True Improvement ... With Verifiable Results

[BB28403]

Tried to send you a message but your mailbox is full.

 

That one never worked on my boss

[Obee]

Apologies for bringing back a month old thread, but I would certainly fall into this category.

 

I picked up the game at age 19 while I was playing college baseball (I was a pitcher so I had a lot of down time). I'm 31 now, but I didn't start playing tournament golf until I was 25 and it was not pretty. I became pretty addicted to it and just kept working on my game. I won the Houston city amateur a few years later and have since won a few Texas golf association events. Also was medalist in my U.S. Am qualifier in 2017 and played Riviera/Bel-Air. Made it to the round of 32 in the U.S. Mid Am this year. There's just something special about tournament golf and once you figure out your tendencies under pressure (good and bad), being in contention to win is addicting.

 

Love this!!

 

Are you mostly self-taught? Or did you take consistent lessons?

 

I was self-taught up until October of this past year. I didn't seek out an instructor to reinvent the wheel or anything, just wanted some new ideas and to better understand my misses under pressure and how to make a correction on the very next swing.

 

Almost exactly mirrors my experience: Took up the game at 20 while in college playing baseballs (I was a catcher). Scratch in a few years. Another few years to get and stay between +2 and +3 and be competitive in tournaments.

 

And I was pretty much completely self-taught except for a few early "starter" lessons.

 

I'm not saying this is the best way to learn the game, but I do think it's the way many (most?) scratch golfers who pick up the game late in life get to scratch or below: They figure it out on their own after playing other sports at a reasonably high level. Once work slows down a bit, I'm going to revive this thread and get the stories of more guys who got to scratch or below after not playing the game as a kid. I have 8 or 9 so far, but want to gather a bunch of guys together and do a legitimate survey of them to gather some data. Might even turn it into a book. :-)

[BB28403]

Apologies for bringing back a month old thread, but I would certainly fall into this category.

 

I picked up the game at age 19 while I was playing college baseball (I was a pitcher so I had a lot of down time). I'm 31 now, but I didn't start playing tournament golf until I was 25 and it was not pretty. I became pretty addicted to it and just kept working on my game. I won the Houston city amateur a few years later and have since won a few Texas golf association events. Also was medalist in my U.S. Am qualifier in 2017 and played Riviera/Bel-Air. Made it to the round of 32 in the U.S. Mid Am this year. There's just something special about tournament golf and once you figure out your tendencies under pressure (good and bad), being in contention to win is addicting.

 

Love this!!

 

Are you mostly self-taught? Or did you take consistent lessons?

 

I was self-taught up until October of this past year. I didn't seek out an instructor to reinvent the wheel or anything, just wanted some new ideas and to better understand my misses under pressure and how to make a correction on the very next swing.

 

Almost exactly mirrors my experience: Took up the game at 20 while in college playing baseballs (I was a catcher). Scratch in a few years. Another few years to get and stay between +2 and +3 and be competitive in tournaments.

 

And I was pretty much completely self-taught except for a few early "starter" lessons.

 

I'm not saying this is the best way to learn the game, but I do think it's the way many (most?) scratch golfers who pick up the game late in life get to scratch or below: They figure it out on their own after playing other sports at a reasonably high level. Once work slows down a bit, I'm going to revive this thread and get the stories of more guys who got to scratch or below after not playing the game as a kid. I have 8 or 9 so far, but want to gather a bunch of guys together and do a legitimate survey of them to gather some data. Might even turn it into a book. :-)

 

What is scratch to you guys, just curious? 10 rounds of 75 or less?

 

I was watching a new young coach named Steve Buzza from the UK. He got married, did his PHD work with Leadbetter. And landed last year in Florida . He was scratch before all that, and did a little YouTube channel research on his channel, as to see how long it would take him to get back to scratch. I think it took him 6 months maybe , even while working full time. He’s been on the “On the Mark†podcast with Mark Immelmann , good stuff!

 

That’s awesome you were self taught mostly Obee. Sometimes I wonder if I refuse to listen my instincts and just lean on a teacher too much when things are not going good.

[Obee]

Apologies for bringing back a month old thread, but I would certainly fall into this category.

 

I picked up the game at age 19 while I was playing college baseball (I was a pitcher so I had a lot of down time). I'm 31 now, but I didn't start playing tournament golf until I was 25 and it was not pretty. I became pretty addicted to it and just kept working on my game. I won the Houston city amateur a few years later and have since won a few Texas golf association events. Also was medalist in my U.S. Am qualifier in 2017 and played Riviera/Bel-Air. Made it to the round of 32 in the U.S. Mid Am this year. There's just something special about tournament golf and once you figure out your tendencies under pressure (good and bad), being in contention to win is addicting.

 

Love this!!

 

Are you mostly self-taught? Or did you take consistent lessons?

 

I was self-taught up until October of this past year. I didn't seek out an instructor to reinvent the wheel or anything, just wanted some new ideas and to better understand my misses under pressure and how to make a correction on the very next swing.

 

Almost exactly mirrors my experience: Took up the game at 20 while in college playing baseballs (I was a catcher). Scratch in a few years. Another few years to get and stay between +2 and +3 and be competitive in tournaments.

 

And I was pretty much completely self-taught except for a few early "starter" lessons.

 

I'm not saying this is the best way to learn the game, but I do think it's the way many (most?) scratch golfers who pick up the game late in life get to scratch or below: They figure it out on their own after playing other sports at a reasonably high level. Once work slows down a bit, I'm going to revive this thread and get the stories of more guys who got to scratch or below after not playing the game as a kid. I have 8 or 9 so far, but want to gather a bunch of guys together and do a legitimate survey of them to gather some data. Might even turn it into a book. :-)

 

What is scratch to you guys, just curious? 10 rounds of 75 or less?

 

I was watching a new young coach named Steve Buzza from the UK. He got married, did his PHD work with Leadbetter. And landed last year in Florida . He was scratch before all that, and did a little YouTube channel research on his channel, as to see how long it would take him to get back to scratch. I think it took him 6 months maybe , even while working full time. He’s been on the “On the Mark†podcast with Mark Immelmann , good stuff!

 

That’s awesome you were self taught mostly Obee. Sometimes I wonder if I refuse to listen my instincts and just lean on a teacher too much when things are not going good.

 

Whenever I refer to "scratch," it's someone who averages a scratch index over a whole year. It's not someone who in one handicap revision (currently there are 24 "revisions" per year) gets to a 0.4 index, but the rest of the year is 1, 1.4, 2.2, 3.1, 2.2, 3.1, 1.8, 2.2, 3.3, 4.1, etc., etc.

[BB28403]

 

 

I feel like I’m talking to doctor who now.

You scratch guys are so advanced. Teach us Obee Wan!