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How Frequently do you Double Bogey?

JonMA1 said:
Theirs is a common belief - maybe they play with more high cappers than I have??? But bad decisions - high cappers trying to pull off shots that the pros won't, for example - is not even close to the number one reason that I've experienced and seen as the most common reason for double or higher holes.

In the age of more people using data to support opinions, you still have those who have occasionally gone out with a high cappers, watched them miss what they consider high risk shots, and that becomes enough of a sample size to form an unwavering opinion. And the same could be said about my experiences as well. But I do know that poor decisions (with my game anyway), is nowhere near the cause as that of poor execution on shots that are not high risk.

The advice you just have to reduce the doubles or worse just brings back funny memory. In late 2021 I took lessons from an instructor. He helped me quite a bit and I still have a lot of respect for him. But in the first few rounds of the following season, I started off with some high scores. At his request I sent him the screenshots of my scores and his only comment was you have to find a way to reduce those doubles and higher - as though that wasn't self-evident. Lol

The reality is that to someone who is as inconsistent a ball striker as me, 18 holes brings about so many opportunities. I'll play certain holes with bogey as the plan from off the tee. When a golfer doesn't have any particular strengths, all it takes is one hiccup on a hole. That's why I believe par 5's are statistically more difficult for high cappers, there are more opportunities for a hiccup. When someone is already averaging bogey golf, all it takes is one poorly executed shot to get them to a double. We generally don't have the game to come back from that.

I've said this before, but the MyStrategy feature in Shotscope is a great way to see if poor decisions are a factor for blowup holes.

My average is 23% pars, 38% bogeys, and 36% d-bogey's or worse.
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Great points
 
Tenputt said:
I am not categorizing myself as a player, but there is definitely no judgment. The people on the podcast made the comment that a significant percentage of the double bogeys or worse could be eliminated, even by the 20 index, through different club selection or not trying to make the hero shot. Their belief was that we amateurs try to make the hero shot much more than even a Tour pro would. I also wonder if the big numbers could be eliminated for some by putting a chipper in the bag, or similar type of choices. When I played golf frequently with my wife (now ex), we put a chipper in her bag and it made a huge difference in saving strokes around the greens.

We all are different, though, and golf is hard.
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I never met a shot I couldn’t I couldn’t hit. :LOL: When choosing between safe play and hero shot, always choose hero.
 
Tenputt said:
I think that in general, our courses here in Utah tend to be more open and less penal than many other areas.
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I’m certainly not afraid of the rough.

I wonder if the reason they come in bunches is if you already have a couple on the card you have less to lose why not just go for that hero shot?
 
GolfFest said:
I’m certainly not afraid of the rough.

I wonder if the reason they come in bunches is if you already have a couple on the card you have less to lose why not just go for that hero shot?
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For me, when they come in bunches, it is because something is really off with my swing.
 
I probably average about 1-2 per round. I seldom do an entire round without one, and rarely have as many as 4.
 
I would say once a round and usually a 3 putt is involved.
 
Tenputt said:
For me, when they come in bunches, it is because something is really off with my swing.
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So more penalties off the tee than stupid decisions?
 
GolfFest said:
So more penalties off the tee than stupid decisions?
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Or something like I develop shanks during a round or years ago, I would go through early season streaks of topping the ball, something like that. Otherwise, unless I am simply playing an extremely difficult course (like Torrey PInes the day before it closed to the public in front of the U.S. Open), I don’t tend to get doubles in bunches.
 
More often than I like, that’s for sure.
 
I think it just depends on my tee game. Every once in a while I make a mistake or two through 18 and get a couple. There was a long time when it was tight and I'd make one every few rounds at worst, but I think that's a long ways away now haha

Also, I think raking makes a big difference. Often times the low stress on a 15 footer for par means the next one is usually good, or assumed good. Golf isn't that serious to me anymore on my every day rounds.
 
I worked on that last year.
I learned how to make consistent ball first contact.
I learned how to play it as it lies. As well as learning to take drops.

Making the "smart" play requires practice to be able to do it well.
Hitting that chip back onto the fairway isn't always an easy shot.
It is so easy to have it roll off into the rough.
 
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22% or 3.96 per 18 hole round. The causes are different and pretty evenly spaced out going off memory. Poor lies/position, tough short sided shots, and course conditions seem to be my big 3. Weird slopes happens pretty frequently too.

I’ll give an example of each. Poor lies: downhill chip to a green that runs away. Short sided: 20-30 ft off the green to a pin that’s 6 ft on and on a small tier. Course conditions: variable green speeds and putting through dozens of craters in my line. Weird slopes: par putt slides in one direction after the hole, comeback bogey putt slides the opposite direction.
 
Great Job Yes GIF by Tate McRae
 
I probably average 2-3 double bogeys per round, mainly due to my stellar iron play 🤪
 
Bernoulli said:
I never met a shot I couldn’t I couldn’t hit. :LOL: When choosing between safe play and hero shot, always choose hero.
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I didn’t spend all that time practicing and pay all that money in green fees to layup!
 
There is such a thing as a double bogey?
 
Tenputt said:
Do you jump right from bogeys to triples?
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Only in tournaments!

In my club championship this year I made a triple in every round. I don't think I made a triple all year other than that, but I had balls landing in the weirdest places.

But no doubles lol
 
~18hdcp here. Arccos says I have 5.9 per round on average so this tracks. Stupidly I am good at my long putts 25-50 & 50+ft but lose my shots inside 10ft. I really need to work on that.
 
Shot Scope for 2023 has me at 28% double bogeys. Which is every 5 holes out of 18.
 
13% of the time according to Shot Scope
 
2 or 3 for 9 holes.
 
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