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How do you judge success on the course?

Tadashi70 said:
Over the years I have played with all types of handicaps from tour pros to beginners and everything in between. And I have observed similarities over th years such a love for the game, competing spirits and a drive to be the best they can be.

It's always interesting to me how each golfer judges success. Some want to hit every fairway, others need to card 6 pars others want 3 or more birdies and other look at low scores. All are driven to succeed in their particular areas. What drives you? How do you measure your success on the course?

For me it's having 29 or less putts. I know if I can get this done, I'll have a good day.
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I'm with you on the putting if I'm sub 30 I had a fantastic day on the course.
 
Tadashi70 said:
What if you shoot over 80, does the fun stop?
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Nope, I just don't consider the actual golf portion to be as successful. I almost break golf down in to two different segments, the social aspect and the actual golf aspect. If one out of the two is successful than its usually an overall successful day.
 
I judge my success not by my score but by FIR & GIR, basically my ability to consistently keep the ball in play without having to scramble.
 
Total Score and how I feel walking off the course, because sometimes I can have a so-so round but still feel like I gained something from it.
 
Did I hit the ball well? Score is one thing, but as long I think I got everything out of it I could that day, then that's a success.
 
By score. If I score well I could care less how many GIR I hit or how square my contact was.
 
As of late, if I shoot at 80 or less, that's success in my book. 80 to 85 is meh, and anything 86 and over is a major off day.
 
I try to take a positive from every round. Be it final score, hitting a certain number of fairways/greens, or making a certain amount of putts. Some rounds that's harder than others. But the item that has the biggest factor on success for me is final score.
 
Score. That's it.


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For me I would like to shoot close to my HC. And have minimal "BLOW UP" holes. That is a successful round to me.
 
For me, a good round can be determined by how many balls I lose. If I start and finish the round with the same ball, I'll know it was a good round. I can be pretty erratic at times, but if I have day where I'm not, it will be a nice score. Doesn't mean every good round won't have a lost ball, just that if I don't, I know it will be a good round.

Played at an old home course over the summer I hadn't played in 15 years or so. 5 bogeys, 2 birdies, zero lost balls. Didn't really do anything particularly well, except keep the ball in front of me and in play. I'll take that every time out.
 
Pars, that's pretty much it. I play any particular hole to try and make par. Par happens a lot of different ways. Maybe I'm driving my the ball well, or hitting approaches well, or putting and chipping well, pars can be made a lot of different ways. Not saying I expect to make 18 pars, just have that goal before every hole and hopefully I can get a few. I think it's fair to say as amateurs we all fail more than we succeed, but that's golf.
 
On the course in a round I judge score and lack of double or worse scores. If I don't have any doubles or worse in a round then I was not making a lot of errors and that is what I care about.
 
greg19 said:
bogey or better on the par 3's. If I can par at least 2 of them i'll have a good round.
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Agreed. Nothing worse than a high score on a hole that should help regulate your score for the round.

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Right now for me it's hitting fairways
 
By score for me. If I break 80 I consider it a successful round. I generally don't care how I get there as I know one day something will work and something else won',t and it could flip flop the next day. If I start to notice a pattern of something that is holding me back from scoring well, then its time to start working on it.
 
Tadashi70 said:
Over the years I have played with all types of handicaps from tour pros to beginners and everything in between. And I have observed similarities over th years such a love for the game, competing spirits and a drive to be the best they can be.

It's always interesting to me how each golfer judges success. Some want to hit every fairway, others need to card 6 pars others want 3 or more birdies and other look at low scores. All are driven to succeed in their particular areas. What drives you? How do you measure your success on the course?

For me it's having 29 or less putts. I know if I can get this done, I'll have a good day.
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Good topic Panda.

I'm along the same lines as you, <than 30 putts for me and that's a good round. On the other hand, I also have to look at the number of GIR's as well. Cause if I have fewer than half of the greens in regulation, means I was scrambling well but no birdie chances. So I'd like to hit over half the greens & have <30 putts per round. Then I'm scoring!
 
no houses hit (I am really not kidding on this one)
was I close to my handicap score wise ...
Did I laugh at lot
 
For me I guess it's the number at the end of the round. Ive shot 77 after a perfect ball striking day that should have been a 72 and a 77 after hitting the ball all over the lot that should have been an 82. One feels better than the other, but in the end they are both successful for me.
 
Interesting to see people judge a round by the number of putts. I'm not sure what you gain from that. Often, if my putts are low, it's because I've missed the green and I've chipped in close. That to me doesn't indicate any sort of success. If you played the course in regulation, that would be a level round with 36 putts. You wouldn't class that as a successful round?


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It's all about the doubles or worse, my judgment of success is being tallied from the first tee based on those blow up holes, a successful round is no more than a couple of them.
 
Score is the determining factor for me. Day-to-day not all parts of my game are going to be "on" and which parts are will vary from one day to the next. Overcoming my weaknesses to score well on a given day, regardless of what that weakness was, and turning in a good score at the end of the day is my measure of success.
 
Mark_UK said:
Interesting to see people judge a round by the number of putts. I'm not sure what you gain from that. Often, if my putts are low, it's because I've missed the green and I've chipped in close. That to me doesn't indicate any sort of success. If you played the course in regulation, that would be a level round with 36 putts. You wouldn't class that as a successful round?


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If I hit 18 greens and two putted each green I would consider it a huge fail. Very few amateurs hit 100% of their greens. They don't chip it close all the time so saving par with a one putt is a success. Consequently, if I'm under 30 putts I know I did my job and save par with some solid putting.

Like I said when I opened the thread, everyone judges success differently. There is no one answer that is better than the next. I believe you said score. Well, what score?
 
Score. Right now from my regular tees (which puts me in play around 6300-6500 yards) if it's sub-100 I'm pleased*. If I'm sub-95 I'm ecstatic. If I'm sub-90, I'm wet-my-pants thrilled. I've yet to wet my pants.

I was pleased that my FIR went up this year (~60%), even while I gained distance (both of which I attribute to my instructor), and I can only count on 1-2 GIR a round, and I'm always right around 32-36 putts. Raising the FIR and GIR, while dropping the putts for 2017 will probably be areas that will prove to be good indicators of my game.

*This holds true especially if I'm playing a new course. If it's the first time I'm on it, and I break 100, I consider it a really good day.
 
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