Silverman On Keeping Score

Jeff Silverman files a column on not keeping score for The Wall Street Journal's Weekend Report:

Instead of playing the game, we're consumed by the math, and unless diagnosed and attended to, the syndrome is murder. I've seen it kill off more good rounds -- including too many of my own, some before my spikes were even laced -- than any flub, foozle, yank, shank, top, yip or worm burner, all of which feed off its toxins.

Bob Rotella, author of "Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect" and an expanding shelf of companion volumes focusing on the delicate balance of the golfing psyche, advocates simply hitting good golf shots -- the rest will take care of itself. "Too many golfers get so bound by results," he says, "that they forget about the reason they're supposedly out there: to enjoy themselves."

Of the myriad choices that confront us whenever we head for the links, none is more important than the one energizing all the others: Why we opt to enter into this self-flagellating venture in the first place. For Tiger, say, the answer is simple -- it's business. Keeping score is like keeping the books. It's concrete.

For the rest of us, the answer may not be as cut and dried. Yet, like Picasso's art, certain enterprises are meant to be appreciated in the abstract, and golf, thrillingly, turns out to be one of them.

When we can get beyond the little boxes on our scorecards, we begin to pick up on golf's bigger picture: the landscapes, the camaraderies, the lovely arc of a well-struck shot. We can still note the numbers, chart progress by marking fairways hit and greens in regulation, tally the skins, collect on the Nassaus, grind through tournaments, maintain handicaps, and hope to improve on them. But is that all we want to take from the game? What about the satisfaction of going out to play golf for no reason other than, well, to go out and play golf? With passion and abandon. Like when we were kids. Getting the lead out of our golfing systems now and then may serve up no tangible proof to bring home of how we're playing; instead, it reminds us why we're playing, and even encourages us to play better.

Comments

[Smolmania]

Somewhere Fred Shoemaker and his school of Extraordinary Golf is smiling. Sorry Mr. Silverman. When I play I keep score to measure myself against the course. I'm not good enough to get mad, but I do. As I've aged, the club throws have become less frequent, but once in a while you've just gotta show those damn things who's boss.

[Pete the Luddite]

This article is bulletin board material and should be a must-read after any bad round. Heck, I shot a 95 (head hung low) on Sunday at my club, but barely noticed at the time, since I was having such a great time with friends.

Try something new next time. Forget the little boxes as a personal challenge. Play a 4-ball with your own foursome and see how low you can go. Try some holes where you play wrost-ball and not best-ball. Try some match play with your groups on occasion.

I have found that mixing it up like this now and then can be a refresher on why we play - to enjoy the game and not to always challenge ourselves for the lowest number.

Damn, I feel like Dr. Phil.

Great article you found here, Geoff.

[Jeff Lewis]

Great piece. In addition to their other crimes against golf in America, I give the USGA credit for slow play with their ludicrouse handicap system. They really need a new pr campaign that teaches people to pick up when they are out of holes and to estimate their likely score. Isn't it awful watching guys hit ten footers for double when their partner is already in for par?

[CBell]

Among friends people just ought to play match play, and figure out their handicaps by mutual agreement. Playing lousy and being down 4 holes is a lot less demoralizing than being 9 over par - or whatever.

I loathe competition, but my regular golfing buddy insists on it. Match play keeps it fun. In honor of the RC, I urge all GShack posters to try match play for the rest of the season...

[Smolmania]

Figure out handicaps by mutual agreement? And what do we do when it's time for a medal event? If they want to play Stableford formats, and foursomes across the pond, they're more than welcome to do so. And that is certainly one of the reasons that golf is played more quickly over there. But it's quite frankly not as interesting. One of the things I enjoy -- perhaps not the right word -- about the stupid game is the struggle. Making a 4 after a quad. Putting it in my pocket because I'm "out of the hole" isn't golf. And I'll put my pace of play with anybody!