Scratch in Three Years. Acheivable?

I was thinking about what my goals for golf were over the next year or two and thought that if I'm going to aim for something, I may as well aim high. I played my first round in June last year and have gone from barely being able to make contact to playing off 11 with a best of 4 over par in the space of 16 months. I am therefore setting myself the highly ambitious goal of becoming a self taught scratch golfer 3 years after I picked up a club, giving me until June 2014. So to the other scratch players out there, how long did it take you to get there? Do you have any advice? Is my target reachable?

This is mighty impressive!  I have been working hard at it for 13 months now, with lessons and several practice sessions every week.  Yet I still can't seem to hit the ball with any consistency at all, and I have been stuck between 27 and 28 for the last couple of months...

I've played a lot of golf, probably about 300 rounds plus practise.

Looks like were in the same exact spot. I started last june and I thought I was progressing fast as a 13. Seems you are a little ahead of me and I am also self taught. I havent put a number on where I want to be but Scratch Is possible I think but gonna be tough. Keep working at it and good luck man.

I played my first ever round of golf this may and have played six or seven days a week during the summer and in my last revision my handicap was a 8.4, so I think you are more than capable of becoming scratch in three years if you devote yourself to it.

A buddy of mine started playing golf in the mid-nineties and before Y2K he was a PGA professional, so yeah, it can be done.

My guess: You get stuck somewhere between .5 and 2. I don't doubt that it can be done, but personal experience and observation tells me that it's much easier if you find a good instructor to work with (and maybe you get there in a year and a half rather than three years). Those last few strokes above scratch are tough to drop.

Fwiw, not all PGA professionals.....we're talking teaching, not tour pros here, play to scratch. I'd even hazard a guess that most do not.

Sure it can be done.

It only took me 20yrs to achieve my first scratch HC..............LOL

It can be done, but only a very select few born with an extremely rare and huge amount of exceptional God given talent can do it.  Most get stuck somewhere along the way.....

I know.  The point I was trying to make was that someone could literally pick up a golf club for the first time and be a PGA professional in only a few years.

I know. I just wanted to make sure that you realize that it's MUCH easier to become a PGA professional than to reach an honest scratch. From a playing perspective a 6 or 7 hcp who has a decent day can pass the PAT. That's a looooong way from scratch.

A 6-7 would need to play GREAT for 36 holes.   Keep in mind, a 6-7HC averages 10 over par on most courses....

A 3-4 would have to play 2 GOOD rounds.......nothing great, but easily within their potential.

A 0 HC should coast through......providing he doesn't choke or just have a bad day.

Keep in mind these are played from forward tees....not difficult CR....so there isn't a lot of strokes to give.  Typically a pair of 77s or 78s are required depending on the course......with pressure, a lot of guys choke.

15 strokes over course rating......unless it's changed from back in the day. Couple of 78's can get it done as often as not. Granted, there's pressure associated with the PAT that adds to the difficulty, but there's nothing to stop someone from taking it several times to get through it either. My point being though, that getting to scratch is a LOT tougher than simply getting to the level of competency required to meet the minimum skill requirements for a teaching professional.

I've always been athletic - in 22 months since I first touched a golf club, I've played about as much as humanly possible and hold down a job (I'm up to 82 rounds this year - about half have been 9 holes after work though) - about the same pace last year.     I'm now shooting mid 80's to low 90's consistently.     Haven't broke 80 yet.    Presumably you have the advantage of youth (I'm 47) ... so anything's possible I guess, but you're aware thats a lofty goal.    I've played with scratch golfers - they are absolute par machines that don't make mistakes.      The difference is that I'm content hitting it under control and keeping the ball in play (my drive is never more than 250 yds) - to play from the back tee's you HAVE to hit hard and still be able to control it.     There's what separates the men from the boys so to speak - being able to control hitting the golf ball really hard.      I also share your love of doing it yourself - there's just something rewarding about going that route...

Don't try so hard. I did the exact same thing for a year or so, but I am not that much better. Broke through the 100 barrier, and stayed pretty much there. Not really trying hard at this point. Just enjoying the scenery. My son is a different story. He was pretty much a bogey to double bogey player for 2 years playing once a week from the start. At some point, he just figured out that he does not want to duff any shots. Once he did that he dropped down below bogey. At this point he is working on getting below the 80s. He 4 putts occasionally, so that's what he is working on. From an observers perspective, he should be able to get into the 70s before his 3rd year ends. If his goal was to be scratch in 3 years, he might not be where he is today. He plays once a week, and enjoys his good shots, laughs at his bad ones. I'm learning this from my 12 year old.