Are you a single digit HC player that hit the wall......are you stuck?..... you can't go lower? Do you want to go lower?

I recommend you play a more difficult course!!

Really.......  If you have some game, I recommend you test the waters and challenge yourself on a bigger course.  If your home course has back tees you aren't using......play them!.   Changing tees alone can potentially decrease your HC by 1-2 strokes depending on the course. You may find that you are capable of the same scores from the longer tees=instant HC reduction!

IE

I learned this from experience!!!  I primarily played 1 set forward from the tips....72.5cr 137slope.  I was pretty much maxed out, but when I dedicated myself to the 75.1 141slope tips regularly........I learned I could shoot the same scores!!......I smashed through an entirely new barrier simply by playing a bigger course!!.......it's crazy.  I strongly advise beginners to play forward....(don't be stupid)...LOL

....but if you have game, try a more difficult test and you may smash through a new barrier you never thought possible!  Good luck..........

I have 3 courses I play on my membership. But every second Sunday, my brother, father, and I get up and drive until we find a course we havent played before that has a tee time for us. Its an interesting way of doing things, because you don't know where you are playing till you get a tee time.

Great idea

This is interesting.  I'll have to give it a try.

After doing this and seeing a reduction in handicap have you tried playing those easier tees to see if you're able to beat your old scoring plateau?

Buckeyenut- are you now able to go lower from the tees you used to play or do you find you still shoot about the same?  I ask because sometimes it is a lack of game and sometimes it is mental.

If you are capable of shooting 1 or 2 over from the tips, then you should be able to shoot even or under from the next tee up when your game is on.  However, I think lots of golfers have a comfort zone in terms of score that they find a way to regress to even on a somewhat easier course.

I agree with your advice, but also think it is good to go the other way and play as easy a course as possible every once in a while to get comfortable shooting a lower score.

I did this recently on a 9 hole practice round. I was tired of the same 9 holes so I played from the tips to hopefully change up the clubs I was approaching the green with etc. This was only one time but I found that for whatever reason I was bombing my driver much farther than normal and ended up with the same shots I normally had. I shot 39 which is about normal for me on 9. Not sure this would be the norm but I definitely don't see me dropping significant strokes playing from back there and with a CR difference of 2 strokes and Slope difference of 7 it would certainly lower my handicap.

Great advice, and great thread.  I agree that if you regularly play a tough course, that course will become easier for you--and other hard courses will as well.

I'm not sure it'll help you break par on the easier courses, though.

About 3 years ago I started a post-grad program in Charlottesville, VA.  I joined a club there--Keswick--a tough little track with elevated, sloping, bent-grass greens.  I had the hardest time with that course, and I'd never been great with hitting into elevated greens or positioning the ball on the greens.  My first 10 rounds there were probably all in the 80s.  Playing that course taught me course management:  to hit the right part of the green, I have to be in the right part of the fairway, hitting a club that I'm comfortable with.  It made me a smarter golfer, and by the end of the year-long program (which involved very little school and a lot of golf) I was shooting within a few shots of par very consistently.  Playing that course made me a better golfer in general, because it taught me the value in picking smart spots on the course (rather than always trying to hit it as far or as close to the hole as possible).

Whatever it is about your game that is difficult:  length, accuracy, wind, fast greens, rough, etc., the more you force yourself to take on those challenges, the better you'll get at beating them.

This is a very odd way of doing things ... that I find really cool.  It's a golfing safari!

I don't think it will either!!!   This is the point I was trying to make.........learning to play equally well on a tougher course will lower the HC.

IMO....people who play easier courses will have a much more difficult time shooting scores low enough to reach the similar HC.   For example......play a 77.5cr course every day and you could average 80 and be scratch.  I think I am much more likely to average 80 on a tough course than to average 72 on an easy course to achieve the same outcome.

In my case....my average score is 77 from both sets of tees.......75.1cr and 72.5cr. = instant HC reduction

I have another suggestion if you're a single-digit handicapper wanting to improve -

Play tournaments.

For one, it will force you to practice more. For two, it will scare the crap out of you. You'll most likely embarrass yourself as your 5 handicap nets an 86 in competition.

But you will improve.

Agree. Another way to get better is to play with a really really good player. I have a friend who plays on some of the mini tours, and I recently played with him. I know I've already improved!

Well I tried this and it didn't work.

My club has 5 sets of tees and I always play the middle tees at 6250yds (70.4/126).  Beyond that we've got 6750yds (72.5/130) and 7100yds (74.2/137).  Our club championship is coming up this weekend and they'll set it up so that we'll be playing from a mixture of the three longest tees.  Incidentally the one's immediately shorter than where I usually play are considered the senior tees at 5450yds (66.6/117) and shortest are the "women's" tees at 5000yds (un-rated for men).  Figuring that I should have some experience from the longer tees leading into the competition one golf buddy and I endeavored to play from the first set longer than normal for us (6750).  Let me tell you that extra 500 yards beat us up this past weekend (I got to play the front 9 twice and the full 18 once).  I'd say on balance the extra yardage only made a real difference on about half of the holes.  The rest were marginally harder, but on the ones where it did it was punishing.  It doesn't help that driver is the most vexing club in my bag, so on the holes where the yardage was significantly added a poor tee shot left me in a lot worse trouble than I am used to having to deal with on approach.  My buddy, who's a 9hdc, and I were grinding to play bogey golf.  What made matters worse is that the extra yardage also got into my head.  I hit some decent tee shots but I hit some lousy ones too, and when I was in position off the tee I seemed to perform slightly worse than usual.  I have the game to play from those kinds of yardages, but after the championship I'm going back where I belong.

I don't know what it is... But this is true.  It is kind of sad that I get all worked up over a 5ft putt.

I feel like this would be a good way for all of us to improve, no?

Yeah - tournaments are the best way to 'see' where you stand IMO.  By the way, I saw the SCGA is having a tournament at San Jaun Hills on September 7th.  Cost is only $55 and they are using SCGA handicap and will flight according to handicap.  There will be low net and gross winners.  I'm thinking of going out and embarrassing myself?  Do you want to caddie for me?

I think this is just as true for higher handicappers.  I find that I shoot about the same score from any set of tees so moving back gives me lower nets.

This is an interesting idea, but what happens when you play your next tourney?  Now you handicap is lower, but your skills haven't increased.  Will it be more difficult to do well in tournaments?  I have never played tournaments so I'm not sure.   Is the goal just the pride of having a lower handicap?

That is good advice. Force yourself to get better. I'm at ~5 handicap. I know if I played more I'd get a  little better.  Played a course set up to bet tough. Pins is very tough places. Tees all the way back. Felt good to shoot a 90! The next few times I played a regular course I shot well and thought it was easy.