I am Trying to Become a Scratch and Need Help!

[Sing Golfer]

This seems to be one of the most sensible threads for this type of question for a long time.

You have + handicap golfers offering advice, people like me with the same goal as you and a little down the path and plenty of others that have  been around.

In one of your posts you've summed it up well - so go with that. The key thing I would highlight and the guys from Australia have nailed it - there is a big difference between rounds with friends - even if you play by the rules and competition rounds.

There is also a huge step up to multi round tournament golf - so get involved in that as well. You'll be wondering why you are shooting 5-10 shots higher than you were last week and it is all to do with pressure and how it impacts your play - particularly your timing.

Good luck.

[JD616]

Originally Posted by Sing Golfer

This seems to be one of the most sensible threads for this type of question for a long time.

You have + handicap golfers offering advice, people like me with the same goal as you and a little down the path and plenty of others that have  been around.

In one of your posts you've summed it up well - so go with that. The key thing I would highlight and the guys from Australia have nailed it - there is a big difference between rounds with friends - even if you play by the rules and competition rounds.

There is also a huge step up to multi round tournament golf - so get involved in that as well. You'll be wondering why you are shooting 5-10 shots higher than you were last week and it is all to do with pressure and how it impacts your play - particularly your timing.

Good luck.

I'm not really all the aware of any multi round tournaments for my age, except ones at the national level which are very expensive (travel, costs, everything)

[Bigtank]

Originally Posted by JD616

I'm not really all the aware of any multi round tournaments for my age, except ones at the national level which are very expensive (travel, costs, everything)

State golf Assoc. - Amatuer, Junior Am, AJGA, Cleveland Junior Open - June 28 - July 1, Columbus Junior Presented by Memorial - July 12 - 15...etc.

There are plenty of opportunities; you just have to determine how serious you really are. I know lots of 15 16 year olds that want to be scratch golfers; heck I know a lot of golfers that want to be scratch for that matter.  Are you willing to put in the work?

You have to determine if you are going to let excuses stand in your way or not?

[JD616]

Originally Posted by Bigtank

State golf Assoc. - Amatuer, Junior Am, AJGA, Cleveland Junior Open - June 28 - July 1, Columbus Junior Presented by Memorial - July 12 - 15...etc.

There are plenty of opportunities; you just have to determine how serious you really are.  I know lots of 15 16 year olds that want to be scratch golfers; heck I know a lot of golfers that want to be scratch for that matter.  Are you willing to put in the work?

You have to determine if you are going to let excuses stand in your way or not?

I'm playing in at least 2 tournaments a week up through the end of July and then golf for school starts, I just didn't know there were any multi-round tournaments near by. Thanks for all of the ones suggested though, I will look into them

[tanktwo2]

Go to the practice range, hit a bucket of balls.

Then chip and putt for a while

Then go play a round

Hit another bucket or two to fix what mistakes you made

rinse and repeat every day

Nothing has helped my game more than simply playing a round every single day

Anyone can beat balls on the range for 2 hours and hit great shots...playing on the course is a different story

[Tom]

jd,

well, where do i start? hmmm... there's no amount of writing than any of us can do to help you get to scratch. why? finding that is only within yourself. getting there is a secret, and only you have the answer. it is only found with an incredible amount of 1) time 2) real effort 3) talent.

i will offer a few suggestions that may help you...

1. GET FIT. get your parents, or whoever will give you money (assuming you don't have your own), to take you to a very reputable (master) club fitter. DON'T GO TO A RETAIL STORE and pound balls in their "video game" simulators and take what they say about your need for clubs as gospel.

2. GET TECHNIQUE. there are four areas of the game to focus on. a) putting b) wedges c) long irons/woods d) short game. find the absolute best instructor for each (doubtful one instructor is best in all four categories) and take one to two lessons in each area MAX!!! whatever you are told, WRITE IT DOWN. learn what they tell you, commit it to memory and DO NOT CHANGE/WAIVER from what you are told.

3. PLAY COMPETITIVELY. find people to play with that are better than you!!! don't play with people who stink (very often). and, bet money!!! bet an amount of money that will make you uncomfortable!!! why? it is in these circumstances that your true inner golfing self will emerge (and you won't like him...). you will find things out about yourself that you will never find out UNLESS you get in this situation. E.g. whatever swing fault you have will show up (you may never "flip" at the range, but in competition you will). Or, you may find a side of yourself that is ugly, rude and embarrassing. you will need to fix that "person" so you are gracious and confident.

a. find your real flaws and fix them with your instructor!!!

b. if you can learn to play well under duress you can really play well when you're just clowning around with buddies.

4. understand it's not " how you play that matters, but how you act while you play that does ." if you're able to keep your cool when you have a bad shot, it won't wreck your round!

i'm a +2 and regularly shoot in the mid/upper 60s. however, this doesn't mean that i won't find a 78 or 81 every once in a while. and when these higher scores show up (just like a bad shot) you MUST MUST MUST MUST treat it just like a terd... what? a terd? yes, a terd! when you take a cr*p and flush it you NEVER ever find yourself thinking about it, right? right!!! so, you must learn to do the EXACT same thing with a bad shot, a three putt green, a missed 3' birdie putt, etc., if you can do this, congratulations! if you can't, you'd better figure out how to do so or else you'll play to your comfort zone. this is a main reason why people who have been playing for years and years never break 90... they constantly think about their failures/bad shots, and you are what you think about [yourself] - the subconscious mind makes it so!!!

last wednesday i shot 66. however, i opened with back to back bogeys, and bogey'd #10. i didn't let the bogeys get me down, instead i said "be patient and hit the next shot." it turns out that the "next shot" came about precisely 15 more times (approaches to greens). in those approaches i had found myself with two eagles and five birdies. did i sit and stew over those three bogeys? no - they're terds... this is what the pros do... this is what you [an aspiring great golfer] must do...

[ND Fan]

There should be plenty of stuff to compete in.  Your city or county probably has a men's championship, get into that, many are flighted so regardless of your current skill set you'll have some experience in playing these type of events.

[sjsconcepts]

Originally Posted by Gerald

It makes little sense to go out practising a lot of nearly impossible lies, getting to scratch has less to do with the abillity to save shots from those kind of lies, it is avoiding you get there in the first place, so work on ball striking, ball striking and ball striking. Putting is also something you can win a few shots ....... from 12 to 6 or even a little less would be great !!!!! Getting to scratch from 12 in a few months ....... don't get frustrated if it doesn't work.......

If Tiger and Phil didn't do this, they wouldn't be half as good as they are. Their "save' shots are the only reason they are staying so hi in the world rankings

[JD616]

Originally Posted by Tom

jd,

well, where do i start? hmmm... there's no amount of writing than any of us can do to help you get to scratch. why? finding that is only within yourself. getting there is a secret, and only you have the answer. it is only found with an incredible amount of 1) time 2) real effort 3) talent.

i will offer a few suggestions that may help you...

1. GET FIT. get your parents, or whoever will give you money (assuming you don't have your own), to take you to a very reputable (master) club fitter. DON'T GO TO A RETAIL STORE and pound balls in their "video game" simulators and take what they say about your need for clubs as gospel.

2. GET TECHNIQUE. there are four areas of the game to focus on. a) putting b) wedges c) long irons/woods d) short game. find the absolute best instructor for each (doubtful one instructor is best in all four categories) and take one to two lessons in each area MAX!!! whatever you are told, WRITE IT DOWN. learn what they tell you, commit it to memory and DO NOT CHANGE/WAIVER from what you are told.

3. PLAY COMPETITIVELY. find people to play with that are better than you!!! don't play with people who stink (very often). and, bet money!!! bet an amount of money that will make you uncomfortable!!! why? it is in these circumstances that your true inner golfing self will emerge (and you won't like him...). you will find things out about yourself that you will never find out UNLESS you get in this situation. E.g. whatever swing fault you have will show up (you may never "flip" at the range, but in competition you will). Or, you may find a side of yourself that is ugly, rude and embarrassing. you will need to fix that "person" so you are gracious and confident.

a. find your real flaws and fix them with your instructor!!!

b. if you can learn to play well under duress you can really play well when you're just clowning around with buddies.

4. understand it's not "how you play that matters, but how you act while you play that does." if you're able to keep your cool when you have a bad shot, it won't wreck your round!

i'm a +2 and regularly shoot in the mid/upper 60s. however, this doesn't mean that i won't find a 78 or 81 every once in a while. and when these higher scores show up (just like a bad shot) you MUST MUST MUST MUST treat it just like a terd... what? a terd? yes, a terd! when you take a cr*p and flush it you NEVER ever find yourself thinking about it, right? right!!! so, you must learn to do the EXACT same thing with a bad shot, a three putt green, a missed 3' birdie putt, etc., if you can do this, congratulations! if you can't, you'd better figure out how to do so or else you'll play to your comfort zone. this is a main reason why people who have been playing for years and years never break 90... they constantly think about their failures/bad shots, and you are what you think about [yourself] - the subconscious mind makes it so!!!

last wednesday i shot 66. however, i opened with back to back bogeys, and bogey'd #10. i didn't let the bogeys get me down, instead i said "be patient and hit the next shot." it turns out that the "next shot" came about precisely 15 more times (approaches to greens). in those approaches i had found myself with two eagles and five birdies. did i sit and stew over those three bogeys? no - they're terds... this is what the pros do... this is what you [an aspiring great golfer] must do...

This was by far one of the top posts I have received on this topic. I will take all of this into consideration. Thank you very much.