Handicap indexes are funny old things...

Good post and sounds similar to myself. I'm not quite a 2.3 (I'm at 6.0 with today's ghin revision) but my confidence level in knowing I can reasonably hit the ball is high. Now I am concentrating on the scoring part. Getting up and down more consistently, better putting, etc.

I started getting serious about my game three years ago. Two years ago I broke 80 for the first time and followed it up again a month later. Last year I broke 80 seven times. This year I've done it 4 times already and have posted 80 five times. 

But to Uisce's question: I have also posted an 87 and an 88 (91 w/o ESC).     Both times I completely fell apart and lost focus.

Testicular Surge?  Does that mean balls of steel?  Anyway, I wonder if the earlier remark about a player's personality being more volatile causing their scores to be more volatile being the more correct answer.  I am definitely not a low handicapper, but I think my temperament is not as bad as some others.  An arm injury this year has affected my scoring, but before that, when I played golf, you could pencil me in for a score of 85 to 95 and be correct 99% of the time. I seldom lose my temper, and those days when the chipping game was good, I could get in the mid 80's, and days when chipping or other parts weren't so good, I would shoot in the mid 90's.  But my dispersion rate in scoring was in the 10 range at most.