Another chomper to single figures thread – needing some forum love

[Grant85]

Like most low teen to ten handicappers, the goal probably since I joined this forum has been the mystical single figures. Now I know there are plenty of much better golfers on here, hopefully you can still indulge those of us with less lofty (& more realistic goals). I have chatted to a few forumers over the years who were trying the same thing (and some had) - best of luck to those striving.

Having feeling like I consolidated a playing 10 in 2018, I felt it was a realistic goal this season, but as it is golf, I managed to creep back up to 11 recently and was starting to wonder.

This is where I could do with the forum, to remind me that reducing the handicap is the real goal, and not the trinkets etc. of handicap golf competitions.

Last week, in a medal 6 days prior to our club champs (& before you ask, the gross is the proper and real prize and our place does a decent job on having a nett champion also), I started to play well, wobbled, then dug in to grab a little cut (back down to 10). Reminded myself that this was the right thing to do, even if now I am 2 shots further back for the 36 holes of champs.

Saturday was round 1, and it was proper windy, with some rain early. I had the mindset to try and grind out a 'stay in the game' round, and it wasn’t going too badly but dribbled too many doubles and limped to a 87 (77). Many struggled but there were some really great scores and that left me 10 back, so nothing to lose for the Sunday.
Much better this time and finished with a gross 76.

When all sorted out, this puts me at 9.1 – yay!

Despite my recovery (finishing 1 under net for 36), it wasn’t enough to place anywhere. So it does feel a little odd to post a PB, achieve the season’s goal, but not really be acknowledged for it.

P.S. for those interested, I stuck some Benross irons in the bag for this season – me and Wolf should be on commission 😊

Thanks for indulging me, and for all the actual golf posts over the years that have led me to challenge and try things.

Cheers

I think there is a clear strategy of taking the big numbers out of play. Ok - it might be a bit boring to hover around the 80 mark and not really give yourself the chance to shoot in the 70s, but if your goal is just to be a single figures handicapper - short of getting much better at various aspects of the game - course and game management is probably your best friend.

If you are a 10 handicapper... even if you are a 7 or 8 - there are still going to be some of the tougher holes that you can make a stress free bogey at and move on. Taking on a shot that you can only hit some of the time is going to mean running up some numbers over a season and basically undoing what otherwise might have been a decent round.

Then at the other end of the spectrum, as a 10 handicapper, you will surely put yourself in decent position at some of the shorter holes. No doubt a decent drive at 4 or 5 of the Par 4s will turn these into short Par 3s.

As a higher handicapper, the Par 5s are the big one for me. How often do I hit a decent drive and take on a 230 yard 2nd shot?
What is the point. Even if it was a 1 in 10 shot - I am bringing a world of trouble into play and have almost no chance of hitting the green.

Nudge a 7 iron up there... or even a wedge and leave yourself a 140 yard par 3 to a Par 5 sized green.