How often do you finish a round with the same ball you started?
For me it’s pretty rare. On about half the rounds I play, I lose a ball (often in plain sight). Since I play cheaper balls, I’m not particularly inspired to look longer than a couple of minutes. A ball that hides from its owner deserves to be abandoned.
I also regularly hit trees and cartpaths that scruff the ball to the point where I decide to switch. Sometimes an aggressive wedge out of a sand trap has the same effect. I don’t know that my game has enough precision for a scruff to make a difference, but I need every edge I can get.
Finally, I sometimes find that a ball has just become uncooperative. These miscreants resist my best swings, instead choosing to fall short, or go long, or slice or hook. After a few errant shots, I’ll send one of those badly behaved balls are sent to the bottom of the bag for a time-out.
Discover more from GolfBlogger Golf Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
I can’t remember the last time I played a round of golf with only one golf ball. I know it has happened at least once in my hobbyist golf career, but I can’t seem to pinpoint the day or course in my rusty memory.
I believe that if we were all forced to play with only one golf ball (I mean literally you are issued one golf ball before your round and you are finished at the point you lose it), most amatuer golfers would have dramatically better scores due to increased concentration.
Thoughts?
Jeremy Scott
[email protected]
http://www.whatisagolfhandicap.com
My experiences sound a like yours, but about six weeks ago, my friend and I played all 36 holes at Squaw Valley in Glen Rose and I realized on the very last hole (a par 5) that I was still using the same ball that I had started with on the very first hole some seven hours earlier! Too bad I couldn’t have waited another 15 minutes before noticing that – because as soon as I mentioned it to my friend, I proceeded to hit my third shot into the creek in front of the green which led to only my second double bogey of the day.
It doesn’t happen very often to me. In fact, last week I went out not checking how many balls I had left in my bag. Turns out only a few. Had a bad round and ended up searching the woods behind the 15th hole for some to keep me through the round!