One year improvement

[folker]

In your opinion, how much can a slightly above average athletic/coordinated person expect to improve in one year if they really dedicated themselves to the game, got a few lessons, and played or went to the range several days a week? How many strokes do you think would be a reasonable improvement? Starting point - Bogey or slightly above

[kpaulhus]

I went from a 19 to a 7 in a year. Played 80 rounds and worked hard on my short game.

[folker]

That's a heck of an improvement. I've been playing 3 years. I only get to play about 2 or 3 times a month mostly in the summer. I never have time to practice. Just play rounds with my buddies on weekends. I have been shooting in the mid 90s and I know I could be much better if I really pushed myself. My goal is by this time next year to be shooting in the low-mid 80s.

[vct33]

Well, if you are a bogey golfer, I think you could reasonably cut your handicap in half in one season. I would say that I took 30 strokes off my game in one year but I was obviously much, much worse than bogey and had plenty of room for improvement. Over the course of two seasons I went from shooting in the 120's to breaking 80.

[folker]

I've never had a lesson before, just tips here and there from better players at the course. I'm kind of intimidated by the prospect of lessons but I was planning on taking a lesson a month over the winter? I really want to push myself to improve.

[Fozcycle]

I went from a 21 Handicap (GHIN) to a 14 in just 3 1/2 months.

When i added 15 to 20 yards to my drive, I was able to launch for the green with shorter clubs. That resulted in more GIRs which led to lower scores.

[saevel25]

hmm... mine was pretty steady drop, 120+ to 110 to 100 to breaking 90, to now around 80-85, sometimes single digits. I have been in the 80-85 range for the past 7 years, just under half as long as i have been playing. I was usually a high 80's to low 90's in highschool. But it was more of a plateau thing for me. I would drop about 6-8 strokes one year, stay there for a bit than have glimpses of the next plateau before adjusting to that level.

[Keith412]

I started the year at a 36 handicap, shooting around 115 on my home course and i finally broke 90 two weekends ago with a back to back 89's. I am now a 21.4 handicap but have a terrible over the top swing motion(which golf school this past weekend clearly pointed out to me but also put in simple terms so i understand it more now). So i dropped 16 strokes on my handicap this season but i have played 40+ rounds and August 2009 was the first time i ever picked up a club. I am going to spend the next 2 months working hard on swinging from the inside and ridding this terrible swing path and see if my scores continue to drop

[jallen100]

I started this year shooting around 120 at my local courses. I only played about once a month. Over the past couple of months I started taking lessons and playing 1 to 2 times a week and have dropped 20 strokes off. Although I did shoot 119 last week but I was trying a bunch of new stuff.

[folker]

I improved quickly when I first started shooting in the 90s before the end of my first year. The last couple of years I have had trouble finding time to play due to building a house/new baby/new wife and my development has stopped. I'm tired of floundering around in the 90s and want to get good.

[chrisronline]

I got back into golf this year and shot in the high 90s/low 100s for my first few rounds. After investing in golf lessons, I've dropped more than 10 strokes off my average score and shot a 83 yesterday (Sunday). I think you are going to improve based on how often you practice and how much you want to be better. I try to go to the range 4 times a week and play during the weekend because I really want to be better. Decide how important it is to you and talk to a PGA Pro to find out what steps you need to take to reach your goal.

[James_Black]

I got my first handicap of 28 this year, I'm down to a 18 now.
I should be off around 14 though, I haven't played enough tournaments to get my handicap down enough.

[Kieran123]

I consider myself relatively athletic and have played sports my entire life and took up golf last September, and am down to an 11...was down to a 9, but have moved back up...I think if you have a good athletic background, hand eye co ordination etc, dropping from a 30 to low doubles isn't too hard...but getting to singles and staying there is hard.

And like chrisronline said...it's how much you want to get better....I would hate to never improve, you have to be committed

[Skragbait]

I started playing golf last year in august. At the beginning of this year I completely relearned my swing. I've dropped from shooting in the 120's to breaking 90. I play 2-4 times a week though and I'm constantly practicing my swing at home.

[Mexicanleprican]

Get ben hogan's 5 lessons and spend 6 weeks completely retooling your swing, this worked tremendously for me. Now I just need to get my short game down.

[gir]

You can drop very fast from a high handicap to a mid or even single digit handicap if you are working on the correct things and making the right movements. If you are not working on the correct things, you can get sidetracked for months or even years. I've dropped my handicap from 21 to about an 11 this season. It's mainly been from learning about the swing, practicing, and seeing my swing on video. Turns out I had a reverse pivot, and no rotational hip movement, only lateral. After working on the correct backswing and overall pivot movement for only a few days, I went out and almost broke 80 a couple times. I was previously a mid 90's player. Basically, you can improve fast if you are working on the correct things.

[adamgoodman]

18 to a 5 in a year... It's all about finding your game and building on it.

[Tugglife2]

I've played very infrequently in the past years, always shooting 100+. I started taking the game seriously in July, and I've already gone down to a 25.3 from 36.4. I expect to be at least an 18 by July 2011. I am a very athletic person and was a good baseball player in my day, so I think I might progress faster than your average guy.

OP, if you put in the work I think you can expect to be a single digit HC or very close in a year's time.