I play a lot of golf. I'll play rain or shine, early in the AM or twilight til its dark, whenever I can get out there. Sometimes I go with friends, but often I'll end up out there as a single golfer, grouped together with 3 other guys I've never met. I guess you could say that I play with a whole bunch of different people over the course of the golf season, and one thing I've noticed is that some of the people I play with (I shouldn't say most, but its really happens more than it should) don't really play to their true score, whether its by playing a "mulligan" here or there, taking gimmies on the greens, or by shaving a stroke off their score when no one's looking.
So I have a question? Who are these guys fooling when they do this? Do they think that the people they play with don't realize that they are not counting all of their shots? Trust me, people aren't that oblivious. Its actually pretty comical to see how people try and fake count their scores after a hole and leave off a stroke or two. I usually get a good chuckle out of it when the guy ends up with a better score than me at the end of the day.
I don't mean to be thumbing my nose down at anyone. I used to do this stuff, when I was younger and wanted to impress my friends that I was playing with, or to convince myself I was better than I was actually scoring. After all, I was the guy who was obsessed with the game, and I had to show that I was better. Right? Wrong... I grew out of it. For one, I wasn't fooling myself, or anyone else for that matter. And when my game really started to progress and come around, I wasn't scoring any better because in the past, I wasn't counting every stroke.
When it came time to compete in actual tournaments, all that crap went out the door. There are no redos, no gimmies in golf. (Except for one past teammate of mine in school who would come up with some pretty interesting ways to cheat... I heard that he once threw a ball out of a deep trap when he thought no one was looking; someone was). And the only thing you can count on in that instance is the experience you have, and the confidence that you can make the putt, or get up and down for bogey after you spray a drive. Its been known to happen to me from time to time. Hell, I've 4-putted a few times when I've half stood over a 2-footer with one foot out and missed, and then missed again coming back. Never 5-putted though, as far as I can remember. (Although I came pretty close with a couple holes in South Carolina this year; those greens ate me up.)
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really understand the point of it. Golf isn't a game that you play against other people, at least not at the amateur level. Be proud with the score you have, what you actually did without any help, and then try and top it the next time. Sometimes its gonna hurt; I can't tell you how many putts I missed inside 5 feet last year, and it cost me a round or two in the 70s; didn't break 81 all year. But at least I know that when it happens (this year, I have confidence) it'll be the real score, and I can honestly see my improvement as it happens.
You play against yourself, and why fool yourself into believing that you are better than you are. No illusions, just play the game to the best you can, each and every time.
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