What's your ideal handicap?

[Pepperturbo]

14 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

An apology would've sufficed.

 

 

 

 

I am a big boy.  If I was talking to YOU I would have addressed you.  I am not into apologizing when some stranger that reads himself into something that didn't feel good but wasn't addressed to him.  Yep, we may have the similar indexes, but I assure you, we're NOT driven the same. 

[JeffreySpicoli]

1 minute ago, MelloYello said:

 

LOL....is it not hard to swing in that double-breasted suit, though? 

 

P.S. Is it better to measure Cigar smokage by total qty smoked per 9 or total $$ spent? 

I’m not wound that tight. I go low-key and attire myself in J. Press suits and jackets but not on the course. I do favor Madras in casual situations though.

 

And I know better than to smoke—let alone brag about it.

[glk]

If I aspired it would be to in the neighborhood of JonesScott.

 

since this is a family friendly site I refrained from posting said index.

Edited May 22, 2021 by glk

[MelloYello]

LOL

[MelloYello]

3 minutes ago, Pepperturbo said:

I am a big boy.  If I was talking to YOU I would have addressed you.  I am not into apologizing when some stranger that reads himself into something that didn't feel good but wasn't addressed to him.  Yep, we may have the similar indexes, but I assure you, we're NOT driven the same. 

 

I can't express how much I want to print and frame this. 

 

An actual human wrote this, LOL. 

 

Thank you interwebs!

[JeffreySpicoli]

I ran across this again the other day, Mello. Perhaps you’ll take some solace from it.

 

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." -- Maya Angelou

[MelloYello]

Just now, JeffreySpicoli said:

I ran across this again the other day, Mello. Perhaps you’ll take some solace from it.

 

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." -- Maya Angelou

 

I can't even tell you how much I'm still laughing out loud, hahahaha....

 

Driven! 

 

LOL

[MelloYello]

8 minutes ago, glk said:

If I aspired it would be to in the neighborhood of JonesScott.

 

since this is a family friendly site I refrained from posting said index.

 

Lofty ambitions, my good sir!

 

Many have tried, but none have returned with the Glory of JonesScott. 

[miamistomp]

17 minutes ago, JeffreySpicoli said:

Please don’t take offense, Pepper, but the proper usage above is “took offense,” not “took offensive.” Have a nice day!

 If Chuck Norris said " took offensive " , that is now the proper usage.

[glk]

18 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

Lofty ambitions, my good sir!

 

Many have tried, but none have returned with the Glory of JonesScott. 

I still envision him living in mom basement, tipping out Jackson park as much as anyone can tip out a 6000 yard course, and licking his chops figuring he has a chance now to beat Tiger.

[Wormkiller]

Pretty happy playing off 20 to be honest. At my home course I get 23 strokes. if your game is off even just a little bit things can get real ugly. Long holes, tight, tree lined fairways, lightning greens. A good day and I can get in the placings. But if the driver isnt working I have the ‘luxury’ of hitting 5 wood or 4 iron off the tee and not chasing low scores - instead just settling for net par.

 

When I took up this game a couple of years ago my goals were to have fun and get up to a standard where I could play competently with my friends. Already achieved these goals. And I know by now the best thing for my game is to play without expectations to make a low score.

Edited May 23, 2021 by Wormkiller

[Petethreeput]

I am a floater. Excepting my years with chip yips when I ballooned you a 7, I am pretty consistently between 1.3-4.5 and at either of those numbers I am terrible. If I play with a person with whom I have never played, it’s not uncommon to hear, “You’re giving the strokes?”

 

As a gambler, 5 is ideal for all the reasons mentioned in your original post @MelloYello.

 

More importantly, as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company with an unparalleled drive, I much prefer to be on the lower end. Last summer I was a 1-3-1.5 for four months, and that was great fun.

[tatertot]

On 5/22/2021 at 10:14 AM, MelloYello said:

 

An apology would've sufficed.

 

 

 

 

You must be new here ...

 

[Wormkiller]

2 hours ago, Petethreeput said:

 

More importantly, as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company with an unparalleled drive, I much prefer to be on the lower end. Last summer I was a 1-3-1.5 for four months, and that was great fun.

Righto, Tickets.

[jmkenn0]

I'm an 8, I think that's fine.  Last summer during the height of rona I was playing a lot, got down to a 5.  Probably could go lower than that but I'm not driven enough to give a flying f#@k how good or bad my golf game is.

[ZA206]

I think I'd love to be a +. I'm hovering at the 3-4 handicap right now, so I'm not terribly far away in theory. In practice.... that's a LOOOOONNNNGGGG ways away!

 

I know what I need to do to get there, it's just a matter of committing to it (regular 2X a week practice and playing 2X a week and possibly some lessons/tweaks). Hard to do when I have so many other interests in my life that seem to always take precedence.

 

I gotta stop making bone headed doubles!!!

 

-ZA

 

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Ideal unfortunately doesn't match up with how much I can actually play. I can still get it around pretty good most of the time but I would like to be competitive in mid-am type events, which is probably +3 range, and I'm just not trending the right direction. 

[Barfolomew]

That's a good question.... just relax and enjoy your level of golf and practice enough to stay there...... or play/practice to get better.

 

That's a good point many prob don't consciously decide.

 

I want to get better but keep getting side lined by injuries over last few years....  Popped my Achilles tendon last Oct riding skateboard so had surgery so coming back now BUT just heard the Doc wants to do surgery and remove a couple feet of my colon.... back to riding the pine... I'll be back lol

 

 

[MTgolfer]

I enjoy practicing and getting better. So my ideal is always about 2-3 less than whatever it is. 

[MelloYello]

14 minutes ago, Barfolomew said:

That's a good question.... just relax and enjoy your level of golf and practice enough to stay there...... or play/practice to get better.

 

That's a good point many prob don't consciously decide.

 

I want to get better but keep getting side lined by injuries over last few years....  Popped my Achilles tendon last Oct riding skateboard so had surgery so coming back now BUT just heard the Doc wants to do surgery and remove a couple feet of my colon.... back to riding the pine... I'll be back lol

 

 

 

Sorry to hear about your injuries. I wish you a quick and speedy recovery!

 

But otherwise, yeah, that was the point of the thread, to consider how much time is "worth it" for each person. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, right? LOL

 

Everyone says they want to be better than they are but at some point you ultimately choose not to be. 

[Barfolomew]

20 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

 

Sorry to hear about your injuries. I wish you a quick and speedy recovery!

 

But otherwise, yeah, that was the point of the thread, to consider how much time is "worth it" for each person. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, right? LOL

 

Everyone says they want to be better than they are but at some point you ultimately choose not to be. 

 

This is also a golf forum so you gotta figure 99% here are trying to improve...

 

But that's always the beauty of golf.... its a life long game (supposedly) so there is no rush to improving.  Trying to get rid of that stupid easy shot you made yesterday keeps us all young in the quest.... to roll over is mental death for many and shouldn't happen, cause then what?  I'll be trying to get better till I die, but the main difference between people is how they handle it, many get frustrated while many have a great attitude,  which one are you and can the frustrated become the happy stoked baller?

[Obee]

Anywhere in the 7 - 9 range, I feel pretty comfortable ....

[Orange Hog]

My goal is and will always be to make it to a scratch or lower handicap.  That said, I know it's pretty unrealistic.  I don't have time to practice enough to make it to that level.

 

So, what is realistic?  I think my ideal handicap is a 5.  Right now I'm floating between a 9-10 but I've recently been making some adjustments that have gotten me to some lower scores.  Where I tend to lose shots in a round is inside 125 yards, particularly when I miss a GIR.  So as I get into the "season" that's where I'm really focusing a lot of my practice - working on saving par from off the green.

[stephenmatt]

My goal is to be a scratch golfer. I feel like if you are serious about the game and are obsessed with getting better then scratch should be your goal.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

On 5/21/2021 at 10:16 AM, MelloYello said:

When you first take up golf you dream of being scratch...

 

...but you play golf long enough and you realize getting strokes is how you stay in the money! 🙂 

 

I'm currently about a 4-5 handicap and that's saved me a few times recently. And you know what? It feels really good. Am I frustrated to miss a few make-able putts? Do I feel bad when I occasionally card some stupid double? Absolutely! But the handicap allows for that.

 

While I constantly work to strike the ball better, hit more greens and have focused a lot of putting this past year, I have a feeling that with my level of commitment I'm probably closer to my ceiling than I'd like to admit. What's great about being a 5 is that you can play well for stretches and for long stretches truly are in control of what you're doing. You're good enough such that shot selection and decision-making really matters a lot. I can't tell you how big a thrill it is to win a match because you made a couple smart decisions rather than threw caution to the wind and got lucky. Staying patient all the while knowing you're the tortoise has been my M.O. and it's really made golf a lot more fun. 

 

So as I look towards getting better, I can't help but worry that while there's room to improve, it'll also reduce the nice cushion I've got at the moment. And TBH, I'm not sure how much that's a good thing. I played someone a few weeks ago and had to give them a ton of strokes. It wasn't fun. I kind of knew that unless they absolutely blew up somewhere that I'd essentially have to play perfectly. It really sucked the fun out of it. My opponent played reasonably and I lost never really feeling like I had a great chance. 

 

IDK what the point of this thread was. Maybe just to share my current take?

 

But I guess I'm also kind of wondering how some of your good players transitioned from being good net players to being good gross players. We all play with strokes in friendly matches but there seems to come a point where the pressure really ratchets itself up. How do y'all deal with that in the big picture and have some of you "chosen" to remain at a certain handicap level as opposed to sticking with that beginner's instinct of always trying to improve every little imperfection? 

 

Most people think this game should be easy when starting out?

 

My father still thinks it should be easier than he makes it. Hahaha!

 

In retrospect, I believe that I’m playing my best golf as a 7. Allows me to enjoy where I am when playing.

[ebk]

I gave up trying to get to a certain number.  What I really would like is one pain free day on a day I’m playing golf.  Had one of those days in about 1989, and as a 12 HCP shot 75 (3 over).  It was the last time I played a pain free round - hadn’t had one in years before that and haven’t had one since.  Not complaining, just explaining why I really let the day and the round happen, and check out my index when the email arrives.  I’m old (mid 60’s) took up the game after college, broken down (50+ years of ice hockey) and currently at 8.1.  Play maybe 2x/month if I’m lucky.

 

 

[nsxguy]

On 5/22/2021 at 1:07 PM, MelloYello said:

 

You do realize that we're both the same level of player, right, LOL? 

 

We would both be getting strokes from anyone who's scratch or better. You do understand how this works, right? 😉

 

I try and be friendly but your rhetoric is really offensive at times. You should tone it back for the sake of civility. This is a friendly forum. You shouldn't be assuming so much about people who are most certainly no worse than yourself. 

 

Were some posts deleted ?

 

Pepper can be a bit much sometimes but I don't see anything in his post you quoted to ruffle your feathers.

 

What did I miss ?

[chrisf60526]

I'm an 18 HDCP and I'd love to get down to around a 12 or so. That being said, I havent moved off an 18 for a few years despite thinking I was getting better.  The stats don't lie.