Is Anyone Ever Truly Happy With A Bogey?

[Abe Summers]

I know this website has a good collection of golfers, most 12 handicaps or lower (I play in the high 80s, low 90s these days).  It's taken me a long time feel comfortable with making bogeys.  There's a stigma to the bogey.  And yet, if you watch TV or look at descriptions of monster holes, many commentators will opine "this is a good place to make a bogey."  Bail out areas on many holes are really "safe" bogies and difficult pars.

How many of us are truly content with a bogey?  What kind of hole are you really happy with a bogey on?

[Kyle Henderson]

-500+ yard par 4s into a headwinds, especially with water guarding the front of the green... 

-After hitting my tee shot into a pond on a par 3.

-If I still win the hole in match play.

[John Moore II]

Very rarely am I satisfied with a bogey. Like Kyle, I suppose I am satisfied with it if I still beat my opponent out of some cash. But otherwise, its very doubtful that I am 100% happy making over par. Not saying I always make par, but that doesn't make it any less irritating.

[Abe Summers]

Kyle, I admit I hadn't thought of that.  500+ yard par 4 with water guarding the front of the green.  That would be a pretty good bogey.  I did tie a hole last week in match play with a 4 on a par 3.  Definitely a "good" bogey.  But I felt stupid too, because I put it in the drink after two other players did.  Should have been watching them more closely and not followed their lead.

As long as I one putt anything I usually feel okay.  So I could imagine getting in trouble on par 4s and 5s and then finally one putting I would be satisfied. 

Seriously now, what course/hole have you made bogey on and still felt satisfied?

[igrowgrass]

You have to be satisfied with no matter what number you make, because after you make it, you can't control it.  Write it down and move on to the next tee.

[Jason McNamara]

I have played very little tournament golf, and that merely at the club level, but my best shot ever was a 10-footer for double.  (I was a 4.x hcp at the time.)

So it's all about context, at least for me.  Of course I could.

[Richard Choi]

I am a 12 and I was truly happy to make a bogey on practically every hole at Bethpage Black.

[Jim Nugent]

This is not quite what you were asking, but still....

A few players who would have been thrilled with a bogey:

*  Jean Van de Velde on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie in 1999

*  Paddy on the 72nd hole of the 2007 Br. Open at Carnoustie

Then there are players like Phil and Monty at WFW in 2006...Arnie at ANGC in 1961...Snead in the 1939 U.S. Open, where bogey on the last hole would have gotten them into playoffs, but they scored higher.  Along with Romero's snowman on the 71st hole at Carnoustie (what is it about that course?), where bogey could have given him a two shot win. 

It can depend as much on the situation as the hole, or as Jason said, the context.   

[Dan Kelly]

Standing on the tee: never.

Walking off the green: often.

[Ted Kramer]

#11 at Shinnecock, yes.

-Ted

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I do not feel that par/bogie is a concept which should be within the mindset of a golfer. There is really no par in the mind of the golfer. He just plays the hole as it is the best he or she can. There are many 5's on par 4's which I golfed my ball very well and 5 on par 5's where I did not. We all know conditions and design impact the hole. Chambers Bay is a course where an attempt to not have a par was made but ultimately was not accepted by the management team.

[Doug Ralston]

Only 'after the fact', of course. I doubt anyone hopes to make bogey while on the tee, though they may 'expect' to scrounge to make a tough par, and be 'satisfied' when that proves not forthcoming.

After the fact.

Doug

[Guy Nicholson]

If we really believe that par is just a number, we should be happy with bogey fairly often, no?

[Pat Brockwell]

If I'm making bogey it means that I'm getting away with playing golf today, and I am satisfied!

[Joel Zuckerman]

Here's a fail-safe example of being happy with a bogey:

Lose your tee shot completely, or hit it OB--then, birdie your provisional.  That's the best bogey in golf!

[Tim Bert]

I am currently a 9 index. There is a hole at my home course - a par 4 - where I average 6.3. I have made one par in 20 tries. I would gladly take a bogey in exchange for not playing the hole each round.

Satisfied (or even pleased) with bogey - yes

 

[Peter Pallotta]

Standing on the tee: never.

Walking off the green: often.

Telling myself that par doesn't matter: Priceless!

Peter

[John Kavanaugh]

Playing wolf this year one of our assistants took a lost ball stroke and distance penalty on his drive and went on to make a bizarro birdie.  As much as I love to make bogey off of a 2 stroke penalty I had never heard of someone making birdie.  The fun part of the story was that someone besides me went wolf and got his ass handed to him.

[Peter Pallotta]

"Par" is the result of standard good play. Good play is synonymous with well-struck and well-excuted golf shots.  Consistently well-struck golf shots are the result of hours and years of hard work, and a wholesome desire to achieve a level of mastery in the playing of this great game. So "par" is a reflection/indication of having had some success in that pursuit. How can we not be disappointed when we fail? And, if in match-play, is there anyone who wouldn't be more pleased to win the hole with a par instead of a bogie?

Peter   

[Bill_McBride]

I would have been thrilled with bogeys the last time I played The Old Course and managed to hit my tee shot on both short holes into the front bunkers where you do not want to be (Short Hole Bunker on #8 and Strath Bunker  on #11).

Much flailing with the lob wedge ensued, followed by humble shots out backward, and two triple bogieys eventually recorded.

Some of the most satisfying putts ever have been for bogey, narrowly averting the dreaded double bogey, so I don't really get the concept of not being truly happy with a bogey!

[Doug Wright]

Some of the most satisfying putts ever have been for bogey, narrowly averting the dreaded double bogey, so I don't really get the concept of not being truly happy with a bogey!

Bill,

I'd agree with this--anytime I'm averting a double bogey I'm happy with a bogey.

[Bob_Huntley]

Anyone Ever Truly Happy With A Bogey?

Absolutely. My bogey with a stroke causes havoc in a Wolf game.

Bob

[Ted Kramer]

Think Jean V. would have been happy with a bogey on 18 a few years ago?

-Ted

PS
That wasn't meant in a disparaging way.
Just trying to make a point.

[George Pazin]

"Par" is the result of standard good play. Good play is synonymous with well-struck and well-excuted golf shots.  Consistently well-struck golf shots are the result of hours and years of hard work, and a wholesome desire to achieve a level of mastery in the playing of this great game. So "par" is a reflection/indication of having had some success in that pursuit. How can we not be disappointed when we fail? And, if in match-play, is there anyone who wouldn't be more pleased to win the hole with a par instead of a bogie?

Peter   

Par is the result of someone else's idea of standard good play. Sometimes it matches mine, sometimes it doesn't.

[David Stamm]

I hooked my tee shot on 17 at Pebble into the ocean. Took my drop, made one of my best pitches ever 10 ft from the hole and made the putt. That was a good bogey.