How long to get single digit handicap?

[Aguirre]

7 hours ago, David in FL said:

Welcome to the site, and the game!

Sounds like you're well on your way to becoming a very good player....better than most golfers ever become.  More importantly, you've discovered a game that you'll be able to enjoy for the rest of your life, regardless of where that takes you!

He's already better than most golfers ever become.

[boogielicious]

17 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

If you play that much and you are not playing off of scratch, If would say you have very little talent. Is there a another sport you feel you may be better at ?

So I guess you should give up the game then too.

[kpaulhus]

22 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

If you play that much and you are not playing off of scratch, If would say you have very little talent. Is there a another sport you feel you may be better at ?

You cant be serious. There are people who play their whole lives and never break 90. 

[Jeremie Boop]

On 6/22/2016 at 0:37 PM, Dylangolfs said:

Hi my names Dylan and I have been playing for a year and a half. I was 13 when I started but am currently 14. I play everyday 7 days a week and 3 hours on schooldays and all day on weekends. During the winter I hit the range a lot but right now during the summer I play everyday and rarely go to the range. I have got my handicap to a 6 and shoot high 70's is that natural talent or the amount I practice. How long did it take you guys to become single digit. I think my success also comes with my strength. I am 5:11 and hit the ball 280 carry.

Having near unlimited time to dedicate to getting better and playing is part of your success for sure, but another part is going to be your natural ability. I have a couple questions. Do you play the same course all/most of the time? How are you tracking your handicap? Are you playing strictly by the rules, or do you take mulligans/etc? Not trying to discount what you are telling us, but truly some people don't realize that rolling the ball/fluffing a lie/kicking out from under a tree/bush, or taking a drop for OB all basically make a score invalid. I play with plenty of people who think their score is accurate even though they do that stuff because "we aren't on the tour". Either way, it's fantastic that you have such a strong interest in golf and it sounds like you are well on your way.

[Dave2512]

I'm jealous of anyone that gets to play that much. He's on the right track for sure.

[Groucho Valentine]

I cant remember how long it took exactly. But i feel like i was shooting in the 70's pretty regularly by the end of my second year. I got progressively better every year and then i made a humungous leap from around 4 handicap golf to +3 in less than 12 months. I had my best years in the 2-3 after that. Since then I've plateued around scratch golf. 

Edited June 24, 2016 by Groucho Valentine

[gregsandiego]

On 6/22/2016 at 9:37 AM, Dylangolfs said:

Hi my names Dylan and I have been playing for a year and a half. I was 13 when I started but am currently 14. I play everyday 7 days a week and 3 hours on schooldays and all day on weekends. During the winter I hit the range a lot but right now during the summer I play everyday and rarely go to the range. I have got my handicap to a 6 and shoot high 70's is that natural talent or the amount I practice. How long did it take you guys to become single digit. I think my success also comes with my strength. I am 5:11 and hit the ball 280 carry.

Haven't we seen a post like this before?  And wasn't it a drive-by one post only like this one? I'll wait to see if Dylan posts again but I'm skeptical.

[Grinde6]

10 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

Haven't we seen a post like this before?  And wasn't it a drive-by one post only like this one? I'll wait to see if Dylan posts again but I'm skeptical.

Ya, the 280 carry for a 14 year old does seem a little inflated since that more times than not will be a 300+ yard drive, but you never know.  I don't like calling people out just because I have seen a couple 14 year olds hit the ball a long ways.  I used to think I was hitting the ball 280 carry and over 300 yards until I started marking and measuring it.  Now I know that many more are under 300 yards than over 300 yards in a given round...

[gregsandiego]

12 hours ago, Grinde6 said:

Ya, the 280 carry for a 14 year old does seem a little inflated since that more times than not will be a 300+ yard drive, but you never know.  I don't like calling people out just because I have seen a couple 14 year olds hit the ball a long ways.  I used to think I was hitting the ball 280 carry and over 300 yards until I started marking and measuring it.  Now I know that many more are under 300 yards than over 300 yards in a given round...

Not just the drive distance - I'm skeptical about the whole post. The choppy way it's written with no punctuation seems strange.  Surrey is in BC right?

Yeah I'm cynical. I'll apologize if OP comes back. 

[Dylangolfs]

On 6/23/2016 at 8:38 AM, SavvySwede said:

I think your progress is relatively normal. It is just rare because so few start out young and/or have that much time to practice/play.

thank you, i now play off four, working hard is what got me here. I have a friend that coaches and he let me teach kids golf at a program for 2 weeks in the spring. I used to go to course at 7 practice till 12 then work to 4 then play a round of golf after that till 8and i did that for 2 weeks straight haha i think im crazy for this game (:. 

On 6/23/2016 at 11:01 PM, Aguirre said:

He's already better than most golfers ever become.

thank you (: wokring hard is money. 

On 6/23/2016 at 4:47 PM, Lihu said:

Well, I know a certain 14 year old who would be totally jealous of you! He's on my son's high school golf team, and practices daily and takes two or three lessons a week for about the same time you've been playing and is lucky to be an 18HC.

You've progressed very nicely. My guess is that you could get to a bit better than scratch, but it's going to take you a lot longer than it took to get to 6.

For reference, my son and his team mates all drive about the same distances (my son is 10 yards shorter), so their long games are pretty decent. My son is about a 6, but doesn't really practice that much, while two of his team mates play all the time. The two that play all the time are both scratch. Well, one is a 1HC and the other is slightly +. They are Junior and Senior players.

My daughter has one team mate who is your age (different school from my son) who's been playing since he was 5 and his twin brother played for roughly the same amount of time, and one is scratch while the other one is lucky to be possibly a 12 or even 15? It's kind of random how that works?

In any case, all three of the scratch players in your age group started when they were young and played for over 10 years. They didn't start hitting far like you until they were about 16, though. In fact, the scratch golfer who is exactly your age is not hitting nearly as far as you, maybe 250? 280 carry is a long way, and not that common. Even my son's team out hits most (all) of the other teams in their league and more. One player is even longer off the tee than any of them only when he hits the correct fairway, and he can't score.

 

Is it really that normal for a 14 year old to carry 280 yards and shoot to a 6HC? Most 14 year old boys still haven't grown to their full size yet, and I don't really know any who could carry 280 yards?

 

I'm guessing this is your "unconventional" humor?

 

Had to give you a reputation point for this one!

 

i dont really try to force that distance it is just there. yesterday i hit 2 fairways but shot 76 with 29 putts hahahah lets say my irons are really good and so is my short game. i was behind a tree more then i liked to me but made up and down from any were 

On 6/27/2016 at 6:39 AM, Grinde6 said:

Ya, the 280 carry for a 14 year old does seem a little inflated since that more times than not will be a 300+ yard drive, but you never know.  I don't like calling people out just because I have seen a couple 14 year olds hit the ball a long ways.  I used to think I was hitting the ball 280 carry and over 300 yards until I started marking and measuring it.  Now I know that many more are under 300 yards than over 300 yards in a given round...

haha ill post a video of my swing but i aint lying. i left the site because of those first couple guys saying im bad and that i should choose a different sport because it really hurt me but i went to check today and alot of good feedback which i love.

[Dylangolfs]

On 6/24/2016 at 8:37 AM, Jeremie Boop said:

Having near unlimited time to dedicate to getting better and playing is part of your success for sure, but another part is going to be your natural ability. I have a couple questions. Do you play the same course all/most of the time? How are you tracking your handicap? Are you playing strictly by the rules, or do you take mulligans/etc? Not trying to discount what you are telling us, but truly some people don't realize that rolling the ball/fluffing a lie/kicking out from under a tree/bush, or taking a drop for OB all basically make a score invalid. I play with plenty of people who think their score is accurate even though they do that stuff because "we aren't on the tour". Either way, it's fantastic that you have such a strong interest in golf and it sounds like you are well on your way.

yes the same course practically it plays at almost 7 thousand yards an has the longest par 5 in my province at 630 yards lol. And nope not any mulligans and maybe once in awhile like my course will have really bad lies around the outskirts of the course and i might move it out of there but i rarely ever do that so i play legit.

On 6/27/2016 at 7:13 PM, gregsandiego said:

Not just the drive distance - I'm skeptical about the whole post. The choppy way it's written with no punctuation seems strange.  Surrey is in BC right?

Yeah I'm cynical. I'll apologize if OP comes back. 

hahah well it is and if your near i would love to play with you if u dont belive me. 

[Dylangolfs]

On 6/27/2016 at 7:13 PM, gregsandiego said:

Not just the drive distance - I'm skeptical about the whole post. The choppy way it's written with no punctuation seems strange.  Surrey is in BC right?

Yeah I'm cynical. I'll apologize if OP comes back. 

how do u post videos of swings because my file is larger then 2.5 mb and its like 3 seconds.

On 6/23/2016 at 2:55 PM, Natural Patrick said:

That is kind of what I thought.

hahah thanks i would love to post my swing but dont know how to is there any way you could tel me how to.

[Natural Patrick]

34 minutes ago, Dylangolfs said:

how do u post videos of swings because my file is larger then 2.5 mb and its like 3 seconds.

hahah thanks i would love to post my swing but dont know how to is there any way you could tel me how to.

Heck I don't know how to either. There should be someone here shortly that can help you I'm sure. Keep up the good work.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Dylangolfs said:

how do u post videos of swings because my file is larger then 2.5 mb and its like 3 seconds.

hahah thanks i would love to post my swing but dont know how to is there any way you could tel me how to.

Post it on YouTube. Embed it here.

https://thesandtrap.com/how-to/embed-videos

[jkelley9]

It sounds like you are hardworking to improve (your motivation is still high). 

I can't comment on your talent level, because I've honestly only been playing about a year and a half myself. So I wouldn't be a good judge of that. I went from shooting 105-110 to shooting mid 80's in that time and I thought I think I have some initial learning talent, but I don't think I'll have a true "golf talent" to be a scratch player in a short period of time. It'll probably take me years.

But hot dang, if being able to hit the ball far helps out tremendously. I'm struggling to consistently get my drives past 230 (probably 210 carry) and I'm pretty athletic (but I'm also 5'7", a short fella). If I could figure out how to hit the ball 250+ consistently (sometimes I think I'm there but then it goes away... grr) I could probably drop 3-4 more strokes. 

One word of caution, don't burn yourself out. If you ever catch yourself thinking "this is taking to long to lower my HC" or you'er going out to the range with little focus and the mindset that "I'm putting in the hours, I should be getting better" then I would suggest taking a break. Not everyone will agree with me, but that works for me. By a break, I mean like 1-3 weeks. 

[gregsandiego]

8 hours ago, Dylangolfs said:

yes the same course practically it plays at almost 7 thousand yards an has the longest par 5 in my province at 630 yards lol. And nope not any mulligans and maybe once in awhile like my course will have really bad lies around the outskirts of the course and i might move it out of there but i rarely ever do that so i play legit.

hahah well it is and if your near i would love to play with you if u dont belive me. 

Welcome back! Sorry I doubted.

[Pretzel]

It took me two years to get from a 24 handicap (my starting point) to about a 6-8 handicap when I started playing seriously. It then took me another two years to get from about a 7 to a 2. In the last year I had a big jump that got me from the 2 handicap to my current +1.5, which I would consider to be the largest leap I've ever made (which is somewhat funny, considering I've probably practiced the least in the last year as compared to previous years). It just kind of clicked for me that it's okay to expect to make birdies, whereas before I felt like I never could make any.