Golfing Challenge

[Toby_LeRhone]

Ben Hogan was convinced (read his book) that by following just 5 basic principles that anybody with an ounce of athleticism could shoot in the 70's constantly.

Who are we to argue with the great man

Except...

(1) Consistently shooting in the 70s does not a scratch handicap make.

and..

(2) Mr Hogan actually wrote this:

I do genuinely believe this: THE AVERAGE GOLFER IS ENTIRELY CAPABLE OF BUILDING A REPEATING SWING AND BREAKING 80, if he learns to perform a small number of correct movements and conversely, it follows, eliminates a lot of movements which tend to keep the swing from repeating. In these lessons ...we will be concerning ourselves with [what] are the facts of golf which have proved to be the true fundamentals-fundamentals that can be checked and not simply left to the imagination or to guesswork. That is all that is really needed.

Hogan, Ben (2006), Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf (Simon & Shuster, London), pp16-17

 

[pokerjoke]

Ben Hogan was convinced (read his book) that by following just 5 basic principles that anybody with an ounce of athleticism could shoot in the 70's constantly.

Who are we to argue with the great man

Except...

(1) Consistently shooting in the 70s does not a scratch handicap make.

and..

(2) Mr Hogan actually wrote this:

I do genuinely believe this: THE AVERAGE GOLFER IS ENTIRELY CAPABLE OF BUILDING A REPEATING SWING AND BREAKING 80, if he learns to perform a small number of correct movements and conversely, it follows, eliminates a lot of movements which tend to keep the swing from repeating. In these lessons ...we will be concerning ourselves with [what] are the facts of golf which have proved to be the true fundamentals-fundamentals that can be checked and not simply left to the imagination or to guesswork. That is all that is really needed.

Hogan, Ben (2006), Five Lessons; The Modern Fundamentals of Golf (Simon & Shuster, London), pp16-17

Doesnt sound that convincing now

 

[hangover]

good luck with the challenge bud

 

[TobyRich1928]

good luck mate, im doing the same kinda thing, but im only trying to go from 18 to 9

 

[JustOne]

I started last year with 5.5 h/cap and a goal to get to Cat1




I failed.




















Leave it!!!!!!

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Welcome to the forum pal, in your quest to scratch stay positive and most importantly enjoy it!

 

[Matty]

Go for it, but don't get too tied up in the numbers if it's not working out. Be brave enough to stop and say enough when you realise your quest is taking over your existence and threatens to ruin you life.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I'm a great believer that every golfer has 2 handicaps, a mental one and a physical one. Many people, myself included, are limited by their mental handicap. I honestly truely believe that my physical handicap lies somewhere around 5 or 6. My mental handicap is currently what I play to.

I spent last year working on my swing, my physical handicap, this year I aim to work on my mind as that is what is holding me back.

Best of luck with your challenge, you'll no doubt reach a point where you don't think you're progressing and you'll most likely try to find faults in your swing. However, it is very likely these faults are in your mind - if you search the forum, you'll fibd lots of advice about that.

 

[peterlav]

"I'm a great believer that every golfer has 2 handicaps, a mental one and a physical one".


Very true words.Once you get to Cat1 standard, it is what is between the ears that stops you getting any better

 

[USER1999]

"I'm a great believer that every golfer has 2 handicaps, a mental one and a physical one".


Very true words.Once you get to Cat1 standard, it is what is between the ears that stops you getting any better

Cat 1? It's stopping me getting to single figures at all, let alone cat 1. Well, that and rubbish technique, and the build of a pipe cleaner but not the flexibility.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

"I'm a great believer that every golfer has 2 handicaps, a mental one and a physical one".


Very true words.Once you get to Cat1 standard, it is what is between the ears that stops you getting any better

Cat 1? It's stopping me getting to single figures at all, let alone cat 1. Well, that and rubbish technique, and the build of a pipe cleaner but not the flexibility.

Ever thought the 4 shanked chip shots per round might be contributing too?

 

[ScratchOr_Bust]

First of all thank you for all the comments and feedback, it has been great to read them

Just to answer a few of the questions / comments I have been playing for one year and my current handicap is 28, although this is about to be adjusted to around 20 as I have opened the year with rounds of 90 and 86 with the third round required to get a new hcp being played tomorrow.

I do realise that to reach scratch you require a certain level of natural ability and before I set myself this challenge I checked with a couple of PGA pros that I did actually have the ability to accomplish it and both agreed that I do but reaching scratch all dependend on the how much time, energy and hard work I was willing to put in.

And thank you for the comments regarding the mental side of the game, it is something i will be looking at in the near future as I have a stack of Bob Rotella books currently sitting on a shelf waiting to be read but at the moment my focus is on my swing and putting!

As for following my challenge there will not be a blog of any sort (which i am sure some of you will be glad to hear!) as the time I would spend writing it could be better used for practice. But I will try to update people of my progress on here and I also have set up a twitter feed which is ScratchOr_Bust for people to follow.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this and i look forward to hearing more comments