy last Saturday, grouped with two other 9 handicappers and we all pulled one another along, at least on the front. I was getting away with murder for those 9 holes, and had 20 points at the turn with a blob on my card. I made a 3 point par out of the trees on ten but then the luck ran out. Without hitting it noticeably worse I proceeded to score just 3 points on the next 5 holes, then had a bit of a rally to amass 5 more on 16 and 17, which left me needing 2 points on the last to hit buffer zone. I was in a greenside bunker and put it to 8 feet, but missed. 8.9 and won't hit a ball in anger until my next qualifier in 10 days. 9.0 it will be, then!

Staring down the barrel of going back to square 1 this weekend. After starting the year at 6.6 and feeling that it was all coming together, got down as low as 6.0. However a poor club champs, followed by being sucked into Senior Captains day (silly CSS off the yellows) and a poor Captains Day last weekend I'm suddenly back at 6.4. Not feeling anything going wrong and must be overdue a good one. This weekend sees the Saunton 36 holer so another poor one and I'll be 6.6. On the positive side I could be Cat 1 come Sunday evening...looking forward to rolling the dice Sunday morning

I feel Im due a good round
.. started hitting driver straight again, been practising (!), putting and chipping good, short irons acceptable , mid irons good, long irons crap ... but with good driving i wont need them ..
But Im going away this weekend and wont play for a fortnight !
So it will all probably be out of sync again by then
At least my swing feels back in-line again , and Im having some good thoughts. who knows my dip under 9 for the first time

I'm down to 6.1 from 8.6 at the start of the season. My lowest ever hc so very chuffed. Had 4 or 5 really good rounds punctuated by some truly dire stuff. Would be happy to stick at 6 for a bit if possible.

Good season so far shclaffer!

My mid-term assessment - Good

5.0 start, up to 5.3 over about 6 rounds, couple of decent ones with 0.1/0.2 cuts so back to 5.0 followed by one weekend with a couple of good laps (-1 & level) to put me to 4.3 (best ever). 3 point ones back to 4.6  and held a couple of times since then. Chuffed (especially given -2 CSS regularly).

My consistency continues, just can't quite get a decent cut. Two quallies since the last report - 0.1 back (by a single stroke). I'm due a really good round though.

Well done shclaff!

Thanks Roller, golfer....just have to play to it now!

Sand wrote:

Sand wrote:Few more medals since last update...37 stableford points so down to 3.3.

Disappointing NR after being +1 thru 11. Heavens opened and my score went quickly offline. Up to 3.4.

Second course medal yesterday CSS 71 score 70 less 3 for 67 and -4 cut down to 3.0. Good day for scoring but first time I've ever came off course slightly disappointed with a round of -2. Missed so many chances, but can't complain with that score!

Didn't realise it was so long since id posted an update although sadly theres not been a lot to report   (well good anyway!). After that last round noted I have had another cut .1 followed by pretty much 7 rounds up .1 so im back where I started the season at 3.6. Oh well thinks can only get better, hopefully starting tonight!

Another few rounds to report on. Two cuts a .2 + .1 put me back down to 3.3. Then a NR where I played truly awful and a 80 less 3 for 77 when CSS was 74 so up another .1. So back down to off 3.5 and off 4. Been an up and down season so far and after a lot of rounds only .1 down from where I started the season! Nevermind, happy enough with the season so far, but would prefer to be a bit more consistent. Still plenty more rounds to go starting tomorrow!

Couple of low rounds have got me down to 6.9 which is my lowest ever.  Started the year at 7.8  and thanks to a 4-5 month layoff that moved to 8.2 relatively quickly.

Be nice to keep scoring in the 70s but still manage to throw the odd BIG number in there at times and sabotage myself.

Busy time since first comp at end of March. Now completed 25 qualifiers and delighted to be down to 4.8. A lot of buffers and small downwards adjustments and the obligatory 0.1s, but overall played much more consistently than I had expected. Possibly lowering expectations = better performance?
Now got a couple of weeks with no qualifiers but several team and foursomes events along with an interesting mixed scramble open at East Sussex National. Really looking forward to a bit of stress free golf!!!

bit of a break from card in hand golf this month. been steadily tracking up  0.1s for the last few rounds as working hard on my short game has led to some severe inconsistencies in my long game. ball striking is generally good, but ball control has been slightly erratic. arrived up north for our annual week 'home' on friday. straight out to the course in the evening and as reported in the 'tell us...' thread, absolutely ripped it up with playing partners to shoot -18 nett and win the 3bbb comp by 3 strokes. personally knocked in 5 birdies, which was the first time i'd had more than 3 in a round for a wee while. difficult to say how i would play the next day as due to the nature of the comp there was a lot of risk taking and going for shots i wouldn't necessarily go for with a card in hand. anyway tee'd it up yesterday afternoon, and by the end of the round felt like i'd quite possibly played one of the most hectic rounds of golf in my life!

bogey, par, par, bogey, birdie, par, bogey, d.bogey, bogey
par, birdie, t.bogey, bogey, eagle, par, birdie, par, bogey

Four silly 3putts, a drop out of the whins, 2 shots to get out of a bunker....and a lot of 1 putts too. Eagle on 14 was the first i've had in a while, short par 4 playing 275, driver to 10 feet and very pleased to drop the putt. very nearly birdied 17 too, but wasn't to be.
I don't think i've ever had so many 'ifs' and 'buts' flying through my head after a game, but despite the disapointing score line, really enjoyed myself.

unfortunately i missed my buffer by 2 due to the css reflecting the easier conditions of the morning starters, 80% of the field. i think if they'd been playing in the blustery conditions we'd faced i would have stood a reasonable chance of making buffer on the mark. anyway, that's the way it goes around an exposed links, so back up to 6 for the first time in about a year. medal on wed, and fri evening to come.

course is looking fabulous - nice brown fairways - castle stuart had just had a fair watering over the firth when the photo below was taken on friday evening...thunder in the air

Spoiler:

Club champs on Saturday over 36 holes - had been a bit erratic so not sure what to expect...

up 0.2 was what happened!!

Playing off 9 I was 5 over after 3 in both rounds so not an ideal start. In the morning held it together to be 6 over after 9 and then birdied 10 but fell away a bit to finish 12 over. I was 10 over after 9 in the afternoon but played better on the back 9 to finish 13 over. Not too many positives - 2 birdies on one of the sweep holes was nice, short game was pretty sharp and putted well in the morning but driving erratic and irons generally poor leaves some work to do.

Back up to 10 (9.5 exact now) is a blow - 0.2 lower than the start of the season with maybe a couple of medal rounds left

Course record was broken by the winner in the afternoon - 6 birdies on the front 9 and level par on the back to break it by 1 and shoot 9 under for the day. Second place was 6 under so good scoring.

Wednesday medal- poor start but no disaster, bogey,bogey. Couple of birdies on 6&7 and back to level after 8. then messed about the next three -bogey,d.bogey,bogey -parred the remaining holes except for another double on sixteen. Disappointing, but another 77 to add to Saturday's 77 so consistency of sorts..desperate to finish with a better round on Friday though.

Last night, Stableford comp in toughest conditions of the 4 rounds this week. Very strong winds mainly cross-winds but rarely helping with the exception of the two normally tricky par 3 ninth and eighteenth which, despite being longer than 200 yards were playing only an 8 and a 7 iron respectively. Conversely the 1st which is normally 5iron/wedge played very long - 3wood/7iron. Anyway, enough picture painting. Shotgun start, out at the 14th. Best round of the year so far - played really solid, with only a few slip-ups. Set up a load of birdie chances but couldn't get the putter going from length. Holed out well inside 5 feet all night including a clutch on the last to finish on 40pts with a 73. One of the other guys in our group was going very strong knocking in a few long putts playing really well off 17, and I figured he was well clear. However, on the 12th, our 17th, I hit my shot of the day, a great 2iron from 200 to 18inches, tapping in for the 3 while he made 6. Thought I might be close then and after we both made closing bogeys we totted up scores in I scrapped it on better inward half. No one bettered it, so my 'highland tour' of 4 events ended with a second piece of silverware, plundered if you will. By my calculations that should be me back down to 5.0, just 0.1 off lowest ever. Very pleased indeed. Medal to come on Wednesday followed by Quarter-Final of the club singles on Thursday.


02 AUG___73n67___CSS/71___+2____-4_____1/48____-0.5 = 5.0 (away)
31 JUL____77n71___CSS/69___+8____+2____t17/49___0.0 = 5.5 (away)
27 JUL____77n72___CSS/69___+8____+3____t22/66___+0.1 = 5.5 (away)
22 JUN____80n75___CSS/72___+8____+3____t33/72___+0.1 = 5.4
16 JUN____88n83___CSS/72___+16___+11___34/37____+0.1 = 5.3
15 JUN____83n78___CSS/73___+10___+5____t56/109___+0.1 = 5.2
08 JUN____80n75___CSS/75___+5____EV____t18/141___0.0 = 5.1 (away)
01 JUN____78n73___CSS/72___+6____+1____t16/163___0.0 = 5.1
29 MAY____85n80___CSS/72___+13___+8____t75/120___+0.1 = 5.1
25 MAY____78n73___CSS/74___+4____-1____t18/153___-0.1 = 5.0 (away)
04 MAY____78n73___CSS/73___+5____EV____t15/155___0.0 = 5.1
27 APR____78n73___CSS/70___+8____+3____t22/73 ___+0.1 = 5.1 (away)
20 APR____75n70___CSS/73___+2____-3____t4/151____-0.3 = 5.0
03 APR____81n76___CSS/74___+7____+2____t20/81 ___+0.1 = 5.3
Starting 5.2

That's it...back to square 1...started the year at 6.6 and after getting to 6.0 I've now drifted back to 6.6. Never felt better about my game but in the past month just seem to have lost the capability to grind out a score. Bad start this morning opening bogey double but settled and turned it around and got it back to 2 over through 11. Unfortunate bogey at 12 then wtf...probably the worst hole I've played in as long as I can remember, a 9 on 13. At that point I just felt like walking off the course and leaving my clubs where they were. Kept going though and try as I might I just couldn't shake it off and ended up missing the buffer by quite a few

Still believe 5 is on the cards sometime this year but not quite sure what, if anything I have to change to get there.

SmithersJones wrote:8.9 and won't hit a ball in anger until my next qualifier in 10 days. 9.0 it will be, then!

Indeed it is, again just missing the buffer. Ball striking coming back though, so I'll give the midweek a go on Weds and see if I can reverse the slide.

Made it down to 8(8.1 PB  ) with a good win on Saturday, but .1 back straight away after a pretty crappy medal Sunday. Started with a 9 after taking an iron for safety. Never again!!!!

MontysMerkin wrote:Started with a 9 after taking an iron for safety. Never again!!!!

How?

Pulled 4 iron, semi. Very pulled 4 iron, heavy rough. Played ball - moved a foot. Played ball to middle of fairway. Got to ball - played wrong ball - 2 shot pen. Go back and find ball. hack ball out to fairway. Mid iron centre of green, miss 10 footer for an inspired 8. Lovely start - and we teed off in last group, 3 groups waiting on next tee even after all that effing about...

Does anyone know why just making a stroke at a wrong ball incurs a two shot penalty?

It would seem that as long as the mistake is corrected before the hole is finished by playing the correct ball from the correct locations no harm has been done.