at my level (Between 80 & 90 scores) there is no fun.
it swings between “awesome” and “omgtwas”
thats golf….

Play to win but have fun doing it!

Got peed of playing with golfers who considered a cattle station was at stake, I now play for fun but every stroke counts, anyone half serious about their sport will always strive to be better.

gotta play for fun, that’s the only way to win.

Way back in 2010 I started this thread, since then I have been a club champion runner up and dropped about 8 strokes I guess.

Yes fellow posters, the pre season training is starting to wind up my golf brain. It has been very enjoyable sticking with the “less is more” approach to my golfing that was so effective in recovering from season 2012. This had a lot to do with my runner up in the Div 1 handicap section in the December Kingston SE Open. Since then I have been happy to practise in the driving net at home on the range and putting green.

This week I had a social hit with a couple of mates on Tuesday, it was a lot of fun yet it has stirred the competition beast awake. FFS! this is bloody ridiculous I am champing at the bit to play competition golf this weekend. Don’t give a crap that my game is not fully formed and tuned for the season I just wanna get in the mix. I had an inkling that this was fermenting on Monday when I was writing the last two weekends of golfing results and club news for the local newspaper. It was that petty seeing the scores and my mates who had won etc and knowing that this was done without me in the field.

Having followed this forum over the past years, it is interesting to see the development of the golfers. The number who are going for the single digit and the single digit golfers offering support. As well as where I began, returning to the game and those just starting the journey and getting a handicap.

Yet it all comes to this same bloody reason for me. Playing competitions and trying to win them.

As long as I’m not last I’m happy, I’ve beaten somebody.

My mates and I all hack around about the same score. We play for fun socially, not in a club, but I always want to beat them. It makes it more fun if I win. But it really does come down to how well I played, if I felt I played okay I’ll go home happy, if not I can be a grumpy turd for a few hours before I get over it :-)

Every opportunity to play is an opportunity to improve, win or lose. Don’t waste that opportunity to play well. You can still have heaps of fun.

Jetset….........you talk like a high handicapper yes (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

if you play to win – you’ll soon discover you dont win very often in golf and you will get very frustrated

if you play for fun – you’ll have fun and every now and then when you plau really you’ll win and have extra fun

I will take the second option thanks

i play to win winning is fun the more fun i have the better i play

I have sometimes won and havent enjoyed it so much – if the people I am playing with were not good company, for the 1 minute you say “thank the sponsors and playing partners” at the club (because thats winning achieves) doesnt outweigh the 4 and half hours I spent with them.

I have had days where I play crap but with the right guys and lots of laughs you can enjoy it even though I played bad.

golf is package for me not a single thing

I mean how often does a club player win

I havent won for almost a year, yet I have enjoyed this year more than any for the last 5.

For me I like to get to know people also, where are they from, family, what do they do for a living. Thats just as enjoybale as hitting the white ball.

Dont care usually unless its against the father-in-law !

I won my first club comp of the year so now I guess it all goes downhill lol.

Primarily I play to enjoy the game. I try my hardest to not let a bad round bother me anymore. If I hit a bad shot I try and forget about it by the time I’ve made it to the ball. Pull a tee shot out of bounds? I just start again like it never happened and try and knock it down the middle.

I always start out playing to try and win the comp. Once I’ve double bogeyed the first, second, third and fourth holes my goal then changes to trying to break 90.

I’m always trying to lower my handicap. If that means I’m only going to break it by 2 shots and no I’m no chance of winning the comp then so be it. I’m not out there trying to protect my handicap. I’m out there trying to be the best golfer I can be.

if you play for fun you normaly enjoy the day out.if you win it is a bonus.

I normally just play for enjoyment and stress relief and to improve my play. However, I do use my competitive instinct tho breaks mine out of a bad round. On Saturday I started with 5 poor holes in a row. I concentrated on getting back on track but when I changed it to considering it as matchplay against my front 9 it became really fun. More to the point, it worked to get my round back on track and I ended with a decent score.

I am very competitive by nature but not to the detriment of the enjoyment of the round with my mates. I generally only check results after medal rounds and invariably I only really care about beating the guys I’m playing with. However, if I shoot 4-5 under my handicap and I feel pretty chuffed, I’d just like to be up there in the results… get myself another couple of free gloves/box of balls.