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How Old Were You When You First Broke Single Digits?

3 months ago. 32.




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ddec said:
29 for me. Got down as low as 7.2. But yeah those days are long gone haha
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No way. I insist on playing the best golf of my life now that I'm into my 40's. Time and family obligations may limit the practical application of this, but potential is there for pursuit.
 
52. Morgan Cup prep does that.

JM
 
It was just before or just after I turned 13. I was lucky enough to have a family that loved golf and we moved to a city so my brother and I could play high school golf. They bought a house right on the golf course.

I was a lucky boy!
 
I was probably late 20's maybe 30 when I got to single digit. I started playing when i was 24. I had a club in my hand almost every day back then.
 
I came to the game late. I played on the high school football and basketball teams and ran track. I began playing tennis in my mid-teens and loved the sport, playing quite a bit of amateur competition. The first time I played golf was the afternoon of the first day of the bar examination. It had been a grueling day and my friend suggested we go play 9 holes. I had never played, but was hooked immediately. I even joked with him that it was a good thing that I hadn’t been introduced to the game during law school or I wouldn’t have graduated. I think it took me about 5 years to get to a single digit handicap. I hovered around a 5 from that point and then at 48, I stopped playing for 7 years due to life circumstances.

Three years ago, I began playing again, but didn’t know if I would play at the former level ever again, having reached 55 years of age. Near the end of that first golf season, my index was down to single digit. Last year, my second back at the game, my index got to a 4 and I was playing as well as I ever had, although with much less club speed. This year, my back was giving me fits and I was not scoring well. After undergoing a back procedure, I am back at it and I am hoping to get below a 4 by the end of the year.

I think that many could get to single digit with enough practice time and focusing on certain components of their game, but would agree with posts in this thread that it takes a certain amount of hand eye coordination as a prerequisite.
 
Man, this thread is a really interesting read. Love all the different paths. Especially the ones that started late.

Like some others in here I was around 15. Started fairly early and it came kind of naturally. Still blame that for ruining my baseball swing and forcing me to become a pitcher though. lol Mostly quit at 19 for baseball and then life and work. Played maybe once a year until 27, and then not at all until this year (40), because my work was very physically demanding (and damaging). Charity event got me to risk swinging again and I'm grateful for it. Didn't take long to get back to singles and it's dropping quickly now that the first rounds are getting shuffled back. I'm actually better in some ways now than I was when I was young and competing. My body sure isn't more flexible, but my attitude is, and I think that counts for a lot. Started off pretty hesitantly because I spent WAY too much time in the hospital last year and didn't want to undo any physical progress. So I do NOT like video of my new and different swing (OldandStiff) but who loves getting old? Took 11 rounds to fire one under par, and now I'm experimenting a lot with equipment and trying to push the physical part a bit. Like GraniteRoost I'm convinced I can still play the best golf of my life at 40. Might not, but as long as the body holds together, I'm gonna find out.
 
I would have done it at 16 I think looking back seeing I was breaking 80 on a now 71.8/116 course, but I didn't have a sanctioned handicap until shortly after law school. That first full length course I regularly played was a rock hard wide open course that was 6800 yards but effectively played like a 6000 yard course and required run-up approaches to all the greens. Put me on a course with soft turf in the fairways and where I had to fly the ball onto the green and I was more like a 20. I eventually rounded out my game and was on the golf team in college, but didn't keep a handicap. Looking back at course ratings I was probably about a 3.

After law school when I belonged to a series of clubs as I moved around I started out 5ish. I had a blip when they closed the back nine of my then home course for a month and I dipped barely into plus territory because the front nine, while long, set up well for me and I had trouble not breaking par. The back nine would crush my soul. From there I drifted up into double digits over the next decade and played less and less and then quit playing at all for 10 years.

I doubt I see the good side of 10 ever again unless I cherry pick courses and play equipment that wouldn't be old enough to vote. I'm a 17 at present but I'm still putting it back together seeing I'm about 25 rounds into my comeback and have a few really bad weaknesses that I'm slowly fixing. I recently updated my driver and three wood as well. Apparently tech has changed since 2002. We will see, but they will get my old hogans only if they pry them from my cold, dead hands.
 
Technically I was a 9.9 at some point last year, but I have stayed around a 9.5 most of this year and now down to an 8.8 at the age of 30


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I never kept an official handicap until I established my Grint account. I saw an unofficial number somewhere in the -8 to -9 range in the mid-2000's around 30 years old, after having played for 5-6 years. The goal is to get back there while I'm still 43. That gives me just under a year.

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Excellent topic campilobaxter! Enjoyed reading about the varied routes THPers have taken, whether they got to single digits or might still get there some day...like you will:drinks:

I took up golf at 20 at my first permanent duty station. I played avidly for 20 years. I was fortunate to be either be assigned in warmer climates or held positions that let me schedule enough winter TDYs to warm climates to keep my game from rusting too badly. From the start I maintained a legit current handicap. I lived in the 11 to 14 range, but I was never able to get it under 10 despite it being a goal I actively sought. My all time best revisions (back then) were back to back 10.6 and 10.9 when I was about 40.

Then other live priorities intervened and I essentially didn't play golf for 20 years. Maybe 8 rounds total and more than half of those with borrowed sticks on vacation to a reunion, bachelor party, funeral etc...

I picked up the clubs again five years ago and the golf bug bit me HARD. Joined THP then, played and practiced more than ever as I was gearing down to completely retire. My 'new' handicap fell pretty quickly through from high teens into my 12-14 'comfort slot'. I spent good portions of '17 and '18 in the 11s and was playing very well down the stretch in '18 and even posted a few revisions in the mid/hi 10s. I set a new all time best at 10.5 and ended 2018 at 10.7 with several good scores near the top of my last 20 played ledger.

Going into this past winter I knew I had maybe the best opportunity I'd ever get to finally bust through so I decided to work my a$$ off and be 'as ready as I could' when our '19 posting season opened. 80+% of that work was focused on my short game. It worked and I was at 9.8, 9.7, 9.7 the first three revisions of this year. I turned 64 during that stretch. I slipped back into the 10s and 11s since but am enjoying a streak of good play again recently and dropped my cap from 11.2 to 10.4 last revision. Better yet I'm trending at 9.8 after my last round and feel I could easily go lower before 2019 ends if I'm willing to keep the work up.
 
31 years old. It took six long years.
 
Started playing golf at 12 and was an 8-handicap within a year.
 
Happened earlier this year, so 35 years old.

FWIW, I've been taking golf "seriously" maybe 2 1/2 years. I would play 5-8 times a year and rarely practice before that.
 
I got close when I was a kid and playing more than I do now, but I never got there

Currently sitting at 11.8 but since getting my new clubs I have started to see better scores, so it would be nice to get there in the next 12 months
 
Still trying to get there. Thought Id' get there last year but it didn't happen. I know that I need to get better off the tee before I will even sniff single digits. Too many chip outs from the rough just kill my scores.
 
My first summer out of high school. I worked 3:30-noon. I played a few times prior to that, but a local course had a 10.00 walk all you can after 1:00 deal. It was nothing for me to walk 54 holes back then and after a summer of playing 45-54 holes 4-5 times a week I went from shooting around 100 to being right around par. The next summer I spent my only year in the golf industry after the local CC Pro convinced me to take my PAT and sign up for a season of 90 hour weeks as his assistant. I was a +2.2 at my lowest back then.

Golf became less and less important to me for many years as I raised a young family to the point that I was only playing once a year or so for 10 years.

I’ll probably lose the single digit that’s been hanging precariously starting towards the end of last season and carrying over into this one, I may have anyways but typically July starts my real golf season and I’m going through a rough stretch in my personal life so I doubt I’ll play a ton of rounds this year. I usually get in 50-60 the past couple seasons and this year I’ve played maybe 10-12? Which is pretty typical but then I play a ton usually from now until it snows.

I still have a round or two where I channel the old good golfer in me, but lately I’ve been playing like a 15-20. I’ve been a lost soul most of the time lately.

So got it at 18 and will likely lose it at 40. Heck I hope I’m able to play enough to lose it before I turn 41, lol.
 
When I was playing all the time in high school, I got as low as a 2 handicap and was the #1 player on the team my junior & senior year. It takes a lot of time & commitment to practice all the time to get to a single digit handicap. And even harder to stay there.
 
When I first saw this thread, I thought I'm improving but I have no idea how to calculate a handicap. When I started getting active on this site a few years ago I guessed I would be 15ish simply because I often shot 87 or 88. So I started keeping scores in May and Saturday got my 5th round in. Entered my 5 round info and was shocked when the PGA site came back with a Handicap of 8. Don't think I believe it as I don't shoot 80 but rather 82 to 85. I am improving though and will share my story in a next post.
 
Summary- my golf game has improved noticeably after age 50 and the reason is simple. Improved fundamentals, simple fundamentals, and no complex thoughts or thinking involved. And don't forget learning how to actually putt which saves my bacon most days.

I started roughly 28 years ago at age 24. I was strong and athletic but wild and completely not getting what the golf swing was about. I took lessons and went to golf camp. Eventually I got to the point where I broke 100 and via improved chipping became a high 80's player but I had days when it all departed me and I did not break 100. I had very few days where I ever got better then 87. I shot a 83 in Hilton Head 20 years ago that may be the best round to date I've ever played on a tight (and I mean tight) golf course.

Then I had kids and basically went from 75 rounds a year to 5. I stopped scoring and only tracked par's and birdies to make the game fun. I did study the game some and practiced as it was much less investment then being away from Family all day on Saturday. Then 3 years ago I started playing a bit more and studying. I improved back to a reasonable swing but could not put it together. If driver worked, chipping failed. The only constant was putting that improves year round as I practice it year round including fit of the putter. Then in January 2019 I was looking for a book to read at a swim meet and grabbed an old copy of Tommy Armours 1950 ish yellow book. As I read, he said simple things that I internalized and say I don't do it. I've simply started doing some of the things. Most recently 1, 2, pause and three on the downswing. It has done wonders for my game.


For those like me who are lifetime 87 to 90 players, I think the only answer to pass this barrier is better fundamentals. Armours old book makes simple points and the theory is not so complex a 50 year old in good health can't make the motions.

The Driver still escapes me. If I ever get that down I will break 80 on a regular basis.
 
57 years Young.

Celebrating the Event.

A 30 year struggle.

Many dead ends and pitfalls.

But Finally.

Made it the cut on the Number.

Barely.

9.9

Yahoo!
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I was probably 15. Played everyday. Quit for 25 years. Took 2 years to get to single handicap again.
 
I'm hoping to give an age under 40, got a few more years where I still can... but very optimistic!
 
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