Help Needed… Should I Quit Golf?

[lastings]

If you're not enjoying yourself, go ahead and put it down for a summer or two.   You'll come back.  everyone comes back.  just on your own terms.  

you've probably burnt yourself out.  It happens.  but, as you age, you'll find golf more prevalent in life. I think a general progression for many people is that they play lots of golf when they are kids and in high school.  (before jobs and families and general adult responsibilities get in the way).  Then they head off to college and whatnot and dial the game back drastically in their 20's.  Then at some point in your 30's you'll remember how much you actually loved the  game, and pick it back up again.    It will be at this point when you, ironically, will tell yourself you wish you worked at it harder in your 20's.  because now you're older and you'll start having to deal with the physical limitations of growing older.   

enjoyment is the #1, lower scores come 2nd.  (but, of course, lower scores bring more enjoyment).   It's all a vicious cycle.  but, a vicious cycle that all of us here are happy to tumble down. 

 

[phillyk]

I have played golf for, what feels like, my entire life.  I had the little plastic blue clubs as a tiny kid, and I played competitively through high school.  Senior year I was averaging 2-5 over in tournaments.  Not nearly as good as I wanted to be, but like you @jamesdav12, golf is my life, my identity, all the above.  When I went to college, I wanted to potentially play DII golf, but it wasn't the biggest thing.  I chose college for the social and educational aspect.  Bring your clubs with you.  You may only play half a dozen times during the school year, but trust me it'll feel good to just be out there again.  You'll likely suck, but who cares.  Heck I missed the smell of the golf course in college.

One big difference, though, is that I never had intentions of giving up even though I didn't get to where I wanted.  I worked at golf courses in the summers during breaks from college.  After graduating, I got a job with the intention of getting an assistant golf professional position somewhere.  When I met my wife, it wasn't even a question that I was trying to get a job in the golf industry.  She knew what she was signing up for.  I am a golfer through and through.  I'm 26 now and living the dream.  Sure, pay sucks, but whatever.  I get to play all the time, I'm working my way through the PGA program, and I play a bunch of local pro-ams where the main point is to have a fun friendly competition.  

My play got so much better after making realistic goals for myself and just playing for the fun of it.  Sure, my vision is to eventually play in a PGA Tour event, but my goals each year are to just better my pro-am or tourney scores by a little each year.  I will likely never get in a real PGA Tour event, but that won't stop me from trying to get better.

The point of the story, don't make the decision now.  College is a ton of fun.  Put your clubs in the closet for now, but you'll need them on some of the nicer afternoons you have off.  Go to college and enjoy it!  Think about golf when it comes back to you, it will.

[Patch]

I say, based on you post, to go a head and quit. However, don't get rid of your golf gear. You are going to need it later on once your golf "burn out" mends itself. 

Take a few days, months, off from the game. Even a year if you can, or need to stay away from the game that long. 

When you do return to the game (and you will) everything in your own golf game will be fresh again. You will have a clearer mind as to what you need to do, as to what you want to accomplish. 

I am of the opinion that with golf, most folks set their goals way to high for the natural talent level they have. This is usually what causes some folks to give up the game.

There is an old saying that 90% of fish caught, are caught by 10% of the fishermen. Maybe change the percentages a little, and the same could be said for golf. 

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

I ask myself the same question after every double bogey. 

That would happen too often for me, but when you save yourself from that "impossible shot" situation you probably feel too good to notice your 3 putt. . .

[dbuck]

First, the short answer.  Take the summer off, and the fall, and the spring. Golf can be a time hog, and you don't need anymore time hogs during your freshman year. You have picked two good alternative distractions, and both are beneficial to mind, body, and spirit, while giving you a break from your studies, and can be had in smaller blocks of time.

We cannot all be college athletes, let alone professionals. I play guitar and sing, better than I play golf, but I will never be famous for music or golf. Still, I love them, and they give me something I can get nowhere else.

I have been playing golf for over 40 years, and I still get a rush every time I stick a tee in the ground. I don't score that well, but I can hit it pretty good for an old guy. Although at one time in my late twenties/early thirties, I could play to an 8-9, most of my golfing life has been spent as a bogey golfer. I still enjoy it as much, if not more, than ever.

The key is enjoy. If by next summer, you feel the itch, then come back, perhaps with a different mindset. Try to just enjoy the game. Hit a bucket now and then to keep the rust off. You may find that you want to practice more to maintain or improve skills, or you may find that the bucket once a week and 9 holes 3 or 4 times a month is enough. If you don't enjoy any of it, then don't do it. Let it be a passion, or a pastime, but not an addiction nor a master.

 

 

[Kalnoky]

For my .02, I think you're pretty good at golf already. A lot of people can't break 90 after playing for many years (or so says my instructor). Sounds like you've already broken 80, unless I've misunderstood you.. Anyway, I wouldn't quit golf 100%, just back off a bit. You'll enjoy the game more I bet. And it'll come in handy when your friends start getting married and you have to do all those crazy bachelor party/golf trips.

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by Kalnoky

[StefanUrkel]

Rule 1: 99.9 percent chance person doesn't shoot what they say

Rule 2: 99.9 percent chance person doesn't hit it far as he thinks

Rule 3: 99.9 percent chance golf will be a worthy long-term endeavor for you

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

Rule 1: 99.9 percent chance person doesn't shoot what they say

Rule 2: 99.9 percent chance person doesn't hit it far as he thinks

Rule 3: 99.9 percent chance golf will be a worthy long-term endeavor for you

Just out of curiosity, where did the OP say how far he hits? His scores seem reasonable for someone playing that long.

I agree with the third if you mean just for fun?

[JonMA1]

On 4/26/2017 at 11:06 PM, jamesdav12 said:

As you can imagine, I wish I had picked some other hobby back when I was younger. For a while, golf was a part of my identity. Now it is not, and I don't know what to do...

I realize I will never be very good at this game, yet I really enjoy it - and I'd kill to play at the level you're at @jamesdav12.

Something has changed this year... I've stopped trying so hard to get better and am trying to accept my game as it is. It ain't easy, but I can either do that or continue to have unrealistic goals, expectations and epic disappointments.

I still enjoy practicing and studying the game as you've described. I still think improvement will come. But the idea of ever playing at single digit or even anything below bogey is gone.

There are some good suggestions above. I think you can learn to enjoy the game without being so hard on yourself and consumed with improvement.

Are you saying when you've shot 5 over you haven't played some outstanding golf, made a lot of good shots and enjoyed yourself? What about when you shoot 10 over or even 18? Even on many of my terrible rounds, there have been shots that make me feel pretty good.

[gregsandiego]

On 4/26/2017 at 8:06 PM, jamesdav12 said:

 

I have come to a point where I don't really enjoy golf as much (not that it ever gave me a great deal of genuine joy anyways) and don't enjoy competitive golf at all.

The sentence above is what stood out to me. "not that it ever gave me a great deal of genuine joy"

I'm guessing a lot of us have ups and down but overall still like it. It's like that commercial where the guy says " I hate golf", and then immediately says "when are we playing again ?"

If you simply don't like it, get zero enjoyment,  not just that you vacillate like many, I see no reason to stay with it. 

 

[RandallT]

8 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

I still enjoy practicing and studying the game as you've described. I still think improvement will come. But the idea of ever playing at single digit or even anything below bogey is gone

Yah for many of us, I think it's the best thing to just enjoy learning and trying to get better- love the "process" as they say.

I know if I set a goal for how good I wanna get, that would work against my enjoyment.  So any goals I set only deal with how much practice and fitness to do.  

Then just let the rest happen. I score what I score, knowing I've done my part to be better, and just try to enjoy the game. That mindset doesn't work for everyone, and prob not the OP, but has worked for me the past few years. 

[Jack Watson]

If I didn't enjoy golf I would stop doing it.  I didn't golf much in my twenties.  I was about 36 when I got the bug again and I wanted to improve.  Pre age 36 my best was 84.  I practiced a ton,  studied the swing,  for one year or so enlisted a pros help,  practiced more,  studied more etc.  I really enjoyed my time spent practicing and studying.  I wanted to almost never shoot above 80 on my standard courses I play.  I was heavy into it say May through late October.  The rest of the year I practiced much less,  maybe just enough not to backslide.

Five or six years later my personal best was not below par,  and something happened.  I realized I had become a much better golfer than I was.  I gained confidence in my swing/technique.  I realized that trying to constantly tweak my swing was not only not as fun but it was preventing me from performing as consistently as I could.  Constant changes meant constant swing thoughts.  After a long layoff I found I would swing much better when I wasn't grinding every day.  No swing thoughts to get in the way.  Better concentration.

I changed my whole focus from my body to the  Hands/clubhead.  I read some De La Torre and of course Ernest Jones.  I decided to stop grinding on the range.  After a couple years I find that the swing is now kinda like riding a bike.  I no longer flinch and tighten coming through.  It finally feels good.  For me it was the best decision I have made in golf.  

Like many starting at mid cap level I was seduced by mechanics.  After going through all this I see that nice mechanics can be created with many different intents.  I like the absolute simplest ones.

So now,  I enjoy playing but it's very different than it used to be.  I enjoy the challenge playing provides.  I enjoy the challenge of letting a couple bad holes go and not allowing them to ruin a round.  I enjoy getting on a roll sometimes when it happens.    I am no longer stimulated with all the mechanics stuff,  to me I see that while most people (mid high caps esp.) may not really get it that often very simple intents/feels can solve what might appear to be complex mechanical swing problems.  Oftentimes the more complex we make the swing by breaking it down the more difficult it becomes to execute.

That said,  I do not and will not ever enjoy golf played at peak course times.  I play evening or if I do a weekend I will only do dawn patrol (very rare).  If you told me I could only play midmorning on weekends I would not play golf.  I don't enjoy being out there standing around waiting for people.

Golf has been a bit of an odyssey for me these last ten years or so.  Finally now my mind is at ease again and I have made my peace with the game.  imo you can only work on mechanics so much before it becomes a weakness rather than a strength.  Changing my perception was the best move for me in golf.

 

 

[RickK]

Sometimes it is a good thing to just walk away from something.  Golf should be fun, regardless of at what level you play.  If it is not fun, you do not need to be out there.  But, if you have played, have some amount of skill at it (albeit not at a high level)...you can always pick it back up.  

Sometimes, when you pick a sport back up after a layoff, you come back with a different attitude and things just start to fall in place. Don't force.  It is supposed to be fun.  

[TripleEagle]

I'm in a similar boat here. After the state tournament next week my high school golf career is over, and i'm just as inconsistent as you are. This season my tournament scores have been: 81, 74, 90, 75, 73, 83, 74, 88, 72, 77, 96, 77, 76, 75, 79. For me, I don't want to quit. The fact that I have put this much time and effort into getting where I am today shows the difficulty of this game and that grows my respect towards it. I am not playing college golf next year as my only offers were from NAIA and D3 schools that didn't interest me much, and as of now I will not have a career in golf, but that doesn't mean I won't. As far as any advice for you, I think you should take diligent notes of the conditions, how you played, your misses, where you gained strokes, etc. that has helped me see why I get those taboo scores and thats helped me alot.

[Zekez]

You're 18 for crying out loud.  if you don't like golf, or anything else, stop and do other things.

You're 18, not 98.  Lord.

[inthehole]

Not all of us are going to be scratch golfers, but we still enjoy the game.    I say take a break from it ... when you get older, you still have the knowledge and will be able to play for your enjoyment, not necessarily the competitive aspect.

[JxQx]

I feel like a lot of golfers run through this same issue at one point or another in their golfing career and I was no different. I personally decided to keep playing golf but it is was after I realized that I was only playing to shoot a particular score and not playing golf because I enjoyed it. At that time  I decided for the next couple months I wasn't going to keep score and was just going to go play with friends with the sole purpose of having a great time. It did take me awhile break the habit but once I did I enjoyed golf a lot more and actually started playing a lot better. Instead of getting really mad at a mistake or bad shot I looked at it as an opportunity to make a great recovery or a lesson learned. So I guess the question you have to ask yourself do you play golf because you enjoy it or are you solely playing for a score/means to an end. If it's the latter and you have no chance of meeting the goal, it may be better to hang it up for awhile. 

[70sSanO]

Everyone is different so this may not apply, but if I were you I would look at other activities/hobbies that interest you... cycling, snowboarding, guitar, etc.  There has to be other things you always wanted to do, after all you are young and have your whole life ahead of you.  I wouldn't give up golf completely, just put it in its place as one of many activities you do.

I was never great at any one thing and I hated that when I was a kid, but I was able to do a lot of things well enough to enjoy them and that has served me well for 65 years.  You need to add some things that you can do well enough to enjoy.

John