What Was Your Handicap After 1 Year of Playing?

[Bahlahkay]

I understand that many PGA players started out when they were kids. Most of them prolly (yes this is a word) had easy access to practice greens, and a club course they could always play on. (could be completely wrong, just assuming)

im not wondering about those types of individuals that got to the PGA tour with a ton of time and commitment put into their game.

I'm wondering if their are any PGA players that started late (earliest 18 years old) and what was their handicap they achieved in 1 year of playing golf. 

Ive heard that breaking 90 in a year is really good.

breaking 85 is a sign to pursue it.

80 and I'd say quit your job and get after it!  

What was yours? 

1. Age you started

2. Handicap after 1 year

 

 

[Lihu]

If you break 90 after 1 year, that is pretty good and I certainly didn't do it when I started playing in my 40s.

Breaking 85 after 1 year is pretty common among coordinated athletic individuals. It's pretty common with male high school players. They have flexibility and distance.

Breaking 80 after 1 year is very good, but I wouldn't quit your day job. Most D1 school scholarship prospects are scratch or better breaking 70, and the pros are just that much better.

[No Mulligans]

This may be of interest, from Wikipedia:

Quote

Early years

Norman was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia to Merv and Toini Norman. His mother was the daughter of a Finnish carpenter, and his father an electrical engineer.^[11][17] As a youth, he played rugby and cricket and aspired to be a professional surfer.^[11][18] His mother, who had a single-figure handicap, taught the 15 year-old Norman how to golf and allowed him to caddy for her at the Virginia Golf Club in Brisbane.^[11][19] Within about eighteen months, Norman went from a 27 handicap to a scratch handicap.^[20]

Not 18 or older, but this illustrates how fast someone with a ton of talent can improve.

And how about Larry Nelson also from Wikipedia:

Quote

Nelson was first introduced to golf by Ken Hummel, a soldier and friend in his infantry unit, and Nelson carefully studied Ben Hogan's book The Five Fundamentals of Golf while learning how to play the game.^[2] He soon found that he had a talent for the game, breaking 100 the first time he played and 70 within nine months. He went on to graduate from Kennesaw Junior College in 1970 and turned professional the following year. He qualified for the PGA Tour at 27. His breakthrough year came in 1979, when he won twice and finished second on the money list to Tom Watson.

Breaking 80 after a year is probably not that special.  I'd say if you can get to scratch in two years, maybe you have a chance to someday play on the Web.com or even the PGA tour.

(And, @Bahlahkay, HI of +19 means you are 19 strokes better than scratch and are the best golfer in the world by a wide margin (well except for the leader of North Korea that is).  Assuming that's not true, you should drop the "+" sign.)

[rehmwa]

My handicap after 1 year of playing?

It was mainly my swing.

[jkelley9]

I broke 90 before completing my first 20 rounds of golf (ever). So I couldn't carry a handicap even if I wanted one! :P But I played solo for most of those. I bet a good number of people could do that with access to practice and lessons. I had a several lessons with a <bad> instructor and had 4-5 lessons with a <GOOD> instructor. I haven't even had to go back to the instructor for more than a year and I'm still working on my own game and improving (when I can actually play... I haven't played but 2 rounds since Thanksgiving... shame)

I'd say being able to become a scratch golfer within 1 year would mean you could probably try your shot at becoming a pro? But breaking 80 within a year, nah? I've shot 81/82 a couple times and I'm at 2 years. I only practiced and played hard for 1 year of that time frame (it's really falling off, unfortunately) and I know I could never, ever be a pro golfer; no matter how much time, practice, and access to resources I had. 

I would think a naturally athletic, young individual with talent for a good eye for the ball, handling pressure, game planning, etc would be slashing down into the low 80's to high 70's within a few months, if they were going to have a shot at the pros, honestly. I mean, that's averaging all pars and a handful of bogies. 

[woodzie264]

I started at 22yo and played maybe 8-10 times that year.  

HCP at that point: a solid 50

[mistermuhl]

24 years old here. Started playing this time last year. 12 handicap. 

[DaveP043]

I started around 1970, at the age of 13 or 14.  A year later, I'd probably not broken 90, and maybe just barely broke 100 once or twice.  But I was already hooked.

[mcanadiens]

35 years. I didn't even think about keeping a handicap until year 4. I stink now, but my first year was silly bad.

As I recall it was just slightly over a year before I broke 100, but that wasn't really by the rules. No real effort was made to play by the book until year 3.

[Lihu]

27 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

35 years. I didn't even think about keeping a handicap until year 4. I stink now, but my first year was silly bad.

As I recall it was just slightly over a year before I broke 100, but that wasn't really by the rules. No real effort was made to play by the book until year 3.

This was true for me as well, and I would also imagine it was the case for many of us?

Back when I started, I didn't even know more than a few of the rules, and kind of used "common sense" or "judgement" to not break some of the others. Who knows how many rules I broke? So, I couldn't have broken 90 even if I thought I did?

[mcanadiens]

10 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Back when I started, I didn't even know more than a few of the rules, and kind of used "common sense" or "judgement" to not break some of the other. Who knows how many rules I broke? So, I couldn't have broken 90 even if I thought I did?

Common sense was the main thing. Priority one was not slowing up pace more than we had to. That meant very liberal rules on drops. We'd also give ourselves one mulligan per nine. ... Even if it was by our rules instead of the rules, that 98 at The Carolina Club in Granby, NC was very sweet. 

[NJpatbee]

I started at age 40 playing with a group that played for $$ and I started with a 31 and was down to a 22 by the end of our 20 week season.  I did not break 100 until my second season.

[cutchemist42]

Used an app called Golfshot my first year of playing which calculated HI for me based on RCGA. I was a 23.0 after my first season, as 29yo. (Just to add, Im now a 16.3 but using GG's HI)

Edited February 24, 2017 by cutchemist42

[Groucho Valentine]

I didn't have a handicap until i was a consistent 70's shooter. Id been playing full time at least 3 years by then. But i broke 100 first time i played and was shooting in the low 80s by the end of that year. 

I think my first handicap revision was close to 4. I don't remember it moving too much that year. The season after i made a huge jump to around 4 to scratch in less than a year. Ive hovered between a high of +3 and 0 ever since. 

[WUTiger]

I started playing sporadically in about 7th grade. I was self-taught, and didn't break 90 until about end of high school (can't remember that far back). I was small for my age, and played with adult men's irons, so I had to "grow into them" physically to start scoring well.

[MacDutch]

Started playing at the age of 52.  After playing for a year I was at 22.9. Next year 16.9, then 14.x, then 11.x, then 9.7, then 8.6. Last year 7.3. This years result is in the future.

Think this is better then most for my agegroup, but I play a ton of golf.

[MrDC]

I started when I was 44, I didn't even play a full course in my first year, range only, and then only a executive course the following year, max HC I'm sure.

I think for the most part beginning adults don't play well for quite some time, the older the harder it is, I play a ton of golf with adult strangers and rarely do I see a player that I think can break 90, so I think for most part adult newbies are max HC after one year.

Young people have a huge advantage in this game, they can pick it up fairly quickly compared to adults, that's why you don't see many Pros that begin late, or any.

 

[Kalnoky]

I started playing 2 years ago at the age of 39.

After year 1 (per the app I was using on my phone) my handicap was 34. I was super bad. I would hit maybe one (1) good/lucky iron shot every 9 holes. I did not break 100 at all in that first year.