how long to get to scratch?

[FIJIGolf23]

I'm sure you wouldn't study the mechanics of shooting a basket or throwing a ball to first base, or think about anything other than the target with either of those activities... so why make golf different? Just trust that your body knows how to do something as simple as hit a ball that's just sitting there and tell it what you want it to do by focusing only on your intended target. When your body fails to do so, it's usually because you've let other interfering thoughts enter in (or invited them in by using swing thoughts).

I agree with this. Intensely studying swing mechanics and theory aren't much until you put them into use on the range and golf course.

[sbgolfin_06]

Great progress sbgolfin! and yes, feel free to post your ongoing progress. BTW, I highly recommend the book Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker. I credit this book substantially for my progress.

thanks for the suggestion.. i will definitely look for it this weekend!

[sbgolfin_06]

I gotta find a girl like you. Now that I know they exist I can begin my search.

LOL.. if i didn't play golf, i know for SURE that i would be fed up with my husband or bf always ditching me to go play golf and always watching it on tv.. that's what happened with my mom. she thought golf was so boring for years and hated when my dad would sit in front of the tv with it on ALL sunday. but when i started getting into it, he started getting a lot more into it. i guess she finally decided if she cant beat golf, join it! and has taken the game up since this summer. i still cant believe we converted her, but it's pretty cool that they can hang out on the course now, instead of him leaving her at home for 5 hours while he plays.

[artfulgolfer]

although my wife doesn't play, as long as I come home with a smile on my face, she doesn't complain ;).

sbgolfin, if you ever want to drive up to slo and play monarch dunes, just let me know!... or go snowboarding for that matter (read your profile).

actually, my wife might actually complain if I take you snowboarding! But my son's your age, he'll take you ;) btw, my daughter is down at ucsb.

[sbgolfin_06]

thats good that she accepts it.

yeah.. i've made it my goal to play at least every course in sb at least once.. kind of pathetic that in 4 years at ucsb, i didnt play 1 course! but yeah, i'd play up there one day. recently played alisal, the river course and loved the gps carts! ahh.. i bet your daughter is loving it! i enjoyed my time there. probably some time after thanksgiving ill take a half day and play.

and yes, im looking forward to snowboard season too!

[artfulgolfer]

Lots of fun courses down your way! Just let me know when you want to play Monarch Dunes (your parents are of course invited too ;). Yep, my daughter is loving UCSB!

[Shindig]

i've made it my goal to play at least every course in sb at least once.. kind of pathetic that in 4 years at ucsb, i didnt play 1 course!

I agree fully. I spent four years down the road from you - at UC Irvine - and never in that time played any of the great courses in the Orange County area. I've since made up for it somewhat.

[ks8829]

I have been playing for about 23 years. I am self taught and never took a series of lessons, its funny but my 13 year old son has had more golf lessons than I ever will already.

I believe that your learn curves can be accelerated with good golf lessons, practicing the right things and the right way, playing rounds of golf with someone better than yourself.

When you play a round of golf score fairways hit, greens on regulations, putts per hole and this will help you practice your weakness, usually the short game, 50 yards and in from the green and putting.

In summary you need time & money.

[reid]

Remember that if you drive the ball in the fairway, you can get close to every hole in 2 shots (one shot on par three's). After that it is chipping and putting. When you do miss your tee shot, course management becomes paramount. You have to see the easiest way to a par. The touring pros only make one or two bogeys per round because their course management is so good. You'd be surprised to learn that they miss quite a few shots on bad days.

[reid]

OOPS. Sorry.
So the bottom line is: If you want to play scratch golf you must
1. Learn to hit the ball very straight off the tee
2. have a clean short game (from good lies around the green you need to get it up and down 80% of the time and 33% from bad lies)
3. Learn how to manage your game

[hipcheck4u]

I have been playing for 2 1/2 years and have yet to break 110. After reading much of this thread, I understand that my progress will be slow with this game due to lack of time to apply to practicing and playing rounds. I have taken lessons, been fitted for clubs, and sought advice from publications, books, message boards, etc. Despite the fact that my scorecards are, to say the least, unimpressive, I am really enjoying the journey of golf. I take pleasure in small victories and try not to get too upset by failure.

As for achieving scratch, I don't know if that will happen. My current goal is to break 110, then it will be 105, and so on. Baby steps...

[reid]

Hipcheck 4u:

You're doing fine. Everyone makes progress in golf by perserverance. You will see it come in plateaus. You have a lot of fun ahead of you- improving.
At your level, concentrate on hitting your shots solidly and reasonably straight. Try to get on greens in "bogey regulation" . You will be breaking 100 soon.

[vvrinne]

I completely agree about the plateaus. I was struggling to break 100 for a long time and within a time period of only a few weeks my game improved to a point where I had no trouble breaking 100 and actually played a couple of nines below 45. I only started playing the game this year so "a long time" is relative but the change from playing 105-110 to playing 95-100 occurred within a very short timespan compared to the time I was stuck in the 105-110 range.

To me it felt like there was some kind of mental block in addition to my skills getting better. I remember feeling frustrated for a while because I wasn't performing as well on the course as I was feeling my swing develop. When the change occurred I went from being happy with a bogey and ok with a double-bogey to being happy with par and ok with a bogey.

[tm22721]

Hipcheck 4u:

Very recently I have broken into the 80s several times only because I changed my goal from bogey to 'bogey-4'.

Bogey-4 means the goal is to bogey the par 4's, but to par everything else. This relieves a lot of pressure when you don't have to take a long risky approach shot on the par 4's, just go for a layup in the fairway leaving a wedge approach. Also, if you acknowledge your limitations, which for me is to leave the woods/driver in the bag, use a 3/4 swing, and concentrate on taking correct divots, you can begin to shoot in the low to mid 80s.

[reid]

To vvrine and tm22721:

VVrine, read tm22721's post. He is thinking which is one of the keys to improving in golf. He is playing smart by not straining on the par 4's (which are the hardest to par for high eighties shooters) He's trying to pick off easy pars on the par 5's and par 3's.
Now for tour players, the par 3's are the hardest for us to birdie because almost all of them for us are over 200 yards. We're always happy to make a 3. On the par5's however, we play with a different mindset. On 5's we're looking to pick off easy birdies. Play that way at whatever level you are currently at and you will improve rapidly. When you get better one of the things you will have to do to reach the next level is to change the way you think. You might try to par all the par 5's and 3's and the easy par 4's but play for the 40 yard pitch on the long par 4's. Don't ever let yourself get a double because you went for too much. It's like a touring pro making a 6 on a par five- What a disaster!.
Remember, your bad shots in golf hurt you far more than your good shots help you. Play clean, conservative, mistake free golf on the hard holes and eliminate doubles

[Diobacco]

I'm pretty sure my playing of par-3 courses first helped when I moved up to executive, and then up to regulation courses.

I played mostly on par 3 courses so far (very good par 3 courses). What do you think is the ratio moving to reg courses? Do you add or drop relative strokes? eg if I score +20 on a par 3 should I expect a +50 on reg course? What happened to you?

[KIDDEREK]

OOPS. Sorry.

OR, what many others do:

1. cheat 2. lie 3. redefine "scratch"

[ks8829]

Play from the flag back to improve your score.

Putts
chipping off the green
10-20 yards off the green

dedicate 100% of your time with the above short game and you will break 110

shooting 118 would be double boogie on each hole. if you had two putt each hole you could count 36 on putts alone.

if you boogie each hole that is shoting 90. leaving you with 9 strokes to break 100. and 19 strokes to break 110.

Keep a record of how many putts per round and how many time you can get up and down from around the green.

Most of us practice 80 percent of time with our long, mid game and 20 percent on the short game.

We should practice 80-90% on the short game and 10-20% on the long, mid and 100 yard game.

good luck, think low, visualize low, and practice putting and chipping for the next two weeks and you will see you score lower and possible break 110 with ease.