Your best 18 hole score

83, on a par 70. That was a while ago, probably when I was 25. I’ve been in the 89-92 range this year.

I find when I play with my one buddy (who’s a two or three), I play tons better.

 

That hurt to read.

 

Shot 113 the first time I played Riviera. Kikuyu grass destroyed me, tortured my wrists.

First time I broke 100 was a 95 at Rancho Park in West L.A. I didn't even know I was going to break 100 until the scorecard was added up after we finished.

I played in a twosome at Dodger Pines in Vero Beach in 1983. I shot a 48 on the front nine, including 3 balls in the water. I was swinging pretty good and all three times I reached a creek that I had never been able to reach before. The back nine was easier and I was determined to break 90. My playing partner shanked a shot on No. 8 and jammed a finger. He wanted to stop, but I convinced him to keep going. But as we were walking off the green at No. 9, we saw 4 carts waiting at the 10th tee and four more guys running out of the snack bar to beat us to the tee. We were a twosome that was going to have to play behind 3 foursomes. It might have been a 3-hour back nine. Partner said screw it, he was done. It could have been my best round ever. We'll never know.

 

Okay - all these scores - completely legit with full enforcement of penalty strokes? Or... lower bounds on the scores?

 

What yardage are you playing from? One of the good recent trends has been getting rid of the terminology "ladies tees" and just going to a color system that allows people to play from a distance that will maximize their game. I have no shame, for instance, from playing way up (usually at around 5,800 yards or so) because I'm a high handicapper and it's no fun to try to play from 6,600 yards when you're not very good. If my friends want to play from the blues or tips, more power to them. I'll shoot in the 130s if I play from back there.

 

Any more, I pick up after net double bogey. I'm not playing in tournaments. The World Handicap System stops counting after that anyway. So if I'm playing a par 5 where I get two strokes and I post 13, it's adjusted to a nine. Encourages faster play.

 

I played for four years in HS. Everything counted. We knew the rules pretty well. Putting from on the green and hitting the flagstick - two stroke penalty.

 

Not any more!

 

Yes for me. I play ball down always because that how we play for $$.

 

I've shot 76 multiple times on my local course, which is rated 66.9/108 from my tees. I'm usually between 82-84 there. Probably my best big-boy course round was an 82 at the Walker Course at Clemson University.

 

Play it down, play the rules. If you are playing games with serious players it’s easiest to just play the rules. No mulligans or anything like that.

 

Perhaps my most satisfying "good round" ever was at that course. Carded a by-the-rules 76 from the not-quite-championship tees while playing with an old colleague who'd long fancied himself quite the player (and who'd never seen me play after I got serious about the game). Played a $2 Nassau with automatic presses and had a nice little shearing party in his honor.

I've never shot par, but I've come close a couple of times. Nowadays I get one or two rounds in the 70s a summer, with the rest in the low- to mid-80s.