How to become a scratch golfer?

[Superbrit]

1 minute ago, milesgiles said:

 

thats how NOT to be a scratch golfer..

 

what does 10,000 hours mean anyway? 50 balls in an hour or 300? with Monte, Joe Pro, or no pro at all? Time on the course?

Well he didnt, he didnt get close really, thats my point, after all of that practice (he did 30 hours a week apparently) and still not close

[Gsea]

On 6/27/2015 at 5:06 PM, dornstar said:

[quote name='chrisgilly09' timestamp='1435448910' post='11846742']
Become a +4, then youll be scratch
[/quote]
Haha, well played.

For me, getting from an 8.7 to a +1 over a 3 year period wasn't so much about the golf swing. In fact, I would say my ballstriking is probably closer to a 5 handicap than a scratch golfer. It's simply about minimizing mistakes and playing "clean" rounds.

Today was a typical round on a 7030 yard, 74.0 rated course. Hit 12 or 14 fairways playing as conservative as possible most of the time. Of the missed fairways, my group was having a little "longest drive" contest that I cold topped trying to smash it on a hole, but wasn't in any real trouble and I actually saved par... driver, 3W to 105, downwind LW to 5 feet, made putt. The second missed fairway was missed by about 10 yards. Then I hit 9 of 18 greens with a bunch of misses that were relatively short up and downs. Made 2 birdies and had 4 bogeys (two 3 putts) shooting 74.... a "scratch" round.

I think a lot of people overthink what it takes to get to scratch. You don't have to be a magnificent ballstriker or hit the ball 300+ yards. You just need to be able to minimize the double and triple bogeys and get the ball fairly close to the green in regulation. My normal weekend group has two 10 handicap golfers and an 18 handicap. I would say that they all hit driver more often than I do. They fire at the pin more often than I do as well. As a result, they make more big scores than I do. They are soooo much more aggressive than I am on the course. I want my round to be as uneventful as possible.

enough said.

 

[596]

Some forget that God given talent, not only for golf but for any physical activity helps greatly.  If you are really good at sports in general and are in very good physical condition it makes golf all that much easier.  

 

I can only lean on my example.  Raced triathlons for 22 years.  I could swim, bike and run for hours on end.  When you do this you really get to know how your body feels as it's doing different exercises.  Your body control gets to be very good. At age 54, while still racing Tris, I started golf. No lessons, no videos, no  web sites, no books.  18 months later I was a 2 handicap. College tennis player, played sports my whole life.   Excellent physical condition.  This all helped make golf easier.