Can you Play Golf Without Keeping Score?
Can you Play Golf Without Keeping Score?
Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC. We conduct 1, 2 and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993. We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.
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As a professional golfer of 50 years, I can no more ignore my score than I could forget to breathe. However, I am aware that schools of thought deem our stroke play system too severe, encouraging alternatives. In an article from Golf Digest, a renowned golf teacher, a leading sports psychologist, and even a Top Ten Tour Player suggest that not tallying up every stroke can be of real benefit to you. I was most surprised to hear that Golf Channel teacher Martin Hall stopped keeping his own score years ago!
Personally, I very much like the idea of the Stableford system, where only bogeys or better are counted, particularly for novice golfers.
Beginners.
Not keeping a score is definitely the way to go for beginners. I have a student who plays with her husband but only tees off from the 100-yard marker on each hole. As a result, she feels less stressed and enjoys the game a whole lot more.
Better Golfers.
For better golfers, occasionally play a practice round. The PGA Tour players do that every week. If you hit a bad shot, drop another ball. Start building a library of good shots in your head to use during the rounds when you are keeping score.
Thanks to Max Adler of Golf Digest for this interesting article.
Can you Play Golf Without Keeping Score?
Pro's and Con's of Keeping Score!
A ski-lift ticket doesn't come with a stopwatch. Hikers win every time they make it back to the car. But golf loves a number. Only bowlers keep score more unfailingly, though for them the overhead computers don't really give much choice. But unless you keep score with the same absolute rigor as required when millions of dollars or Masters invitations are at stake, why do it to yourself? Sure, whether you shun mulligans or putt out two-footers for triple says something about your character, but for a lot of golfers, score is an approximation, a line item on a tax return. You could make a reasonable defense in the unlikely event of an audit.
Stroke Play is a Nonsense Game!
"Stroke play is a nonsense game; I don't see why anyone would do it who didn't have to," says Geoff Ogilvy, who emerged least scathed by the format at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. It's understandable how even a successful pro could develop this attitude. Having one's personal worth defined daily by two digits is hard on the soul. And to think most of us do it with no prospect of remuneration.
"You're spending your hard-earned money to do something that hopefully you enjoy, yet so many people come off the course miserable," says teacher and Golf Channel host Martin Hall. "Stopped keeping score years ago. I enjoy the look of a ball going through the sky the way I think it should, the feel of a chip nipped just right. I get pleasure out of the shots that are struck well rather than from a score at the end."
Well, bully for Mr. Hall, and any other hippies who claim to live in the present. Some of us can't leave the course without replaying every damn missed shot in our tortured heads. Enjoy the flight of the ball?! Might as well take up Frisbee. Be cheaper.
Dr. Gio Valiantes Take on the Subject.
Dr. Gio Valiante, a sport psychologist and professor at Rollins College, says most golfers follow a common arc of motivation. As beginners, we fall in love with the game for self-discovery, to see how good we can get. As our golf lives continue, we shift toward playing to impress others, and that's when our egos get tied in knots. To reward students in his classes at Rollins, Valiante often organizes golf outings. Even among better players, he sees a generational shift: "These kids have inherited significant problems with the economy, the environment. They've realized the bankruptcy of the accumulation model of life. Broadly speaking, they're looking to take from golf something a bit different. A course is a unique place to connect with friends, and they recognize that score has a way of separating people."
Not keep score so the losers won't feel bad? Sorry we can't give each participant a ribbon, but this is golf. Some of us practice till our fingers bleed because we dream of going low. Which might be all the better reason to ditch the pencil.
To learn the amazing outcome of a no-scoring challenge for Top 10 Player Justin Rose, go here.
Source: Max Adler Golf Digest Mel Sole Golf School.
Pictures: David Fulmer bradleypjohnson CAFNR
Thanks for reading - Can you Play Golf Without Keeping Score? If you are a beginner, try this!
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