Re: The problems with playing well

I'll be 54 soon, but I only started playing when I was 50, so I don't have to deal with decline; just ineptitude. My playing partner, who started about the same time I did, and who's just a few years older than me, likes to joke "By the time we're 80 we'll be really good." Anyway, if your dad's situation is that he's watching you get stronger and better and watching his own game decline...then that's one of life's unpleasant realities. The more competitive he is, the more bitter a pill it is to swallow. I suspect it's not so much hostility toward you as it is displaced hostility toward himself and the universe. I.e., if he weren't playing with you, I'll bet he'd be delighted to see you win against others.

If it's just distance that's costing him, I'm guessing he's too proud to use the senior tees, and yet they're there precisely to help people like your dad to stay in the game and be competitive when their main liability is loss of distance. Has he considered using them?

I don't know what to suggest. When it's just the two of you playing recreationally, another thing you might do is use nothing longer than, say, a 4i, thus handicapping yourself without having to wish for missed putts, etc. This is an artificial solution, yes, but you could think of those rounds as an opportunity to sharpen your iron play, without leaving your dad in the dust. Maybe, possibly, if he saw you doing that he'd reconsider using the senior tees (if he's not already using them).

Re: The problems with playing well

Thanks for your reply.

We don't have senior tee's, just yellow tee's and the white competition ones.

Alot of the moaning is about the game we play. I use a scoring system of

Me: 1 point for a par
3 points for a birdie.

Him: 2 points for a bogeys
3 points for a par.

He's reletively happy if he wins but then again he doesn't want many shots and is always wanting to cut the number down.

It is a daft situation really. In the last match, I was hoping not to hole putts at the end of the round (Some went in !) and on the last, a short par 4, I chose a club that wouldn't reach. I just think it's costs me shots and I can do better.

Re: The problems with playing well


SANDBAGGER!

Re: The problems with playing well

What's that mean ?

Re: The problems with playing well

It means that you intentionally throw away strokes to keep your handicap high, so you get extra strokes when it comes to a match your really need them.
He was joking I'm sure.
Golf is a gentleman's game. Your first responsibility is to be honest with yourself. If your throwing away strokes, your only doing a dis-service to yourself. If your partner can't compete with you when you are giving it an honest effort, come up with a new game.

Find another 2 players and scramble against them, then your partner will know what it's like to be hitting from your distances.

Re: The problems with playing well

Yes, I was joking. I know you're not throwing them away to keep your handicap up, you're doing it to placate your father.

But dannyra has hit the nail on the head. It's a bad habit to try and adapt your game to your opponent. Play your game, kick ass and take names.

Although, it reminds me of a piece I once read about this old guy that would whoop everybody. Scratch, plus, low cap, he'd whoop them all. But then, out of the blue, he'd lose to a 15 or 18 or 23. Nobody could figure it out.

Once day, after getting beat for the umpteenth time, a player followed the old guy home. His wife greeted him at the door and said "well, did his ego need to go up or come down today?"

Re: The problems with playing well

I never play badly on purpose in competition rounds. I'm desperate to get my handicap down not up.

Re: The problems with playing well

It's just sad to hear about your misfortune. The guys I play with have seen my handicap improve by 15-20 strokes over just the last year, and sometimes they give me trouble about it but they are always joking and they always tell me how proud of me they are especially my neighbor who got me the job i have at a golf course which is the main reason i have gotten better. He's like "Tim, you're playing your arse off right now and I can't keep up with you, but I love to see it"

those are the kind of ppl you should be playing with, and you'd figure that your father of all people would be the way that my neighbor is.

we always give each other trouble, like ill out drive him and be like oh was that your 3 wood off the tee, but he always gives it back and at the end of the round we shake hands and most importantly its always fun and thats how golf should be.

Re: The problems with playing well

if my playing partners giveme that kind of coments...
ill been laughing all over.
i will be the most happy person in the world..
c'mon putter king to me sound like music to my ears
take those coments like a complement of you wonderful game.
most of us in gto only grean to shoot 72...you have break the 72 BIG WALL !!!!