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Low Scores, How do they happen ?

• nickuk 967 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 2:24 AM

  Amazing isnt it....practice practice practice, thats what they say!

  What puzzles me is ive played a few leg ends in stroke play...and not one of them has seemed capable of getting a 63 never mind scores in the 50`s. maybe you have to play on your own...taking your time ,concentration and all that jazz!

  "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 2:36 AM

  nickuk:

  Amazing isnt it....practice practice practice, thats what they say!

  What puzzles me is ive played a few leg ends in stroke play...and not one of them has seemed capable of getting a 63 never mind scores in the 50`s. maybe you have to play on your own...taking your time ,concentration and all that jazz!

  "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"

  Practice and all the other prerequisites - nobody will play sub-par from the tips with Starters (except perhaps a legendary Legend who's no longer around).

  And yes, concentration and time...

  "Took 5 mins for that one putt" was heard from a lady Legend after a fabulous score,

  "Played the tourney for 33 hours on one weekend" resulted in the first ever(?) 49 score.

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 2:40 AM

  jstrappit:

  Also how do amatuer players have a score of 61.33 and are not t/master tier? how does this happen??

  He played only three (or six) rounds as an amateur which ain't enough to meet the minimum number for a tier-up.

  Chances are he is on a second (or more) account, chances are he uses it for profitable sandbagging.

• chris5214 1,937 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 3:30 AM

  alosso:

  JAMESBALDINI:

  Even the pro pga golfers don't  shoot in the 50s

  Moving the whole body and a real club is harder than to move the index finger.

  @Moaman: Point 1 is that we have to buy length and precision here, and we have to wait until we're allowed to do so. High class equipment allows for other shots than average equipment.

  Point 2 is experience, or practice, as others pointed out, including diligence.

  Point 3 is individual ability, eye/hand coordination and whatnots.

  Point 4 may be the IT environment, from PC to WWW.

  it's like Paul says .. parkin' ur Ar$e behind ur screen will inevitably result in low scores .. it's just math & timing .. thats it

  we're not exposed to fatigue or the weather, so these scores will naturally follow ..

  however, it's just as hard shooting a 29 or 30 as it is shooting a 32 or 33 by a lower tiered player .. the difficulty & challenge remains even though the scores come down ..

  not rocket science ..

   

• bubbadork 984 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 3:35 AM

  My view is that, first, you have to learn to two-putt.  Then you have to learn to hit the greens. Then you have to learn to one-putt.  I'm still working on the last part.

  You do need some distance off the tee, and to hit the fairways, but you can sorta buy that.

  All of this presumes you can hit the ding or very close to it (two or three lines left or right) on a regular basis.

• MainzMan 9,590 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 4:03 AM

  Hitting a score of 50 something doesn't take that much doing, particularly on BPB.  When you first play this course you probably think a sub par round will be a miracle but once you get to know it, and have the best gear in your bag, it becomes an easy course to shoot low scores on.  Don't forget par is 70 there so a 55 is 'only' 15 birdies, which is well do-able if conditions are favourable.

  The best players here consisteltly hit their approach shots an average of 12 or so feet from the hole and know exactly which side of the hole to be to leave an easy, straight putt. Bethpage is also one of the easiest course to putt on so if you can get your approaches to average 12 feet for a round the chances are you'll make a lot of birdies.

  A guy in our club recently hit 55 there in a single play, ranked tourney.  No short tees, no restarts, just low winds to help a bit.  He is very, very good though but as has already been suggested, posts better scores when playing alone.  Not having a timer makes a big difference for some people.  Even if you don't take 90 seconds anyway just having the timer and chatting with other players can break your concentration.

• alosso 21,060 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 4:04 AM

  +1 bubba!

  Add the ability to hit approaches close to the holes under various conditions which will help with the one-putts.

• mantis0014 8,946 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 4:14 AM

  The really low scores are shot by really good players of the game from Shorter Tee's.

  Every hole is birdieable (is that a word ..lol), throw in a few eagles here and there and you get a very low score.

  In Unlimited Comps....  if you don't birdie the 1st hole..restart, if you get a par on the 2nd hole restart game....etc.... Until you get the low score.

  Wgt vs Real Pro golfers....  The Golden rule is to take 10 shots off.... The Pro's shoot  between 60-70 and thier Holy Grail is to break 60 (which a few players have done) and the good Wgt players will shoot between 50-60 and thier Holy Grail is to break 50 (which a few have done)

  -Roger

• chrisironsbones 3,524 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 4:42 AM

  Legends are used to playing the courses from long tees and still score 57's or better at st andrews, bethpage or where ever so when those same players who can score 57's from long tees play those same courses from master tees a birdie fest is on the cards, that same hole you had to use 195 iron can now be reached with 150 iron (or even 9i) giving even more leeway to you missing ding etc, because the shorter iron wont deviate as much, and throw that in with the bowling green flatness of bethpage's greens then low scores are easily posted.  On top you might get a "hot" round too like when i managed a 51 in Ready go at St Andrews from master tees.  The better players expect to birdie every hole and most can

• Ffudd 2,541 Posts

  Fri, Sep 28 2012 4:43 AM

  Fubar057:

  LOL  u will never get a truthful answer. All u will get is to practice more, I've played close to 1500 total games and have never got close to that score either. 

  12 months ago I was the same as you and I wondered how people shot low scores too so I started taking notes - not just how far the ball went but where to land on the green, where to avoid, how to play the bunkers and rough and fescue and slopes and wind. Where to aim so if I miss the ding I still have a birdie putt.

  I played practice games over and over and over again and if I get stumped by something I still go back and play that hole over and over and over again until I figure it out.

  Like the bunker on Congressional 4 I must have replayed that hole 50 or 60 times and now I know if I miss the approach shot or hit the invisible tree and drop in there I can still get a birdie a lot of the time.

  I only have 1675 ranked rounds but if I included all the practice rounds and practice holes and restarted rounds I would guess maybe 4000.

  12 months on after spending way too much time, effort and money I am not the best player here by a long way but if the tees and the wind and the meter is right I can sometimes hit those low scores.

  12 months on you are still playing alt shot from the short tees - that's your choice and I don't have a problem with that.

  If you think "Practice more" is a lie, where do you think you will be in another 12 months ?