11 Reasons You Stink at Golf

[uitar9]

Regarding that cart: two in a cart doesn't speed up the game. Single carts might.

Once that first ball is found, that second persons ball is still waiting to be found/hit. Can be agonizing to watch.

Us slow walkers are at our ball waiting.

[billchao]

7 minutes ago, uitar9 said:

Regarding that cart: two in a cart doesn't speed up the game. Single carts might.

Once that first ball is found, that second persons ball is still waiting to be found/hit. Can be agonizing to watch.

That has less to do with being two in a cart as it does with golfers who don't know how to use one properly.

Drop player 1 off at their ball with a couple of extra clubs, drive off to player 2's ball. Problem solved.

[uitar9]

Agreed-

[Bucki1968]

5 minutes ago, billchao said:

That has less to do with being two in a cart as it does with golfers who don't know how to use one properly.

Drop player 1 off at their ball with a couple of extra clubs, drive off to player 2's ball. Problem solved.

Yes! Play ready golf! There is nothing worse than watching the group in front of you all stand/sit around and watch one guy hit his shot. Get ready to hit yours!

All that being said, I like to walk when I can. Right now in Florida it's not real practical to walk 18 holes in sauna heat. 

I also believe that most people can improve playing golf by playing/practicing more. It's all about how much time you have to devote to practice/playing.

[NM Golf]

5 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Most people don't have time to practice a lot. And if you ended up playing on the beach for 5 or 6 holes during your round and took two strokes to get out half the time, that's a lot. But then you obviously practice a lot from your HC, so you're a world apart from the average bogey golfer or the person trying to break 100.

No, most people don't have a lot of time to practice, BUT if that little bit of practice time you do have is used to work on your bunker game its a complete waste of time. All I am saying is the full swing is more important than the short game when it comes to scoring. If you have even the tiniest amount of time to practice, you would be better served using that time to work on your full swing. Maybe then you wouldn't spend as much time in bunkers.

3 hours ago, billchao said:

That actually makes practicing the right things the proper way even more important for them than the players who have more time to spend on practice.

^^This^^

2 hours ago, billchao said:

That has less to do with being two in a cart as it does with golfers who don't know how to use one properly.

Drop player 1 off at their ball with a couple of extra clubs, drive off to player 2's ball. Problem solved.

The ability to use a cart like this is a lost art. Anymore it's like people are joined at the hip and can't get too far away from one another.

[mcanadiens]

22 minutes ago, NM Golf said:

The ability to use a cart like this is a lost art. Anymore it's like people are joined at the hip and can't get too far away from one another.

One of the great things about playing with beginners is that I can order them around while they drive the cart. Go there, drop me here, etc. It's like I'm a god-damn commander or something.

Point is that, while fun for me, hopefully the fella learns some of this going forward.

Edited September 18, 2018 by mcanadiens

[GolfLug]

Lack of talent would be a reason why one is not a 70s or better shooter, but I see absolutely no reason why one cannot dink around a 6,100 yard course in mid-upper 80s with sensible consistent work (not necessarily a lot of work) over a few years and zero 'talent'.

In my opinion shooting in mid-upper 80s is not great but that is definitely not stinking and 'talent' is not much of a factor to get there. Will take a while though.  

Longer the shot more the work required. Simple as that. Short game requires less work (not zero) as it is allows relatively large (even huge) shot zones. For example margin of error for a driver which you expect to hit 200 yards is maybe 2-3 degs, but for a bunker shot it can be 20 degs and you would still get on the green.   

Edited September 18, 2018 by GolfLug

[JonMA1]

14 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Lack of talent would be a reason why one is not a 70s or better shooter, but I see absolutely no reason why one cannot dink around a 6,100 yard course in mid-upper 80s with sensible consistent work (not necessarily a lot of work) over a few years and zero 'talent'.

I think you overestimate the ability of those will little to zero talent and you may even underestimate your own talent level. I say that with the utmost respect for those of you who have some natural talent and put in the good work.

Now if you're excluding those of us who started the game later in life, you may be correct. I wouldn't know.

I believe an average individual may get to the upper 80's in a couple years under those circumstances, but IMO, there are some - and it might only be 10% or whatever - who have almost no chance even with decent practice habits and a reasonable amount of time in which to practice and play. Believe me, I'd love to be wrong on this one.

I don't say this as an excuse for being where I'm at after 7 years. I certainly could do better with my practice habits, but I do put a lot of effort into trying to practice properly. While I'm no natural athlete, I'm not a complete failure at other sports either. Golf requires a certain level or type of competency, or understanding, or whatever, that some of us lack.

I've always enjoyed stories of a player who, despite putting in the work, plateaued in the upper 90's or worse for several years before making a change or have some sort of breakthrough to become considerably better rapidly. Those stories don't seem to be common.

[p1n9183]

Yeap, i can relate with a few.
#1 stop practicing
#5 stop tracking my stats
#9 definitively! but it´s just really hard to find and maybe you ruined your swing after a lot of quick fixes you tryed before.
#10 sad but true. 250 Carry at scratch level isn´t enough
 

Edited September 18, 2018 by p1n9183

[Aguirre]

You ride a cart? F*** Josh Sens, whoever the f*** he is. 

Anyway, I can compile eleven reasons why I suck at golf easily. And twelve reasons why this article eats ass.

[hespeler]

At the end of the day you have to get the ball in the hole.  To do that consistently you have to have at least some proficiency in all aspects of the game.

I guess it all depends on what is defined by "good" and "talented."  I play public golf courses with a lot of strangers and most agree that breaking 100 consistently is the definition of good golfer.  Most think that if you could bomb a drive or hit a long approach shot to 10 feet you're a good golfer.  They think if you can hit pro-level looking shots even some of the time that you're scoring well but they're not counting your score.  People don't seem to take as much notice when someone gets up and down a few times a round or grinds out a tough putt to save par or even bogey.

I played the other day with my father-in-law and a stranger and the stranger asked if I played golf in high school.  When I told him I didn't and that I took it up in my 30's (I'm 44 now) he was very surprised.  At that point in the round some of my can't break 90 flaws and inconsistencies began to creep in like they always do on the way to my obligatory 92.

I appreciated the comment and truth is I did have more talent than the guy but I regard myself as a poor golfer because I can't score consistently despite striking the ball better than most that I play with.

I also suspect that if people kept an accurate score their career lows would not be what they say or think they are so they aren't even sure if they're getting better or not.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by hespeler

[Kalnoky]

#11 is why I never capture half of the knowledge from my lessons. As anyone who's ever had a misunderstanding with their significant other knows full well, different words can mean different things to different people. 

They forgot to add #12: You are not a student or a retired person, who plays golf every day.

They also forgot to add #13: Temperament. A lot of people are naturally anxious and they get nervy or upset on the golf course. Once you tense up, and you can't play to your ability anymore. 

 

 

 

[rdubya59]

Reason #12.  Most golf instruction SUCKS!!  Golf is the only sport I'm aware of that attempts to be taught intrinsically.  When we were taught to throw a football or a baseball, we weren't taught 8 positions or x factors or other such nonsense.    If I'm wrong, why has the average handicap not improved in the last 100 years??

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, rdubya59 said:

Reason #12.  Most golf instruction SUCKS!!  Golf is the only sport I'm aware of that attempts to be taught intrinsically.  When we were taught to throw a football or a baseball, we weren't taught 8 positions or x factors or other such nonsense.    If I'm wrong, why has the average handicap not improved in the last 100 years??

First off, you’re wrong about the average handicap not improving and secondly hitting a golf ball is exponentially more difficult than throwing a baseball.

I agree that most instruction is pretty bad, but don’t paint everyone with that same brush.

[JonMA1]

Reason #13: Many crappy golfers want to put the blame anywhere but on themselves.

[Lihu]

On 9/29/2018 at 3:34 AM, JonMA1 said:

Reason #13: Many crappy golfers want to put the blame anywhere but on themselves.

Based upon what I hear on the driving range(s) "f*** ME" occurs quite a bit more than other expletives, but maybe those are the not as crappy golfers?

Edited October 4, 2018 by Lihu

[Piz]

Nobody stinks at golf.  Are you kidding me?  Yes we all return scores higher than they might have been.  That is not a sign of incompetence.  That is the joy, and frustration, of the game.  It does not matter how the round or a particular shot unfold.  Each challenge (i.e. hole) is an opportunity.  Nothing more...nothing less.  What you do has no bearing, whatsoever, on the world at large.  You want to get better at golf?  Then you are going to have to make things that are not important more important.  Don't feel like doing that?  Join the club.  Golf is not important; but our sense of self worth is...and how does that play over nine?

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, Piz said:

Nobody stinks at golf.  Are you kidding me?

Huh?