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Giving or getting POPS

T2GRN18

T2GRN18

Active member
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
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Location
Maryland
Handicap
2.1
How do you feel about giving or getting pops? How many do you feel comfortable with when giving? What is your game plan for either giving or getting pops? Does it change how you attack a golf course? What does it do to your mental game?
 
Giving or getting POPS

I just play my game and try and make as many pars as possible. I can't control what the other guy is doing but I can put pressure on him by playing my best. If that guy plays his best golf with the pressure I am putting on him then props to him for the win. I will also say I don't know of anything that can take the winds out of someone's sails more than you winning a hole while giving them a stroke on it. As much pressure as it is giving strokes think about losing a hole with a stroke for me that would ruin me far more.


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It's just a part of a handicapped game. It is what it is. If the course has allocated it's handicap holes properly, then all I have to do is play to the best of my potential. As long as the other golfer is honest, they will also have to play to their potential.

No reason to force anything.
 
If I know and trust the individual, I got no problems either way. It's the way we keep things "even" in our sport. I give and I take as the situation dictates. Fool me once though...... :alien:

JM
 
It is a necessary evil to level the playing field. But I when given the choice I would rather not give or get shots. I don't ask when playing guys better than myself.
 
It's part of the game and when I struggled with the game and was hacking it up I got strokes so if I have to get them I get it. For the last 3 years I have been playing straight up with the guys I normally play with and that was with a difference of up to 7 stroke difference in hdcps.

i assume we are playing straight up unless someone else brings up getting/giving pops. I would have to decide on how to go about it depending on who the other person is.

As far as how I approach the round I just try to focus on my game and play it the same regardless.
 
A group of guys are going to MB this weekend and we were talking about doing a handicapped match play since we have a very wide range of skill level coming. How do you decide what holes to give pops on?
 
TBaker34 said:
A group of guys are going to MB this weekend and we were talking about doing a handicapped match play since we have a very wide range of skill level coming. How do you decide what holes to give pops on?
Click to expand...
Based on the handicap ranking of holes. 1 through 18
 
T2GRN18 said:
Based on the handicap ranking of holes. 1 through 18
Click to expand...
So say someone is giving 6 they would be on the 1-6 handicapped holes? I was thinking that but one of the guys said that it has nothing to do with that
 
If you're giving 6 pops to another golfer than typically they are given on handicap holes 1-6.


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I just try not to worry about that and play. I've never felt I was getting enough with how the people I was against were playing vs how I play, but I've never really looked into how all of that is calculated. So, really the only thing I can control is how I play and just need to focus on that.
 
On the rare occasion when I'm playing for anything more that $15 I rarely give or receive pops.
 
TBaker34 said:
So say someone is giving 6 they would be on the 1-6 handicapped holes? I was thinking that but one of the guys said that it has nothing to do with that
Click to expand...
Another way is to do it per side so they would get three on the three hardest holes on the front and the three hardest on the back.
 
emart2173 said:
Another way is to do it per side so they would get three on the three hardest holes on the front and the three hardest on the back.
Click to expand...
This is what my friends and I do. We usually play stroke play, but if we were going to play match, I would give pops on the hardest (handicapped) holes.
 
emart2173 said:
Another way is to do it per side so they would get three on the three hardest holes on the front and the three hardest on the back.
Click to expand...

Most courses I've played the break down the evens and odds per nine. Meaning 1,3,5....on one side, 2,4,6....on the other side.


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I've had it both ways, and I just played my game each time. Shouldn't change your mindset IMO.
T2GRN18 said:
Most courses I've played the break down the evens and odds per nine. Meaning 1,3,5....on one side, 2,4,6....on the other side.


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Click to expand...
Yup, this.
 
I don't even think about it. Just play my game. If I play good I feel like I'll have a great chance. If I play average it will be a toss up. If I play poorly I'm going to lose. Par on each hole is always my goal. Enough of those and I'll win.
 
I'll never ask for strokes or solicit them from someone. If I play against someone, it's straight up. Either i play better than them that day or I don't.


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You have to play your own game either way, but I feel more comfortable getting strokes. It's easier for me to get into a comfort zone of just grinding away one swing at a time...bogey is a tie, par is a win. I know it should be the same when giving strokes. But, for example, this weekend when I had to give 10 strokes, it felt different. It was a bit demoralizing to see my opponent hack it around then find a way to make bogey. It felt like there was more pressure this way, even though there really wasn't.
 
one thing I believe, no matter what the difference in handicaps, no player should ever get a stroke on par 3.........just my thoughts
 
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