Could you become a scratch golfer using only the practice range?

[RCGA]

Let's say you have a decent single digit handicapper who wants to become a scratch golfer. 

 

But because of life situations (new born, work, etc.), they no longer have time to play rounds of golf, but can practice 3-4 times per week for an hour each. The practice facility has everything you'd need (grass range, unlimited balls, bunker, putting green, chipping area, etc.). 

 

Could you become a scratch golfer using only the practice range? 

 

Obviously you'd need to play several rounds to establish a handicap. So if it is possible, how much time do you think it would take before you're ready? 6 months? 1 year? Longer?

 

Similarly, could you become a scratch golfer on a real course using only an indoor simulator for practice and simulated rounds?

[SNIPERBBB]

You could get your swing to scratch level but you need the pressure and real life interaction with the greens to get to scratch

[naval2006]

This is pretty much like learning a language through reading.  The day will come when you have to interact with real native speakers and you'll probably realize it's a completely different animal.

[Soloman1]

Realistically, you need to play. You forgot about recovery shots, bad lies, uneven terrain, playing one shot at a time, the walk, the thoughts during the walk, etc. It's hard enough just to maintain a handicap without playing.

[Break68]

Not a chance!!

[scooterhd2]

I think its possible. I know a few coaches that only play 3 rounds a year but are + caps. 

[jomatty]

There are many low single digit handicaps that practice 3-4 hours a week as well as play rounds and never make it to scratch.  So it would take someone pretty spectacular to do it without playing.

 

Making the jump from a low single to scratch is hard.  I can’t see doing it without a lot of real time reps on the course.

[jomatty]

22 minutes ago, scooterhd2 said:

I think its possible. I know a few coaches that only play 3 rounds a year but are + caps. 

But they didn’t get to + cap not playing.  On top of that they eat and sleep golf.  In the example the guy had 3-4 hours a week.

[Mobert19]

Nah

[getitdaily]

No.

 

You can get your swing good. You can get your short game good. You can get putting good. 

 

But the goal in golf is to get the ball in the hole. I'm scratch and there have been many rounds where I struck it poorly and still shot 1 over because I changed my game plan to be more conservative based on how I was striking it. 

 

Playing your miss, course management, and just getting the ball in the hole only come from playing.

[NJBigFish22]

I think it would be possible, if you were basically a robot and never missed a shot.  Range can do a lot, but never seen a practice area with a tree or other potential hazard/bad lie you get on a course.

[stephenmatt]

Is it possible...? Maybe. Is it likely...? No. People do not realize how hard it is to be a "scratch" golfer. If you aren't playing on the course and only really practicing you would in my opinion probably also have to have a natural knack for the game to be able to reach "scratch".

Edited June 24, 2021 by stephenmatt

[Zitlow]

When you play a lot your short game gets better. 

[Krt22]

Nope. Scratch golf swing and scratch golfer are two different things. Even the best ball strikers on the planet are averaging 12-13 GIRs per round. Learning to get up and down from various lies, learning green speed of the day, grinding out the 4-8 footers, avoiding 3 putts etc can't really be replicated anywhere but on the course

[sailfishchris]

I think you'd have a better chance if you played and did not practice.

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by sailfishchris

[Teekman]

Honestly scoring is a skill in itself which can’t be developed without course exposure.

 

Nothing like missing a 3 footer which are “gimmes” in practice.

[RobotDoctor]

Count me in the group that says no.  I do believe you can take a 3-4 handicap range practice golfer and possibly see get near or at scratch if they play often and have a terrific short game.  Learning how to score, as others have stated, is not to be overlooked. 

 

I have a friend who is the epitome of a range rat.  He strikes the ball really well on the range.  He simply doesn't play much for who knows what reason.  When I can coax him to play a round he has a tendency to blow up because he has forgotten how to score.  I've told him this many times to which he says, "I know, I know."  He just doesn't play and gets frustrated, especially at my home course where it is tight due to narrow fairways and an abundance of trees.  Conversely, I play more than practice and have learned to drive the ball rather straight.  Driving and my short game recovery is now my best part of my game.  I am currently at 3.7 with hopes of being scratch in the next year or two.  I am the proverbial 4-6 handicapper on the range because I am working and practicing with a purpose ..... to improve my weak areas of my ball striking.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by RobotDoctor

[cavemeister]

6 hours ago, RCGA said:

Let's say you have a decent single digit handicapper who wants to become a scratch golfer. 

 

But because of life situations (new born, work, etc.), they no longer have time to play rounds of golf, but can practice 3-4 times per week for an hour each. The practice facility has everything you'd need (grass range, unlimited balls, bunker, putting green, chipping area, etc.). 

 

Could you become a scratch golfer using only the practice range? 

 

Obviously you'd need to play several rounds to establish a handicap. So if it is possible, how much time do you think it would take before you're ready? 6 months? 1 year? Longer?

 

Similarly, could you become a scratch golfer on a real course using only an indoor simulator for practice and simulated rounds?

yes it's possible but you would have to be a great ball striker. I hit balls every day for 1 hour to an 1 1/2 and became a very good ball striker and I was very long. And eventually was always around par--a little under a little over. Hardly played. But I hit balls in an open field and would pitch 100 balls a day at the ballbag when I was done and collected the balls--and I guess I forgot that made me exceptional with my  SW around the green.  And of course, it matters how good of a natural putter you are...

[taki27]

I’m generally going against what everyone else is saying.  I think your handicap can improve dramatically if you just practiced at a range/bunker/putting green and could put in the time and try to hit different shots.  Don’t know if you would reach scratch since 99% of players don’t, but you will jump up pretty far (assuming you can develop a decent/repeatable swing)  Yes things change on a course, but your swing shouldn’t.  You may need to learn breaks, but putting is putting.

Edited June 24, 2021 by taki27

[Nels55]

Many years ago I golfed with a guy at San Jose Muni who was pretty good player though I don't remember what he shot that day.  He mentioned that he had played wide receiver for the Jets.  He said that the first time he played golf he shot over 100 and then did not play again for some period of time maybe six months or a year while he practiced every day.  When he went back out to play for the first time after learning to swing he shot a 74 I believe.  So I would say that the scenario mentioned by the OP is possible with the right practice facility and a super talented individual.  Seems extremely unlikely to ever happen though!  By super talented I mean that he or she would be a top tour pro with and appropriate amount of game practice.  

[braincramp52]

I'd say no way. What I don't quite understand is if you have some time to practice why not play a quick 9 at times.

[Greenie]

I only go to the range maybe once or twice a yr. At the range I'm always a scratch golfer but when I play I'm a bogey golfer. I always say if I could take my range game to the course I would in the 70's all the time. 

[EDT501]

This was basically the approach I took in my early teenage years. Spent many, many hours a day practicing all aspects of my game, but only occasionally went to the course. My thought process was that I could get more reps and thoughtful practice in on the range/green then on the course in the same amount of time. The reality is that the course isn't a controlled environment and that learning to score well is a skill that is just as important as the technical swing. My scores got much better when I transitioned to only playing and never grinding on a range/green. To play to a true scratch level you both have to a skillset built by practice time and equally as important the knowledge of how to apply those skills on the course to get the ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible. That knowledge only comes with lots and lots of rounds under your belt.

[EDT501]

You absolutely cannot become a true scratch player only using an indoor simulator. By default, your lie will always be well groomed and flat indoors, which will never be the during a round of golf. You also can't groom the short game required to be a good player inside (unless you have a warehouse style facility with real bunkers, slopes, a mix of turf types/lengths (real or artificial), and distances up to 50 yards.

 

Not to say that indoor simulators can't be useful, they 100% can be, I use one multiple times a week just to get full swing reps in, but they can't be the only piece of the puzzle.

[nvr3putt]

 

I think it's possible at the amateur level, if you have the talent and play on relatively easy courses and play from forward-to-mid tees.

[scott_Donald]

Its an interesting thought.

 

Right now my situation is - Play on the course 1 or 2 times a week. Practice at the range 2,3 or 4 times a week with chipping and putting thrown in. 

 

Transferring the range to the course is hard. I have been playing well lately but yesterday my technique went out the window and I had a very bad day - good shot bad shot. The course I played on had so much grain around the greens that my chipping was so poor and couldn't save me. I know the cause for the long game troubles so will sort it at the range today. It's getting the feel from the range to the course for me is the hard bit as I don't think about technique on the course; maybe I should now. 

 

What I miss most is that few holes of play which are basically practice, playing a quick 6-12 holes where you just play, chuck down balls if you hit a bad one, try a shot from different places, I have not practiced a bunker shot in 2 years.

 

I will be back to playing golf in 5 weeks time with a membership and my on course play will certainly improve. I will range 1 or 2 times a week and play at least 6 holes 3 or 4 times a week. I will just need to get used to fast, windy links golf from hot, grainy, soft golf. 

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Nope, you have to play. It's just not the same. 

[Showtime9]

Nope. 

 

I always feel like a +2 on the range and then go out and find I'm still a 13 

[MattyO1984]

In theory, can’t see why it absolutely could not happen but it is unlikely.

 

If you had enough variety in your practice, different lies, different winds, bunker shots, chipping, etc, etc, then you could get your game to a point where it was at a level you could go and do it.

 

I am not sure that you could be a competitive scratch golfer doing it that way though. There is a big difference between someone who plays to scratch in competition and someone with a vanity cap.

 

1 hour ago, scott_Donald said:

I will be back to playing golf in 5 weeks time with a membership and my on course play will certainly improve. I will range 1 or 2 times a week and play at least 6 holes 3 or 4 times a week. I will just need to get used to fast, windy links golf from hot, grainy, soft golf. 

 

Things have gotten so bouncy in the last couple of weeks. Love walking around feeling like Bryson after a drive runs forever 😂

[scott_Donald]

2 minutes ago, MattyO1984 said:

Things have gotten so bouncy in the last couple of weeks. Love walking around feeling like Bryson after a drive runs forever 😂

 

from the looks of the pics lately; it will be in great shape! I am so used to hitting driver all the time here, started to practice my 2 iron again!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPur7qPNgpb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

I just hope I don't have to quarantine! I have been fully vaccinated for 3 months but its certainly not looking likely right now!