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How long before you shot 36pts?

  • 09-02-2021 12:47pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 709 ✭✭✭


    How long after taking up golf did you shoot your handicap? The magical 36pts.
    I'm 4 years in now and still haven't!!! :(
    My record is 34. I've beaten my handicap when the course was in winter conditions, just 12 holes open. Got a few lessons last year, so I'm confident I'll hit it this year when we get back. I love golf.


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,884 ✭✭✭DuckSlice


    If its taken that long then I would think you have the wrong handicap. its a long time ago since i got my first handicap, but i shot my handicap id definitely within the first year.

    Stick at it and you will get there. Keep entering comps and your handicap will get to the correct level and you will start improving.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 18,560 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    For me the key was take distance back and stop losing balls, a lot ball is essentially -2pts, very hard to make that up


  • Registered Users Posts: 48,742 ✭✭✭✭Wichita Lineman


    I started playing properly in March 2002 off 18 and I definitely wasnt an 18 handicapper back then as I'd only played a handful of times.
    My first 36pts, actually it was 37pts (off 19) came in May 2003. Stick with it, under the new WHS I believe there will be more scope for your handicap to adjust to your playing skills and you will hit the 36pts soon enough.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,473 ✭✭✭blue note


    I started at 12 years old with a junior handicap of 36. Pretty sure I didn't hit 36 points that first summer, so I reckon it was a little over a year before I got there.


  • Registered Users Posts: 45 Jimbee


    If your playing golf 4 years lessons etc. There are a couple of things you need to identify.
    Is your problem area off the tee, iron play, or short game and putting. Break it down into simple areas.
    If it's a particular area you may need to manage it, play the shot that is the least stressful and keeps you in play.
    Look at Jorden Spieth last weekend his swing is all over the place off balance etc., he still manage to get into contention. So better decision making can have a big impact.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 709 ✭✭✭ClutchIt


    Ya it's shocking I still haven't broke it. My short game is killing me. I'm really confident I will be able to regularly break 36 this year and get to a more respectable HC.


  • Registered Users Posts: 302 ✭✭chalky_ie


    It took me years as well, I was just given 18 having not played golf before, I think it was 2/3 years before I shot my handicap, which had risen to 20.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,594 ✭✭✭willabur


    ClutchIt wrote: »
    Ya it's shocking I still haven't broke it. My short game is killing me. I'm really confident I will be able to regularly break 36 this year and get to a more respectable HC.


    Probably took me a good while to break it. It's a tricky question to answer because I played golf casually for years before I joined as a member so they stuck me in at 12. Could always shoot the lights out in practice but with an actual card in my hand it was an achievement to stay in the buffer.

    Without knowing your handicap I would advise you to adjust your expectations. If you have a handicap of 18 then look to play bogey golf even if that means laying up on a par 4. There is probably a club that is killing you, take it out of the bag completely. If it's the short game then it's likely a wedge. Use an 8 iron or better again use a putter. Last thing I'd say is practice your putting, cut down on 3 putts and you'll be in a good place


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Bill Ponderosa


    Probably given the wrong handicap from the start and under the old system you were screwed.

    Thankfully the new system is alot better and you should see your handicap adjust to your playing ability. You should be roughly hitting 36 points every 8 - 10 rounds.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭OEP


    Probably given the wrong handicap from the start and under the old system you were screwed.

    Thankfully the new system is alot better and you should see your handicap adjust to your playing ability. You should be roughly hitting 36 points every 8 - 10 rounds.

    Is that 36 points every 8 - 10 rounds with the new handicap system?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,684 ✭✭✭dan_ep82


    Took me a long time to do it in a competition. Could play well in a casual then crumble in a comp.

    What HC do you have now? Advice would differ on what it is and how close to it your getting.

    If you were given scratch and you can play to a 5 the advice would be wildly different than if you were 25HC and you play to a 30HC

    Try not to get too wound up on what's a "respectable handicap", the lower you go the lower your expectations of that go aswell


  • Registered Users Posts: 709 ✭✭✭ClutchIt


    They gave me 17.5 starting, gone out to 21 now. I break 30 a lot and I know I'm improving so I'm happy enough
    Just curious how long it took others, and think it's an interesting discussion.


  • Registered Users Posts: 160 ✭✭NotCarrotRidge


    I took up golf casually when I was 40, almost 9 years ago. I joined a club as a summer member a year later and was given a laughable handicap of 17. I would have struggled to break 140 at the time. I stayed for that summer and joined my local club two years later. My old handicap of 17 was transferred and it had the effect of making me never enter competitions. I was embarrassed by my lack of ability and who wants to turn in a score in single figures? I would only enter a competition if playing with my friends, and that was rare.

    I've improved gradually and last summer I scored 35 in an away competition. I missed a 6in putt on the last because I was rushing to finish (I was on holiday and herself was waiting for me beside the green because we had a dinner reservation), so I played well enough for 36. It took 8 years to get there. You're doing grand!


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,977 ✭✭✭youcancallmeal


    etxp wrote: »
    If its taken that long then I would think you have the wrong handicap.

    This is it, I got my first handicap a few years ago, 25. Took me a lesson and 4 rounds before I beat it. Went steadily down to 17 since then


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Bill Ponderosa


    OEP wrote: »
    Is that 36 points every 8 - 10 rounds with the new handicap system?

    Yeah, I'd say so, although I haven't had 36 points in nearly 3 years so thank god for the WHS.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,103 ✭✭✭L.O.F.T


    ClutchIt wrote: »
    My short game is killing me. I'm really confident I will be able to regularly break 36 this year and get to a more respectable HC.

    If you can dedicate time to this aspect of your game, you'll improve. My advice, and only an opinion, would be to perfect your short game using just your PW, get the ball rolling at the hole on short around the green shots. If you have a garden or even a range close by you can practice the pitch shot, working on a solid strike and consistently flighting the ball the same distance over and over, with the ideal of the ball running at the hole. Your comfort level will increase and after some time you'll get very close to getting up and down for a point or even two points.
    Pitching it close in turn takes pressure off the putting. The road to improvement takes practice, but break down the parts you'd like to improve into smaller parts so the whole challenge of improving does not feel overwhelming.
    Don't put pressure on yourself to shoot a good score, enjoy the company and look forward to the round, the good golf will come when you are most relaxed and enjoying yourself. Best of luck.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,782 ✭✭✭gypsy79


    I did in my first round after getting handicap

    But it was a long while until I broke it. My best round was 18 over in my 3 rounds. I was given 17 and shot 17 over next round

    I have heard it said that you would hit it one in 4. I go on runs. I once had 6 36 points in row


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,594 ✭✭✭willabur


    It would be interesting if everyone posted their scoring graph from their Golf Ireland portal.

    I have beaten my current handicap 3 times in my last 20 rounds. About 5 rounds in the buffer and the rest were blowouts


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,782 ✭✭✭gypsy79


    I also have beaten mine 3 times!!

    And two of them fall off in next three rounds. In fact all three of them are counting rounds


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 18,560 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    I beat my handicap twice last year! I need heat for my back


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,136 ✭✭✭OEP


    I'm on the way down and CSS on my course is usually 37 points so as a cat 2 golfer I need to be shooting my handicap


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,103 ✭✭✭L.O.F.T


    slave1 wrote: »
    I beat my handicap twice last year! I need heat for my back

    I've to get up early, stretch, eat and hit about 20 balls! I wish i was in my 20's again. roll out of bed, car, 1st tee, level 2's! 5er!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭tyivpc5qjx0f2b


    L.O.F.T wrote: »
    I've to get up early, stretch, eat and hit about 20 balls! I wish i was in my 20's again. roll out of bed, car, 1st tee, level 2's! 5er!

    I have a similar routine, everyone should irrespective of age. If given the choice between arriving a little early to hit a couple of balls/putting or using that time to stretch for a few mins I’d pick the latter every time.

    On the OP’s original question, I’d be pretty mercurial so when I started out I struggled to get close to 30 pts then had 2 weeks in a row of breaking 40.

    This has generally been my MO in recent years, you’ll be fine, it sounds like your handicap may be a little high but I’m sure under the new system it’ll come right.


  • Registered Users Posts: 34,034 ✭✭✭✭The_Kew_Tour


    Took me 15 months to break 36 points when I started playing as student in mens comps. Got 42 points and came 2nd


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,323 ✭✭✭✭Rikand


    Took me 4 years to hit 36 points from when i started playing. You'll be grand :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,782 ✭✭✭gypsy79


    Another question is when will I shoot 36 points on a Boards outing. I always save my worst golf for those outings?


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,392 ✭✭✭spacecoyote


    gypsy79 wrote: »
    Another question is when will I shoot 36 points on a Boards outing. I always save my worst golf for those outings?

    My only round that broke 36 points last year was our round in Gowran Park.

    I had hit 36 points within a year of joining a club, had my first cut some time in the last 3 months of my first full year.

    I started with a handicap of 21, got to 21.4 at my highest, spent a large portion of the year playing in the buffer (was cat 4 at that point so had a 4 point cushion)

    If you're at a higher handicap one thing to focus on (which worked for me anyway) was to try aim to have a par putt on each hole. So you dont need to panic about GIR or take on the unnecessary murscle shot. If you give yourself a putt for par on every hole, and your handicap is 18 or higher, then 18 2-putts from that point is 36 points.

    So if you sneak the odd 1-putt you have a cushion for the odd double bogey too.

    Worked for me for a few years and dropped from 21 to 13 over about my first 3 years (without playing an enormous amount of golf). Obviously I'm not advocating for laying up even you can take on a GIR, its just a mindset that takes some pressure off if you miss a green


  • Registered Users Posts: 437 ✭✭Neewollah


    I would have got my 1st adult handicap at around 15/16 years of age of 18. Think I remember being insulted by it thinking I was better than I was!!! Ended up going out to 19 so In fairness they were spot on. Junior Golf was a different game altogether.

    I can't remember how long it took me to hit 36 points. All I know was it was shortly after I went out to 19 to maybe it took me a year. Think I had a big score because i went from 19 to 17 from that round.

    From there I dropped very quickly over a 2 year period. I got to 16 and then went straight to 13, Think I had a serious captains prize score. Went then from 13 to 11 and then 11 to 9. Floating around 8/9 for a few years and then didn't play much over a 4 or 5 year period.

    Back at it now the last 2 years and down to 6 now. Goal is to get to 3/4

    As space coyote said, once I learned to manage the course and not to be wreckless my handicap fell rapidly


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,635 ✭✭✭kev_s88


    I first joined a club in Summer 2017 at the age of 29 and was given a handicap of 23. Had always played golf for fun, but hadn't had any formal lessons since i was about 15/16. I guess playing was always fun, and i know I had broken 36 a couple of times when i was in my early 20s, but pretty sure i was playing off 27 at that time (self appointed handicap).

    It took me just over 2 years and 37 rounds of competition golf before I finally broke 36 points in 2019. In the following 9 months (before the country started to shut down) i did it a further 5 times, with 38 being my best. Every other round I never really troubled 30. I was playing awful golf at the time and it felt like pure luck everytime i had a good round, as i really didn't know what i was doing with my shots

    I have since invested in some lessons, got fitted for Driver and Irons and its amazing the difference I saw (the lessons being the important part). Unfortunately i've only really played a couple of 9 hole and 12 hole rounds over Autumn and early Winter last year. The scoring wasn't spectacular but the golf felt so much better (silly mistakes costing me, not bad drives and lost balls from wayward shots). Really looking forward to getting back out now as confidence was really up coming into lockdown. Time to start driving down the 24 handicap that i'm stuck with


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,057 ✭✭✭irish bloke


    L.O.F.T wrote: »
    If you can dedicate time to this aspect of your game, you'll improve. My advice, and only an opinion, would be to perfect your short game using just your PW, get the ball rolling at the hole on short around the green shots. If you have a garden or even a range close by you can practice the pitch shot, working on a solid strike and consistently flighting the ball the same distance over and over, with the ideal of the ball running at the hole. Your comfort level will increase and after some time you'll get very close to getting up and down for a point or even two points.
    Pitching it close in turn takes pressure off the putting. The road to improvement takes practice, but break down the parts you'd like to improve into smaller parts so the whole challenge of improving does not feel overwhelming.
    Don't put pressure on yourself to shoot a good score, enjoy the company and look forward to the round, the good golf will come when you are most relaxed and enjoying yourself. Best of luck.

    Good advice on the pitching. My 2 cents is to use the same club for all pitches from 50 yds and in. So many golfers see a hazard or even the fringe of the green mid way between them and the hole and immediately think they need lob wedge.

    Use a 50 degree for everything and if you have a lob wedge, ban it from your bag


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