How long did you play before breaking par?

[JRW III]

What is Par?

 

[Rockwell]

The Players I have seen become competitive players the fastest (i.e. playing for birdies) are the ones who are naturally athletic, play with and observe better players and ask for advice, and who work hard on their weaknesses.

 

[Brodysseus]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point did you notice the greatest improvement? Was it one thing you worked on (i.e. putting)?

When I started, I went on a binge. Buying up everything "cool" I saw that was under 10 on the speed scale. Thinking a magic disc was going to be the answer. It wasn't.

I have narrowed it down to 5 discs. I have them in different plastics (DX, Champ, and Star). They are Valkyrie, Teebird, Leopard, Roc3, and Judge putters (2). Since doing this I have seen a very noticeable decrease in my scores. At the end of spring I was shooting a pretty consistent +12 at my local course. Now I shoot +4 pretty regular with a best round of +1.

Putting. There are a lot of ways to improve your scores. But one thing will vastly improve th m if you improve it, and that's putting.

 

[top4874]

Brahan Springs is on my radar for October, along with a 8 other courses in the area.

When you come to town let me know and I will show you the lay of the land. Indian Creek and UAH are good ones to play for bigger arms. Mastin Lake (no water) and Brahan are shorter technical courses. Monte Sano is "Poke and Hope" on every shot.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

I've been playing nearly a year and the best I've finished on my home course is +5, but that course claims all 18 holes are par 3 even though there's a broad range of distances and difficulty between holes. The next nearest course is much much more generously rated and not too hard to finish under par. Just know there's a wide range of par ratings between courses.

 

[scarpfish]

What is Par?

^ Yeah, that.

Which is why I can't just give a rudimentary answer to the OP's question. I've shot under 54 on 18 hole layouts several times, but those layouts are the kind where a number of holes, if not most of them, are bordering on being in Par 2 range. Shooting a 49 wasn't exactly an epiphany.

Now that that's off my chest, lets not open that Pandora's box in the above link. At least not in this thread.

 

[DavidSauls]

This ^^^. I started playing at Earlewood in 2005 and shot par 54 after playing each weekday for about two weeks. I also started playing Trophy Lakes in 2005 and have played probably 500 aggregate rounds from the longs and shorts and shot par from the longs three times. I also started playing traditional golf almost forty years ago and broken 80 once (79) but have shot par on 9 holes a few times. I also have 19 aces (two aces in the first year playing) through my first 10 years of dg and only 3 aces in traditional golf in 40 years (first ace was twenty two years after I started playing)

"Par" at Earlewood is 68. Does nobody read the signs?

Well, we did when we started, because there wasn't anyone else to tell us that we might want to play it as All-Par-3. So we were, almost instantly, under par.

I had a couple of hot rounds lately and may have actually parred Stoney Hill, for the first time. Once on each layout.

 

[zendragon]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point did you notice the greatest improvement? Was it one thing you worked on (i.e. putting)?

When I started, I went on a binge. Buying up everything "cool" I saw that was under 10 on the speed scale. Thinking a magic disc was going to be the answer. It wasn't.

I have narrowed it down to 5 discs. I have them in different plastics (DX, Champ, and Star). They are Valkyrie, Teebird, Leopard, Roc3, and Judge putters (2). Since doing this I have seen a very noticeable decrease in my scores. At the end of spring I was shooting a pretty consistent +12 at my local course. Now I shoot +4 pretty regular with a best round of +1.

I stopped carrying fast discs and started learning to drive with mids. That was a big improvement. I then switched to playing with only putters, even bigger improvement. In between there I watched a video on push putting, touted for its accuracy. I lost ground with that for awhile. I modified that to something that works for me, and now I can actually putt from outside the circle with the chance of it going in.

Oh and Yoga. Yoga is amazing for your game.

 

[DavidSauls]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point did you notice the greatest improvement? Was it one thing you worked on (i.e. putting)?

When I started, I went on a binge. Buying up everything "cool" I saw that was under 10 on the speed scale. Thinking a magic disc was going to be the answer. It wasn't.

I have narrowed it down to 5 discs. I have them in different plastics (DX, Champ, and Star). They are Valkyrie, Teebird, Leopard, Roc3, and Judge putters (2). Since doing this I have seen a very noticeable decrease in my scores. At the end of spring I was shooting a pretty consistent +12 at my local course. Now I shoot +4 pretty regular with a best round of +1.

Way back when, when I was actually improving, there weren't so many magic discs to choose from.

I don't remember any single activity causing a big jump, but the improvement came like a ratchet. Significant jump, then stuck at that level for a while, another significant jump, another plateau, etc.

But, yeah, putting was a big deal. When I felt confident at 20', I could run at the basket from 35', knowing if I missed I'd probably make the comeback.

 

[Pbmercil]

Way back when, when I was actually improving, there weren't so many magic discs to choose from.

I don't remember any single activity causing a big jump, but the improvement came like a ratchet. Significant jump, then stuck at that level for a while, another significant jump, another plateau, etc.

But, yeah, putting was a big deal. When I felt confident at 20', I could run at the basket from 35', knowing if I missed I'd probably make the comeback.

Very much this.


To go off only tangentially from the OP; In tournament play the vast majority of players do not come in under par for an event. Again, par is arbitrary and ambiguous, so this can get a little fuzzy depending on what course par is set at vs the SSA for that course. But if you *assume* in *tournament* play that par is set fairly for that course, only highly skilled players come in under par. In all of the events I've played this year being a few strokes under par over 3 or 4 rounds of tournament play you would be very much in contention in the Advanced division. So, to be consistently at or under par means you are a highly skilled player.

 

[Magicweed]

I currently have a home course where I have never scored better than 55, but at my old home courses I would regularly shoot below 54 in a casual round. However, I consider my current course much more technical, where on the old ones I could rely on a solid upshot to save par or a long putt from a bad drive to card a 2. This new course is going to make me a much better golfer in the long run.

 

[Shipley]

I have been playing for about 9 months and I have gradually got better and better, but have yet to break par. How long did it take you?

I didn't read the entire thread so this may have been said already, but it's all relative to your home course, your skills, your practice/play time, and your mental game.

Playing with better players can also help. They can teach you shots you don't have, new lines to consider, and they can give you tips to improve your play.

I'm a huge advocate of developing a strong mental game. Having a strong mental game can only improve performance, while not developing a strong mental game can be detrimental to your play.

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

I stopped carrying fast discs and started learning to drive with mids. That was a big improvement. I then switched to playing with only putters, even bigger improvement. In between there I watched a video on push putting, touted for its accuracy. I lost ground with that for awhile. I modified that to something that works for me, and now I can actually putt from outside the circle with the chance of it going in.

Oh and Yoga. Yoga is amazing for your game.

I agree this is one of the best ways to improve your game. Takes a bit of dedication, but it does work really well to force yourself to learn consistent form. After playing with just Putter/Mid for a while, you will pull out your Valk and suddenly be throwing it farther and more accurately too.

Then putting is where the scores really get low. Master a form you like, find the putter that you feel a lot of mojo with, and practice daily if you can (get a portable basket and put in your back yard/garage). Start with 15-20 footers to gain confidence, and work out from there.

Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to do all this enough, just like to play, and have fun with faster Discs

I like yoga a lot too, keeps your core strong, keeps you flexible, helps you not get back issues or recover from them quickly, and helps you focus. If its not your style, at least do some stretching before you play.

Sometimes local pros might give lessons, and it probably would help to play with better players. I always put fun and friendship before DG improvement, but if I had more time I would do that too.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

I've moved around a lot, so it's hard to say exactly when and at which course I came in under par first. I'd say I started becoming an under par player right around the time I learned how to utilize my mids and putters properly.

 

[jdw91479]

I'll reiterate that it is very dependent on where you play. I average about -6 on the course I play the most frequently during the summer. I haven't played below par on the course closest to where I live the rest of the year. The summer course is 3,850' and the one near my house is 5,270'. I'm dissapointed if I'm not -5 on the first course, and happy when I'm +2 on the second course.

 

[Timeetyo]

For your initial question - as many said - its very dependent upon your home course and how generous they were with par. Even at my home courses (shore winds) there are 2 courses - 1 with what I call camper par (its listed as 69 with my recent 59 from whites being a ~900 rated round) and another with a much more realistic par (listed 71, recent 67 from white was ~915). Then there are others in town where if i hit listed par I'm super excited as its closer to a 950 round.

Due to this I track my scores for each course and I keep an eye on my averages / best for each course to set goals accordingly.

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point did you notice the greatest improvement?

I'd say ~1-3 months in was the biggest shaving of strokes. I'm a stats geek and have it all graphed out and there was a huge improvement there. After that initial surge it has come in fits and spurts. What I was noticing as I improved I'd go through spurts of getting better because I was making less mistakes (trees, missed upshots, missed putts) then I'd hit a mini wall until I get the skill to shave a stroke off IF I did something very well (as opposed to not messing up). All of a sudden that hole that was out of reach and I was happy to not mess up and get my 3....now I have a long look at it. Then I finally hit the putt. Then before long I'm expecting to have a look on every drive. In my second year I have gone through that quite a bit as more of the ~325-350' holes are coming into range and it has drastically altered my scoring and approach. A really weird thing happens when you change mentality to playing "don't mess up - just get your 3" to "lets try and get a 2". All of a sudden I was having wilder swings in my scores for a bit until I reigned it in as I was taking 4s trying to get 2s....Then it evens out again....

Was it one thing you worked on (i.e. putting)?

I am a stats geek and an analytical person by nature so I did some number crunching to see where I was losing strokes and focus on that. Really though you need to work on it all - putting - driving (accuracy more than distance) - upshots - adding FH shots, etc.

I was kind of looking at it like this:
- If you are taking 4s - is it because your drive was in the crap? Was it because your upshot was 40' out? Was it because you doinked a 20' putt? Add up those lost strokes over a few rounds and work on that problem area.

When I started, I went on a binge. Buying up everything "cool" I saw that was under 10 on the speed scale. Thinking a magic disc was going to be the answer. It wasn't.

I have narrowed it down to 5 discs. I have them in different plastics (DX, Champ, and Star). They are Valkyrie, Teebird, Leopard, Roc3, and Judge putters (2). Since doing this I have seen a very noticeable decrease in my scores. At the end of spring I was shooting a pretty consistent +12 at my local course. Now I shoot +4 pretty regular with a best round of +1.

That is a solid lineup and will be plenty for a long time to come. Stick to it and you'll see the strokes slide away.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point did you notice the greatest improvement? Was it one thing you worked on (i.e. putting)?

[/QUOTE

For me advancements in my game have come in little steps, like fixing problems with my grip or form. I'm at the stage where the upshot is my biggest game winner. My drive isn't good enough to get within putting range except on a couple holes, but my upshot accuracy often saves me. A month or so ago my putting accuracy suddenly improved, and this is without putting practice other than regular play. If I was dispensing advice it would be don't fixate on your score. The best scoring rounds I've had I didn't pay attention to my overall score - I just recorded my score for the hole and moved on. If I'd stopped to realize I was having a great run of holes, I'd undoubtedly screw the pooch.

 

[Jukeshoe]

What is Par?

Beat me to it.

 

[RobA]

Just focus on beating your personal best, that's all that really matters. Par is an arbitrary number that doesn't mean anything unless you are playing tournaments or competitively. You'll get there.

 

[Smigles]

Right from the start. I was also 950+ rated right from my first rated tournament.

I played Ultimate before, that helped.