The best 18 holes I had ever played! :)

I play off a handicap of 23.5 but what happened today was just out of this world, by my standards.

I played my usual morning round at the Riyadh Golf Course in Saudi today.

Course Rating - 71.1 Slope - 113 Par -Seventy Three.

I hit a front nine of 43 and a back nine of 41!

That, together with some statistics that I have never ever came close to:

11/14 FIR
8 GIR
9 Pars
1 Birdie
29 Putts

I am still trying to figure out what I have done right or done differently. Other than having Macdonalds for breakfast, and carrying a new 52* VR Wedge (Thank you Andrewgolf again) nothing was different.

I thought I started the day well with a par and a birdie in the first 4 holes. And all of a sudden, everything seemed to click between holes 8 to 17 where the 8 pars came.

Analysing the scorecard now, I noticed some clues:

1) The mid irons were working well today - evident from the 3 GIR's and the 2, 4, 3, 3 scores for the 4 holes.

2) The driver was working well today. The best I had was 6-7 FIR in a normal game. Ghoonk made me realised that a flat down swing sends the ball straighter than my usual over the top swing, which always fades, or slices.

3) My putting was probably the one that I felt very confident with today - evident from the 29 putts made. I usually do 38-40 on the average. That plainly translated to 11 more strokes, which would have been me playing off my handicap on a given day.

4) Looking back, I made 7 one putts today - none of them outrageous 20 footers, and it all makes sense now since I was hitting some good approaches from within 60-80m today. Arrgg the usefulness of the 52* wedge. I use to carry only a PW, a 56* and a 60*. Today I ditched the 60.

5) Another interesting stat is the absence of a 3 putt today.

Now the areas to improve:

1) Comparing the Par 3's, 4's and 5's, I am losing strokes off the Par 4's.
4 Par 3's - even
4 Par 5's (including the Par 6) - 2 over
10 Par 4's - 9 over. Only 2/10 GIR

This is logical because my driver is inconsistent and I lose a lot of distance even with an FIR. The one ball which I hit solidly the whole day yielded 281 yards.

2) With a short drive off the tee, I often stare at the second shot with 150-200 yards - something I am not very comfortable with when the long iron is in my hands.

3) For the 4 double bogeys I had, they were all down to bunker shots and chipping. I recalled wasting 3 shots at the bunker (couldnt get out) and a couple of 2 chips just to get the ball to the green from 40 yards...

Overall, it was a shocking day for me and after reading what Darren does in breaking down scores, I think I took away a lot about my weaknesses and what areas to work on to improve.



Please share your comments on my analysis!

Congrats on scoring the best game you ever played. It happen to me too last year when I shot a 82 at Laguna and the feeling was out of this world. I thought I have crossed a threshold and my golf was now on a different plateau as I seems to be able to hit where I wanted the ball to go. But do you know what was my score for the next game? I had very good hopes that I will scored at least near to this personal best or worse, just a bit higher, most acceptable, since I seems to have found the solution to my strokes the last round, or thought I had. My following scores were high 90s bringing me back to earth with a heavy thump ! This is golf ! No 2 strokes are ever the same. It was just one of those days where all the planets were aligned in a straight line with the planet Mars turning blue that day. It really brought me back to earth. It is just like bowling when one of those days you are simply hot. All you need to do is just threw the ball at the 1-3 or 1-2 pocket area and the rest,? the pins will take care ofitself. I nearly scored a perfect game with 11 strikes and 1 spare. Now, back to golf, I am regularly scoring between 90 - 100 which is the true standard. I dare said that one day in the future you will consistently play to this low 80s and even lower but for now, enjoy the moment of a new'high' in your game. Just don't feel too let down when you go back and play 90s once again. THIS IS GOLF ! Go On Learning Forever !
Just my 2 cents worth of my experience. Please come back and let us know where your next game is.



Titu

Congrats Bro JurongT......many had said that golf is like life....and since life has ups and downs...guess that will also imply golf....

I too had the opportunity to play below 100, and I was extremely happy like bird......while not tryig to sound too overly cynical, but the best 18holes I played was at OCC around 3-4 years back......I tell you, that is when all things went horribly wrong.....eg. tee off, ball like chipping, putting like ping pong......the whole 18holes were like survival series...BUT guess what, that is the best game I played, coz I held my emotion and cramp my face muscles to smile..(hahahaha)......as you guess it,,,I played below 115

Breaking 100 is still a dream to me. At keppel, the best I can play with its narrow course is in the 110 to 115 range.

In Malaysia, at legends, palm resort, horizon etc with their wide course, I can play between 100 to 105.

Not to pour water on ur happiness, but for myself, to confirm that I have improved, I will need to repeat the score at least 3 times before I can convinced myself that I have improved. For example, when I first broke 110 at Palm resort, I was happy but I made sure that I also broke 110 at subsequent games before I congratulated myself and am convinced that it was not a matter of luck.

congrats to a great score.

i think your GIR is a direct correlation to your number of pars and thus low score.
probably u need to figure out why the increase in GIR?

just a quick check, for hole 14 (par 5):
GIR + 1 putt = birdie...but your score was par (5)....any reason?

your score shows that you have the ability now it is just being consistent.

IMHO

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your ecstasy with us

Keep it up and I am sure you would want to keep this up!
Everybody enjoys their game when they are playing well.

Here is a tip.
Try not to make anything worse than a bogey or a double bogey if you are a much higher handicapper.

No 3 putts at all cost.

Make this your golden rule.

Quote :

Duval_S wrote:

Congrats Bro JurongT......many had said that golf is like life....and since life has ups and downs...guess that will also imply golf....

I too had the opportunity to play below 100, and I was extremely happy like bird......while not tryig to sound too overly cynical, but the best 18holes I played was at OCC around 3-4 years back......I tell you, that is when all things went horribly wrong.....eg. tee off, ball like chipping, putting like ping pong......the whole 18holes were like survival series...BUT guess what, that is the best game I played, coz I held my emotion and cramp my face muscles to smile..(hahahaha)......as you guess it,,,I played below 115

Hey Bro JurongT, hope you don get me wrong......the score you had is fantastic and clearly something you should applaud yourself. Fm the various threads, you had put in alot of efforts and rightfully so, you should see results.......Clap clap.....!!! Keep it up bro...hope to have a game with you when you are down next in SG

Thats a great round bro. Keep up the good scoring. The use of statistics is great for highlighting your strengths and weaknesses. The short game is where you have made the biggest gains

not being a wet blanket but how come hole 14 FIR, then GIR then become a 1 putt par? not birdie meh?

Well done!

Hhehe.

YOu guys are right. One less GIR for Hole 14. But still a par!

I am pretty realistic and I believe this score would not happen anytime soon.

Will find that out soon. But I do not think it will discourage me too much if I hit a 98 the next game.

The game is a journey and a walk through 6900 yards is fun enough for me!

Hey Titu

I think you would then know exactly what I am talking about!

What HCP you playing off when you hit that 82??? WHat did you think you did right or differently that day?

One thing is for sure, good golf doesnt happen over night man!

Hhehe

Tituman wrote:

Congrats on scoring the best game you ever played. It happen to me too last year when I shot a 82 at Laguna and the feeling was out of this world. I thought I have crossed a threshold and my golf was now on a different plateau as I seems to be able to hit where I wanted the ball to go. But do you know what was my score for the next game? I had very good hopes that I will scored at least near to this personal best or worse, just a bit higher, most acceptable, since I seems to have found the solution to my strokes the last round, or thought I had. My following scores were high 90s bringing me back to earth with a heavy thump ! This is golf ! No 2 strokes are ever the same. It was just one of those days where all the planets were aligned in a straight line with the planet Mars turning blue that day. It really brought me back to earth. It is just like bowling when one of those days you are simply hot. All you need to do is just threw the ball at the 1-3 or 1-2 pocket area and the rest,? the pins will take care ofitself. I nearly scored a perfect game with 11 strikes and 1 spare. Now, back to golf, I am regularly scoring between 90 - 100 which is the true standard. I dare said that one day in the future you will consistently play to this low 80s and even lower but for now, enjoy the moment of a new'high' in your game. Just don't feel too let down when you go back and play 90s once again. THIS IS GOLF ! Go On Learning Forever !
Just my 2 cents worth of my experience. Please come back and let us know where your next game is.



Titu

Mine best game was a 76 at laguna master on Oct 1 2009 .

Sept 30 2009 was my birthday celebration

Either it was a gift up there or i played well when i had tons of alco pump into my system the night before ...

Hahahahha......

I been trying to do it again with the alco theory ... but it never happen again ...

Oh the Lobster on the left ... is a treat from all my golf kakis for shooting 76 .. hahha

mowen wrote:

Mine best game was a 76 at laguna master on Oct 1 2009 .

Sept 30 2009 was my birthday celebration

Either it was a gift up there or i played well when i had tons of alco pump into my system the night before ...

Hahahahha......

I been trying to do it again with the alco theory ... but it never happen again ...

Oh the Lobster on the left ... is a treat from all my golf kakis for shooting 76 .. hahha

Hao Lian..... Make sure u vomit the lobster out one of these days....

By the way the golf kakis who treated me do not include ChrisD ...

mowen wrote:

Oh the Lobster on the left ... is a treat from all my golf kakis for shooting 76 .. hahha

nowadays i heard u like to treat lobsters for your kakis...... why dun jio me

JT, congrats...... i also have my best game before though many moons ago, so i know exactly how u feel

well done

jurongtiger wrote:

I play off a handicap of 23.5 but what happened today was just out of this world, by my standards.


I am still trying to figure out what I have done right or done differently. Other than having Macdonalds for breakfast, and carrying a new 52* VR Wedge (Thank you Andrewgolf again) nothing was different.

Hi, JT

I just shot my record low of 88 last month. On that day, I had a macdonald breakfast too! Could it be .... ??

I see the co-relation with MacDonalds! Hahha

Will try the theory again this weekend.

Anyways, I went back the day after the 84 game and shot a 92. Still very happy. 39 putts and many 3 putts.... yielded 4 pars only.. which is more realistic. hehe

So it proofed to be my first and only sub 90's in many months to come.

Hi,

I got a shock when i saw 670 stated in white.. first tot it was in metre and was like how to shoot a 670m in par 5? later saw it in yard, but then 670yds = 612m still very long for a par 5 white... just realise it is a Par 6 in the course. What a rare one...

Btw, love your 29 putts and nice score, how I wish I could have this every rounds...

jurongtiger wrote:

Hey Titu

I think you would then know exactly what I am talking about!

What HCP you playing off when you hit that 82??? WHat did you think you did right or differently that day?

One thing is for sure, good golf doesnt happen over night man!

Hhehe

Tituman wrote:

Congrats on scoring the best game you ever played. It happen to me too last year when I shot a 82 at Laguna and the feeling was out of this world. I thought I have crossed a threshold and my golf was now on a different plateau as I seems to be able to hit where I wanted the ball to go. But do you know what was my score for the next game? I had very good hopes that I will scored at least near to this personal best or worse, just a bit higher, most acceptable, since I seems to have found the solution to my strokes the last round, or thought I had. My following scores were high 90s bringing me back to earth with a heavy thump ! This is golf ! No 2 strokes are ever the same. It was just one of those days where all the planets were aligned in a straight line with the planet Mars turning blue that day. It really brought me back to earth. It is just like bowling when one of those days you are simply hot. All you need to do is just threw the ball at the 1-3 or 1-2 pocket area and the rest,? the pins will take care ofitself. I nearly scored a perfect game with 11 strikes and 1 spare. Now, back to golf, I am regularly scoring between 90 - 100 which is the true standard. I dare said that one day in the future you will consistently play to this low 80s and even lower but for now, enjoy the moment of a new'high' in your game. Just don't feel too let down when you go back and play 90s once again. THIS IS GOLF ! Go On Learning Forever !
Just my 2 cents worth of my experience. Please come back and let us know where your next game is.



Titu

Definitely bro. My HC at that time was around 20. Even though that score was sometime back, I still feel 'high' when I talked about it, whether fluke or what, still am rather proud about it. Continue your pursue as you are still young. For me, now it is just enjoying the companies I am with and thank th elucky stars I can still play golf. Cheers bro

Titu

Hhaha! Yes bro.

It is quite an interesting signature Hole 11. Play off the Blues and it is 700 yards long. But at Index 16 it is a fairly easy hole.

All the way straight with palm trees lining the fairways, other than a sandy stretch that cuts across the fairway at the 380 yard mark, and bunkers guarding the big green.

Most of the locals there take this as a eagle and birdie hole, if you can hit a good drive and 2 good 3W off the deck.

rc311 wrote:

Hi,

I got a shock when i saw 670 stated in white.. first tot it was in metre and was like how to shoot a 670m in par 5? later saw it in yard, but then 670yds = 612m still very long for a par 5 white... just realise it is a Par 6 in the course. What a rare one...

Btw, love your 29 putts and nice score, how I wish I could have this every rounds...

Cannot see the flag after tee off!

Bro Titu

You talk like you very old man! How you know I am not older than you!

Hahhaha.

But yes, a fluke score like mine, and I intend to frame up the scorecard! haha

Tituman wrote:

jurongtiger wrote:

Hey Titu

I think you would then know exactly what I am talking about!

What HCP you playing off when you hit that 82??? WHat did you think you did right or differently that day?

One thing is for sure, good golf doesnt happen over night man!

Hhehe

Tituman wrote:

Congrats on scoring the best game you ever played. It happen to me too last year when I shot a 82 at Laguna and the feeling was out of this world. I thought I have crossed a threshold and my golf was now on a different plateau as I seems to be able to hit where I wanted the ball to go. But do you know what was my score for the next game? I had very good hopes that I will scored at least near to this personal best or worse, just a bit higher, most acceptable, since I seems to have found the solution to my strokes the last round, or thought I had. My following scores were high 90s bringing me back to earth with a heavy thump ! This is golf ! No 2 strokes are ever the same. It was just one of those days where all the planets were aligned in a straight line with the planet Mars turning blue that day. It really brought me back to earth. It is just like bowling when one of those days you are simply hot. All you need to do is just threw the ball at the 1-3 or 1-2 pocket area and the rest,? the pins will take care ofitself. I nearly scored a perfect game with 11 strikes and 1 spare. Now, back to golf, I am regularly scoring between 90 - 100 which is the true standard. I dare said that one day in the future you will consistently play to this low 80s and even lower but for now, enjoy the moment of a new'high' in your game. Just don't feel too let down when you go back and play 90s once again. THIS IS GOLF ! Go On Learning Forever !
Just my 2 cents worth of my experience. Please come back and let us know where your next game is.



Titu

Definitely bro. My HC at that time was around 20. Even though that score was sometime back, I still feel 'high' when I talked about it, whether fluke or what, still am rather proud about it. Continue your pursue as you are still young. For me, now it is just enjoying the companies I am with and thank th elucky stars I can still play golf. Cheers bro

Titu