Do you believe you can get to scratch?

[Mandofred]

Short answer is no. I have too many brain farts.

All hail the brain fart........

 

[sunshine]

I'd agree with this, and the prior statement that it's more mental. I'd also add in that there is a big distinction between "can\could you" and "will you/do you want to". I think a lot of people don't really want to be as good as they can be, it's not always fun and this is just a hobby, so that's fair enough. I also think there is always an element of expectation that we should always trying to be our best, so it's not easy to admit that we don't really want that, and so instead we protect ourselves by justifying why something can't be done.

Don’t think I’ve ever spoken with someone who doesn’t want to be better.

If someone chooses to spend their spare time with their family rather than practising to get down to scratch, that’s just priorities. I do want to be a better golfer, but not sure I’m ready to get divorced.

 

[sjw]

My mate off scratch, wonderful golfer had a few shanks with his 8 iron.
Next day 8 iron again shank.

TXT me the next day and said “ I’ve sorted it out”
Sat comp no 8 iron in his bag shot -4 won the comp.
That’s mental .

That's superb!

 

[bobmac]

That’s frowned upon now though Bob.
We had an email about practicing chipping around the green fringes.

We do have a short game practice area so they have a point.

But if it’s allowed it’s ideal.

Yes, I know but if the club doesn't have a chipping area, then they can't really complain.
Its not as if hes hitting 100 full wedges, taking divots and leaving pitchmarks.
And as he's on the front 9 in the evening, he's not likely to be holding up anybody

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Yes, I know but if the club doesn't have a chipping area, then they can't really complain.
Its not as if hes hitting 100 full wedges, taking divots and leaving pitchmarks.
And as he's on the front 9 in the evening, he's not likely to be holding up anybody

Yes they can complain. Not every club can offer full practice facilities, that's unreasonable. Anyone damaging the course just for their own practice purposes is plain selfish.

 

[bobmac]

Yes they can complain. Not every club can offer full practice facilities, that's unreasonable. Anyone damaging the course just for their own practice purposes is plain selfish.

Chipping shouldn't damage the course.

 

[Slab]

Chipping shouldn't damage the course.

Yeah chips shouldn’t in theory
I practice chipping about three times a week and even when I catch the ground first it’s just bruising/brushing the grass but it amazes me that even right next to the chipping green there will be proper divot patches where I can only guess folk have been taking full lob wedge flop shot practice swings… and missing

Better there than on the course I suppose but it still irks to see

 

[HPIMG]

Yes they can complain. Not every club can offer full practice facilities, that's unreasonable. Anyone damaging the course just for their own practice purposes is plain selfish.

My club has really good practice facilities that was the main reason I joined but in the summer I was out early one morning first out. On the 15th and walking down the par 4 guy on the 16th and I watch him hit 6 shots on the par3. Our 16th is next to the club house so he walks off after 16. Tee box chopped up no attempt to replace divots and think he hit the green once. I find the people I see hitting multiple balls are always terrible they could be out there all week hitting thousands of balls wouldn’t help them one bit.
If everyone has this guys attitude tee boxes would be destroyed, I don’t understand why people think it’s ok to practice on a course when you have really good practice facilities.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Chipping shouldn't damage the course.

Shouldn't does not mean doesn't. Plenty will dig it up if they are repeating the same shot from the same place over and over. There is a reason why practice on the course like this is banned in pretty much all clubs.

 

[Klimski]

I believe I could have gotten to scratch during my first 'golf life' from 15-21 years old. I only played during summer holidays, two three weeks, got down from 36 - 12 from age 18-21. Shot single figures a few times.

Then life took over didn't really play (once a year at most) until I was 36 when I picked up the game again. Herniated neck, herniated lower back. Age, kids etc. Used to hit driver 240m, 7 iron 149m. Now it's Driver 195m, 7 iron 120m (if that) - so no way I'll ever get to scratch. Distance is so important! - That said, I do hope to get from 19 to 17 and hopefully back to 12 in the next few years. A man can dream.

 

[bobmac]

Shouldn't does not mean doesn't. Plenty will dig it up if they are repeating the same shot from the same place over and over. There is a reason why practice on the course like this is banned in pretty much all clubs.

I wasn't talking about people digging up the course or tees or hitting lob wedges, I was talking about chipping practice.
How else are people supposed to improve if there are no practice areas?

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Chipping shouldn't damage the course.

I have lost count the amount of times I have seen people take divots by fatting a chip

The course isn’t the place the be throwing balls down and doing continual practise on

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I wasn't talking about people digging up the course or tees or hitting lob wedges, I was talking about chipping practice.
How else are people supposed to improve if there are no practice areas?

They have to go somewhere that either has a practice area, another club, a driving range, or find an empty field. You can't put everything onto the club you are a member of. You knew what they had to offer before you joined.

 

[bobmac]

They have to go somewhere that either has a practice area, another club, a driving range, or find an empty field. You can't put everything onto the club you are a member of. You knew what they had to offer before you joined.

Do clubs allow non members to use their course or chipping areas to practice?
Most courses have practice putting greens but they almost all have ''no chipping'' signs
And I don't see how you can practice chipping on a field or driving range.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Do clubs allow non members to use their course or chipping areas to practice?
Most courses have practice putting greens but they almost all have ''no chipping'' signs
And I don't see how you can practice chipping on a field or driving range.

The no practise on the course applies to all

 

[Oddsocks]

On reviewing this thread, my question is would you want to be scratch?

The majority of 5hc or below golfers that I know appear not to enjoy their golf as one hole could ruin the round, I watched a 4capper walk off after 2 holes last week as he started double double … it wasn’t about winning but he knew his day was pointless. I have quite a few friends in the 6-9’s and they have even commented that golf isn’t as enjoyable as it was when they were 12/14 ish,

 

[Golf is fun]

Don’t think I’ve ever spoken with someone who doesn’t want to be better.

If someone chooses to spend their spare time with their family rather than practising to get down to scratch, that’s just priorities. I do want to be a better golfer, but not sure I’m ready to get divorced.

You've never spoken with someone who admitted they don't want to get better, probably because the expectation I speak of. It's easy for people to say they want to get better, but the proof is in whether they actually go and do something about it, ignoring whether that is effective or not.

Priorities are part of the brutal reality of becoming a high level performer at almost anything. You can see that with a lot of high level athletes, business people, artists, etc... they've either given up things in their current life stage, or have in the past (although as kids this is often easier as they don't have so much of a baseline to know what they might be missing out on). I'm not saying it's wrong to prioritise family at all, just the point is you and many others probably could be scratch, but you don't want to if the cost is losing your marriage (or something equally as valuable to you) so you wont.

 

[Orikoru]

Do clubs allow non members to use their course or chipping areas to practice?
Most courses have practice putting greens but they almost all have ''no chipping'' signs
And I don't see how you can practice chipping on a field or driving range.

Yep, I think we've circled back to the point I was making. It's not always easy to get the practice in. Our club has a 'no chipping' sign on the practice green, but I've even seen the club pro having a few chips there before a match he was playing in, because there's nowhere else to do it! Daft really. We have a practice area but the chipping part of it is completely useless - mentioned it before, but it's like they put an upturned bowl of a green down that's only six feet across, so you can't play any sort of chip and runs to it - all you can do is trying and flop it onto the top of it. Don't know why they don't flatten that area and do it properly, but maybe it's just a cost thing.

 

[hambugerpete]

On reviewing this thread, my question is would you want to be scratch?

The majority of 5hc or below golfers that I know appear not to enjoy their golf as one hole could ruin the round, I watched a 4capper walk off after 2 holes last week as he started double double … it wasn’t about winning but he knew his day was pointless. I have quite a few friends in the 6-9’s and they have even commented that golf isn’t as enjoyable as it was when they were 12/14 ish,

But thats just because the 28 cappers are clearing up in the comps each week

 

[bobmac]

The no practise on the course applies to all

They have to go somewhere that either has a practice area, another club, a driving range, or find an empty field. You can't put everything onto the club you are a member of. You knew what they had to offer before you joined.

Basically, you can't practice on your own course but you can go to another course and practice?