The Niggle: 18 pars or nine birdies and nine bogeys?
We’re all going to get better at golf in 2015 aren’t we?
So continuing with the fiction and imagination, we’re wondering which round of golf would you prefer? One with 18 pars or one with nine birdies and nine bogeys?
Are you a Steve Stricker or a Phil Mickelson?
Members of the team at National Club Golfer debate the issue and give their preferences.
Dan Murphy (DM) – It’s got to be all pars for me. Who wants to be making all those streaky birdies and messy bogeys. I’ll take the pars, thanks very much. Everything in control, no wobbles, no blips, no scares, no accusations of a fluke – and never going to happen.
James Savage (JS) – Sounds a bit boring to me. If I’d made 15 straight pars the pressure of finishing the round would get too stressful. I couldn’t think of a worse round than 17 straight pars and a bogey at the last. Give me the 9 birdies all day long. I don’t think I made nine birdies all last year.
Mark Townsend (MT) – Birdies and bogeys. There’s no disgrace in making a bogey and you never know where your next birdie is going to come from. After three straight pars I would be unnerved by the consistent nature to my start, after my fifth birdie I might start to relax.
DM – I have seen you make plenty of birdies, MT, but you have never looked remotely relaxed after one of them.
MT – That’s because I’ll be locked in the bubble at that precise moment, maintaining a zone-like state of flat-lined single-mindedness. While quietly having kittens that something good might be about to happen.
to go from sheer misery to absolute delight is a far better fit for me and would be far more exciting" Tom Lenton (TL) – I agree with JS, wouldn’t the pars be boring? I’ll take the nine birdies and nine bogeys. Although frustrating the bogeys would be, the birdies would more than make up for it.
Christian Maiden (CM) – It’s got to be front nine bogeys and an absolute streak of a back nine consisting of nine birdies, to go from sheer misery to absolute delight is a far better fit for me and would be far more exciting I’m not one for a steady eddie approach.
Karl Hansell (KH) – I’d be happy with the nine bogeys, so give me nine birdies on top of that and I’ll be absolutely flying. Having said that, I think everyone would like to play consistent golf, and who doesn’t leave the course lamenting that duffed shot or dropped putt. I guess 18 pars is a perfect round, meaning I’ve wasted nothing, so I’ll take that thanks.
WHICH WOULD YOU PREFER?
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James Savage
Former equipment editor of NCG. Inconsistent ball-striker and tea-maker.