Achieved a 6.5 handicap in less than 1 year of golfing

[inthehole]

Impressive !    I started playing last September & have whittled my scores down to between 95-100.    Playing as much as a 46 year old couch potato body will let me (at least 2x a week, usually 3x).     The old back & knees are objecting, but I'm having so much fun with it - gonna keep going - figure I'll have 5 winter months to recouperate.       Boy, do I wish I started playing when I was your age !!

[applejr]

I sure wish I would've started when I was 18, when I would've had tons of time to practice. I started at 23 after college with a job, so it's tougher to practice as much as I'd like. That + not much athletic ability makes my climb a little slower.

[benredik]

Congrats!

That is very impressive (and I believe you, as there would be little satisfaction about lying about this stuff in a public forum). I've played for a season and a half (effectively 8-9 months or so as we have cold winters) and I hope I will be single digits by the end of this season. I picked it up after I turned 30.

[ThominOH]

Well done.. Well done..  It's ok to boast at times.. I did when I first broke par in 1 years time.. You just need to remember not to brag endlessly about it ..  Keep up the good play and remember to always have fun.. It's what kept me sane when my back disallowed me the future I wanted.. But oh well.. Life is full of what ifs, should of's , could of's and would of's.. LOL

[TN94z]

Originally Posted by GonnaBreak70

Also, short game is important but equally important is tee game. You can NOT play a good round unless you can find your ball. Common sense but too many people stress short game too much. Practice your tee game and you'll see the confidence you get carry over to EVERY other part of your game.

Also, if you take lessons be prepared to challenge what you truly believe your doing correctly. Ive changed several things that felt so akward that I could barely hit the ball for a while but sticking with it no matter what meant a shorter learning curve.

I agree.  I do believe that your short game is VERY important and it gives you the confidence in your irons, but if you can't get off the tee more times than not, then short game becomes a moot point at some point. I am one that thinks every facet builds confidence in all other facets....it's like a circle in my mind.

Congrats on the quick improvement.  I was the same way but started really messing with my swing and now I am in a rut trying to dig myself back out.

[MackJL06]

i guess what i dont get is....6.5 hdcp but your average score is 83?

[mdl]

The steep HC decrease is difficult but not unreasonable.  I've broken 80 twice (74 and 76 on medium-long length but otherwise easy par 72 courses), and did it the first time when playing off about a 12.  I haven't broken 80 in 6 months but have started consistently shooting low 80s on my pretty good to very good days out, and have gotten down to a 9.6 with no scores below 80 going into my HC calc.  If I turned the corner suddenly and started shooting 70s every 4th round I could see getting to a 6.5 from a ~10 in a month if I had time to play 2-3 times a week.

[Kieran123]

Depends on the courses you play too.

I just dropped my handicap .1 from 9.4 to 9.3 after shooting an 87 on a course that was 7200 yards, a rating of 74.4 and a slope of 141.

If I shot that score on a course that's 6200 yards, 69 rating and a slope of 125, I am sure it would of gone up.

[FLOG4]

Originally Posted by MackJL06

i guess what i dont get is....6.5 hdcp but your average score is 83?

Don't forget handicap isn't based on average.....Best 10 of 20 here in the states.  I once had a great week a couple years back. Was capping at around 7 and shot par back to back....No other score within 5 of those that year. Those 2 rounds knocked me down to a 5 until they fell off the card.

[ThominOH]

Also don't forget that .. correct me if I'm wrong..  nothing more then a double bogey counts towards a USGA handicap.. If you are notorious as I was about 10 years ago.. I always had one "oopsie" hole in a round.. Usually from doing something dumb like trying to carry 230 over water to make the par 5 in two.. ooops.. hit the shot a little fat, scull a shot over the green and you're staring at a triple real quick. or worse.. LOL

[DaSportsGuy]

Originally Posted by ThominOH

Also don't forget that .. correct me if I'm wrong..  nothing more then a double bogey counts towards a USGA handicap.. If you are notorious as I was about 10 years ago.. I always had one "oopsie" hole in a round.. Usually from doing something dumb like trying to carry 230 over water to make the par 5 in two.. ooops.. hit the shot a little fat, scull a shot over the green and you're staring at a triple real quick. or worse.. LOL

It depends on your handicap range. 0-9 handicaps the max is a double. 10-19 the max is a 7. 20-29 the max is an 8. 30-39 the max is a 9. And 40 and above the max is a 10.

[GonnaBreak70]

I personally do not fully understand how to the handicap system works. I set my Golfshot App to automatically calculate my handicap and then I enter valid legal scores into the app. If the results are questionable, it certainly is not because I have intentionally put incorrect information in my scores. I actually broke 80 a while ago 4/12/11 when I was a 14.6 but it was not official because the course was so short (5900)

[Williamevanl]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

Most people break 80 for the first time when they're a 13-15'ish HC...............I've also seen a couple LEGIT 18hc players break 80 too...it was the round of their lives!!...no doubt!!

With that said, revising to a 6.5 the next month is a huge LEAP.  I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's a pretty big stretch.    If he did it...major props are deserved!!  With that said, breaking 80 for the first time and suddenly shooting 73's in the same month is a massive and nearly unbelievable progression.

I know a few PGA pro's who took up the game late and became scratch golfers in 1-2yrs........so the above is definitely possible.

In my company league I generally average about 40 and frequently shoot 38 so my handicap has to be somewhere around 4-8 (they aren't keeping track this year) and I've never broken 80 although I did have to finish quad, bogey, bogey once to shoot an 80. I lost a ball just right of the fairway saddest day ever:(. I pretty consistently shoot high 30's low 40's, golf almost every day but everytime I play 18 I always shoot 80-84...

On the flipside of that, I played with a legit 16 handicap the other day that shot a 78. He actually showed me his handicap card when I called BS. I looked up the odds of that happening and it was something like 1 in 37,000.

Hmm, so with ESC, and using 9 hole rounds to calculate handicap whats the lowest handicap you could reasonably be and not have broke 80?

[MackJL06]

tech fail

Originally Posted by GonnaBreak70

My GolfShot account again. http://golfshot.com/Settings/Account

[FLOG4]

Originally Posted by Williamevanl

In my company league I generally average about 40 and frequently shoot 38 so my handicap has to be somewhere around 4-8 (they aren't keeping track this year) and I've never broken 80 although I did have to finish quad, bogey, bogey once to shoot an 80. I lost a ball just right of the fairway saddest day ever:(. I pretty consistently shoot high 30's low 40's, golf almost every day but everytime I play 18 I always shoot 80-84...

On the flipside of that, I played with a legit 16 handicap the other day that shot a 78. He actually showed me his handicap card when I called BS. I looked up the odds of that happening and it was something like 1 in 37,000.

Hmm, so with ESC, and using 9 hole rounds to calculate handicap whats the lowest handicap you could reasonably be and not have broke 80?

League play is managed to push you around quickly.  They shove the tees up so scores tend to be lower. Legit handicap because he had a card. Hope you made note of his name and go to ghin and look him up to see if he posted his 78. I have played with so many who play mon-fri and shot 85 but come sat/sun in the club tourneys they fire high 70's for net 64's.  In my entire life of over 4000 rounds I have shot an all time low net of 65.  Even my lowest round ever of 68 was a net 66.[long time ago]  The handicap system was set up to allow unequal players to play an even match. But there are so many sandbaggers. I would go in and post his 78 for him.  Just that round alone dropped him to 15.

To have never broken 80. We'll peg your best 10 outta 20 at 83 average which would be around 11/12 handicap....Go find some easy track and knock down a 77 and get the monkey off your back.......

[mikelegacy]

[quote name="clubchamp" url="/forum/thread/52403/achieved-a-6-5-handicap-in-less-than-1-year-of-golfing#post_639000"]

It is very impressive and good to see you are playing well but I agree with this post. Do you keep a real handicap like ghin or do you just keep it yourself. I mean to break 80 a month ago and go to a 6.5 would almost be impossible.

I use GolfShot app on my iPhone to keep my handicap. I'm not sure if it's doing something funky. I also play by the rules. The first few months I didn't then I decided to just learn the rules and find out how good I really was. [/quote] Golfshot GPS is a great app. Especially for 20 dollars. It beats paying $200 or more for a range finder.

[mlb12]

Quote:

That is awesome keep. I started golf late in life @ 29, (Former D1 baseball player) I'm 47 now and a solid 7, I've put in a lot of work with 2 kids baseball practice, hockey, cheerleading. You know the drill my key has been just hitting balls on the range then taking that to the course. my goal is to get to a solid 3/4 hcp. I think that's about 2-3 year away.

Originally Posted by GonnaBreak70

First of all, I'm not gonna act like I'm not boasting a little, I am. But only because Im happy with my progress and wanted to share.

I'm 18 and started golf (first time ever) last August. Since then I've practiced multiple times a week and played as much as I could. I shot well over 100 first time out (didnt keep score) but I improved rapidly. I dont even remember breaking 90 but it was very quickly after breaking 100.

I broke 80 (officially) for the first time a month ago at a difficult 6800 yard course and never looked back. Ive had several rounds in the 70's since with lowest and most recent being a 73 (6250 yards) which included 5 birdies and a hole out for my 4th eagle ever.

I still have rounds where I look like a 28 handicap like a recent 92 but the good and great rounds are becoming more common.

I love playing the game like this.

Something else worth mentioning is that I have had 10 lessons with the local pro (great guy) and that made the biggest difference of anything.

I'm playing...

Taylormade R9 TP Driver (My dads)
Taylormade HT 5 Wood
Wilson FatShaft Deep Red II Irons (3-PW)
Cleveland Wedges (CG15-56 CG10-52
Scotty Cameron Santa Fe Putter (Dad gave me)

Playing Statistics (Last 10 rounds)

Fairways 47.6
Greens 46.8
Scrambling 22.0
Sand Saves 40.0
Putts Per GIR 2.00
Putts Per Hole 1.84
Putts Per Round 33.12

Average Score 82.30

Par 3 3.7
Par 4 4.6
Par 5 5.3

[x129]

A couple things to think about before accusing people of sandbagging

-Make sure you adjust for course difficulty (i.e. look at the slope rating) and not just look at the score.

-Make sure the "good" round is played under the same circumstances as the handicap rounds. If you are conceding 3 foot putts, the round is likely to be several strokes better than when you hole out for a guy shooting high 80s normally

-Look to see if the handicap is trending downward. If a guy is shooting in 90s and practices more than normal for a month, dropping a couple strokes is likely. If he only plays once a week, it might take time for the handicap to reflect that work.

That being said a 16 shooting a 78 under any circumstances is pushing it.

Originally Posted by Williamevanl

In my company league I generally average about 40 and frequently shoot 38 so my handicap has to be somewhere around 4-8 (they aren't keeping track this year) and I've never broken 80 although I did have to finish quad, bogey, bogey once to shoot an 80. I lost a ball just right of the fairway saddest day ever:(. I pretty consistently shoot high 30's low 40's, golf almost every day but everytime I play 18 I always shoot 80-84...

On the flipside of that, I played with a legit 16 handicap the other day that shot a 78. He actually showed me his handicap card when I called BS. I looked up the odds of that happening and it was something like 1 in 37,000.

Hmm, so with ESC, and using 9 hole rounds to calculate handicap whats the lowest handicap you could reasonably be and not have broke 80?