How much acceptance do you have with your golf game? And possible improvement?

I went to a not so nearby club and hit balls today. I started off striking the ball really well. On line with a high draw and better than expected distance. I hit a few clunkers but was able to bring it back to the good. As I took a water break, i day dreamed a little about how “good” I might be able to get now. And if I would be happy with that.

There have been 2 times in my golf career that I have gotten down to a single digits for a year or so. The lowest was a 7. Then, I hit balls before a round and a few after. I putted a fair bit and chipped and putted more. I played at least 36 a weekend and at least 18 more during the week.

I don’t have the time to do that now. I wasn’t married then. I’d played golf and drank.

I’ve broken 90 the last 4 times out. My game is improving. Doing little more than playing, and putting some, I think I can reach a point this summer and fall where I can consistently shoot in the 82-86 range.

Short of a lot of practice, I think that is where my ability can take me. I’m comfortable with that level of play. I’m not willing to work harder or spend more time to see if I could be a better golfer. I’d rather spend that time traveling with my wife and our families and spending as much time as possible with my grandson and my nieces, while playing a little bit.

What about you?

At one time I was obsessed with getting below a 5 cap and realized I would never have the time or body to practice enough to do it.
Now at 59 I am happy to put together a low round every now and then on the regular Courses and win a few skins along the way.

I do still want to break Par just once but that dream will only happen on a 6,000 yd or less course anymore I believe and that is OK but I tend to want to play 6,400 plus to have a real traveling handicap.

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I am happy playing really good holes. The more I play the more I realize that playing holes is what golf is all about. I think because of the PGA Tour playing stroke play and people keeping a handicap we pay far too much attention to total scores. The essence of golf is a skins game or match play imo. One hole at a time, you against your opponent. In those cases those 6 or 7 pars I can get mean a lot more and that 7 or 8 I have every round means a lot less. If you really think about it Golf is really 9 or 18 individual battles against par. I think the most frustrated golfers are those that go out trying to break 80 or some other number they have in their mind, but you can win skins or matches with bad scores as long as you do well on 10 or 11 holes.

For the most part I'm pretty happy with where I am. I would like to get the HC down another point or two, but I can only get out once during the week for a round after work and once maybe twice on the weekend. I play with a guy on the weekends who is semi retired and plays every day and I can still hang with him, if I could play every day it would be more fun and I know I could lower the cap but that is the way it is.
Life is good so I am happy with golf and life.

10 years ago I was playing a couple of times a week and was improving on my handicap. I then was unable to play as frequently and may game stalled, i got some bad habits and then added more faults to my swing by trying to correct my bad habbits. This winter I have had some lessons and its now starting to click, the last change was to steepen my swing and the last round although above 100 shots i scored 36 points stableford and i much more confident about the remainder of the season.

I will be content with my golf if I can see progression during the remainder of the season......

In my position I’m expected to be around level par each round I play. There is no ceiling in my eyes. I’m 23, not married without kids. All I have to focus on is work and my girlfriend who is super understanding that I need to play and practice for my profession. I’m a low cap guy, but I’m always looking to improve and shave a stroke off here and there. There more I play the better I should get. I’ve ran into a bit of a slump as of late, but hopefully today I turn it around


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I'm continuing to improve, hitting a 4.3 at the moment which is right around my lowest ever. But, this has previously always been done with just playing a lot. Now, I'm playing and practicing thanks to some urging of my HS golfers to see just where I can get to. No, I'll never be a world beater, but, I believe I can be a damn good amateur who enjoys the chase for the rest of his life.

The one place I find myself conceding a bit on my game is in reference to my grip. I'll be 42 in a couple weeks and have spent most of my life playing guitar so my hands are a little beat up already. I've got some arthritis and struggle with certain tasks (opening jars, anything that requires a firm grip).

If I grip the club properly as my instructor shows me I can play about 3 rounds before my left thumb starts hurting like hell. If I rotate my left thumb a bit to the right (for a stronger grip) it's MUCH more comfortable in the long run and I don't get the recurring pain... but it leads at best to nearly always hitting a draw and at worst to pull hooks.

At this point I'm gonna live with it and just adjust my game accordingly. More fun to play without pain and aim right a few degrees than it is to wake up hurting the next day.

I'm pretty happy with my game as a 7.9 cap with the ability to scare par every once in a while, for a guy who plays once a week and never practices anymore. I do wish I had a stronger mental game in stroke play Tournaments and that's where I'm currently unsatisfied.

5150 said:

The one place I find myself conceding a bit on my game is in reference to my grip. I'll be 42 in a couple weeks and have spent most of my life playing guitar so my hands are a little beat up already. I've got some arthritis and struggle with certain tasks (opening jars, anything that requires a firm grip).

If I grip the club properly as my instructor shows me I can play about 3 rounds before my left thumb starts hurting like hell. If I rotate my left thumb a bit to the right (for a stronger grip) it's MUCH more comfortable in the long run and I don't get the recurring pain... but it leads at best to nearly always hitting a draw and at worst to pull hooks.

At this point I'm gonna live with it and just adjust my game accordingly. More fun to play without pain and aim right a few degrees than it is to wake up hurting the next day.

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I understand that. My back and knee problems that started in 06 or so but I still played some good golf for a while. It caught up with me. While the increase in my cap was slow initially, it gained speed, as did the pain. I tried to find ways to swing around a bad right knee and left sided low back pain that didn’t hurt. I’ve had back surgery but am still trying to fix things in my swing. I’ve had decent results on some big things but I don’t have the desire to put in the time to try and remediate the other swing issues.

Now, I agree it’s more about the fun of playing than constantly searching for 10 more yards in length or some other thing to drop the cap. I hope my grandson will find an interest in the game and he and I can play. That’s what I’d like.

Parrot said:

I understand that. My back and knee problems that started in 06 or so but I still played some good golf for a while. It caught up with me. While the increase in my cap was slow initially, it gained speed, as did the pain. I tried to find ways to swing around a bad right knee and left sided low back pain that didn’t hurt. I’ve had back surgery but am still trying to fix things in my swing. I’ve had decent results on some big things but I don’t have the desire to put in the time to try and remediate the other swing issues.

Now, I agree it’s more about the fun of playing than constantly searching for 10 more yards in length or some other thing to drop the cap. I hope my grandson will find an interest in the game and he and I can play. That’s what I’d like.

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Sounds like you’re a candidate for tiger surgery. Knee done then fusion. You’ll come back 20 yards longer like tiger is now!

Just playing with you. All it’s about is getting out on the course and enjoying your time. Getting the younger ones out is important, don’t push him. Just let it happen.


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Gilbertc13 said:

Sounds like you’re a candidate for tiger surgery. Knee done then fusion. You’ll come back 20 yards longer like tiger is now!

Just playing with you. All it’s about is getting out on the course and enjoying your time. Getting the younger ones out is important, don’t push him. Just let it happen.


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:laughing: I wish! I’ve had the fusion and 2 knee surgeries and have again torn what little cartilage remains in that knee. I’m too old and out of shape to put in the time and effort Big Cat did to get where he is! He’s amazing.

Parrot said:

:laughing: I wish! I’ve had the fusion and 2 knee surgeries and have again torn what little cartilage remains in that knee. I’m too old and out of shape to put in the time and effort Big Cat did to get where he is! He’s amazing.

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My moms had 13 knee surgeries... I know your pain. Just do what you can and enjoy the game we all love


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Actually one year into golfing and I'm pretty happy with my game so far. I know there's a lot of room for improvement, but that's what I really like about golf. I'm almost always getting better and so far each round has had that one drive, pitch or putt that keeps me coming back.

Good topic. 20 years ago I was a +1.7 at my best revision. I stayed in that range to a 4 for about 4 years. The last 2 years of that I didn't practice hardly ever and played 1-2 times a week. I was born with and blessed with an inordinate amount of strength and the ability to smack the snot out of any ball. As a 15 y/o playing baseball I was the guy that hit the towering home runs. At one baseball game I put out a window in a school behind the field. It was walked off by my coach as being about 450ft from home plate to the base of the school and the window was on the second floor. I cleared a 400ft fence playing slow pitch softball back then as well.

Started playing golf as a junior in high school. Prior to that I'd only ever hit on a driving range and would borrow whatever old persimmon driver that the range happened to have lying around. The goal was to hit the ball as far as was humanly possible. The range I usually went to, the owner while watching me came out and yelled at me for putting the ball into the woods behind it. I ended up working for him picking up balls in the woods and weeds on either side for the ability to use the range free. At that time I just liked to smack the ball. Golf was a rich people game and I was dirt poor folk growing up.

Started playing as a junior because my football team had a couple guys that liked to golf. We went out and had fun, none of us really threatening breaking 100. Had a ton of fun.

Graduated high school and that first summer my job had me working 3am-noon. There was a course a half hour away that you could walk as many holes as you could from noon to dark for 10 bucks. I started the summer playing around 100, by the end of it I was routinely breaking par. I played 36-54 holes 4 to 5 days a week. I met the head pro of our local Country Club while playing one day and we became friends. He was a very good stick and over after round beers one day he convinced me to take a PAT and be his Asst Pro the next season. Sounded like a good deal, promises of golf 24/7. Sign me up. I passed it pretty easily, and spent the next summer playing almost no golf. The sad part was I was giving lessons and really had no idea what I was doing. That was a contract job and while I was invited back the next year I declined and moved on with my career. Working sunup to sundown 6 days a week pretty much sucked, even if it's a job you'd love otherwise. I did enter a few LD comps back then and placed 4th in a national event. My SS was clocked as high as 142.

Moved on with my change of career and went down to 1-2 rounds a week. Could still play at a pretty decent level, most rounds were in the 70-75 range. Got married and started having kids so pretty much hung up my clubs for about 10-12 years, maybe playing 5 times in that span total.

Found the GolfNow Ap 3 years ago and found I could play for 10.00 for 18 with a cart for many courses around and now my kids were old enough (except the little fella) to play with me. On a lark one week day 3 years ago I booked a round without having swung a club in years. The round started off inauspiciously but I did chip in for par on the 300ish yard par 4 1st. Came in in 38 and was starting to feel my swing halfway through that nine. I reached the par 4 (in name only) 266 yard 10th. It was uphill to an elavated green. I'd driven it onthe par 4 8th which was WAY uphill but only 298 yards. This was with playing a Dunlop Goliath driver that I'd picked up 6 years or so prior for 40.00 new.

On the tee at 10 I hit a 3/4 swing low cut that landed just short of the green and bounced up. That was the end of me seeing it. It was tracking straight at the flag. I get up to the green and started searching, thinking I'd be just off the back. No dice. I couldn't find my ball anywhere. The rough was tightly mowed and there was no trouble anywhere around. When I didn't find it I started to get excited. Walked up to the hole and there it was. First Ace (and to date only) and it was on a par 4! Continued on with the round and almost hit an 8i into the cup on a 180 yard par 3. On fire would be putting it mildly. Get to the short par 3 18th needing to make par to shoot under par. Hit a terrible tee shot that ended up off the green right, and almost in the lake there. No worries, up and down par. Chunked the snot out of the ball and had 45ish feet to save par. Drained it. I was back.

I play as much as I can nowadays but literally no score is off the table. Past 3 rounds were -2, +29, and +4. Rounds 2 and 3 were the same course in the same conditions. I can still bomb it for my age. SS is in the 125 max range now. Condition dependant I can drive most area par 4's and have mid to short irons into the 5's. Can. Not always will. Most of the time I play I'm grooming my kids to be better than me and my focus is mainly on them. With that length though there are tons of drawbacks. Missing landing area by 10% is 20 yards on a 200 shot, 35 yards on a 350 shot. Most FW's are not 70 yards wide and I spend a significant chunk of my time in the trees. When my game is on point I can destroy my local courses that tip out at 6500 or so. If it's off, triple digits are out there for me. I love this game and I don't ever see me taking another hiatus from it. I plan to play whenever I can until I go in the ground.

To answer the original question, I think I'm good enough to get to a + again. I'm not anywhere near consistent enough right now, but I'll figure it out someday. Hopefully.

Tl;dr-then don't!

At age 69, I not obsessed with making any significant improvements. My sole ambition these days is to enjoy playing a round of golf whenever I can get out on the course with my golfing partners, as well as getting paired up with some awesome people at times and enjoy playing and meeting new people.

I should be way lower than I am. Sadly(not actually that sad) I live 3 minutes from muy home course but 20+ minutes from a grass range. Needless to say I play 95% to 5% practice and that shows in my random struggles with driver. I can practice short stuff on course but I need to spend time dialing the driver swing.

Great topic, for me I enjoy it more when I focus from hole to hole and don't focus on my total score. I can play bogey golf with a little practice and I'm good with that.





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I got back into golf about 2 and 1/2 years ago after back and shoulder surgery. I started slowly and made a real effort this year to play and practice as much as possible. I’m making strides and I am happy with most shots. I need to eliminate 5-7 crappy shots a round to average in the mid 80’s. I’m being patient so I think by early next year I should be there.


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I just got back into the game last year after about 20 years, and even though I am practicing a ton and taking lessons I still don’t feel like I am improving that much. I have my moments, but I’m still really inconsistent. At 60 I don’t expect any radical gains, but I should be able to consistently break 100.

I rarely practice because I hate hitting off mats and I can't get any driver practice that way either. I haven't been to the gym in a while so that doesn't help either.

I can throw up a pretty good score from time to time on a 6000yd course because I don't have to hit driver very often, but I know that I'll be around the 12-14 index range until I get out of the apartment and practice or work out.

I want desperately to get better. I know I work at my lessons and go to the driving range at least 1-2 times per week. I swing my clubs in my back yard all the time to work on the technique without hitting a ball. I know at my age and ability I'll most likely never be a single digit. I just don't hit the ball far enough. If I could get to 10-15 range I think I'd be content. I'd be happy to be able to be consistent at the low to mid 80's. I do however just need to play more. I have M-F 8-5 job and don't spend enough time on the course. I guess I'm a range golfer to an extent because my biggest issue is that I have trouble transferring my practice to the course. I feel like I'm capable of playing much better than my scores indicate. I think I just need to play on the course a lot more often.

Oddly enough, since I stopped obsessing over having a specific number handicap/shooting a score, I’ve been playing a bit better. And my mindset has changed a little as well. I am enjoying myself more by caring less. Bad shot? Fume for three seconds. A good shot? Enjoy the feeling of satisfaction and fulfilled expectation. I seem to be more “assured” in my outlook nowadays. Not confident yet, but sloooooooowly working my way there.

The only thing I have accepted is the fact that I am much much older and don't think I can ever get back to my lowest handicap ever (5) but am I happy with where I am....not no but hell no. I want to play better and sometimes I do and other times I suck. Just depends on the day and how good or bad my back and knees are feeling. I would like to get one more round in the 60s before I die and I want to shoot my age soon. What is hard to accept is how old I am because in my mind I don't feel that old. My body on the other hand is telling me different.

My game is in a strange place right now. I'm not playing or practicing as much as I was when I was in CA and predictably my game reflects that. One of my golf goals is to get to a 5 index (currently an 11.2), but lately I've been having doubts about that ever happening. My current location helps since I can play/practice year round, but like many others it comes down to balancing golf with work, family activities and other hobbies. I certainly have room for improvement and I intend to continue pursuing my golf goals. Who knows...I may just achieve them!!!