I think I can become a scratch golfer after 1 year of playing

[spuddy09]

I think it is very unlikely that a player playing for 1 year can reach scratch.
I have been playing seriously for the last 5 years and currently play off a 12.3 handicap.
The last year, my handicap hasn't changed and I want to reach the next level (i.e single figures!).
What tips do you guys have for getting to this target??
I know that my short game is weak and I am currently addressing the problem by spending much of my practice time on chipping, pitching and putting.
My current stats are as follows: putts /round = 33.3
scrambling = 39%
GIR = 9/18
FIR = 57%

[NGisHot]

Man, in 1 year..that would be fantastic. But i have to agree with most of the people and give you 0%.

But who knows. Just keep practicing

[Mr.Buckethead]

I think someone asked professional golfers this same question and I think half of them said it was possible.

However, it would take a ton of practice and lessons.

Thanks for the book reccomendation. I used to dream of hitting the powerball and doing the exact same thing.

[Roody]

I've been going at it for about 12 years now, and I'm only a 15. Though I only really started taking lessons about 3 years ago. But I can say that once I started taking about 2-3 lessons a year, I went from a 22 to the 15 I am now.

Sad thing is, last year I was about a 13, but something happened that has my handicap up a bit from last year. I think the problem is between my ears to be honest. I'm over-thinking things way too much.

So to respond to the topic, I don't think you can get to scratch in a year's time. To become a scratch golfer not only requires a lot of good shots, but you have to hit a lot of good shots on a consistent, steady basis. Lack of consistency is what plagues me, and just about every other mid-handicapper out there. I can hit great shots too, it's just that I sometimes follow up a great shot with a gleaming turd of a shot. Or I three-putt, that usually screws up things too :)

[sonicblue]

Being a scratch golfer is ALL about putting. I mean, you have to do the other stuff well, but putter is the least forgiving and vital to scoring. Even if you're lacing your drives and throwing darts to the green, you have to make putts. And, because you WILL miss some tee shots and you WILL miss some greens, some of those biride putts will just offset your bogeys and some will be just to save par (i.e., keep you at scratch).

I've had good rounds where I hit some long putts and felt like I was getting "lucky" and wished I was hitting my irons closer, longer drives, etc.... However, I realized that, if you watch a pro tourney, those guys make a ton of long putts. Simply put, it's not that easy on a course of any length to consistently drop 150+ yd approaches within kick-in, and you'll often have long putts. You have to two putt even those long guys nearly all the time AND knock down a couple. So, the moral is, unless you're a kick-ass putter right now, whether or not you're a decent ball-striker already is irrelevant. I don't doubt you can get single-digit, maybe even 5-ish, in a year but scratch is a whole different ballgame. That's not shooting par a couple times, it's doing it EVERY time.

[i-Guy]

I am currently playing to a 14 handicap. I use the Golf Channel system to determine my handicap. They also offer many analysis tools to help you see where you game is and what needs to approve. See the attached as I compared my 14 handicap averages to that of a scratch golfer. If you can achieve these type of results in a year, then you will be around scratch but it will take the following at a minimum:
1) Great coach
2) Tons of practice and playing
3) Lots of talent (hand eye coordination)
4) And as you can see from the attached and someone else mentioned this in a post Great Putting (less then 30 per round)

Good luck...but "Luck is for the ill prepared"

[FIJIGolf23]

I dunno. I think it is possible. I got down to about a 12-14 in just a year of playing without lessons. Granted, getting to there took a ton of practice and luckily I worked at a golf course so I could practice free every day.

But like someone said, putting will be the key. You can learn the mechanics and hit solid shots. Play smart and keep yourself out of trouble for most of a round, but the putter HAS to be working for you to score well.

[King Cobra II]

I think I know how you are feeling, because I to was in a similar situation. After playing for a few weeks and taking a few lessons, I didn't see any reason why I couldn't be shooting high 70's by the end up the year. How ever you will reach a point where you level off, and it'll be tuff to start shaving off strokes at that point. To play par golf you really can't hit a bad shot, you can never 3 putt, you can never do alot of things that golfers new to the game undoubtably will do. I'll give you a 10% chance because I don't really know the extent of your ability, and I do think with hardwork anyone can acheive their goals.

[Stuart]

I think that any good ball striker could play a round at scratch in their first year, but to play at scratch every time is a different thing. I've been playing for 10 months now. Mid October will make a year for me. Unfortunately I haven't had any lessons, because they are basically impossible to come by where I live. That being said, I think that I would have benefited enough from lessons to shoot in the 70's instead of the 80's which I shoot now. My best score is a 79 so far, which I've shot twice. Realistically I could have shot 74 on one of those occasions, as I was only 1 over for 15 holes and took a 10 on hole 16. Anyways good luck to you. I hope you do it. If I could start over again, I would do whatever I had to, to get lessons right away. Golf is a very difficult game to figure out by yourself with no prior experience.

[pjsnyc]

...I can hit great shots too, it's just that I sometimes follow up a great shot with a gleaming turd of a shot...

Thanks roody - from now on i will call my poor shots "gleaming turd of a shot(s)"

That quote, for some reason, made my monday morning.

[bwinger79]

You have about a 0% chance of becoming scratch in one year. Dropping your cap from 30 to 10 is easy. Once you get down to a single digit cap, thats where it becomes much more difficult to shave those strokes every round. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I doubt its going to happen.

[$2 Nassau]

It might be a good idea to start keeping a handicap. How else would you know if you are a scratch golfer?

[GITrDONE]

It might be a good idea to start keeping a handicap. How else would you know if you are a scratch golfer?

Handicap is calculated from best 10 rounds from your last 20 rounds I believe, correct?

I will start keeping track once I get competent on the course

[NM Golf]

I give you a 0% chance. Being that I am a scratch golfer, I know basically what is involved in becoming one. It is much more than being athletic. You have to learn so much course management, special shots, etc to get where you are going. It is too much to learn in a single year. If you devoted 100% of your time, got the best teachers, and played everyday you might do it in two or three years. But keep working at it maybe your the next Tiger.

[$2 Nassau]

Handicap is calculated from best 10 rounds from your last 20 rounds I believe, correct?

Yes, although there's a little more to it than that. I recommend using a service to do the calculation for you.

Edit: Also, don't wait get one now. It's a great tool to measure your improvement and how you are progressing.

[sonicblue]

Just a quick recap of handicap calculation: theoretically, you need at least five rounds to be official. Based on X number of rounds, average the best Y differentials, and multiply by 0.96, then round to one decimal place.

Differential = (score - rating) * 113 / slope.

Table of X/Y:
5 or 6: 1
7 or 8: 2
9 or 10: 3
11 or 12: 4
13 or 14: 5
15 or 16: 6
17: 7
18: 8
19: 9
>=20: 10

Also, based on your handicap going into a round, there is a max score you can post on any hole to determine your overall postable score:

0-9.9: double bogey
10-19.9: 7
20-29.9: 8
30-39.9: 9
>=40: 10

So, technically, it would be possible to have an "official" handicap of 0 simply by carding five rounds and managing to shoot the course rating just once. However, after two more rounds, if you haven't shot the rating again, you'd lose that scratch index. Sorry, I'm a math geek, I'm rambling.......

[wachesawgolfer]

Being a scratch golfer to me is all about long accurate distance off the tee which sets up a do-able approach to the green with a lofted iron to get the ball close to two putt or less regularly. As you need longer clubs to get home and lose the shots forward to the green or are two zip codes away on the green being a scratch golfer approaches impossible.

[sonicblue]

Being a scratch golfer to me is all about long accurate distance off the tee which sets up a do-able approach to the green with a lofted iron to get the ball close to two putt or less regularly. As you need longer clubs to get home and lose the shots forward to the green or are two zip codes away on the green being a scratch golfer approaches impossible.

Tiger hits fewer than 2/3 of his fairways, as does most of the Tour. The clubs from your wedge down are where a scratch golfer shines. Hitting fairways at 280 is great but few people do that with any regularity. I'll sum it up this way: EVERYBODY makes the occasional bogey. Even with a great drive and a good iron shot, you may catch a bad break with a lie on a chip shot and end up with a 20-footer for par, and even a scratch will miss a bunch of those putts. HOWEVER, the scratch golfer will more often scramble to save that par when they miss greens by rolling in 10-footers with regularity and they makes birdies by making 20-footers way more often than even your basic single-digit guy.

The moral is, it may be damn hard to shoot scratch without a solid tee and fairway game, but having those parts of your game working is about 10% of the battle.