Dream on!!!

[darriusdax]

I was recommended to read this book by John Richardson (Dream on) . I thought my quest for scratch ( since revised to a level par round due to the length of time it takes to lower hcap) was more original than it turns out... naive.. The book is fascinating and interesting,, I wondered if any of you guys and gals agree with his assessment that club golf tends to form handicap groups where the opinions of your peers dominate your thinking and keep you stuck in that handicap zone... The part where he reflects that the mid handicapper finishes a medal, has a pint with his friends and moans about how crap his short game is - while the scratch golfer finishes and spends an hour on the practice green working on any part of his game that failed in the round... then maybe has a pint.. Great book, thanks for the recommendation.

 

[robinthehood]

It's not a bad read, the internet is littered with lots of novice to scratch type challenges, most give up pretty quick as it's a tough game.

 

[darriusdax]

It's not a bad read, the internet is littered with lots of novice to scratch type challenges, most give up pretty quick as it's a tough game.

It is tough but do any of us really practice properly.... Playing the piano is really tough and takes hours of technical training to master... Top pianists dont plink out a few tunes then go to the pub for a pint, they practice 10 hours a day, most mid handicappers cant manage 10 minutes on the putting green.

 

[Jacko_G]

Everything in life is about what you put into it.

 

[sunshine]

It is tough but do any of us really practice properly.... Playing the piano is really tough and takes hours of technical training to master... Top pianists dont plink out a few tunes then go to the pub for a pint, they practice 10 hours a day, most mid handicappers cant manage 10 minutes on the putting green.

I don't really understand your point. Most mid handicappers aren't trying to get to scratch. They are playing for fun.

 

[darriusdax]

I don't really understand your point. Most mid handicappers aren't trying to get to scratch. They are playing for fun.

i dont know a single golfer who doesnt want to be better and is confused when they play badly.

 

[williamalex1]

Some guys can practice and take lessons for years and still wont be a low handicap player.

Some guys are naturals and will improve easily and become a low h/c, then there's guys who have no coordination at all and will always have a very high h/c.
Then older guys like me that just plod along going up point 1 most weeks then hope to have a couple of lucky/good scores and cut back down.

 

[darriusdax]

Some guys can practice and take lessons for years and still wont be a low handicap player.

Some guys are naturals and will improve easily and become a low h/c, then there's guys who have no coordination at all and will always have a very high h/c.
Then older guys like me that just plod along going up point 1 most weeks then hope to have a couple of lucky/good scores and cut back down.

ive just had a 2hr lesson with Peter Arnott.. top guy. Using trackman he demonstrated that i have a slice swing due to bad pelvic angles... we worked on this till i got a square attack angle and hitting nice straight shots.... if i practice this properly then my scores will drop... simple as.... maybe the guys having lessons are not listening or absorbing what they are being told... or maybe the teachers are pishh..... work in progress... laugh at me in a few months when my hc has gone up not down

 

[williamalex1]

ive just had a 2hr lesson with Peter Arnott.. top guy. Using trackman he demonstrated that i have a slice swing due to bad pelvic angles... we worked on this till i got a square attack angle and hitting nice straight shots.... if i practice this properly then my scores will drop... simple as.... maybe the guys having lessons are not listening or absorbing what they are being told... or maybe the teachers are pishh..... work in progress... laugh at me in a few months when my hc has gone up not down

Best of luck, i hope you do well, but as i said there some guys that have no coordination.

 

[sunshine]

i dont know a single golfer who doesnt want to be better and is confused when they play badly.

You make 2 points here:

1. I dont know a single golfer who doesnt want to be better
Yes and no. Most golfers I know recognise that to really get better requires a level of dedication and practise that is not realistic, due to work, family etc. Sure there's always hope that a new driver etc will act like a magic wand, but generally people are not deluded, they accept what they have.


2. I dont know a single golfer who is confused when they play badly
Not sure about this. Sometimes I've been a bit confused, I'm sure everyone has made a good swing (or so they thought) only to see the ball inexplicably sail off into the trees. For the most part I know what I've done wrong, I think most people I play golf with are the same.

 

[sunshine]

i dont know a single golfer who doesnt want to be better and is confused when they play badly.

You must play with some really deluded people. The kind of person who thinks that if they practise hard they can get to scratch in a year, even though they've never been near cat 1.

There's a teenage lad at my club like that, he's quit college to play golf full time, his aim is to go pro, but the lad is off 8 at age 17 and never going to make it. His parents are indulging him, they should know better, you expect an adult to know better.

 

[robinthehood]

You must play with some really deluded people. The kind of person who thinks that if they practise hard they can get to scratch in a year, even though they've never been near cat 1.

There's a teenage lad at my club like that, he's quit college to play golf full time, his aim is to go pro, but the lad is off 8 at age 17 and never going to make it. His parents are indulging him, they should know better, you expect an adult to know better.

The book is pretty good, it talks about this kind of negative attitude to improvment.

 

[Jacko_G]

You must play with some really deluded people. The kind of person who thinks that if they practise hard they can get to scratch in a year, even though they've never been near cat 1.

There's a teenage lad at my club like that, he's quit college to play golf full time, his aim is to go pro, but the lad is off 8 at age 17 and never going to make it. His parents are indulging him, they should know better, you expect an adult to know better.

Thankfully Greg Norman didn't have such a defeatest attitude. Greg took up golf at 16 and is a major winner and former world number one.

Follow your dreams and ignore the negativity.

Go for it, be the best you can.

 

[Dibby]

Having been fairly decent at another sport, so having some idea what it takes to be high level at something, I can tell you that what people say they want, very rarely matches with how they act. I can say I want £1 billion, but if I just sit on my sofa, my actions don't match my words.

I can also tell you that those with the most talent don't always go as far as they could, and sometimes you get an underdog who has way less talent than others, but who makes up for it with motivation and drive. However, whilst the underdog is inspirational to many people, most people have nowhere near the same dedication, but kid themselves they do.

The final thing I will tell you is that the most successful people I met, just did what they want no matter whether others encouraged, disparaged or ignored them. Do your thing, give it your all, and if you really did put everything into it, it doesn't matter where you end up, because no more can be asked of you.

 

[sunshine]

Having been fairly decent at another sport, so having some idea what it takes to be high level at something, I can tell you that what people say they want, very rarely matches with how they act. I can say I want £1 billion, but if I just sit on my sofa, my actions don't match my words.

I can also tell you that those with the most talent don't always go as far as they could, and sometimes you get an underdog who has way less talent than others, but who makes up for it with motivation and drive. However, whilst the underdog is inspirational to many people, most people have nowhere near the same dedication, but kid themselves they do.

The final thing I will tell you is that the most successful people I met, just did what they want no matter whether others encouraged, disparaged or ignored them. Do your thing, give it your all, and if you really did put everything into it, it doesn't matter where you end up, because no more can be asked of you.

What a great post

 

[sunshine]

Thankfully Greg Norman didn't have such a defeatest attitude. Greg took up golf at 16 and is a major winner and former world number one.

Follow your dreams and ignore the negativity.

Go for it, be the best you can.

If you saw the lad play you would understand my point.

Norman had immense natural talent plus the will to apply himself. He may have started relatively late, 16 you say, but I bet he demonstrated potential straight away. I bet he wasn't hacking it around for ten years before suddenly becoming talented.

I'm referring to people with average talent. Dedication is not enough

 

[Jacko_G]

It's better to live a dream than fail to dream.

Negativity is a cancer.

 

[sunshine]

It's better to live a dream than fail to dream.

Negativity is a cancer.

What if your short fat dumpy son dreams of being an Olympic sprinter? No amount of following your dream or training is going to turn him into the next usain bolt. How long do you keep indulging him? While he's at primary school? Secondary school when he gets no GCSEs because he doesn't need them for sprinting? When he's 30 and living at home with no job or career?

 

[Jacko_G]

Well thankfully I'm a better parent who wouldn't allow my children to become fat and dumpy.

 

[Parsaregood]

I believe Greg Norman was scratch within a year of starting, it can be done but only those with lots of ability can do it in such a short period. I play off scratch myself and it took me 4/5 years to get to scratch and I'd say I was more talented than your average joe, obviously I couldn't dedicate as much time as I'd have like due to work etc so may have got there in about 3 years if I did have, also i may not have. Being able to shoot scores in competition is also much harder due to nerves etc your average 6 handicap could probably shoot par or damn close to it once or twice a year so I wouldn't reduce your goal to that as it's not really near your original goal.

I'd definitely say if you enjoy practice, do it as much as you want and see where it takes you, although dont delude yourself at the same time. Try and get a game with guys either off scratch or better, it will help you but also may give you an indication of what it would take or not to get to roughly the same level