How did your score progress over time?

[sirhacksalot]

I just read a thread that the individual states that he became a 7 HI in less than a year.  I am not starting this one to lay true or false to that claim but like some others on here I tend to beat myself up for not being better at this game.  I am learning very slowly, pun intended,  that being good at golf may be the result of the Tortoise and not the Hare.  So for my own sanity and possibly for others' how did you progress, score wise, in your first , third, fifth years.  I do plan on buying LSW and I am sure that will help.  But at the moment I am still curious how long it took some of you low, low/mid, and mid handicappers to get where you are now.

[saevel25]

Years 1-4: 100's down to low to mid 90's
Years 4-8: Down to mid 80's
Years 8-13: Kinda took a hiatus away from golf
Years 13-15: Down to low to mid 80's
Years 15-Current: Down to mid to high 70's. 

I didn't really do any significant lessons till years 13+. I think I probably could have cut that time in 1/3rd if I had good instruction early on. 

[gregsandiego]

17 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Years 1-4: 100's down to low to mid 90's
Years 4-8: Down to mid 80's
Years 8-13: Kinda took a hiatus away from golf
Years 13-15: Down to low to mid 80's
Years 15-Current: Down to mid to high 70's. 

I didn't really do any significant lessons till years 13+. I think I probably could have cut that time in 1/3rd if I had good instruction early on. 

I don't have the data but this feels right to me. 10 points in 4 years. Kind of slow but that's just how difficult this game is

[JBailey]

As a kid I used to caddy for my next door neighbor.  We called him "Grampa", even though he was not a relative.  He was an avid golfer and club collector.  He gave me a few clubs that I used to tie up with a belt and play barefoot on days that weren't busy.  I don't recall what my scores were.  However, it wouldn't matter if I did because I did things like take the ball out of the creeks and not count the strokes.  So, my scores were not real.

I started playing seriously when I got out of college.  That first summer I worked watering greens at night and playing golf during the day.  It was an executive course and I believe I scored in the 80's most of the time.  My first year at a real course my handicap was 16.  toward the end of the year the club pro approached me on the first tee one day and suggested (actually, the way I remember it, he demanded) I take a series of lessons with him.  I did and the next year my handicap was down to 8.

That year and the next couple of years I played 36 holes a day with a practice session between 18's.  I got my handicap down to 5.

Over the years I was playing a lot of golf I had a couple of 9 hole league handicaps down as low as 1, but it never stayed that low and always returned to 5.

I believe a fairly athletic person can lower his handicap quickly to single digits with enough practice and proper coaching.  I also believe folks have a talent level that is hard to get past.  With me, no matter how many lessons, and no matter how many hours of practice, a 5 was the best I could do.

I played a lot of golf for 20 years, then quit for 20 years due to back surgery.

At age 65 I started playing again this year.  I use the Golf Digest Handicap app which started me out at 31.6.  That was with my old stiff shafted clubs.  After buying "old man" clubs my handicap quickly got below 20 and, at the end of the season, I'm sitting at 10.9.  I truly believe I will be able to get to single digits again even though I'm much shorter than I used to be.  The key will be lessons this winter and time spent on the indoor practice range.  That and being retired to spend the time on improvement.

Later,

John

 

[Patch]

Dates are a bit fuzzy at this point. However my first year. I pretty much stayed in the high 90s I think. Sure there were 100s but not many. I was just having fun with the game and did not care about scores. 

Probably in my 3rd year I was staying in the 80s most of the time. Again golf was not my first game of choice.

Sometime in my 4th or 5th year,I started working on my short game. Took a lesson or two, and managed to start breaking 80 on a some what regular basis. 

I met a range pro who enlightened me on swing change I could use. I tried it and it got me to a single digit hdcp. I played the next few decades as 6 sometimes a 5 hdcpr. 

As far as making single digits in one's first year of play I have seen it done a few times. My brother did it on his own and was self taught by reading golf books. 

Like I said the time frame I gave above might be off a bit, but close enough. 

 

[sirhacksalot]

Just the few responses so far have helped.  We are our own worst critics and I have been struggling with the "why haven't I's" lately.

[DrvFrShow]

Year 1: 40+

Year 2: 37 > 24.7

Injury plagued Year 3 (only 15 rounds): 24.7 to 20.8

This winter - I know my limitations for practice. I'm not young anymore. 3 days a week instead of daily. 100 ball buckets and take my time instead of hitting 300 balls. Take full swing lessons.

Spring - Take short game lessons. Hit the course.

[iacas]

Year 1: 93 average or so.

Year 2: 83 average.

Year 3: 73 average.

From there it's been slow goings…  

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, sirhacksalot said:

I just read a thread that the individual states that he became a 7 HI in less than a year.  I am not starting this one to lay true or false to that claim but like some others on here I tend to beat myself up for not being better at this game.  I am learning very slowly, pun intended,  that being good at golf may be the result of the Tortoise and not the Hare.  So for my own sanity and possibly for others' how did you progress, score wise, in your first , third, fifth years.  I do plan on buying LSW and I am sure that will help.  But at the moment I am still curious how long it took some of you low, low/mid, and mid handicappers to get where you are now.

Why worry about what someone else is doing? What he did was pretty good, but likely not to a true 7.7 HC.

Don't beat yourself up for playing good golf.

[SavvySwede]

Started playing at age 15. First time playing a par 72 course shot 116 I believe. After about two years I was shooting pretty consistently in the high 70's with a handful of 73's 74's and 75's. Game stagnated after that because I never took lessons and had some swings issues that prevented me from getting better. In the last 3 years I have been working on the swing quite a bit and though I shoot around the same scores it's on much longer and difficult courses. (played white tees for high school golf, most courses were <6400 with low slopes/ratings, Now I play 6700-7200 yard tees and still shoot in the 70's) 

[mchepp]

37 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Started playing at age 15. First time playing a par 72 course shot 116 I believe. After about two years I was shooting pretty consistently in the high 70's with a handful of 73's 74's and 75's. Game stagnated after that because I never took lessons and had some swings issues that prevented me from getting better. In the last 3 years I have been working on the swing quite a bit and though I shoot around the same scores it's on much longer and difficult courses. (played white tees for high school golf, most courses were <6400 with low slopes/ratings, Now I play 6700-7200 yard tees and still shoot in the 70's) 

Just think how good you'd be with some updated driver technology. 

[SavvySwede]

1 hour ago, mchepp said:

Just think how good you'd be with some updated driver technology. 

Pshh, I shot a 78 on a 75.1/137 with a persimmon earlier this year.

[alleztom]

Got into golf seriously about 15 months ago, have had a handicap for 12 months. With lessons and quite a bit of practice (roughly range 1-2x a week, 9 holes one night a week, 18 holes once a fortnight) I have gone from shooting 110s to slightly better than bogey golf. Handicap index down from 27 initial to 17.5 but I think I'm slightly better than a 17.5 as I've beaten my handicap in my last 5 rounds.

[sirhacksalot]

5 hours ago, Lihu said:

Why worry about what someone else is doing? What he did was pretty good, but likely not to a true 7.7 HC.

Don't beat yourself up for playing good golf.

It's more so putting things in perspective and keeping myself in check than worrying about someone else. When you see all the handicaps on the forums and you see so many low - mid - and mid high handicaps and you just had a bad round and shot a 102. It's nice to scroll up and see that for as long as you been playing others were there. Some quicker some slower. But lower scores take time and maybe your're not a prodigy but you're neither alone

[Lihu]

6 minutes ago, sirhacksalot said:

It's more so putting things in perspective and keeping myself in check than worrying about someone else. When you see all the handicaps on the forums and you see so many low - mid - and mid high handicaps and you just had a bad round and shot a 102. It's nice to scroll up and see that for as long as you been playing others were there. Some quicker some slower. But lower scores take time and maybe your're not a prodigy but you're neither alone

If it comes too easy, it. . .wouldn't. . .be. . .so. . .fun. . .

[Eack]

Strangely, I track how long I've been playing.  As of me writing this I'm in my 520th day of golf,  my app I use to track all of my scores has me at a 10.9 right now.  Just finishing the end of the second summer I've been playing.  The first summer was basically learning how to hit the ball.  This summer has been about purely lowering scores, handicap reduction,  and improving my stats (Fairways, GIR, PPH, Scrambling) I've played something like 175 rounds of golf this year. Practiced 2-3 times a week at the range,  short game once in a blue moon(my single biggest mistake). Trying to get my course handicap down to scratch by my two years (a massive undertaking I know,)

[mvmac]

15 hours ago, sirhacksalot said:

But at the moment I am still curious how long it took some of you low, low/mid, and mid handicappers to get where you are now.

About 3-4 years to get down to a low single digit. I started playing seriously when I started high school and I think I shot 116 in my first official handicap round. I probably averaged about 47 my freshman year in matches and in my senior year it was just under 36. Got a little better after that but haven't been higher than a 2 or 3 since then.

[Ashley]

Are you setting specific goals?  I went from a 12 to a 1 in about 5 years.  A big part of that progress was setting goals at the beginning of each season.  I would set 5 goals at the beginning of each season.  Set goals that you have control over.  For example, these are just a couple goals that helped me: 

1) Play in 5 competitive tournaments 

2) Practice putting for 1 hour/week and track progress during rounds

I like to spend the winter brainstorming and thinking about my goals and then I write them down and keep them handy so I can refer to them and check in with myself during the season.  

Also, I've talked with others about "breakthrough rounds" and these can really accelerate your progress.  Unfortunately, you don't know when it will happen, but it will build your confidence when it does.  For example, the first time I broke 80 I shot a 75.  Going so much lower than I was accustomed to helped me realize that it wasn't a big deal, and then I started shooting in the 70s more often.  You really have to let your great rounds build your confidence...too many golfers make the mistake of dismissing these rounds as flukes.