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When do your expectations for your game change?

I've chased goals/numbers for 3 seasons and I always fall off the wagon and get disappointed. I know what my end goal is and I expect to reach that.... But I'm going at it differently this yr as I've reflected on the past years of play and seen the error in my ways.

I'm no longer chasing a number, no longer chasing distance. I always score my best and enjoy the game the most when I just play the game as it comes and not trying to shoot a number the number happens I can't make it happen.


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For me, it comes with the realization that I am capable of shooting those lower scores more often than just the random round when everything (or at least most everything) clicks. I'm sure it is different for everyone, but just hitting my irons more solidly, or adding distance, etc. are not enough by themselves for me to expect improved scores. I've had plenty of years where I shoot something I consider low one or two times all year, but never really approach it otherwise. So I know I need to be able to turn whatever improvement I'm seeing into an ability to score before I expect better scores. And sometimes the improvement is just improving my ability to score itself--taking advantage of birdie chances, playing smart, scrambling, etc. If I can string together a series of lower scores in some sort of proximity--not that they necessarily have to be consecutive--then I'll start having the expectation that I should do it every time. Of course that doesn't mean that I actually do it every time, but my expectations will be higher.
 
My expectations have changed much more quickly than my game has. Each time I see improvement in one area of my game I expect to see a drop in scores, but it seems I always take a corresponding step backward in some other area. Lately I have point and putting better than ever before, but today I just couldn't strike the ball solidly to save my life. Everything was either off the toe or thin.
 
Thanks for all the replies. They have been a treat to read. And many clicked with me a lot. But this one (and other similar ones) described it perfectly to me.

For much longer than I had hoped it would take, I have been playing the "swing game". To be able to step over the ball with minimal swing thoughts and just have it feel natural. In fact, I would go so far to say that while my handicap fell 5 strokes in 2015, I did that IN SPITE of my ball striking, especially off the tee. I think a lot of that came via smarter play, and the second half of the year I put a lot of focus on my wedges to get me closer.

What I want from this year is more GIR, if I am going to chase a stat. I had a lot of putts for par last year, way more than ever before. But they were usually the first putt. I'd like to have those par putts be both more often closer to the hole, and not the first putt of the hole. In order to do that, my ball striking had to get better. Which goes back to my original question. Something feels like it has clicked with my swing, and I'm of the opinion that since I swing almost daily for some amount, that a month of better ball striking seems like more of a legitimate improvement rather than just a hot streak. But I also know it's hard to determine that for your own game, so that's why the opinions from y'all are so important to me on this.

JMN57 said:
I think that golf is like a Russian matryoshka doll. It's a game within a game within a game.

We all start with the hit the ball game. That's when you work on hitting good shots and celebrate them when they happen. With dedication, we progress to where the well struck ball is more the norm than the exception...

Then we move on to the score well on a hole game. That's when we string together a few shots and we get rewarded with a bogey, then a par, then a birdie and, hopefully, someday, some eagles....

Once we've learned how to score on a hole and it happens with some regularity, we start to expect it and then the game becomes how can we score in 9 holes and then 18 holes. We may have some birdies in a round but now what matters is the score for the round....

And if you get to the score well in a round level, you then start to work on making that happen consistently...


For me, the expectations change at each of those junctures. The great thing about the game is if you focus on the level you are at and focus on that step, you can divorce yourself from overall score, etc and find joy in reaching the immediate goal. And if you follow each step and dedicate yourself, you can actually become a reasonably good golfer.
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When you are playing well, you know it. When you are on a hot streak, you know that too. Good consistent play can't be found on the range, only on the course. The range is where we groove our swings. The course is where we learn how to put that swing into action.

When your scores and rounds start to be less stressful and automatic, you will have arrived. Until then, we are on a series of streaks.
 
When I have a golf holiday where I'm playing 3-6 rounds in a short period of time and I start hitting it well I start to expect some low scores. After a great round I expect nothing but great rounds until reality sets back in suddenly.
 
Nice to hear your seeing some consistency and repeatability in your swing and that the work you're putting in is paying off.

For me my expectations change unrealistically after a good round. I expect my next round to be as good or better and I'm often disappointed.

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Hope springs eternal every year but I haven't really improved my index since having kids 18.5 years ago. My ball striking is better than it was 15 years ago but I need more time to practice the short game!!! A couple things get in the way, my wife's and my work, and 3 busy kids living with us! Over the next 2.5 years, 2 of the kids and hopefully work will no longer be in the equation.
 
What also helps me instead of chasing GIR per say I chase a distance of + or - say 3 yards of the distance I am trying to hit. Doesn't always happen but once the distance control gets good GIR tend to follow. Also things like aiming 5 or 8 yards over the bunker at tucked pins help take away the misses, insert what ever number you want for that depending on your game obv.
 
Tadashi70 said:
When you are playing well, you know it. When you are on a hot streak, you know that too. Good consistent play can't be found on the range, only on the course. The range is where we groove our swings. The course is where we learn how to put that swing into action.

When your scores and rounds start to be less stressful and automatic, you will have arrived. Until then, we are on a series of streaks.
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Man those automatic rounds are so few and far between as a whole. I've had the automatic tee game or iron game but having both at once is rare! I want more of them lots more of'em cause that is fun golf. Just no thought except where you want the ball to end up.




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I have not hit a ball since November. I don't do the "indoor" winter thing. No better way to groove a bad swing than not seeing where the ball is really going. I've gotten use to the winter lay off after 40+ years of playing. It only takes me a few rounds in the spring to get going and then my expectations are just as high as at last seasons end.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
I have not hit a ball since November. I don't do the "indoor" winter thing. No better way to groove a bad swing than not seeing where the ball is really going. I've gotten use to the winter lay off after 40+ years of playing. It only takes me a few rounds in the spring to get going and then my expectations are just as high as at last seasons end.
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I couldn't agree more. I am visual with my game and projectors/screens and simulators just don't connect with me. A big part of my swing is looking at where I am trying to hit and I just have no feel for that with a screen. Even in the real world, I'll look at a target, let's say a 150 marker, and hit my driver to that and what tends to happen is that is the distance I will hit to - even if it is shorter (or longer) than my average drive.
 
like a few others have mentioned. it comes and it can go just as easily. I played my best golf of my life this past summer for about 2 months. It was like I had a revelation and discovered a new me (golf wise) things just clicked and felt great and it came easy and it lasted for a while (the better part of 20 rounds). And you think you finally found it all.....until Bam!........you go back to normalcy:confused2:.

I suppose some are fortunate enough to keep that and stay pretty good at the game and even improve from there. But not the case for many. Go figure. Hopefully you will be one of the luckier ones.
 
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