Is a coach required to get to where I want to be ?

[firefighter163]

Let me start out with a little description of myself . I am a 27 yr old married father of 2 . I have played golf since 2006 ish off and on just for fun . About 4 years ago I was playing pretty serious and got my average score to low 80's consistently . The last few years my golf has consisted of recreational play with my dad every once and a while as well as a twice a year golf trip with guys from work . I should also add I have never had a lesson of any kind other than watching others . Last year I didn't play at all except the two golf trips . We play these trips in a 4 round stroke play format . After not playing all summer I went out and shot 82,78,82,83 . After having our last child I have decided to get more serious with golf for the next few years as it keeps me closer to home than my other hobby (competitive archery) . My question is this . I want to get as close to scratch as possible in the next few years and I was wondering if anyone thinks it's possible without any lessons or coaching . I am a fairly athletic person growing up racing motocross , playing baseball , basketball , football , and self taught competitive archery . I guess my main question is have any of you self taught or play with someone who is self taught with no lessons and are a sctratch golfer ? Club yardages Driver=270 3 wood=250 5 wood =205 4h=200 5I=180 6I=165 7I=155 8I=145 9I=130 P=120 52=110 56=100 I'm a new guy here so I am just asking questions and don't want to post a swing video and all that untill I earn my keep . I realize sctratch is a pretty big goal from where I am and if you don't think its obtainable what would you consider a realistic goal ? Also the reason coaching isn't an option is money . Raising 2 kids on a firemans pay doesn't leave much room for anything else .

[saevel25]

Let me start out with a little description of myself .

I guess my main question is have any of you self taught or play with someone who is self taught with no lessons and are a sctratch golfer ?

I haven't. I can count on one hand the number of times I played golf with a scratch golfer.

First scratch golfers are rare. Of those who have a USGA handicap, only about 1.6% are scratch. So about 1-2 people per 100 golfers.

I am not sure how many of those golfers have been self taught.

[DrvFrShow]

Why don't you get an official HC and see where you are? It doesn't cost that much.

[firefighter163]

Why don't you get an official HC and see where you are? It doesn't cost that much.

This will be on my to do list once the weather gets good enough to start playing . I have never really looked into the handicap stuff untill recently . I entered in my last 5 rounds of last year into a handicap program and it said 7.4 but I do not beleive I am that good . The 4 rounds on the golf trip were my best ball striking rounds in a while , so I kind of consider those as the anomaly not the norm . I will take your advice and look into it for sure , thank you .

[boogielicious]

Let me start out with a little description of myself .

I am a 27 yr old married father of 2 . I have played golf since 2006 ish off and on just for fun . About 4 years ago I was playing pretty serious and got my average score to low 80's consistently . The last few years my golf has consisted of recreational play with my dad every once and a while as well as a twice a year golf trip with guys from work . I should also add I have never had a lesson of any kind other than watching others .

Last year I didn't play at all except the two golf trips . We play these trips in a 4 round stroke play format . After not playing all summer I went out and shot 82,78,82,83 .

After having our last child I have decided to get more serious with golf for the next few years as it keeps me closer to home than my other hobby (competitive archery) . My question is this . I want to get as close to scratch as possible in the next few years and I was wondering if anyone thinks it's possible without any lessons or coaching .

I am a fairly athletic person growing up racing motocross , playing baseball , basketball , football , and self taught competitive archery .

I guess my main question is have any of you self taught or play with someone who is self taught with no lessons and are a sctratch golfer ?

Club yardages

Driver=270

3 wood=250

5 wood =205

4h=200

5I=180

6I=165

7I=155

8I=145

9I=130

P=120

52=110

56=100

I'm a new guy here so I am just asking questions and don't want to post a swing video and all that untill I earn my keep .

I realize sctratch is a pretty big goal from where I am and if you don't think its obtainable what would you consider a realistic goal ?

Also the reason coaching isn't an option is money . Raising 2 kids on a firemans pay doesn't leave much room for anything else .

Welcome to the site @firefighter163

I think you should revise your goal to be, "become the best golfer I can be with my natural ability and the amount of time I have to play and practice."  Don't put a HC number on it because there are certain physical skills that a scratch golfer has that help them to that level.  Many of them have a unique athletic ability to coordinate all their movement to make consistently good golf shots.  Even great athletes from other sports, who spend a great amount of time playing and practicing golf never reach scratch.

That being said, you may have that ability.  So I would recommend a couple of things:

1. Buy the book, Lowest Score Wins .  www.lowestscorewins.com  It is an excellent guide to scoring better and improving.
2. Either find a great instructor (hard to find BTW) or:
3. Post a video of your swing in the Member Swings section.  There are instructors and good players that are willing to help you and who have gone through some of the same swing improvements as you may need.
4. Join an on-line instruction program like Evolvr.  A lot of us use this because it cost less, has great instructors and we can work at our own pace.  http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com

We look forward to you contributions too!

[firefighter163]

Thank you . After I posted I realized that I shouldn't have said sctratch . I want to revise my goal to be able to shoot at par or close consistently . I would be happy with that . I have been working on my swing inside for the last few weeks by watching videos on here and reading a lot of informative stuff on here . I don't want to post a member swing yet because I don't want to be one of those guys that just joined and posts a video . I do have more of an upright swing compared to a lot of people but the swing out to right field tip has helped tremendously .

[boogielicious]

Thank you . After I posted I realized that I shouldn't have said sctratch . I want to revise my goal to be able to shoot at par or close consistently . I would be happy with that .

I have been working on my swing inside for the last few weeks by watching videos on here and reading a lot of informative stuff on here .

I don't want to post a member swing yet because I don't want to be one of those guys that just joined and posts a video .

I do have more of an upright swing compared to a lot of people but the swing out to right field tip has helped tremendously .

Post when you think you are ready.  But practice filming your swing. It will also help because you will get to see the things you are working on and if they are changing.

[Lihu]

Let me start out with a little description of myself . I am a 27 yr old married father of 2 . I have played golf since 2006 ish off and on just for fun . About 4 years ago I was playing pretty serious and got my average score to low 80's consistently . The last few years my golf has consisted of recreational play with my dad every once and a while as well as a twice a year golf trip with guys from work . I should also add I have never had a lesson of any kind other than watching others . Last year I didn't play at all except the two golf trips . We play these trips in a 4 round stroke play format . After not playing all summer I went out and shot 82,78,82,83 . After having our last child I have decided to get more serious with golf for the next few years as it keeps me closer to home than my other hobby (competitive archery) . My question is this . I want to get as close to scratch as possible in the next few years and I was wondering if anyone thinks it's possible without any lessons or coaching . I am a fairly athletic person growing up racing motocross , playing baseball , basketball , football , and self taught competitive archery . I guess my main question is have any of you self taught or play with someone who is self taught with no lessons and are a sctratch golfer ? Club yardages Driver=270 3 wood=250 5 wood =205 4h=200 5I=180 6I=165 7I=155 8I=145 9I=130 P=120 52=110 56=100 I'm a new guy here so I am just asking questions and don't want to post a swing video and all that untill I earn my keep . I realize sctratch is a pretty big goal from where I am and if you don't think its obtainable what would you consider a realistic goal ? Also the reason coaching isn't an option is money . Raising 2 kids on a firemans pay doesn't leave much room for anything else .

I used to do Olympic recurve archery. Still shoot a little, but city rulers are shutting down the range I used to use. As far as your goal to reaching scratch? I suppose your distances are good enough, and the fact that you can so easily shoot low 80s seems to indicate some amount of talent. Scratch is very hard. We hit about the same distances, except my driver is shorter and my irons and hybrid are longer, but my goal is to shoot to a 10HC. That seems like a comfortable goal for me. Obviously, my motivation level to win might not be as high as yours and my older age will take you up a few notches. Not sure about you reaching scratch because I've never been even this good at golf before. You can start off with a my swing thread here and see what kind of free help you can get here, but the catch is you need to help others on this site as much as you can in return. Good luck with your goal, it seems plausible but scratch is like shooting >1180 at an indoor tournament with a recurve bow. Lots of perfect ends.

[Patch]

You are already a good golfer. Getting where you want to be, just by yourself is possible, given what seems to be your natural ability. A 78 score requires some very good golf to be played for 18 holes. Being self taught, and shooting a 78 suggests there is no reason you can't get better on your own. Getting to par consistently, while being self taught, requires a lot of devotion, and time. Lots of play, and practice will be involved. So much play/practice, that you may not have the personal time required to reach your goal on your own. I managed to get to a low single digit handicap on my own, but I was at the golf course 7 days a week either playing, or practicing. I did take on some pro instruction, but not very much, when compared to what I was doing on my own. I spent more time with a club fitter that actual swing instruction.

What I might suggest is that you take what you have now, and devote as much time as you can to getting better by playing, and practicing more. Just go with what you have. Once you reach that wall where you no longer see any improvement, then perhaps lessons, videos, and/or a few good books might be in order.

Get into some local tournaments, where some of the lower handicap golfers, play to test your skills against theirs'. I always found that playing against better golfers, also made me play better. I had to learn to focus more on what I was doing if I wanted to keep up. I am playing in a charity tournament next week where I will be in the  10, and under handicaps grouping. This will be a real test for me.

As far as lessons go, they can be a good thing, but they can also destroy what you already have if you fall in with the wrong instructor.  Be careful with that. As for golf books, I have a personal library full of them. It's my opinion that any one of the books in my golf swing library are not 100% complete in their swing/mental instruction.  However, all of them have something to good to offer . Obviously I don't have everything ever written about the golf swing, and mental requirements, but I suspect I already have enough.

[kpaulhus]

I went from a 13 to a 4 handicap in about 16 months when I played and practiced a lot back in 2011. I a, sort of privelegded and plagued that two in my regular foursome are scratch and +1.5 handicaps. Sometimes when I play with them there is a weird flow and all of us feed off each other. They can putt and get up and down like nobody's business. Rarely OB off the tee and the one can drive par 4 greens from the tips. He usually hits 3 iron off most tees. If your swing leaves you in play and typically green side, I'd focus on the short game chipping and putting. My best round to date was a +1 72, with 24 putts. It was a grand day.