How do people that don't keep score utilize strategy?

[Jeff Tang]

I think strategy can exist on the micro level (ie, trying to pull off one shot, or figure out how to make a birdie on any one hole) without keeping score for all 18.  I think the architecture can also be experienced in this manner.  

However, for me I get the most enjoyment out of trying to put together a full 18 hole round.  I think approaching a round in this way provides more opportunities to be strategic.  For example, there may be a stretch of holes designed in a way that don't play to your strengths and another that you feel comfortable being more aggressive on.  Managing a round to me is fun and trying to decide whether to carry the water on the fifteenth hole versus laying up is more interesting to me in the context of a full round rather than on just playing the 15th hole independently.

Coming down the stretch and trying to figure out a way to break 80 (or 90, or 100, or par, or whatever score is meaningful to you) is what I consider fun and a way to experience the architecture in a meaningful way.

[JR Potts]

You'd have to be either a great golfer or Ghandi to shoot a round in the 60's and not want to know it. Why deny yourself that pleasure?

I always know my score...even when I wish I didn't know....just can't help it....and I can't envision someone not knowing theirs.  If you're not trying to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes, you're not playing golf.

[Brent Hutto]

JR,

I always know my score in the game I'm playing. I just only play the "total of every stroke for 18 holes" game maybe two or three times a year, tops. That's a game best suited for sorting out the small differences between closely matched, accomplished players. The difference in a medal score of 71 and a medal score of 73 between a couple of two or three handicappers makes for an interesting competition.

Double-digit handicappers fretting over the difference in an 89 and a 91 is an exercise in masochism. There are much more interesting games to play for guys who are liable to card an 8 or an 11 from time to time in medal play. Not least because in strict medal play the only rational "strategy" is to try for the absolute minimum likelihood of that single, card-killing quadruple bogey. Even if it greatly reduces the likelihood of birdies, eagles, amazing shots or any fun being had.

[Tim Martin]

You'd have to be either a great golfer or Ghandi to shoot a round in the 60's and not want to know it. Why deny yourself that pleasure?

Rumor has it that Kim Jong Il wished he could have forgotten his last round when he carded a 63 and, so disgusted with himself, gave up the game forever.

This is the man that threw a smooth little 34 (38 UNDER!!) for 18 holes at Pyongyang Golf Course back in 1994, which included 5 Holes in One for the round.

With game like that, one can well imagine how he would be destroyed by shooting in the 60s.....

 

[Tim Martin]

You'd have to be either a great golfer or Ghandi to shoot a round in the 60's and not want to know it. Why deny yourself that pleasure?

Rumor has it that Kim Jong Il wished he could have forgotten his last round when he carded a 63 and, so disgusted with himself, gave up the game forever.

This is the man that threw a smooth little 34 (38 UNDER!!) for 18 holes at Pyongyang Golf Course back in 1994, which included 5 Holes in One for the round.

With game like that, one can well imagine how he would be destroyed by shooting in the 60s.....

 

What? He even had 17 (bodyguards) witnesses to that great round! And was this BEFORE ProV's, 460cc Drivers, dual strap bags and brush tees. Bet he did it with a Top Flite, blades (including a 1 iron), a Bulls Eye and a laminated driver.

Kim Jong Il....... Kickin' it Old School, baby, Old School.....

DC-He`s kicking it alright-right into the pine box pards

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/idUS405953094220111219

[jeffwarne]

Maybe they play for the cart path side of the fw, either to speed play or get closer to the cart girl.....I mean, there is a little strategy to everything, no?

When we used to play a late nine holes after work at Palmetto Dunes Hills  course we'd aim for the paths as it was cart path only

[Kyle Harris]

Thank you John.

I haven't read most of the thread but as an aside to the spirit here:

Could anyone explain how a format where the penalty for absolutely refusing to play a hole or continue to play a hole is only 1/18th of an opportunity to win? How is match play the superior or purer form of play when the player may voluntarily concede a portion of the play with not much risk?

[Tim Martin]

DC-He`s kicking it alright-right into the pine box pards

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/idUS405953094220111219

Tim,

Thank you for the link....and thank God for Fox News for their steller research and "Reporting" that Kim Jong Il's son and probable successor, Kim Jong-un, is a "fan" of Michael Jordan's. See, what makes Fox so great is they let us "Decide" if the new dictator is a fan of Jordan's career as a player or as a GM/Owner. They don't steer us one way or the other. Brilliant.

Fair and Balanced bitches.

[John Kavanaugh]

Thank you John.

I haven't read most of the thread but as an aside to the spirit here:

Could anyone explain how a format where the penalty for absolutely refusing to play a hole or continue to play a hole is only 1/18th of an opportunity to win? How is match play the superior or purer form of play when the player may voluntarily concede a portion of the play with not much risk?

Kyle,

Match play is not better, just different. On the hole where I was given the albatross we were playing for two bets, by the 18th hole we were playing for 11.  Our match started at 1pm in December where sometimes you sacrifice a hole so you have time to play another. Your perception that a hole is a hole is a hole does not reflect the real world.

[Kyle Harris]

John:

Sounds like we are in agreement.

[Sean_A]

JakaB

I think we all must keep some sort of score, otherwise, one is merely practicing - no?  Mind you, I often go for the low percentage shot because I rarely play for anything that means much to me.  I don't care about the final number on the card in and of itself unless it is exceptional (very, very rare) or unless it enables me to win more than a few quid.  Its no different from poker.  If we are playing for nickels I am in all night.  If we are playing for fivers you have my attention and due care.  The shots themselves hardly ever make me shrink back in fear - its just a shot and if I face too many of these in a game then I am not likely to return as I don't like buying golf balls for strangers to find. 

Ciao

[John Kavanaugh]

JakaB

I think we all must keep some sort of score, otherwise, one is merely practicing - no?  Mind you, I often go for the low percentage shot because I rarely play for anything that means much to me.  I don't care about the final number on the card in and of itself unless it is exceptional (very, very rare) or unless it enables me to win more than a few quid.  Its no different from poker.  If we are playing for nickels I am in all night.  If we are playing for fivers you have my attention and due care.  The shots themselves hardly ever make me shrink back in fear - its just a shot and if I face too many of these in a game then I am not likely to return as I don't like buying golf balls for strangers to find. 

Ciao

I also go for the low percentage shot because I love to make birdies. If my goal was only to make the lowest possible score I would take the safe route as anyone with half a brain would.

[Steve Lang]

  ... the same way or more ways than they do when keeping score.

I once stopped keeping score for about two years ... bottom line, it really was not that important vs life events, and rationalize all you want about risk and lost balls vs execution only, I played with the same strategies learned over time.. enjoyed par and the occaisional birdie just as much,  if anything I was more emboldened and would take the routes previously less challenged, experimenting with new strategies amongst classic things like challenging hazards only when able,  setting up approaches on fairways to one side or the other to safely fade to short pins or draw to back ones, etc., score was very relative and short lived, a smile, contentment, or a W (wasted effort). it all disappeared when reality had to be re-entered leaving the coarse...

so can you have strategy if you don't know the course well or can't control the ball?  sure can.. but its probaly pretty simple... might as well ask how many folks truly execute strategy versus just think about it after the fact..

[Mac Plumart]

the same way...they do when keeping score.


Agreed.

[John Kavanaugh]

... the same way or more ways than they do when keeping score.

I once stopped keeping score for about two years ... bottom line, it really was not that important vs life events, and rationalize all you want about risk and lost balls vs execution only, I played with the same strategies learned over time.. enjoyed par and the occaisional birdie just as much,  if anything I was more emboldened and would take the routes previously less challenged, experimenting with new strategies amongst classic things like challenging hazards only when able,  setting up approaches on fairways to one side or the other to safely fade to short pins or draw to back ones, etc., score was very relative and short lived, a smile, contentment, or a W (wasted effort). it all disappeared when reality had to be re-entered leaving the coarse...

so can you have strategy if you don't know the course well or can't control the ball?  sure can.. but its probaly pretty simple... might as well ask how many folks truly execute strategy versus just think about it after the fact..

Steve,

I try to always play from the same tees as my playing partners.  It just makes the social aspect of the game flow more evenly.  Did you play from the same tees as your wife during this period in your life.  If not, why?

[Steve Lang]

  John,

Ms Sheila and I definitely played the same tees more during that time, from our forward and middle white tees, which continues to this day.  Took a while to restart after my dad passed away, but 3 years on I'm back to single digits index, much more focused and counting all 18 hole scores...   as lately i officially have to give her 4-5 a side..

p.s. i have become quite fond of the forward tees, much more strategy and short game involved

[Mike McGuire]

Forms of golf - low to high.

Don't keep score
Honey do golf
Scramble
Keep score
Match Play singles
Match play four ball
Match play foursomes

[Andy Troeger]

My "not" keeping score tends to be a function of not writing a score down more than not knowing how I'm playing, etc. I start every round with the intention of playing well and knowing the "number" at the end, and in reality most of my rounds consist of about 15 decent (birdie/par/bogey) holes and 3 x's where I make a big number or pick up and move along. (Sometimes its more like 12 and 6x). I can give myself a score if necessary, but only worry about it if someone else in the group cares. I just don't grind out every hole for a medal-play score that's 100% by the book and ok for posting. On those rare days when the driver stays in play, I usually find a pencil eventually 

[cary lichtenstein]

I always kept score unless I went out on the course to practice something I was working on at the range to see if it worked on the course. Othertimes, I would take out some new clubs or new balls of a different brand to see how far they went or the amount of spin, flight height, etc.

I never dropped a 2nd ball while playing and hated when someone in my group did that, but you have to put up with all types as everyone knows.