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Vote: Do you count every single shot?

Vote: Do you count every single shot?

  • Total voters
    181
I don't keep a handicap, but it would seem to me that all you guys that do should be answering "yes" without any caveats.
 
I can't help but keep an honest score no matter what it is. Many times I just keep a mental score of how many over I am instead of using a card. I've been slowly tempeted to drop the score part this year and just play and enjoy what little time I have on the course. My prediction is next year will be mulligan no score and have fun year. Due to a real bad work schedule and life events. Golf is what you make of it, enjoy it for what it is
 
I voted the third option. I tend to play alone a lot, and mostly those are practice rounds. I don't play in competition or carry a handicap. I do play rounds by my myself and count all stokes, penalties, etc to see where I'm really at. If I play with others I count all my shots and play by the rules, if that's how they want to play, I have no problem with casual rounds either (obviously).
 
I don't count every stroke 100% of the time, but in any event with a 'field' or an opponent I sure do.

I do find this thread surprising so far.
 
I don't play organized competitive golf but do run a cap for my own sake to see my progress. Too bad I don't make all that much :( lol
But I do count all shots. Sure on rare occasion the extenuating circumstance may pop up perhaps and even a rare occasional rules uncertainty , but I can say with honesty that my current 16.3 cap is true as I can make it. I want soooo badly to finally get that into the 15's and been trying for so long to accomplish that, if I cant do it as honestly as possible then when/if the time should come I will never feel right (for my own sake) to finally carry that cap. It has to be real or it just wont ever feel the same.
 
I always keep score and now that I keep stats I record fairways hit, gir, putts alongside the score. Sometimes it can be depressing but what's the point in keeping stats if you're not honest with yourself.
One thing I find really difficult is some peoples ability to play a round recording their score on the card and have no idea what their total score is. I'm sure if I could learn to do that my golf would improve. So much pressure removed to just play every hole individually.


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I count all shots, but sometimes I don't use proper rules.

Here's a situation that I'm sure comes up. You hit your drive. You see it land on the fairway but it rolls into the rough - I'm not talking Chambers Bay. So you know where it is, right? You trek down about 240 yds or so, but when you get there, you can't find your ball. You look for a few minutes and it's gone. Well not really, but the rough is a little thicker than you thought. You're walking. You're supposed to walk back and rehit. There are people on the tee waiting. Come on, be honest here, we've all done this. We've taken a "two stroke penalty" in the interest of pace of play for our S&D and dropped another ball and played out the hole. That's not according to RoG.

Technically you didn't finish the hole under RoG. So it's not using proper rules. That's why I checked the third option.

League play and tournaments of course are all under RoG and all strokes counted.
 
I always count every shot. The exception is ball on a root type stuff. If there is danger to life or limb, I will move the ball to a fair location and I fully encourage others to do the same.

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"Do you count every shot during non-practice rounds?"

Non-practice rounds to me means it is either a competition or for handicap purposes so therefore I am counting every shot and playing the ball as it lies, seeing the ball into the hole even if it is a tap-in of a few inches and if I am unsure of where a drive has landed then I am hitting a provisional in case the first ball can't be found

If it is a practice round I still tend to play it as it lies, the only difference being that if I hit a tee shot that I subsequently can't find when we get to where we think it landed then I will drop one in the general vicinity and continue from there rather than going back to the tee and slowing the course down

Fortunately, I have never had to deal with a lie that involved the ball lying against roots but I expect that an agreement would be made between all players about what we would do in that situation
 
mcrobertsjmac32 said:
Must be differences in skill level or who u play with or something, because I've never played with someone who didn't play at least a mulligan per round.

I'm very surprised at the scoffing at mulligans. I'm not playing for money or bragging about a low handicap here.
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Im not scoffing at mulligans i just never knew people played using them. Im guessing its not a skill more a different country thing, i havent heard of it being done here in NZ. If thats how you play its all good.
 
It really depends on the round, I try to be honest, count all strokes, and play it as it lies but on occasion if I hit a poor shot and playing by myself or just working on things I won't keep score and I'll drop multiple balls as long as no one is behind me. In any event I take it as it comes and accept the good with the bad and count it.
 
I count every shot. Only exception is if I play a few holes for myself only for training purposes, then I might play two balls, make a second shot etc..but then I am not counting strokes at all
 
InTheRough said:
I count all shots, but sometimes I don't use proper rules.

Here's a situation that I'm sure comes up. You hit your drive. You see it land on the fairway but it rolls into the rough - I'm not talking Chambers Bay. So you know where it is, right? You trek down about 240 yds or so, but when you get there, you can't find your ball. You look for a few minutes and it's gone. Well not really, but the rough is a little thicker than you thought. You're walking. You're supposed to walk back and rehit. There are people on the tee waiting. Come on, be honest here, we've all done this. We've taken a "two stroke penalty" in the interest of pace of play for our S&D and dropped another ball and played out the hole. That's not according to RoG.

Technically you didn't finish the hole under RoG. So it's not using proper rules. That's why I checked the third option.

League play and tournaments of course are all under RoG and all strokes counted.
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You can still play by the rules during this scenario. Mark the hole as an "X" it will get by the hole's handicap rating.
 
Yes, always have
 
I keep a handicap for my own edification, I rarely play in tournaments where handicaps are used except for THP events. If you don't count EVERY shot (which I will admit to not doing on occasion) you are only hurting yourself, kind of reverse sandbagging. What I find interesting here is the acceptance of "gimme's" the rules of golf require that the ball be holed out in stroke play. I don' t believe match play scores can be used in handicaps. Besides holing out is a good habit to get into. A few years ago I was in contention in a local tournament, I left a putt on the lip and in disgust picked up the ball. There was no chance I would not have tapped in, really (I'm sure we've all seen that flub). Naturally a penalty ensued, that cured me of not making a habit of holing out. I did not win the tournament and the penalty was not the reason, but it sure was embarrassing.

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If I'm playing in my Tuesday morning blitz with the seniors we pick up after double bogey. No bullets left as they call it so pick it up and get ya arse back in the cart. I suppose its for speeding up play or whatever so I go along with the rest of em. The Tuesday morning scores are not turned in for handicaps so no harm. They do record your points and average them out for this competition. We roll it in the fairways but not in the rough. There is a root rule to remove it to a safe location without improving your line of flight however that is for everybody.

The scores that I do record for my handicap are legit and all rules are followed.
 
I play the ball down and count every stroke. However, I have ( 2 or 3 times this year) broken the rules by throwing another ball down and hitting it after a particularly bad shot. The original shot is the one scored though. The only other exception was one time this year when me and a buddy drove 2 hours to play someplace, they didn't have a practice range and we ended up having to wait 45 minutes once we got there for a storm to blow through. We decided we would get 2 tries off of the first tee if we wanted it. We both took it. That's really the only time I haven't counted a stroke this year.
 
I'll count every shot including penalties but if I accidentally tap the ball while I'm in the fairway before I hit, I don't count that

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JRod said:
Yes?


What's the point of having a handicap if you don't ?


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Agree 100%. I do however, if alone, will play with more than one ball, maybe for ball testing or new club testing, or because I'm working on something, but I say to myself upfront that the score(s) will not be posted. Other than that, I post everything. At my course, you must sign and turn in your card for posting.
 
Early every year, sometimes I may move the ball just so I don't have to hit around a tree or something. I'm just out hitting balls and getting my swing in order, and I'm really not keeping score. That sort of play may last to mid-April Tournaments or league play, obviously I count every single stroke.

~Rock
 
In the vast majority, I count every stroke.

Even of you take a mulligan on a hole or two, you can still count your round for your handicap, provided you do it properly.
 
For me it depends on the day.

Some days with my buddies we have bets, random games or teams etc and we play a rule of one mulligan per 9, tee box only.

Other days, if I'm working on my game, I may hit two tee shots per hole, or like yesterday, trying my new irons hitting multiple irons in per hole.

If it's a HC round, I play it as it lies and count it all.
 
USGA rules do state that you don't have to follow every hole by the rules of golf to be able to post a handicap. So if you did decide to move from root on a hole or two and don't count it for strokes, you can still post. I'm not suggesting it, just saying it's possible.
 
Normally, yes. I didn't count one yesterday though. After hitting what felt like my 100th ball OB this weekend I immediately teed one up again in frustration to try to figure out what the heck I was doing, hit it OB then went and took a drop. I was frustrated and justified it as a practice/experiment. I should have done it right and counted them all.


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