10+ handicap to scratch

[kobe123]

Alright, I'll chime in. I'm not sure when I was a 10, but I'm currently a 0.3 but got down to a +2 last year. (I currently take online lessons from Dan) Here is how I've practiced and what I've learned:

Learn how to reduce big numbers. This is a game changer. Huge numbers hurt me in college. I specifically remember having 16 pars and two triples. Learn your ball flight. Get better with the driver (OB shots will kill your game)Work on 10 feet and in putts (Anything outside that range statistically you're not going to make)Find someone like Dan and take their advice even if you manage to struggle in the beginning. You'll get better in the end.

[crapula]

Started golfing at 27 and it took a ton of work, range time and lessons, to get to where I am now. The first year I was a 25, the next year a 15, next year a 7.5 and so on. Never been scratch but I think the lowest was .6. I typically range .8 to 2 and that can change in a single revision, there was one revision last year I went up to a 4 then the next to a 1.5. I play a lot and am constantly working on my game so sometimes I play terribly while I'm making a change. I think it took me 7 years to get below a 3.

I never stop learning and challenging myself.

[Chief Illiniwek]

True steps to getting to scratch after your 20’s:

1- Have an extremely understanding wife, or for simplification, divorce her*

2- Ignore kids. Encourage them to do zero extracurricular activities that require Dad’s involvement more than once or twice a week

*never divorce a rich wife, or one with a high paying job that allows you to be a stay at home dad, as school hours are critical to practicing and playing

 

 

I’m only about half tongue in cheek....

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Interesting thread and interesting responses. I’m posting because it’s very rare for people who started in their 30s and 40s to get to scratch or low singles like that. I’m roughly in the same age starting and where I am now. I hit very far for my age and shot 2 over once. It was a freak round, but I got a taste. I think overall, I’m as good as Im going to get even though I average 15 yards farther than the definition of scratch off the tee. It just takes a lot of talent with every skill set to play consistently well.

So, it seems possible, but less likely than seeing people get to scratch or plus from the pool of ex-college players. Of note, college players are talented enough to get selected to play in college in the first place. That filters out a good 99% of the kids who could also play at a reasonable level by the time they applied to play in college at any level. Furthermore, Top D1 players are usually very close to pro level. Playing for a college at any level puts you in the top end of talented golfers.

[596]

I started golf at age 54. I was about 19 years into racing triathlons at that point. I was in excellent physical condition. I went from wherever you start as a golfer to a 2 handicap in less then 2 years. Didn't quite make scratch but I was close. I had scored in the 60s after about 18 months of golf. Never had a lesson. Without genetics, if you are in really good physical condition golf is much easier.

[milesgiles]

Right oh..

 

to the others in this thread, with varying degrees of delusion, i’ll point out a british scratch best round would be about 6 under the standard scratch. Breaking par occasionally isn’t close.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Is this with the new world handicap system? Yes, Brits are famous for sandbagging us Yanks. Lol

[crapula]

Please explain.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

I believe he was insinuating “596” and others are delusional. Possibly myself included with varying degrees, of course.

The last statement was ridiculous, of course, and was likely an attempt at British humor?

[Atrayn]

Old thread but a great one.

Richard had the best answer and by no means easy.

"Set the goals, make a plan, and work the plan~"

I'll add 2 words.

Be resolute

[MindtheGAP]

I'm currently attempting this and my goal is to at least halve my HC each year. I'm a northerner so i'm actually trying to do this in like 5mo/yr while trying to keep some kind of game while not playing from September to April. I'm 36 and played a lot of high school golf and was nothing great then, in the 10HC range. Since high school i've played at most 2 maybe 3 times a year. Last year i decided i'd go all in and get back into golf so i shelled out for a cheap membership at a private course the beginning of last summer. I went with the private course membership mainly because i have kids and the "closed" course from memorial day to labor day combined with never having to make tee times allowed me to just show up and play as many holes as i wanted whenever i had an hour or so of time. It has really helped. I played 9 after work a ton but could also just show up and play 3-4 balls for a couple holes when it was slow for practice.

I set a few goals and i think they were a big part of doing as well as i did.

start scoring consistently in the low 80sshoot at least 1 full round in the 70sshoot a front/back 9 at even par or betterget back down to a 10 handicapI started about last memorial day with no scores to even make a HC (this course uses GHIN - so it keeps 20 scores). Its a shorter par 72 course and I was scoring in the upper 80s to start. I pretty much focused on good mid/short-iron play almost all of last summer. Just good contact and try to consistently get on or close in regulation. I did a couple range sessions and a couple on-course "range" sessions when i was nearly the only golfer out. I had, and still kind of have, a bag flaw with a bad gap from ~185-210 that was really costing me with my home course having 2 par 3s of about 200. With mostly just course play and putting practice, by mid July i was getting low 80s and had a few in the 70s already. Putting was a big thing holding me back last year. And it wasn't so much my reads and lines it was all my speeds and touch. I had way too many 2 putts from 10ft because i'd leave it 6in short that were costing me birdies. Another thing that held me back a lot of my rounds was still having 1 or 2 real screwup holes a round. Just real mental breakdowns that would nab me a double or triple bogey. And since i wasn't putting well enough to be getting many birdies at that point they were really costing me. I did achieve all of the goals except the under 10 HC. I stalled at ~11 because i didn't play much at all once my kids started back in school and activities and just had too many early season scores i couldn't wipe off playing 9 at a time.

Short game is my main focus for this year. I think that was what was keeping me from shooting in the 70s most last season. Second is driving the ball more consistently.

My goals this year are

Consistently shoot in the 70sScore at least 1 Full round at even parscore a front/back 9 at 2 under par or betterHandicap down below 6I'm not really a stats guy but should probably start keeping more details on my game for making this jump and for future improvements. What stats should i start keeping that you all think would show me the best areas of improvement at my level? Strokes gained putting is what i was thinking since that was a sore area last summer. Whats the easiest way to keep track of that?

[milesgiles]

I wasn't joking Lincoln ^^

ask any handicap golfer in the uk, their best round will be very close to 6 less than their handicap. That's how our system works out.

That's good, because scratch is really going some.. Half my club has shot close to par at some point, it's hardly a mark of excellence.

And yes, 596 is delusional, obviously.

[Krt22]

That really isnt much different than here in the US.

 

 

[milesgiles]

^well Lincoln called my comment ‘ridiculous’ so I was responding

 

with respect, I do think it’s different in the US. ITT there’s a couple of golfers who got to 2/3 but their best round is level par. Here it would be 3 under. I have a chum who has been 6 under twice, in competition, not been better than a 2 handicap..

[Three_Jack]

Do they not have course ratings there? I donno much about the handicap system in the UK, but you can be a scratch golfer and regularly break par and you can be a scratch golfer and never break par. It depends a lot on which course you play and what the course rating is.

Is it possible that your "chum" has broken par at very easy courses?

[dpb5031]

I'm your guy! I did not play as a kid, started at around age 27 with some guys I also played racquetball with twice a week. They were experienced 80s shooters.

By the end of my first season playing once per week and hitting balls about 2 others, I was reasonably competitive with them. I had no budget for professional instruction and no YouTube! I'd guess my handicap would have been around 12. By my second year I could beat those guys and was around an 8 or 9. Putting came naturally, the swing not so much.

Wife & I joined a private club and I improved to a very competitive 6/7 handicap and stayed at that level for a good 15 years. I showed moments of brilliance, but couldnt consistently hang with the best players at my club.

At around age 45, with my daughter showing promise as a junior player and realizing I was not qualified to instruct her, I started consuming instruction info on this site and learned a lot. Through a strange confluence of events, we settled on a swing coach and have stuck with him and his ideology... no bouncing around to different coaches and methodologies. It was mostly about my kid, but the side effect was that I improved immensely.

Fast forward to today, and I've won multiple club championships, a state partners event, placed well in competitive county competition, and last year at age 51 attempted to qualify for the US Senior Open on a tough track where I hit it well enough, but kinda choked ? my way to a 77, which incidentally beat a number of pros and accomplished ams.

My handicap through most of 2019 hovered between 1 and plus 1 with a low index of plus 1.6. I shot 4 bogey free rounds this year with a low of 66 (par 72) on a day I hit all 18 GIR. I moved from NJ to FL about a year ago, and 2 weeks ago won the club championship (not senior ?) at my new club.

It can be done!!!

 

[milesgiles]

I’ll preface that I’m not an expert on handicap calculations here or in USA..

ours is based on the standard scratch score for each course. An easy par 72 course might be sss 70, a hard one sss 74. This can get further adjusted on competition day, if it’s a tougher day and net scores are high, the sss can go up further. Vice versa if there’s a lot of good scores. So broadly, there’s not an ‘easy’ course because that’s accounted for (in the example I gave of my chum shooting 6 under sss is 72)

if you are a 6 cap or better you get cut 0.1 of a shot for every stroke you are under the sss. You go up plus 0.1 if you don’t get within 2 shots of the sss. You would have to shoot dead on the sss many many times to get near scratch, without having any bad rounds. In practise, that means you have to be regularly under the sss, gross, with few bad rounds to get to scratch. I’ve asked many golfers out of interest what their best round is, and it’s incredibly consistent that it’s around 6 under their best handicap.

we have around 2000 uk golf courses, I visit many and have a look at the handicap sheet out of interest. I’d say most clubs don’t have a single scratch player. The top 100 courses might have 3 or 4 at scratch or better. I’d guess that gives you less than 2000 scratch or better amateurs in the whole of the U.K., and golf is a fairly popular participation sport here.

dbp’s post above me^ sounds closer to the U.K. experience, best 6 under, regularly under par.

[BreakingTees]

A buddy of mine is a scratch. He said in his high school days his coach took his driver out of his bag and added a high loft 62 degree wedge. Forced him to play a more accurate 3 wood for almost a year. First round out he shot 4 strokes under his best round (73). Shortly after shot under par.

For him, hitting more fairways resulted in more pars. He said it was the best mental exercise for course management he’s ever had. If driver is holding you back, don’t hesitate to take this leap of faith and see how it affects your scores.

[milesgiles]

Sounds like he had an obvious weakness, easily fixed.

of scratch guys I’ve played with, number one requirement is EITHER very straight off the tee, or incredibly long (300 carry). More usually the former. Not to drone on, but that’s a uk scratch..

 

[glk]

Well by end of this year, the debate over scratch will be resolved since all golfing bodies recognize the new handicap. Believe golfers in the UK are to wake up on 11/1 and viola they may have a somewhat higher or lower cap.

[Krt22]

Was going to say the same thing. At this point it's largely useless semantics. If being "scratch" in the UK really means +3 here in the states, then so be it. Mostly meaningless since any competition folks like that are playing in are either local (ie everyone under the same handicap system) or if not local likely heads up stroke play.

 

[Ghost_Hands_Protocol]

That is quite an impressive feat. As a former collegiate rower, Masters Elite cyclocrosser and crit racer, and avid mountain bike racer for 20 years, I never found that excellence at an endurance sport (ie. triathlon) translated into ANY success in the golf swing. If anything, it took me years to undo all the core tightness I had developed and relearn how to rotate. If only the number on my scorecard was as low as the number on my HRM...

[crapula]

So are you saying that I am a 7 handicap? 7 is not really close to my avg over 20 rounds, 4.75 differential avg and I am very inconsistent. Is that how uk was different, they take avg and don't drop 10 rounds?

[596]

But there's more to the story. I was also on the national ski patrol, competition water skier, college tennis player. And lots of other sports over the first 54 years, ie handball, racketball, basketball, softball in organized leagues. All those, in addition to racing Tris lead me to understand that feels are not real. I had a very good understanding of what my body was doing and had very good control of it. I found it easy to change my swing to produce a different ball flight. My entire game is ball flight related, I can not hit on a simulator at all, I look like a total beginner. I just found golf not all that hard. Yes, there are good days and bad days... But overall I picked it up as easily as any other sport I played.

[Barfolomew]

Ha I went from 10+ to scratch a few years ago.... I'm 48 so guess that makes me middle aged lol. I was a double digit cap in the 90s took 20 years off from golf then retired from slow pitch cause way to many injuries and surgeries lol so jumped back into golf and was a scratch less then a year later...... and friggin injuries didnt help and I still fight them today so I have to rebuild my swing a couple times a year after all the months off.

 

Driver...I was a bomber in slow pitch...pi55in missiles or pi55iles as we called them lol the game taught me how to hit hard and fire the hips so that helps w driver

 

Putter....You're not gonna be scratch if you cant putt... but more important being comfortable putting from anywhere..... no 3 putts! Yes there are good 2 putts but not good 3 putts. Can you make that 5 footer cause if you miss you just cut that beautiful drive in half... you might as well as drove with a 7 iron and played a tap in bogey lol

 

Wedge....Get really comfy with your lob wedge cause its the club that is most creative and will teach you about touch that is useful throughout the bag

 

The real reason I was able to get to scratch faster then most was the mental game.... golf is a mental sport once you got the swing basics down..... I'm brutely honest bout bad shots but in a fun way cause i dont feel upset only that I missed it and next time dont suck lol. I think a lot of pros have bad mental games but have hit a million balls growing up so they can shoot 5 under but they have so much more potential if their metal coaches didnt suck... man I'd LOVE to hang out with Spieth and see what's going on there lol.... really. Someone needs to teach him how to get out of his own way... cause no one is

Its not about spending endless time banging balls.... range is full of those guys who cant break 80 but thinking par is easy/simple and no big deal is imperative......golf is a mental sport.... you have to get your mind on the other side of par so you're not lookin up at it as a tough obstacle to reach cause then you wont.....the only difference between #1000 in the world and #1 is the mental game. Rory recently said its funny how you shoot lower when you're not trying to... can he take his own advice does he know how to enact that approach on command.... that's what makes golf awesome

 

 

[milesgiles]

I don’t know how yours works at all since I’ve heard completely different explanations from people on this site lol

ours seems to be more of an average, yours seems to be potential?

and yes ^^ will be interesting next year when all on the same page. Get to scratch from my Laz-e-boy?

 

[milesgiles]

Where it’s not semantics is threads like this, where most claiming scratch are not outstandingly good but are telling you how they ‘trended to 0.3 for a week or two’ and would like to share the secret..

(my example above, I’m not scratch so don’t pretend I have ‘the secret’ but made observations on those I’ve played with that genuinely were ie top county players)

[Krt22]

It is semantics with regards to this thread. In a few more months it won't matter either way.

[Ty_Webb]

The CONGU system is like a ratchet, but it's biased towards lower than your average score. You move down a bit for each shot you are under your handicap, but you only ever go up 0.1. It's slow to catch up to improvements or getting worse. It also takes a very long time playing very consistently to catch up to your typical score. Someone whose average score is 80, then improves to 75 average will have a higher handicap than someone who averages 75 all the time for a long time. To get to scratch on the UK system starting at a 5, you have to be somewhere around 50 shots under your handicap. You might do that over 20 rounds or 40 rounds. Hard to do it in 10 rounds though. To do it quickly you have to shoot well under par a few times. Under the US system, a 5.0 handicap can get to a scratch by shooting the course rating 8 times in a row. UK player who does the same would go from 5.0 to 2.1. Shooting the course rating every time you play would take you 21 rounds to get to 0.4 under the UK system.

[Qwiklap]

I will add a bit.. I am not scratch. I grew up without access to golf, but dreamed of someday joining a club and really playing golf. I played in my early 20s - and only irregularly then, and had no HC. Prior to summer 2016 I only occasionally played golf (1-2 corporate scrambles a year). In 2016 I finally had the money and the wife's blessing to join our local country club - by 2017, I had my first official handicap (a 27 index). As a competitor -- I hated sucking. So 27 did not work for me.

I am married -- and have three kids (now 7yo, 5yo and 3yo). As I don't want to divorce her (she is hot) and I love my kids, the above suggestion (which is correct) was unworkable for me.

If you really want to get better later in life, in lieu of the above suggestion -- I would say to:

Dedicate a room or place in your home to golf practice - get a mat, get a net/screen.Get a launch monitor of some sort (I started out with a Skytrak and now have a GCQ). Honestly, the Skytrak was great and I question if I am getting much extra for all the expense of the GCQ.Get a putting mat that is at least 12' long so you can work on your stroke.After I have dinner with the family, read stories, put kids to bed, have wife time, etc. I then retire to my golf sanctuary and Grind ... I study the swing, chipping, course management, etc. (i.e., watch Gankas, Ballard, and other internet gurus) ... grind ... and grind more. I grind most nights for at least 1-2 hours. I also do mobility exercises (hip flexibility is a big focus), work the Super Swing Speed system, and now even have a Planemate.While I am not scratch -- I did all of the above in 2018 (when I was a 23 index), I am I making consistent and sometimes gapped progress. I ended last summer at a 14 index, and I believe I can be sub-10 this coming season.

I went down some not so great rabbit holes (such as pilfering the BST forum for new arrows and not fixing the Indian) -- but now, I am on the right track.

PS: One area that I cannot really practice well on the above setup is short game -- particularly bunkers. So I spend most of my outdoor practice time in the sand or on the chipping green. I have become quite competent in both, which is a huge help.