Handicap progress....

Swinging Looney

Howdy all!

May well have been another thread like this in the past so I apologise in advance!

Just wondering what anyone elses handicap progress has been year on year or season on season? I'm back into golf this year after many years away from it. Started off 19 in July and now down to 15 after I'd say about 20 rounds in total. I would hope I could manage to get another shot or two off before the end of the year.

I started off scoring about 95-100 for 18 and am now managing low 80's fairly consitently (80 today! Hooray!) although that is at my home course though. I would guess my average round has come down by about 8-10 shots.

Just trying to get an idea of roughly what stable handicap I'm heading for in the future!!! :rolleyes:

stringy

march 2005 14.6
march 2006 12.0
march 2007 9.5
october 2007 8.0

Golf Ninja

stringy wrote: »

march 2005 14.6
march 2006 12.0
march 2007 9.5
october 2007 8.0

down from 7 to 4 handicap i hope some how to loose 1 more but hard to get any 18 hole comps in.

Swinging Looney

Just out of interest.... What are your average scores roughly for those handicaps?

As I understand it, your handicap indicates the sort of score you will achieve no more than 25% of the time. For me off 15 now, I definitely feel that I can manage to return scores better than 87ish or better than 36 or 37 points fairly regularly, so I expect my handicap to come down a little more. But, if I was playing steady 15 handicap golf I would expect to be consistently nearer 90.

So for you guys - off 8 might average 82? Off 4 - maybe average 77 or 78? How close am I???? :p

Oh this game will slowly drive you mad........

stringy

Swinging Looney wrote: »

Just out of interest.... What are your average scores roughly for those handicaps?

So for you guys - off 8 might average 82? Off 4 - maybe average 77 or 78? How close am I???? :p

Oh this game will slowly drive you mad........

generally anything between, 76 and 83

glennhysen

Started the year at 22 and have managed to get in down to 19 after approximately 20 rounds over the year. Know that with a bit of extra effort and practice I can get it down to 15/16.

I spent a lot of the year practing my driving and short game which helped getting my scores down, however it still needs work. I was thinking that to further reduce it I need to work on my long irons particularly 3-6 irons.

Has anybody any other advice which might help?

WHIP IT!

glennhysen wrote: »

Started the year at 22 and have managed to get in down to 19 after approximately 20 rounds over the year. Know that with a bit of extra effort and practice I can get it down to 15/16.

I spent a lot of the year practing my driving and short game which helped getting my scores down, however it still needs work. I was thinking that to further reduce it I need to work on my long irons particularly 3-6 irons.

Has anybody any other advice which might help?

Just my opinion, but I would suggest you could get down to 14/16 without having to touch a 3 or 4 iron. If you drive it well, have a good short game and have a reliable fairway or rescue club, then you'll keep out of trouble more often than not and probably shoot better scores...

Once you get uder 18, it's all about short game...

That's coming from a struggling 14 handicapper now, so take from it what you will - just an opinion. Sometimes, a six-iron short of the green is a far better option than trying to slam a four-iron 200yds...

Best of luck either way of course...

PS - great name, good oul Glenn Hysen! Stevie G (the over-rated tool!) could learn a thing or two from him!

billy3sheets

Went from 18.4 down to 15.0 this season, mostly in 2nd half from July onwards.
Would love to make it to 14.4 so I could be off 14 before season ends. Range is about 81 to 92. Average 88 I'd say. Rarely have a hole worse than a double bogey, just too many DBs some days.
Target next season is 10

Advice
1. Get lessons & practice
2. Look at what holes you regularly mess up & figure out a way to de-risk them so that you score doesn't get ruined by them. Play them for bogey.
3. I know short game is important, but get some consistency off the tee. Play a short iron, a 3 wood instead of driver & so on. A short game is easier to play from the fairway than from bunkers, bushes, rough.
4. Don't beat yourself up over a bad shot or a bad game.
5. Get lessons & practice

Swinging Looney

Great advice Billy!

I've been keeping a pretty detailed record of each of my rounds for the past few months, recording things like total putts per round, individual hole scores for my home course, total numbers of birdies, pars, bogeys, double bogeys, etc. It's been a great tool for concentrating on specific areas of my game and even specific holes. I was averaging 38 to 40 putts per round initially and that was obviously my achilles heel so I have been trying my best to work on my putting a lot. Now averaging about 35 per round, so I know I have saved 4 or 5 shots from better putting alone.

I couldn't agree more with you advice on playing your worst holes differently. My last round (best of my life) was 80 gross (41 out 39 in) with just 32 putts, but it included a double bogey on a hole that I should have used an iron off the tee but went for the driver instead. First ball lost in heavy rough or possibly the water so continued with my provisional ball. Did well to get away with a 6 though!!! Either way I could have broken 80 were it not for that!

Mister Sifter

Swinging Looney wrote: »

Great advice Billy!

I've been keeping a pretty detailed record of each of my rounds for the past few months, recording things like total putts per round, individual hole scores for my home course, total numbers of birdies, pars, bogeys, double bogeys, etc. It's been a great tool for concentrating on specific areas of my game and even specific holes.

yeh me too. i've been using that howdidido thing. it's not bad for a simple look at what your game is like. my end of season stats ain't too impressive though!!

Swinging Looney

I know how you feel! When I look at my numbers for GIR and Fairways hit I think I must have slipped a decimal point somewhere!

Mister Sifter

it's my putting stats that are embarrasing. :mad:

glennhysen

Thanks for the advice lads. I particularly like the advice about concentrating on my worst holes. Plenty to work on for the future!

WHIP IT!

glennhysen wrote: »

Thanks for the advice lads. I particularly like the advice about concentrating on my worst holes. Plenty to work on for the future!

Yeah, the worst hole thing is interesting. It's just common sense really when you think about it, but how often do we let various things cloud our common sense on the golf course!

My own example, the par-5 16th at Killeen, where I play, is a short but potentially disastrous hole. Lots of water, OB on left off the tee... It's index 16 (harsh!) so I've no shot on it...

I used to scratch the hole almost as a rule! Either an OB drive or a pushed drive into the hazard. Or a good drive, leaving me inside 200yds and an overambitious second into the.... hazard

Now I tee off with a rescue club, punch a seven-iron to about 80-90 mark and slide my SW onto the surface... sometime it feels so easy it feels like cheating!

I haven't actually birdied the hole with this manner (the last time I birdied it actually, during the summer, it was from going for the green in two - more the exception that proves the rule in this case!) but I've tapped in for par the last three timss I've played it. I don't tap in many pars, believe me!... Two points and get out of there.

Any one else any 'bad holes conquered' stories? Writing it down here is good therapy!