COMMUNITY

Oh Greg... please don't do this. Just to be kind, since it's Thanksgiving... I'll speak for 80% of the good golfers on this site and say... Yawn! Give me a 6100 yard course with 6 bunkers and... (forget it, I won't go there). Let's see a round at Cinnabar Hills... ANY round at Cinnabar Hills... and we'll talk.

Let's play ONE penal course at 135+ slope rating and then we'll talk lights out. Happy Thanksgiving Mark. Sorry Dude.

I think if anybody KNEW how to play lights out every time, they'd be doing this for a living!

One thing I'll say though. All of my best rounds, especially the ones under par, I was putting extremely well. You've got to chip close to the hole when you miss greens, and make a lot of one-putts. It's hard to shoot near or below par when you take over 30 putts, unless you are hitting every green.

The other thing is, when I'm in the "zone," I am confident of my shot before I hit it. I believe a lot of that has to do with your setup and pre-shot routine. I mean, watch the pros...look how meticulous and consistent they are with their pre-shot routine. They can play lights out even when they're not playing well...think about that. I think if we all took a little more care in making sure we get everything right BEFORE we take the club back, our overall scores would improve.

A bit easier on a short track with easy ratings. Your qualifier at the Nelson was extreme PGA Tour conditions and a brutally hard track that rated over 74! Shooting a 77 was like shooting a 65 on an average course.

There are ratings on every course for a reason. Not taking anything away or being a jerk but challenge the game with tough golf and THEN see if lights out golf is a reality.

Greg, how much did Simmons pay you to post that? : )
Simmons plays lights out every single round. It's kind of unheard of in the golf world. Let's not just look at one of his rounds, but all that are posted. He kind of has a perfect round every round. I think he needs to go out and try the senior tour. Better yet, let me take him on the courses Jay and I just played and see how flawless those scores are. Simmons may be a decent golfer, but even the top players in the world have a round with more than a few hiccups. Simmons is my hero!

Heh..Heh.. Heh.... just because it's got an engine doesn't mean it's a Ferrari...but hey.. shooting in the 60s is still fairly stellar..

Maybe try playing golf with the "lights on"? I could only imagine this helping your game because you could see the ball!

I mean no disrespect to you or any other golfer. The focus of the topic is the ability to score low and how to remain in the zone; or how to get in the zone. We all have personal best scores; some of you frequently hit that number or come close to it. No matter the course slope or rating, the game requires near perfect execution to score low. What have you (all) experienced in the midst of building a solid round of golf irrespective to your hdcp index? Lights out is one the descriptive vernacular expressions for low scores; and from my perspective good scores.

Score low and how to remain in the zone; or how to get in the zone. Some good comments have been posted along w/some funny posts too. Good stuff! What do you remember, how did you feel, and etc.?

I mean no disrespect to you or any other golfer. The focus of the topic is the ability to score low and how to remain in the zone; or how to get in the zone. We all have personal best scores; some of you frequently hit that number or come close to it. No matter the course slope or rating, the game requires near perfect execution to score low. What have you (all) experienced in the midst of building a solid round of golf irrespective to your hdcp index? Lights out is one the descriptive vernacular expressions for low scores; and from my perspective good scores.

Score low and how to remain in the zone; or how to get in the zone. Some good comments have been posted along w/some funny posts too. Good stuff! What do you remember, how did you feel, and etc.?

Yeap, that sounds correct!

Amen.

Yeap, I am w/you on that!

I totally agree withis post.
Easy course rating or hard course rating, doesn't matter to me. I have scored well on tough ratings, and scored badly on easy course ratings. Sometimes playing the "white" tees is tougher than playing the "blue" tees. And it could adversely affect your handicap as well.
But no matter what, like Goynes said, you have to putt well or you will go home and say to yourself, "if I would have just made those 4 tap ins, I could have shot a 68."
On my best round of my life, I shot a -3 under 68 on a par 71 course in Sebring Fl from the blue tees. I only hit 3 greens on the front and still shot even par because I drained every putt. from short to long distance.
Then on the back, I hit 8 greens and continued to putt well. Shot -3 under as a result.
Putting is the #1 most important thing in golf, I don't care who you ask!

...........and please allow me to add one thing to my last post. There are some here who routinely take short putts for granted on a daily basis. After all, its just friendly golf, and chances are they would make those putts 9 out of 10 times anyway. But in tournament golf, "that counts", you have to make those putts.
Those folks don't really have a legit handicap. I'd say they should play the 1 in 3 rule. They would normally probably miss 1 of every 3 of those putts. So lets just add 6 strokes to their handicap. Because if they ever played against ME, thats how they would score.
It ain't a number until the ball hits the bottom of the cup!

Occasionally I'll pick it up, but mostly I'll putt out. ESPECIALLY if I'm gearing up for a tournament. I remember in my very first tournament, many years ago now, I lagged it to 6 inches on the 2nd hole, and scooped my ball up out of habit. WHOOPS. How about carding a 7 or 8 instead of a 4 or 5? (Can't remember what the par was on that hole.) What a stupid mistake. I swore that would never happen again, and from that day forth when preparing for any tournament I putt everything out, no exceptions, even the 1-inchers. Those 2- and 3-foot putts look a whole lot longer when you're playing for something.

As much as I'd like to contribute to the conversation my only experience with lights out golf is limited to closing my eyes after a bad shot that goes OB or WH.

However, check out this round. Especially the bottom left corner.

http://www.ushandicap.com/golf..

or this one (Shameful self promotion)
http://www.ushandicap.com/golf..