How long did it take you to get low in handicap?

upthe19th

Hello all,

Just thought i would put this one out there to see what the crack was.

I've been struggling around the 15/16 region for the past 5 years Sometimes you see some guys dropping pretty quick. Sometimes you play with a guy off 5 and you think "Why am I not there, this guy is my age or younger" and then you find out he's been playing since the age of 12 and in single figures since age of 16. So it's a mixed bag i guess.

So in brief, what's your story?

soundsham

started playing society stuff at 27....joined club 2 yrs later,went 18,16,13,10,8,7,7,6....the following years

Webbs

Played a fair bit as a junior then a 20yr hiatus. Started again 3 years ago first 18months just playing open days here and there etc. so went 18-16 in a year or so, then joined club 18 months ago and gone 16,14,12,11,10,9

Woodgate

Joined in 2001, at 18, went to 12 that year, then, 8 the next, and six the following, hovered on 6 or 7 for a good few years, then 5 the past 2 years and now down to 4.

GreeBo

Started when I was 12 or so, stayed at 17 for years...due to not really playing "properly". Was playing 3 times a week, but not thought, lessons, practice etc.

Took secondary and college off (for some stupid reason, why was I not playing every fricken day?!)
Started back seriously in 2004
2004 - 18 to 14
2005 - 14 to 13
2006 - 13 to 12
2007 - 13
2008 - 13 to 11
2009 - 11 to 9
2010 - 8 to ....

FWIW all the good stuff happened due to short game practice...

f22

Started back playing 5 years ago after playing a bit as a junior. First handicap of 12, down to 5 within two years. Still hovering around that handicap, work and young kids prevent the necessary practice to go lower . Happy enough in the junior bracket as I can still compete with the time I have.

upthe19th

Fair play to you all so far. Some serious cuts made overall. Makes me think perhaps "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and i have a battle on my hands....but sure thats half the fun. To be fair I find the mental side the hardest and the self belief. Have had the lessons and practice and play fairly regularly...like the majority try to fit it around young family. hopefully it will "click" some day.

Fair play to you all again.

acct

Started playing more "seriously" 2 years ago! Stuck at 25 for 12 months! Got two lessons off the club pro in March this year! he corrected two things.

So far I have won two club comps with 45 and 44 points! Went from 25.1 to 19.2 since March!

Bit worried I might stay at 19 or start drifting back! Biggest issue I need to work on now is my putting!

minstrel_boy

I have been playing for a few years. Last year, was the first year I started playing regularly. I played in 5/6 comps in total but my handicap stayed at 22. I also got one lesson which helped to get rid of my sliced drive. I now hit a draw with the odd hook thrown in.

This year I have played a lot more comps. I have already played about 10. I won a couple and placed in a few and my handicap has gone down to 15. Im not sure how much i need to be playing to get to the next level. I rarely do any practice drills, I just go out and play a round with mates or else play the comps without working on anything in particular. The more I play the less duff shots i am hitting, but maybe I need to start focussing on certain practice drills to get down to single figures.
2009 22 --->22
2010 22 --->15 ( so far)

Webbs

upthe19th wrote: »

Fair play to you all so far. Some serious cuts made overall. Makes me think perhaps "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and i have a battle on my hands....but sure thats half the fun. To be fair I find the mental side the hardest and the self belief. Have had the lessons and practice and play fairly regularly...like the majority try to fit it around young family. hopefully it will "click" some day.

Fair play to you all again.

Good luck and enjoy your journey, I would definitely echo what Greenbo said in that practice and improve your short game more than anything else and you will see a real difference.

fullstop

Started off 24 when I was 13 I think, was down to 5 when I was 15 and got down to 2 when I was 20. Currently hovering around 3/4.

alxmorgan

speaking of short game and practice - how long to people generally spend on putting in percentage of practice terms ?

Also what do people find the best drills for improving putting ?
My first round this year was my best ever (41 pts) and everything from 10 feet and in was dropping but have not gotten near that since and its killing me

upthe19th

Webbs wrote: »

Good luck and enjoy your journey, I would definitely echo what Greenbo said in that practice and improve your short game more than anything else and you will see a real difference.

Cheers webbs. Yeah you guys are both talking sense there. will do more practice on the pitching and putting. No point in hitting 2 cracking shots and then 3 putting or duffing a couple of chips, walking off with double bogey and beating myself up for the next 4 holes......ah the memories are flooding back and that was only last sunday!!!!

Huntelaar

Started in 2002 when I was 15 and this is the way it went from there.....


2003: 28 > 18
2004: 18 > 9
2005: 9 > 7
2006: 7 > 5
2007: 5 > 4
2008: 4 > 4 [Didn't play this year]
2009: 4 > 4
2010: 4 > 3

G1032

Started when I was younger (8 or 9) but wasn't that good. Got senior handicap of 12 when I was about 14 I'd say even though I couldn't play to 18 i'd say. But pretty soon after getting senior handicap I was off single figures. Don't know how, but something clicked. Stayed a few years off 7 or 8 then got to 5 after one lesson from David Kearney. Up and down between 4 and 6 since then. Haven't gotten down to 3 yet.

BUACHAILL

started playing properly 3 years ago , went from 17-9 in first year , last year went from 9-8 and this year still at 8, have got so much more in me and when i play people say i am so much better than 8 but never seem to score when it matters, still hopeful of losing a few shots this year !!

heavyballs

BUACHAILL wrote: »

started playing properly 3 years ago , went from 17-9 in first year , last year went from 9-8 and this year still at 8, have got so much more in me and when i play people say i am so much better than 8 but never seem to score when it matters, still hopeful of losing a few shots this year !!

well that would suggest your not better than 8 as your score is for a full round not a few boomers that you're mates think r great:D,i play off 5,thought i was a decent 5 untill started playin a few scr cups,i was wrong,how have you faired in jun scr cups,that to me is the ultimate test and also something that will bring you're game on no end
btw if you havn't played in many sc's i would highly recommend it,it took out the silly mistakes i was making as playin with the better players focused my mind more(btw have won 1 and second in 1,all last year)

BUACHAILL

I havent played in enough Junior scratch cups to be fair and its something I know will bring on my game no end, I will need to start making a point of going to maybe one a month etc. That said I am no gob****e and I didnt make the comment for my own ego, I play enough golf to know I have a better game than an 8 handicap and its only a matter of time before I apply my game correctly to show this, For the moment I fully agree 8 is my reflection. My few mates you refer to play off 5,4, and 2 and I have all the shots they have its just my consistancy, but I know that will come !!

shawpower

I've played golf from when I was younger than 10 I think, and I'm 33 now. But never very often. The occasional society round, or out with mates on a greenfee etc.

About 5 years ago I joined a new club and got a starting handicap of 16. But again, I didn't play very much, mostly due to not knowing many people. Then about 3 years ago, I decided to take it a bit more seriously. I had strayed out to 17 at that stage, but I started playing more regularly, making it out most weekends. By year end I was back to the starting point of 16 again and I was enjoying it a lot, and had met some great guys in the club I'm in. So last year, I upped my play time a bit more and really tried to focus on improving.

I went from 16 down to 12, came runner up in singles and fourball matchplay, and ended up 2nd in Golfer of the year. This year, I've moved down to 10 so far, and have won my first ever large competition; the most recent Monthly Medal.

So in the past 3 years, I've been to maybe 6 lessons, with none in the past 12 months. I've made a self diagnosed grip change, from a ridiculously strong right hand, to a more orthodox grip. But overall I think that apart from just playing more regularly, two things have helped me most in dropping 6 shots in less than 2 years.

1. Ignore your handicap.
By this I mean to try to play every round gross, regardless of what comp you're playing. Don't stand on the tee and think "I've a shot on this hole". Straight away a bogey is acceptable subconsciously. Instead, stop worrying what holes you have shots on and just keep a count of your gross score as you go around. Last year I targetted not breaking 90 if possible.
I had three goals for this year, one of which was to break 80 for the first time. I did this quite early in the year, and have done it again a few times since, so I've adjusted this goal to make a sub-80 round my target each time I'm on the 1st tee. (That's not easy and I won't do it every time, but it's a good challenge considering I want to get to single figures this year.

2. Practice your putting.
Sounds obvious, but it's sooooo important. Mid way through last year I wasn't happy with my putting consistency. So I basically took my putter and about 20 golf balls out of my bag when I came home on a Sunday from the course, and left them in the telly room where we've our only carpet. Then a couple of times during the week, when I had a few mins to spare, I'd pick a random design in the carpet (that would be about the size of a golfball), stand randomly between 6-10 feet away from it and just go through the full group of golfballs a few times.
I wasn't worrying about break etc, but just got into the habit of getting the ball rolling over the design and a foot past it. This meant that I was comfortable in my putting stance and swing, and that I was expecting to hit the target a minimum of 9 times out of 10.
It wasn't long before I found myself confident of putts inside the 10 foot range on actual greens, and they are the ones that you need to make to keep a good score going. The 20footers will go in some days, and miss more often, but those range are usually for either birdie or par, so are hugely important. Now I stand over a 10 footer and expect to make it, and I usually do. That consistency won me my Singles 1/4 final match last night, as I didn't miss one from that range and the other guy missed a couple.

While lots of range practice and lessons are important to give you the basis of a good game, once I had that basis, I found those two "changes" to my golf game reaped the biggest rewards. The only warning would be to make sure you remember to put the putter back in your bag before the next round!!

Anyway, hope they're of some help, and best of luck with your journey down your handicap.

ElNino1988

I started playin when i was about 12, got my first handicap of 17 got to 10 when i was 15, 4 when i was 17 stopped playin serious and doing practice for 2 years went to to 6, started again last year now playing of 2 and hoping for Scratch before the year is out.

Fore Iron

I played alot of pitch & putt as a kid and a little golf now and then and then didn't swing a club for a good 10 years or so. Starting playing golf again 3 years ago and have gone from 19 to 6. For me it is all about short game and putting. I have had days when I have been hitting the ball really badly but chipping and putting well and I've scored well. I have yet to a good score while putting badly.

Earlier post about ignoring your handicap is spot on. I always get so confused when playing stableford with someone and they bogey a hole and say "such a shame because I had a shot on that hole". Stableford does not work that way!!

99% of the time your stableford score will be 36 minus the difference between your gross score and your handicap. So if you're off 10 and you gross 14 over then you score 32 points. Generally, unless you make double bogeys or worse. Think of your round as a whole, not as individual opportunities to score more or less points!

About a year ago I started to try for par on every hole. If I was in a bad place I would try to find the best way to limit myself to bogey. My handicap dropped three shots as a result.

For me the difference between low double digit handicaps and single figures is all in the mind! That and good, HONEST, course management!!

Mr. Larson

shawpower wrote: »

...try to play every round gross, regardless of what comp you're playing. Don't stand on the tee and think "I've a shot on this hole". Straight away a bogey is acceptable subconsciously...

Fore Iron wrote: »

About a year ago I started to try for par on every hole. If I was in a bad place I would try to find the best way to limit myself to bogey. My handicap dropped three shots as a result.

For me the difference between low double digit handicaps and single figures is all in the mind! That and good, HONEST, course management!!

Some good advice there.

Slightly O.T. perhaps but I've thought about changing my mental approach as my scoring is very poor relative to my potential and ability. I suffer from a lot of mental collapses on the golf course and often switch off or let my mind be pre-occupied with my score or where I have/don't have shots and suffer from a lot of self fulfilling prophecies.

For my next round I'm going to play the round like 18 mini rounds of golf with a score re-set at zero on each tee and try to think of nothing but the hole I am playing and getting the best gross score regardless.