Why are you not playing scratch?

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by dereckbc

If golf was easy and everyone could play scratch, they would call it bowling.

LOL....I just took up bowling in 2012!!   I'm still a bowling noob making progress.   I take my 10yr old son bowling every weekend.  Im still a hack by bowling standards, but I do have a 278 personal best.  I still have a long way to go and average under 200, but I'm learning.  My 10yr old son has a 212 high game in his first year of bowling with an 8lb ball.............

[Valleygolfer]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

Quote:

Originally Posted by dereckbc

If golf was easy and everyone could play scratch, they would call it bowling.

LOL....I just took up bowling in 2012!!   I'm still a bowling noob making progress.   I take my 10yr old son bowling every weekend.  Im still a hack by bowling standards, but I do have a 278 personal best.  I still have a long way to go and average under 200, but I'm learning.  My 10yr old son has a 212 high game in his first year of bowling with an 8lb ball.............

Rockin Bowl? At Incredibowl? We don't have REAL bowling here... 278 is a pretty flippin good game.

[bigwave916]

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Rockin Bowl? At Incredibowl? We don't have REAL bowling here... 278 is a pretty flippin good game.

You gotta throw 9 strikes in a row, 8 spare plus another strike. Or a combination of 4 in a row, 8 spare plus 7 in a row.  Anyway you slice it, I'd say that's "pretty flippin good"

[ApocG10]

I am playing scratch. It has taken a ton of time, hard work, and boatloads of money, but I got there.

My goal is +4 and to turn pro (not PGA, im not delusional, just pro). Don't know if its possible, but I won't give up.

[inthehole]

^^ just curious ... I always like to see what other players are using - I count 18 clubs in your bag - when you compete at scratch level, what do you leave home ?

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by inthehole

^^ just curious ... I always like to see what other players are using - I count 18 clubs in your bag - when you compete at scratch level, what do you leave home ?

he says " different wedges for different courses" so my guess is that it depends...I doubt he carries both a PW and 48* (edit-but I see you do, so maybe I am wrong)...seems like there is also a lot of overlap with his 5w and 19* hybrid as there would be with his 25* hybrid and either his 4i or 5i.  So among those 7, it would be relatively easy to lose 3 leaving the choice on which wedge(s?) to drop.

[LBlack14]

I am playing Scratch.

[patrick]

Re:  Gonna finally take some lessons (cheap!).  Some guys give lessons for less when it gets slow in the winter.  Wait for it.

[golfdesperado]

So reading the posts we could argue that the consensus to get beyond the last hurdle consists of: (practice, playing) Time Money Physical ability Talent Time can be bought which is why we need the money. But this is not for everyone feasible. Physical ability can be improved by training but only to a certain extent hence not everyone can reach scratch or better by this hindrance alone. The physical ability for scratch golf seems not to be some sort of super sportsman . More some overall flexibility and agility. Talent. Some will agree without it no chance to make it. Some will say talent can be overcome by other means and thus you can still make it.

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by golfdesperado

So reading the posts we could argue that the consensus to get beyond the last hurdle consists of:

(practice, playing) Time

Money

Physical ability

Talent

Time can be bought which is why we need the money. But this is not for everyone feasible.

Physical ability can be improved by training but only to a certain extent hence not everyone can reach scratch or better by this hindrance alone. The physical ability for scratch golf seems not to be some sort of super sportsman . More some overall flexibility and agility.

Talent. Some will agree without it no chance to make it. Some will say talent can be overcome by other means and thus you can still make it.

I tend to lump physical ability and talent together, but nothing wrong with separating them out.  I agree that you don`t have to necessarily be a superior athlete in the traditional sense, but I suspect that most scratch golfers have very good hand eye co-ordination.  As you mentioned, physical ability can be improved with training but most of us can train all we want and we will never be as fast as Bolt or have as good hand eye co-ordination as the top players on Tour.

One thing that only got slight mention is mental ability...it is one thing to have the ability to hit a straight shot 300 yards, but being consistent mentally (which should lead to more consistent shots) and thinking your way around the golf course also play a roll.

[Hairy Feet]

Desire and a (negative) belief I'm just not good enough. I've played 40+yrs, shot on or about par many times and posted up to 7 birdies in a round on a few occasions but I lack consistency and, after so many near misses, my handicap is starting to slide in the wrong direction. Add to that, even when I'm on my game the young bucks are now knocking it way past me. My short game has always been excellent, and remains so but my FIR & GIR have always been poor.

Some people are good enough, and some people aren't... and I'm an aren't.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by MEfree

I tend to lump physical ability and talent together, but nothing wrong with separating them out.  I agree that you don`t have to necessarily be a superior athlete in the traditional sense, but I suspect that most scratch golfers have very good hand eye co-ordination.  As you mentioned, physical ability can be improved with training but most of us can train all we want and we will never be as fast as Bolt or have as good hand eye co-ordination as the top players on Tour.

One thing that only got slight mention is mental ability...it is one thing to have the ability to hit a straight shot 300 yards, but being consistent mentally (which should lead to more consistent shots) and thinking your way around the golf course also play a roll.

It's also one thing to hit a tee shot 300 yards, but to hit it consistently in the right direction with the right bend on it is something else.  The error that you can get away with on a 300 yard shot is so minimal that it truly is something that few players can repeat it over and over.  Ask Tiger about how hard that is.  Then to change gears and smoothly stroke a slippery, downhill 8 foot putt on a fast green when a match or tournament is on the line requires a completely different set of nerves and discipline than the 300 yard drive.  Or have the touch to lob a pitch over a bunker to a tight pin and drop in in within one putt range over and over.  Then you must deal confidently with all of those issues on different courses with varying conditions.  You need to have all of those skills and more if you truly want to be a scratch golfer, because to maintain scratch as an average, you need to be able to counter your 6 over par bad rounds with a 5 or 6 under par good round.  Or you need to be a machine which never varies more than a couple of strokes either way, and I don't think that player exists.

Which brings up a question.  What is a scratch golfer?  Does he shoot par on average, or is he a zero handicap? A zero handicap would probably average 2 or 3 over par (since the 10 worst rounds of his last 20 would never be used in the handicap formula), while a player who averages par would actually have a plus handicap .

[heath]

Originally Posted by Hairy Feet

Desire and a (negative) belief I'm just not good enough. I've played 40+yrs, shot on or about par many times and posted up to 7 birdies in a round on a few occasions but I lack consistency and, after so many near misses, my handicap is starting to slide in the wrong direction. Add to that, even when I'm on my game the young bucks are now knocking it way past me. My short game has always been excellent, and remains so but my FIR & GIR have always been poor.

Some people are good enough, and some people aren't... and I'm an aren't.

sound like my dad i outdrive him by a mile every hole but his short game and putting keep me from spanking him almost every time and i like the profile pic lol done that to many times haha

[cooke119]

Yeah, that is what I lack, talent! Plus the job does get in the way.

[Paradox]

i don't think people who discount things like jobs or time or whatever as keeping people from scratch take into account the ability to singularly focus on golf.  Thats why those things come into play.  Couple a lack of practice time with many different things pulling at you mentally and its always gonna hinder you.  A very talented golfer can not have those two things and probably won't make scratch or at the very least, have a difficult time doing it.

[David in FL]

i don't think people who discount things like jobs or time or whatever as keeping people from scratch take into account the ability to singularly focus on golf.  Thats why those things come into play.  Couple a lack of practice time with many different things pulling at you mentally and its always gonna hinder you.  A very talented golfer can not have those two things and probably won't make scratch or at the very least, have a difficult time doing it.

Most scratch golfers are not tour professionals.......they're just not good enough to earn a living playing professionally. Some are teaching pros, but for the most part, they're highly skilled amateurs who, like the rest of us, have jobs, families, and other obligations. I understand that everyone likes to think that with just a little more time, or just the right tweak from the right guru, they'd be scratch or better. The truth though, is that most of us just don't have the enormous talent that it takes to play at that level. Most can't even comprehend how good an honest scratch golfer really is.

[soon_tourpro]

scratch players who plays a course set up for  Pro´s dont shoot under par.

its a different game then no mistakes allowed.

your average scrore vs the best score comes into play then.

[phan52]

I play a lot of golf with a lot of people of varying skill and competence. There is definitely a skill component that I don't have ( the requisite hand/eye coordination) and I believe there is a limit to how good I can be, certainly not scratch. Even when I am playing well, I will mishit too many shots in any particular round to be able to consistently play at scratch. I'll go 12 holes without a mishit and then play 3 holes in a row without hitting a single ball squarely on the clubface.

My brother is a perfect example. He and I have about the same athletic ability, but he started playing a lot at a very young age and he spends more time on the range than he does on the golf course. He has always taken lessons and tweaked his golf equipment his whole life. I think he has gotten the max out of his potential and he was a +1 handicap a few times in his life, but most of the time he is around 2-3 because he is an amateur and has a family and a job. The best I have ever been was a 7 (for one handicap cycle) because I just don't have the time or inclination to do what my brother does, but I do regret that I didn't start taking it seriously until I was around 28.

Our pro is a very good player with decent athletic ability, but almost all of his success is due to his hard work. He plays very competitively on our local level in Philly but, no matter what he does, he will never play on the highest level and he knows it. There is something missing in his skill set that he just can't manufacture no matter how hard he works. I really think that the best players have something that most of us don't. I am always struck by the sound of a club hitting the ball when I go to a PGA event. I can sit on the range for hours watching (and listening to) those guys hit balls.