How much golf do you actually play?

[John Foley]

I'm amazed by the amount of golf that the gang here actually plays. I realize that different people have very different experiences and the amout of golf that they can play/get away with varies dramatically. Throw in where you live and it varies even more.

I'd love the chance to play one a week, but w/ work, family & other obligations I find it a strugle to get out once/twice a month. The more the better obviously.  I'm amazed my game holds together pretty well (as long as I can get to the driving range once a week) so the times I play the scorecard mentality isn't effected greatly.

Do you have a goal for # of rounds per year/week?

PS. I know the real answer is never enough

[Brian Phillips]

John,

Before I got into golf course construction and now design, I used to play nearly everyday and had a handicap of around 6.  I now play like yourself about once or twice a month and my swing is not too bad but my short game is absolutely awful!!

At Pine Valley this year I had 24 putts on the first nine and shot 16 over par on the back nine I shot 2 over par and had 14 putts!! Golf is a strange game..

I hate playing these days as I get so frustrated with my game but I love playing matchplay with friends such as Jeff Brauer or Graeme Webster.  My construction mentor Ragnar Aune and I have never lost a matchplay match to anyone ...yet!  He is sixty and hits the ball like my wife but is a demon with the texas wedge and his putting is as smooth as Ben Crenshaw!

TEPaul once said to my partner Jeremy Turner that we have nothing to worry about as all architects play golf like we do!!  Apart from Steve Smyers who is a very good single player.

Brian.

[Bob_Huntley]

With a modicum of restraint I manage three or four rounds a week. However, visiting firemen frequently force me into playing more. Years ago I told myself that the more rounds played, the better one's golfing ability... this a fallacy.

I am still trying to get up to the record set at MPCC by the late Ray Lugo(he used to own the Shell station at Fifth and San Carlos in Carmel).... 333 rounds in one calender year.

[THuckaby2]

I have a new icon besides Mr. Huntley himself:  Ray Lugo.  And now I know what business I should have gone into.

TH

[Paul Richards]

No matter that I have turned in about 85 + scores this year,
the real answer is  NOT ENOUGH.!!!

[RJ_Daley]

Bob, when do they construct a bronze statue of that fellow at the corner of 5th and San Carlos?

I am currently playing 2-3 times a week and monitoring the situation with my back.  I doubt I will ever really get consistently better as a player.  I have pretty much resigned myself that I have hit the wall of skill, or lack thereof.  I played pain free for the first time in 2 years for a period of 3 weeks recently and then the evil curse returned.  As long as the Ibuprophen holds out, I'll try to stay with at least 2 per week.  It drives me insane when a fellow plays 2X a year, goes out and breeses through in under 80-82, and hasn't a clue upon what sort of course design or its merits that were put before him.  

[Dan Grossman]

John,

Isn't the golf season only about 9 weeks long up there in upstate NY?  Shouldn't you set higher goals than 9 times per year?  

I find my golf comes in bunches.  I seem to take a golf trip about once every 6 weeks (each trip seems to constitute 4 - 6 rounds) and then I play about every other week when I am in SF.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

Actual rounds I play 2-3 times per week during the good weather.  Others would say I play more.....I often leave the office at 4 PM or so and head for the club to hit a few balls or play loops of 4, 6 or nine holes.  I have just gotten down to a 2 handicap.  People ask how much time I have to play and I tell them I got that low on the short loops.  A quick 4 holes keeps my short game intact, only takes an hour or so and I still have time to shop for dinner (My wife works and doesn't do much of the shopping or cooking) and get home in time to cook.  We don't have kids!  I don't know how it would work if that were the case.

Thank god for the the private club.  I could never play the short loops if I were fighting for space at a muni or paying everytime I stepped onto the course.

[bm]

Cos,  Once you have kids its all over my freind.

2 kids + work + busy travel schedule + 5 hour rounds on weekends (if I could get out) = no golf! (OK about once or twice a month)

I was about a 6 hcp with a solid hook swing (a long time ago), then bought new clubs, changed swing (to get rid of un predictable hook), had a second child = result - the caddy at Cypress Point called me the "Skankmaster" for fashioning a par our of the 2 worst goddamn swing's he had seen for a while!!

Time with kids take precendence at this stage - they are 2 & 4. I figure by the time they get to their early teens and don't want Dad around any more there will be plenty of time for golf - if I can retain some fitness and mental fortitude during this time. Then theres the chance that they might actually get into golf and I can tag along with them!

[Evan Fleisher]

Cos,

Agreed!  Nothing like being able to just walk up and walk out whenever your heart desires.  fortunately for me, I am in the same boat.

I have played about 50+ rounds this year, including 18 and 9 hole rounds, and contrary to the esteemed Mr. Huntley I believe that playing more DOES improve your golf game...at least in my case it has!

My handicap has/had been hovering around 15 or 16, but with all the play this summer (work has been way slow!) I am currently down to an 11.

And to JonhF...of course the answer is NEVER ENOUGH!...but just ask my wife, whose answer would be WAY TOO MUCH!

[Frank Pasquale]

My season is from April-September, and I play twice a week.  Two or three one-hour short game and/or driving range sessions per week keeps my handicap at 3.  Without the practice, I would probably be a 6 in no time.

[Craig_Rokke]

Rounds per year:

Single: 35
Married:25
Married, 1 child :20
Married, 2 children:16

At what point does the trend reverse? I'm pretty sure that a third child would entrench me in the unacceptable range of
perhaps 10-12 rounds annually.

[John Foley]

Dan G,

I may be able to push it a little more than 9 weeks here in UNY! Actually each of the last few years I've played more golf in Oct & Nov than in all of June-Sept! I love the empty courses in the fall, hello 3 hour rounds. Depending upon the first heavy snowfall, I've played as late as first week of Jan!!

Evan - So that's what consultants do, I always wondered

It's amazing how similar situations can be.

[A_Clay_Man]

As someone who has had his fair share of year round golf, I can relate to all of the observations above. (except the naggin wife bit)

It is quite the conumdrum whether to play more or less in prep for say a tourney. On one hand you need to touch sticks everyday to have the finese shots down. Mostly chipping and putting. But to hit the ball so frequently, as I do, one tends to lose a little concentration over each and every shot. It's almost six to one, half a dozen to another on which is right or when it's right. When your confidence is low on finese shots, one tends to play smarter and less aggresive. This can lead to an acceptable scoring round.

I have found that "the zone" is something that is internal and if you don't feel it, you rarely can force it. But certainly the competative nature of match play is optimal for forcing you into the zone.

[Dan Grossman]

John,

I agree with you.  When I was at Bucknell, my
favorite time to play was after Labor Day when
people put their clubs away.  Nothing like
playing on a crisp, windswept day in the fall in the
northeast!  Especially when you can do it under 3 hours.

[Craig Van Egmond]

I try to play twice a week.  I recently play 6 rounds in 4 days and have managed to play on 48 different courses so far this year including seven 9 hole courses.

[Scott_Burroughs]

48 different courses this year, Craig?  No kids, eh?  I don't know if even Cirba has played that many different courses this year.  

I average about once a week.  A little more on average in the warmer season (mostly due to trips), a little less in the winter.  Probably will go down a little with 2nd child now.  Luckily, my club is 5 minutes away, and often am able to get in afternoon rounds on weekends in under 3 hours.  Have done 2:10-2:30 a number times, walking-and-carrying.

[John Bernhardt]

I play twice a week but it ends up averaging 2.5 times when you through the vacation rounds in. I would love to play more but the work gods have not set me free  yet.

[THuckaby2]

Family status:  married 10 years, two kids ages 7 and 4.

Rounds posted this year to date:  46.  I'd have to guess I've played at least a dozen other rounds that I either couldn't post or were odd numbers of holes, scrambles, etc.

I'm also going to be playing at least 7 rounds in the next 5 days...

Yeah, I have my priorities straight.  

TH

[Brad Klein]

As I recall, kids grow up - if you're lucky. And then the rounds go up. But then your wife will find the house empty for longer trips away, so psychologically it's not as easy to play as it should be once empty nest syndrome arrives.

I'm a little weird on this one, playing 3-4 times a week when traveling and then a week or so without playing at all. I play about 80 rounds a year on 75 different courses in about 25 different states a year, and never get to play my home course for a full 18 in the summer. Like Cos, the occasional quick nine is good enough when home. I also get spoiled by fast play - 3 hours in a two some is as slow as I like to play, hate taking longer than 4 hours at all, and so prefer to play really early in the day or realy late when I can fly around.

[Launch_Director]

In the movie "Annie Hall," Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are discussing their sex lives with a therapist in seperate scenes:
She says: "He wants sex constantly; like 3 times a week!"
He says: We hardly ever have sex, maybe 3 times a week."

I think I hardly ever play. My wife differs.

[Doug Wright]

I'll touch my clubs about twice a week during the summer, usually one 18 hole round and one "other," either hitting balls or playing a 4, 6 or 9 hole loop. Thanks to a trip and our cllub championship, I've played about eight 18 hole rounds this month, which is certainly more than average. With small kids I usually play during "regular business hours," often very early like Brad Klein likes to do and often alone as the first off at my club, so a 2 or 2.5 hr 18 hole round is doable. During the off season (Nov 15/Dec 1-March 1 here in Colorado) it's catch as catch can, with an occasional trip to the sunbelt.

All The Best,

[THuckaby2]

Launch Director hit the nail on the head here with that quote, that's for sure.  That sure as heck is the case (re golf!) in my marriage....

It's interesting to me all the private club players we have here and the advantages they have re golf... oh man, if I lived in an area where the most banal of private clubs didn't cost $100K to join like I do, I believe I'd play a LOT - I could literally play 5 days a week at least if I had the "quick loop" option.  Not to pat myself on the back here, but getting in the rounds I do in the golf hell-hole in which I live is pretty damn tough.

TH

[Mike_Cirba]

I play once or twice a year at the local muni, and my ex-wife never complains.

Actually, despite having played 650+ courses, I don't play nearly as much as is rumored, but do make a point to travel and play new courses whenever I can.  Also count me in the "fast play" category, and under 3 hours is ideal.  

I think my personal best for new courses is about 72 in one year.  For a working stiff, that's not too bad.

I got off to a slow start this year, didn't play until March, and have played 32 new courses (43 rounds total all year) so far, but am planning on a BIG fall, so with any luck, I'll probably finish with around 55 or so with maybe a total of 70 rounds for the year.  

When I think about it, that's just slightly more than once a week, which explains my wild variation in performance.  I like to keep it fresh and abhor practice, preferring these days to enjoy the company and look at the architecture.  

[THuckaby2]

Your legend remains, Mike.  

And maybe I'm just in a nasty mood, but who DOESN'T prefer fast play?  I just wish it existed more often.  Too many times here in CA, on public courses, it's either play and take 5 hours plus or not play at all.... My golf addiction is such that slow golf is indeed better than no golf.

TH