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How Old Were You When You First Broke Single Digits?

35 now. Closest ive gotten is 11. Given the handicap system and courses are rated and sloped, I dont worry too much about getting to single digits. Some courses are rated low, but pin placements can make it stupid difficult, and so i shoot high and wreck my handicap.

Im much more interested in breaking 80 consistently, which I just did for the 2nd time ever recently.

~Rock
 
15 for me.

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campilobaxter said:
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?
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Bumping this thread.

I just turned 40 and I just broke 12 for the first time at 11.9. I've been dropping about 2 strokes a year on average over the last 3-4 years, so steady progress. Here's where it gets more difficult, of course, as I seek to finally break into single digits. I'm hoping it happens before another 2 years, but I'll take it if it does.
 
Age 14, my second year of taking golf seriously. The next summer I was down to a 3 index and the year after that I broke into the plus side of scratch for the first time. Most of the low index players I know were close to scratch by the time they were in high school.
 
I have always played golf, but only a couple of times have I been serious about the game (now and high school). About 5 years ago I was able to begin playing pretty regularly at least 3 times a month and practice. I broke into single digits last year when I was 38. It's possible as I'm going to turn 40 soon and playing some of my best golf.
 
I started playing regularly at 44 and I'm 47 now. I'm definitely still improving, but slowly. Practicing more than never would probably help. In any case, at my current rate of improvement I'll get into single digits in my early 60s.
 
12 years old.
 
Somewhere in the early teens...
 
31. Then 3 years later had a very bad car wreck. Didn't play for almost 2 years and since that time have only been able to get it back to single digit for a few months. Now...as old as I am...probably never get it back there.
 
I will have to let you know later.
 
I did it at 47. I stopped playing when I was 29 and started playing hockey. I then picked golf back up 2 years ago. When I played before I never had a HC but was probably around 16-18. I took some lessons when I came back and played and practiced a lot. I’m currently at 5.7.


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I was 51 when I got into single digits.
 
How Old Were You When You First Broke Single Digits?

tahoebum said:
Age 14, my second year of taking golf seriously. The next summer I was down to a 3 index and the year after that I broke into the plus side of scratch for the first time. Most of the low index players I know were close to scratch by the time they were in high school.
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Yep it sure seems to always be that way, especially as it pushes the + area. I really wish I would have started playing when I was young.
 
I was 19 when I started ... a freshman in college. Kind of amazing how I even started playing considering no one in my family played or even friends in HS. One day I was just like I want to play golf... and ordered a Ben Hogan tour carry bag because I didn’t know the difference. I quickly realized my first few times I looked like an idiot. I remember opening the box and being like , “wow, that’s a big ass bag”

I played hockey at a high level so there was some natural swing elements at play. I broke 100 the first time I played golf and from there I went balls deep. I’m 34 now and have been in the singles for probably 7 years or so but it’s tough to compare with other people because I lived the game for years when my now wife and I were just dating, I lived with my parents, had very few responsibilities etc. I played so much damn golf, 36 a day was just a thing if I wasn’t working.


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I was 19 yrs old when my index dropped from a 12 to a 5.

Work and marriage saw that disappear for 20 years until my wife took up golf.

It dropped again to single digits for another 15+ years and now is probably gone forever. It was a fun ride.
 
28 for me. Started truly playing golf more than once a year at 25.
 
Before I broke my ankle I got to a 9.4 and I was 42.

Honestly for me it didn’t take long once I dedicated myself to getting better. I quickly saw scores go down by managing the course better and working on my short game.
 
29 for me. Got down as low as 7.2. But yeah those days are long gone haha
 
you know what fascinating about this topic? It goes to show me something I always felt is true. Youve just got to be lucky that this game comes much easier for you vs the majority. The amount of time its has taken so many of you is very short (relatively speaking) from when you have taken the game more seriously. I often say "you got to be lucky to be good at this game".
Even for the ones who took several or many years its still something your lucky for being able to do. Just not as lucky as some the others but still lucky none the less.

So so very many put so much into it for so many years and simply cannot get there and in fact so very many do the same and cant even get close to getting there. The game simply comes easier for some people and yet extremely difficult and is always a battle for so very many as well. battle to even stay where they are let alone even approaching where your at. Imo anyone at this level should feel they been blessed with the luck of being able to do it. No matter how hard you worked at it your still one of the lucky ones because trust me so many others worked just as hard and even harder. But enough havnt even had to work all that hard vs others and that is even more fascinating.
 
rollin said:
you know what fascinating about this topic? It goes to show me something I always felt is true. Youve just got to be lucky that this game comes much easier for you vs the majority. The amount of time its has taken so many of you is very short (relatively speaking) from when you have taken the game more seriously. I often say "you got to be lucky to be good at this game".
Even for the ones who took several or many years its still something your lucky for being able to do. Just not as lucky as some the others but still lucky none the less.

So so very many put so much into it for so many years and simply cannot get there and in fact so very many do the same and cant even get close to getting there. The game simply comes easier for some people and yet extremely difficult and is always a battle for so very many as well. battle to even stay where they are let alone even approaching where your at. Imo anyone at this level should feel they been blessed with the luck of being able to do it. No matter how hard you worked at it your still one of the lucky ones because trust me so many others worked just as hard and even harder. But enough havnt even had to work all that hard vs others and that is even more fascinating.
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I’m thankful every day I tee it up that I quit baseball for golf when I was 13 years old. For whatever reason, being a scratch or better golfer requires learning it at a young, early teen age. I only know one guy who got to the plus side of scratch who didn’t learn the game as a teenager and he couldn’t maintain his scratch level for more than a couple years. I will also say that the low single digit golfers I know are often good at other sports as well and if they take it up, are excellent at games requiring hand/eye coordination like darts, pool, or corn hole. My 13 year old daughter is not great at the other sports she has tried like soccer or swimming but she started golf at age 10 and is already shooting sometimes in the 80’s with only about a total of 100 days invested in playing or practicing. Many of those days were just playing 9 holes with me. I have no doubt she will be down to a single digit in the next year or two. Golf like many other sports is just way easier if you learn it as a kid.
 
tahoebum said:
I’m thankful every day I tee it up that I quit baseball for golf when I was 13 years old. For whatever reason, being a scratch or better golfer requires learning it at a young, early teen age. I only know one guy who got to the plus side of scratch who didn’t learn the game as a teenager and he couldn’t maintain his scratch level for more than a couple years. I will also say that the low single digit golfers I know are often good at other sports as well and if they take it up, are excellent at games requiring hand/eye coordination like darts, pool, or corn hole. My 13 year old daughter is not great at the other sports she has tried like soccer or swimming but she started golf at age 10 and is already shooting sometimes in the 80’s with only about a total of 100 days invested in playing or practicing. Many of those days were just playing 9 holes with me. I have no doubt she will be down to a single digit in the next year or two. Golf like many other sports is just way easier if you learn it as a kid.
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i think there is some truth to that. But even just talking about being close to a 10 or low teens is something many people are lucky enough to do who didnt begin as a kid. There are just so many people i know who can play this game pretty darn well and in that regard too and dont really place all that much into it at all. They simply play maybe a few times a month , practice not much at all and simply can just go out out there and shoot an honest 85,87,88 on a regular basis. That imo is pretty lucky While many place a whole heck of alot and still cant manage that.

As for sports I am one who does not believe makes any difference. i was hockey player for many years, played football too and was very athletic in the gymnastics kind of stuff during high school. None of that translated to golf coming easy for me at all. I know plenty folks not even have athletic as i was and golf came easy for them.
 
I was probably in my mid to late 20's when I hit it. I may have been close in high school but it probably wouldn't have traveled well.
 
Hopefully I can someday. High school was hockey and baseball and um drinking and stuff. Played a good amount of golf then too but never serious enough to keep a cap. I do know I would score low 80's consistently. Then came marriage, kids, divorce, single dad-ism and 20 years of 1 to 4 rounds a year. Game went to crap now trying to get it back. At 52 not sure it will happen, but it is not going to be from lack of effort. Lack of skill, smarts or coordination for sure, but no lack of effort.
 
For years I was around a 14-15 handicap. I think I was around 55 years old when I got down to a single digit handicap. I got down to about a 7 about three years ago, but since then I haven't played very much so it's crept up to around 10. I'll be retiring in September so I'll have lots of time for gold and hopefully my handicap will start coming back down.
 
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