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How Old Were You When You First Broke Single Digits?

campilobaxter

campilobaxter

Mustachioed Root Vegetable
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I've been wondering about my HDCP lately, and whether its likely that I'll ever reach a single digit. I'm 37, almost 38. I've been playing golf since I was a teenager, but really on a few rounds a year until about the last 5 years or so. I have started practicing more, had a few lessons, and I can see steady improvement. However, I don't know whether I will have the time to really dedicate myself to lowering my cap until my kids are all older, maybe another 10 years or so. By then, it might be too late to realistically hit single digits, but maybe not.

So, for those of you who have dropped below a 10, when did you first do it? Any late bloomers out there that hit single digits post 40 for the first time?
 
Broke into single digits two years ago at 42. Been playing for the past 20 years with a few breaks in there. Took the game seriously 3-4 years ago
 
I was 22 when I took up golf relatively seriously and in the first year I was a 9. Stayed there for a bit till I get real serious and dropped down to 3. Best I was at was a 2. Working hard to get lower this year. Good thing is I'm hitting the ball like I did in 2014.

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Got it the end of 2015, so 27.
 
2015, 32. I sucked as a kid but still loved golf. Probably only averaged 1 or 2 rounds a year from 2004-2014. Then I started playing 100+ rounds a year
 
I'm 41, and started playing seriously 4 years ago. At the rate I'm going, I'll break into the single digits in my late 60's.
 
Didn't keep a handicap for my first 20 years playing so I am going to say at 35. That was the age I officially saw it on paper that I had a single digit index.
 
Hopefully 53


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My guess is I was 53 or 54 when I dropped below 10 (currently 59). Started playing regularily when I turned 40 and for the last 10 years typically 4X per week.
 
31, I'd guess, after about 6 years playing.
 
I will have to get back to you on this. Almost 55 and not yet.
 
44. I was a low teens golfer for a long time. I think the big change was figuring out how to eliminate the blowup holes.
 
22. I got there the second year I really started playing.


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picked the game up when i was 18, got serious about the game when i was 20, probably got under 10 in my mid 20s. so close to 10 years for me.


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I was 38ish when I got down to 9. Feels like a lifetime away now.
 
Havent gotten there yet

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I got to a 9 for a few years when I was like 23


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I think I was 13 when I started to play single digit scores but 14 when I actually got a single digit handicap.


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Faiz said:
I think I was 13 when I started to play single digit scores but 14 when I actually got a single digit handicap.


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The same for me. I started at age 12 and broke 80 for the first time when I was 14 and was a 5 index at age 15.
 
tahoebum said:
The same for me. I started at age 12 and broke 80 for the first time when I was 14 and was a 5 index at age 15.
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Wish I could go back to that age again! Used to sometimes play 54 in a day!
 
I was 44 when I got down to 9,9 10 days ago....now back at 10,0
 
Started keeping a HC at 13-14 and was a 8 from the beginning .

Probably played a year or two without keeping a HC before that.


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High school for me (mid 90s). I'll never forget entering my score and seeing the 9.something :D

Then it soared during and after college since I just didn't have time to play as often as I would have liked. Finally started taking it seriously around 3 or 4 years ago - got fit for clubs, took a series of lessons - and it's been hovering around 7-8.
 
I started playing when I was 7, started living on a golf course when I was 9, and grew up playing 5 or 7 holes every day after school. My Dad was the only person who taught me to play, so I really have never had much of a lesson other than, "keep your head down and your left arm straight."

Life got in the way at 18 and beyond, and I only started getting serious about the game when I moved to Virginia back in 2001. I had been in and out of the game many times over the years, and I think it was in 2003 when I got my index down to about where it is now, which is about 5.4. Mine fluctuates between where it is now and about an 8, depending on my swing.

The main thing to getting to single digits, at least for me was, A) putting the ball in the fairway off the tee. It's not necessarily distance I am striving for, but consistency in hitting fairways, and more importantly B) chipping and putting. If you are hungry to get to single digits you will spend 75 - 80% of your time working on your chipping and putting. The short game will save you 10-12 strokes a round, easily. I try and go every round without a three putt, and I treat those chips around the greens as my first putt, trying to get that chip to within 2-3 feet of the hole for a relatively easy tap in putt for par.

Believe it or not, you can get really good at this game without playing a lot of rounds of golf. The key is to finding a good practice facility with a good short game area. There is a course five minutes from my office that has one of the best short game practice areas in town, and it costs me nothing to hit balls there. It's also not a time sucker either, as I can spend 30-45 minutes a couple of times a week just hitting various chip shots simply to keep my short game fresh. If you can do this you will see your scores drop dramatically. But keep in mind I've already got my driver (mostly) figured out. If you aren't hitting fairways you are playing for bogey every time. It's tough to score from the trees.

But you are still plenty young to get your game much better. Don't lose faith in it either. Just keep working at it and you'll get there.
 
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