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Do you desire to become a scratch golfer?

I would like to get down to scratch. I lowered my handicap by 3 this year. Hopefully I can lower by another 3 next year and see from there.
 
Six4three5 said:
That's something that I've become much much better at. Taking my medicine and playing for par or a good bogey that is. It's hard but it pays off.
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That's what I'm working on the most. I'm taking less big numbers, but they're still there. Its nothing for me to shoot 78 with 4 birdies,4 bogeys, and 3 doubles. Gotta get rid of those doubles!
 
Before I got married in '88 I was playing three times a week and got down to 2. Even then, the jump from 2 to scratch was huge. 27 years on, wife, kids, house and business mean I play once a week. I can keep things around 4 at the moment.

Yes I would love be able to say I reached scratch even now. Can I attain it? Not a hope in hell until I retire, and maybe not even then.

I am 55 in January 2017 so can then play seniors golf. Off 4 I should easily make the county team.

The scratch is not all its cracked up to be. Pressure at that level is huge and to stay at scratch you have to be better than that. I would sooner be a good 4 than a bad scratch.
 
Currently at 9.9. But what is the path to Scratch.

Information is rarely available.

Most site just want you to purchase a membership to look at videos about the golf swing.

Yet actually playing golf is 99 not about the correct golf swing mechanics for my game.

Accuracy, distance control and drop dead on point Putting must surely be on the path.

But how to get there?

Even if they know, no one is saying.

Cheers to all



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At my peak, I could only get to 4. Real life was always going to get in the way. Other than those several months knocking around in some mini-mini- tour events when I was 20 something trying to see if I “had it” (I didn’t), I didn’t think I would get there. Now? I just want to be consistent and beat the tar out of my buds. If that means a 74 or 84, so be it.


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It was my goal for the year. I got down to 0.1. That .1 is a little disappointing. 1 good score away from achieving my goal.

Golf is a maddening but fun game!
 
MattyDMPLS said:
It was my goal for the year. I got down to 0.1. That .1 is a little disappointing. 1 good score away from achieving my goal.

Golf is a maddening but fun game!
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What is in your Secret Sauce?

Please share with us how you did it.

Avoiding Double bogey and getting more Birdies, of course.

But I wonder what your practice and play schedule looks like.

CONGRATULATIONS on the 0.1 Handicap

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Lowest I ever got to, was a 6.1. Better than most people I ever got paired with.... except for my normal playing partners. The best of which was a +2 and I never ever saw him score higher than par. We were playing courses rated at 75.2 / 148 as the most difficult, for example. I saw him score a 64 one day with me on a 72/135 course. Eagle Bird, Eagle on the first 3 holes. 5 under after 3. I played 5 over for the round but his golf universe was not anything I knew about, 13 strokes better than my 77. It is unreal to witness firsthand. During the round, I never talked about what he was doing... I just watched and made normal chit-chat. It wasn't until after we walked off of 18 that I congratulated him for the finest round of golf I've ever seen played in real time.

I think it's pretty easy to go from a 30, to a 15. Then with a bit more work, you can get to single digits but being scratch or better, is truly exceptional.
 
I think scratch is a very mental thing. It's fascinating to play with two guys who are 5ish index players, one who is infinitely optimistic, and one who is infinitely skeptical about what he can achieve.

My money is on the optimist getting to scratch first. It's all about a belief of success. Missing the green is an opportunity not an error. That, plus a tremendous amount of time focusing on avoiding the big miss. Three pars are a hell of a lot easier to manage than two birds and a double. Mentally more than anything.
 
Canadan said:
I think scratch is a very mental thing. It's fascinating to play with two guys who are 5ish index players, one who is infinitely optimistic, and one who is infinitely skeptical about what he can achieve.

My money is on the optimist getting to scratch first. It's all about a belief of success. Missing the green is an opportunity not an error. That, plus a tremendous amount of time focusing on avoiding the big miss. Three pars are a hell of a lot easier to manage than two birds and a double. Mentally more than anything.
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I generally agree. Once you get to a certain level of ball striking, the game is mostly mental and about confidence. The one thing I noticed in playing with great players is... if they do hit a rare bad shot.... their recovery shot is always great. They never compound a bad shot, with another bad shot.
 
Canadan said:
I think scratch is a very mental thing. It's fascinating to play with two guys who are 5ish index players, one who is infinitely optimistic, and one who is infinitely skeptical about what he can achieve.

My money is on the optimist getting to scratch first. It's all about a belief of success. Missing the green is an opportunity not an error. That, plus a tremendous amount of time focusing on avoiding the big miss. Three pars are a hell of a lot easier to manage than two birds and a double. Mentally more than anything.
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I love this post. It is exactly what I have been working on, and coming from a person with plus handicap experience is valuable.
 
Brassie said:
I generally agree. Once you get to a certain level of ball striking, the game is mostly mental and about confidence. The one thing I noticed in playing with great players is... if they do hit a rare bad shot.... their recovery shot is always great. They never compound a bad shot, with another bad shot.
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I miss plenty, personally. It's all about having misses that are genuinely playable. Straight instead of wayward. Short instead of sideways.

All these pics on insta/twitter or whatever that show perfect dime sized wear mark on their irons is like a 0.01% of golfer thing. I think people shouldn't worry so much about 'nutting' it every time and worry more about manageable misses.
 
GraniteRoost said:
I love this post. It is exactly what I have been working on, and coming from a person with plus handicap experience is valuable.
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It absolutely baffles me how people expect to get better anticipating bad shots before they even swing. I understand how beautifully mental this game is, but talking oneself out of a good shot can be done in many ways before they hit the ball.

Same reason i tell my guys to never hit a crappy range ball (yes we're spoiled and can pick what we want to hit). I think looking at a bad ball (or changing out to a 'water' ball) is anticipating defeat before it even starts.
 
I'm blessed with knowing golf isn't the sport I'll ever be "good" at.

Practicing with an NHL team as a goalie made me fully realize just how much work, dedication, and focus it takes to actually be elite.

One of the things I'm eternally grateful for is not being a practice goalie at UMD and going into the Marines instead. I likely never would have started a game. All my friends who played college hockey quit playing goalie by the time they were 25. I finally quit at 49, and I had more fun from 35-46 than most.

In the end, I enjoy golf. I don't want to suck, and I've gotten down to around a 15 from a 20+ index, but I have no desire to expend the time and energy to get good enough that I don't enjoy the game. More specific, I don't want to get where I am not enjoying golf when I play less than my best. I don't want to get angry on the course instead of laughing off my blow-up holes.

I probably look at getting to a single digit index much the same as a lot of people on THP look at scratch.
 
Scratch is so far out of the realm of possibility for me that it’s not even worth considering. I’ll probably never get below a 20 handicap...and that would take more investment than I’m willing to make. The best I’ve ever got on my own was a 28 handicap. Lessons would help, but with my defeatist mentality, inability to practice meaningfully, and unwillingness to spend money on the proper equipment I doubt I ever break 90.
 
goalie said:
I probably look at getting to a single digit index much the same as a lot of people on THP look at scratch.
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I think that's what is great about THP. We have threads about breaking 100, 90, 80, 70, etc.

There's ALWAYS a group here who thinks the same!
 
Absolutely. Have gone from ~13 to under 5 in the past 18 months and still feel like I have a lot of improving I can do.
 
As many have shared, goals can change over time. When a beginner, my goal was just to get the ball in the air.

For a long time, I had the goal to just break 80 once in my life! After my wife and I entered the empty nest phase I was able to devote more time to the game. I had that goal for a long time, and at some points wondered if it was ever going to happen. Well, it did! Then it happened a second time...and a third...then again.

Buoyed by this success, I decided to see if I could get my handicap below 10. Single-digit, even if it was 9.9 would be great! In an 18-month period, I saw my handicap go from 16-18 to 6-7. That was exhilarating! Then I went for 5, then 3 and finally went for scratch. That last step took 3-5 years as I recall.

Now I'm older and at 1-2. Would love to get back to scratch and am working toward that goal. Will I get there? Who knows? I'm one of those guys that enjoy the chase, the pursuit of the goal.
 
Canadan said:
I miss plenty, personally. It's all about having misses that are genuinely playable. Straight instead of wayward. Short instead of sideways.

All these pics on insta/twitter or whatever that show perfect dime sized wear mark on their irons is like a 0.01% of golfer thing. I think people shouldn't worry so much about 'nutting' it every time and worry more about manageable misses.
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That sums it up. Getting below a 5 index is about improving the quality of your misses and mental attitude. I see a lot of younger players that hit it farther and putt better than I do but they have bigger misses and are mental midgets just like I was when I was in my teens!

Besides the mental aspect, all of my buddies that are over a 10 index struggle with simple things like tempo and alignment. They basically swing too hard, especially with the driver. Scratch golfers have great tempo with all clubs and are also aimed correctly most of the time.
 
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Golf is definitely mental - when I am swinging well it is usually because I am confident in my game and it shows

Last year I had a personal issue and golf was a release for me but I wasn't really able to concentrate on my game and improving despite shooting a few good scores
This year I have had a clearer mind and have been able to focus and I have dropped my handicap from 12 to 9 (9.2)

I would like to get my handicap lower, but I know I don't have the time to be able to devote to getting to scratch, so I am happy to let my handicap get to a natural level based on my ability to practice and play
 
Would love to reach my full potential.
 
I just want to get better. That I can do, scratch I am not so sure about.
 
I know I'll never be a scratch player because I have no time for practice. But, if I can get down to an 8 or 9 I'd feel very accomplished.
 
I’ve got aspirations of being scratch, absolutely. I dream of it but there is just the truth that it’s just not possible. I’d love to drop to a 5 and call it a huge win.
But, maybe I need to be more positive and push for it.
 
I'd love to get my handicap up to scratch or above. That probably ain't gonna happen any time soon. That's not being pessimistic, it's just reality. I'm coming up on a stretch of 5 straight rounds that are calculated toward my handicap so if I don't put up some good rounds this month, the handicap is gonna drop again. I'm at -8.8 now. That's the highest it has ever been, officially, and I'd love to see something above -8 this year, but I'm gonna have to pull my head outta my a$$ if it's gonna happen.
 
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