whats a good handicap?

[max power]

the average guy i see on any of the courses in my area is about a 25-36. i can count the number of single digits that i have played with on 1 hand. they are few and far between, at least in my area.

Agreed. I would say I've played with at most 3 or 4 single digit cappers in the last year and a half. And I've played a lot of rounds of golf during this period-often as a single paired with a twosome or threesome.

As a comparison, I've had a bowling average of about 205 over the last couple years. And at 1 or 2 bowling alleys I've seen probably 20 guys better than me. Golf is hard.

[anthonykim3]

paper tiger - scratch is shit, and u better believe it , in the world of tournament golf scratch sucks they simply cant play, but if your just playing golf for fun anything under 5 is good

[max power]

paper tiger - scratch is shit, and u better believe it , in the world of tournament golf scratch sucks they simply cant play, but if your just playing golf for fun anything under 5 is good

Thanks.

[anthonykim3]

its all relative, but if u play 2 times a week or more and are still above a 5 handicap , and dont have psychical limitations , your not a very good golfer and mostly likely need some time on the practice green,

as a scratch handicap, i get my ass handed to me all the time and thats just by a university player , real golf a +2-6 is good

[sean_miller]

its all relative, but if u play 2 times a week or more and are still above a 5 handicap , and dont have psychical limitations , your not a very good golfer and mostly likely need some time on the practice green,

So it goes from "bad" to "good". Just like that? No grey areas? No "Great" or "F'n amazing" or "really really bad"? Just bad.

My new lowered expectations are a relief. PS. You should update your profile - 0.8 isn't scratch.

[SpringBokVol]

Right there with you, Sean. I am bad too. At least I don't have to wonder anymore.

[anthonykim3]

no there is what i consider medicore 6 -10 and f'ning amazing is the guys that have a strong enough mental game to be tour pro's wether thats nationwide pga or asian tour , anywhere that is your job and your income thats f'ing amazing and again this is all my opinion, and its based of attempting to be a tournament golfer , and update is made

[anthonykim3]

honestly guys my bad , its just my opinion and i know u really dont care what some 15 year old says on the internet , so sorry

[max power]

honestly guys my bad , its just my opinion and i know u really dont care what some 15 year old says on the internet , so sorry

No, we really don't. But that's what the ignore button is for.

[James_Black]

honestly guys my bad , its just my opinion and i know u really dont care what some 15 year old says on the internet , so sorry

your 15 and a scratch golfer?????

[sean_miller]

your 15 and a scratch golfer?????

Yeah, makes a guy ponder breaking his putter and ramming into his jugular doesn't it? No?

It's posts like that that remind me golf is a hobby - nothing more nothing less.

[anthonykim3]

there is so many of us out here that were not even really considered good aha , in the tournament world thats okay at my age , is u watch the usa junior am , jordan speith and the like are plus 3-4 and there 16 , some kid came second last year was a +2 and 14 , anthony palucci i believe (sp) , so long story short yes and i am no where near my goal

[James_Black]

there is so many of us out here that were not even really considered good aha , in the tournament world thats okay at my age , is u watch the usa junior am , jordan speith and the like are plus 3-4 and there 16 , some kid came second last year was a +2 and 14 , anthony palucci i believe (sp) , so long story short yes and i am no where near my goal

The best "junior" i played with was a 4 handicapper, he was 17 and hit the ball a mile and is one of the best in limerick.

Damn, do you go to a special golf school or something? I don't know how I'd get down to scratch. Even if I practised a ton during the summer.

[anthonykim3]

i got down to scratch with 8 hours a day of golf 2 of them short game , for the last 2 summers and i play 5 times a week during school when its warm enough , and before it comes up i do have a job , but i am gonna stop responding before i get flamed at hard

[The Recreational Golfer]

A good game of golf is when you get the most out of your abilities on every shot, and your handicap is the residue. For some golfers, 15 would be a good handicap and for others it would be disatrous.

[Chas]

The one misleading part about all those stats is that it only includes golfers that have an established handicap; it doesn't include people that play but don't submit scores or simply don't play enough ot establish a handicap.

.... and the latter would almost exclusive be the high 'cappers of course, with the distribution curve trailing off on the high side (i.e. very skewed). Yes, it's a classic case of selection bias. In fact I think I'll use it in future to teach the concept when I'm looking for an example.

I agree with those saying that, for the all-golfer population, bogie golf is "good" (i.e. decent) golf. But if you have ambitions to be a reasonably good golfer in the population of golfers who take the game seriously and are somewhat competitive (play in tournaments, play weekly and post their scores), then shooting < 80 consistently would be "good" golf IMO.

[The Recreational Golfer]

The USGA has its reasons for calculating handicaps like it does, but if we want to know how good we are, throw out the best five and the worst five scores and calculate a "handicap" on the middle ten. The USGA says I'm 10.6, but the Middle Ten method gives me 13.2, a better description of how I play.

[colin007]

i got down to scratch with 8 hours a day of golf 2 of them short game , for the last 2 summers and i play 5 times a week during school when its warm enough , and before it comes up i do have a job , but i am gonna stop responding before i get flamed at hard

would you mind posting a vid of your swing? i would love to see it. i need all the good vids to watch that i can get.