Your Best Start In Golf

[cary lichtenstein]

I was listened to the golf channel, 92, on Sirius today and they asked this question:


I had to best starts, birdie, birdie, hole in one...4 under after 3 holes


The other was, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle...6 under after 5 holes, funny that the eagle was about a 50 foot downside, sidehill, big sweeping left to right, all I was trying to do was get it close and it dropped in the center of the cup.

[Paul Jones]

Few days ago I got to play Pebble Beach.  I started with birdie, par, birdie, birdie, birdie.

[Peter Pallotta]

You played golf at a high level, Cary, and I don't -- so in comparison to yours my 'best start' is not all that impressive. But two months ago, playing from 'the blacks' (on this course, c. 6500 yards), I opened with 12 straight pars, and then had a bogey and a (very gratifying) bounce back birdie to find myself at level par standing on the 15th tee.

I have *never* before in my life stood on a 15th tee at level par. Easily the best 15 consecutive golf holes I have every played.

I don't want to tell you what happened next. I think you can guess. Let's just say that I'd been scrambling for all those 12 pars, and that suddenly my strokes gained scrambling stats took a nose dive!

[Keith Phillips]

You guys are better than me.  My handicap ranges from 11-15.  A few years ago at Rock Spring in NJ I hit all 7 fairways and all 9 greens on the front nine - made two birdie putts to shoot 33 (par 35).  I promptly doubled the 10th and ended 33-47...

[Jeff_Brauer]

Double, Double, Triple, Double......then I left the bar for the first tee.....

[Rob Marshall]

That I can remember, Birdie, Birdie, Birdie on Streamsong Blue.

[Jon Heise]

Had a group of buddies out a little track in Monroe, MI - Links at Lake Erie many years ago.  Not a tough course, but I had 3 college guys and a chopper like me and we were a combined -8 after two holes.  One par, one eagle among us.  That was fun.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Today I played in a club competition and started:


Bogey, double bogey, bogey, triple bogey and then eagle, eagle 

[John Kavanaugh]

I was playing in a two man best ball and my partner eagled the 35th and 36th holes. We came out of nowhere to grab second. Always take the great finish.

[Pete_Pittock]

Two under on my first four holes at Tara Iti, with two missed birdie putts from inside 10 foot range.A late friend of mine started birdie, eagle, hole-in-one, then lost that one ball on the fourth.
Never a strong starter, I did birdie the 8th to get back to even at Tualatin CC, then birdied 9, eagled 11. Finished under par.
Finished a 144 man "company" tournament birdie, eagle, birdie, bogey, birdie, then birdied first playoff hole to win.


But best finish was eagle, birdie, birdie at Tualatin on May 17, 1980, which kept me from a photography trip to Mt. St. Helens the next morning.


Carl Johnson reminded me of another one at The Golf Club of Oregon (not Oregon Golf Club) where I one putted the first 8 holes for 8 pars (total yardage of putts sunk was 8 yards) and then hit the 9th green in reg and promptly three putted from inside 15 feet.

[Phil Burr]

My best start was at AZ Biltmore just after I graduated from college.  Double eagle, birdie.  It was a company sales meeting and alcohol flowed freely.  My subsequent scores tracked upwards with my beer consumption.

[John Crowley]

Several years ago I birdied six of the first ten at Nairn. There were also a couple doubles on the front nine. Final score about 73 or 74.

[Tim Gavrich]

Made four birdies on the trot in the first round of our local county tournament a few years and never looked back. I don't think I've had three in a row more than a small handful of times since, and certainly not in competition.

[Pete_Pittock]

We'll never best this opening:
On a more positive note, in the knowing when to cut your losses department, we have Woodie Platt – an excellent amateur player in his day. In the summer of 1951 he had the greatest start in the history of Pine Valley. He birdied the 1st hole, then holed his approach shot on the 2nd hole for an eagle. At the par 3 3rd hole he recorded a hole in one and then drained a putt for birdie on the 4th hole. Six under through 4 holes at Pine Valley is not too bad. In the short walk from the 4th green to the 5th tee box players walk right past the clubhouse. Woodie decided to go inside for a drink to help calm his nerves before carrying on his spectacular round at the par 3 226 yard 5th hole. He never came out of the clubhouse. He decided that it could only get worse and that he should quit while he was ahead. Can’t say I blame him.

[Grant Saunders]

Check out the article in this thread!

https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,44196.msg962125.html#msg962125

[Tim_Cronin]

My godfather's first round of golf was on a course that opened with a par-3.


You guessed it. Ace. He was 2-under-par for life. He kept playing anyway.

[Tim Leahy]

Few days ago I got to play Pebble Beach.  I started with birdie, par, birdie, birdie, birdie.

You had par on the easiest hole of the first five too!
In a college match at one of our home courses, Camarillo Springs I went eagle, birdie, par, birdie, and eagle sinking a 60 ft putt for the second eagle. 6 under for for 5 holes. I wound up shooting 32-42. At the time I was playing to a 7 hdcp.

[Garland Bayley]

Sporting a 23 course handicap I was matched against a new member in our flight of the club's match play tournament. Reached the first green in two, and drained a long putt (>20 ft.) for birdie three. Also, reached the second green in two, and drained another long putt for birdie three. Mishit my second shot on the third hole by thinning it. But, thin shots often seem to travel the same total distance as well struck shots, and the ball finished within six feet directly below the hole. Stroked the ball straight up the slope into the hole for another three. My opponent   began to question my handicap. With a bogey, and a par on the next two holes, I was five up after five holes. Then my normal scoring returned, and I won the match five and four.

[MCirba]

Standing on the 8th tee at Oakmont at +1, having missed an uphill 6-foot birdie putt on the 6th.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Started a mid-am qualifier with a turkey (birdie, birdie birdie) at Tom Doak's CommonGround.


There was a back up on the 4th tee and my friend was in the group behind, comes walking up and jokingly asks my playing partners "what's this guy, three under?"


They were like, "uh, yeah actually he is!"


Sadly, I exploded to a 78 or something and was unsuccessful in qualifying.

[Peter Pallotta]

I gotta start making birdies, that's all there is to it. If I want a great start, I need birdie after birdie after birdie. Reading these posts, I realize I'm never ever gonna shoot a good score just making pars -- in part because I'm not good enough to just keep making pars all day long, and in part because without any birdies to offset them, those bogeys add up doubly fast! You know how hard it is to shoot 72 when you make like 5 bogeys but not a single birdie? It's damn nigh impossible, I'm telling you!

[Pat Burke]

I striped my tee shot on the first tee of TOC


Trust me, nervous as I was, my best start!

[Tim_Weiman]

Cary,


I don’t think I ever had a noteworthy start. But, it is a small world. Back in the early 1990s when I was living in Long Beach, CA, the subject of Pine Valley and Woody Platt’s famous start came up during drinks with my next door neighbor.


Turns out Woody Platt was her father’s favorite and most frequent golfing buddy.

[Alex Miller]

Funny timing, I may have had mine today! Birdie, birdie, birdie, 3 putt bogey, birdie. 


2 bad swings, 1 bad bounce, and otherwise solid ball striking the rest of the round summed up to a 72. Someone take the lid off the cup please!!! 

[John Kirk]

Taking the uncoveted 24th response spot...

I played Arcadia Bluffs (Old) once about 15 years ago and started with four straight birdies.  I think I shot 75 for the day, and I'm pretty confident Bill McBride was a playing partner that day.