How good can your golf realistically get?

HeftyHacker

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HI Is currently 11.2 but my playing partners who play off 4.7 and 5.2 say I could comfortably get down to their level, and I've shot a couple of 76s etc which shows I can, and on those days golf just feels easy.

I'm not so sure, as it stands I need to go away and understand my own game a bit more and become more consistent. Since the greens have firmed up and the weather has got warmer my game has gone to pot. Its mainly as I'm missing a lot of greens because I don't know my yardages and my short game isn't getting my up and down enough so I end up falling into bogey golf a lot.

Its all practice though, and hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have a bit more time to do that.
 

Slab

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17.7 at the moment which is as low as i've been, spent years hovering around the 20 mark
i'd like to think sub 15 is doable (its not that low after all)

I play pretty tough courses (and it intrigues me to daydream in traffic jams what gross I might shoot on the old muni I played in the UK, of course in my head I never double a hole :sneaky:)
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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HI Is currently 11.2 but my playing partners who play off 4.7 and 5.2 say I could comfortably get down to their level, and I've shot a couple of 76s etc which shows I can, and on those days golf just feels easy.

I'm not so sure, as it stands I need to go away and understand my own game a bit more and become more consistent. Since the greens have firmed up and the weather has got warmer my game has gone to pot. Its mainly as I'm missing a lot of greens because I don't know my yardages and my short game isn't getting my up and down enough so I end up falling into bogey golf a lot.

Its all practice though, and hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have a bit more time to do that.
I think that building an understanding of my own game is key and for me is just what I am now learning.
 

SimonC

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I came down a further 0.4 to 0.0 after a 68 last night. I made 2 terrible bogeys to start too as I went straight from my car to the first tee which is never a good idea for me, but I had a tee time with a friend that I didn't want to miss.

I'm off to Tour Issue Golf near York tonight for a full bag fitting to see if there is any room for improvement in my current setup. In all honesty I'm not expecting there to be but I'm going in there with zero expectations so I may end up being surprised.
 

Orikoru

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Currently sitting at 0.9. Had a low of +1.1 last year.

Whole new bag this year, irons are a club longer, fairway club is much more consistent. If I can keep hitting fairways and making putts (I’m selling all my putters bar 2, to remove the temptation to fiddle).
With a real plan for practice I think +2 would be possible.
To all the people that have said plus numbers. It’s a whole different ball game once you start giving shots back to the course. Par2 holes are a mental nightmare.
That does sound awful. Not something I'll have to worry about, but our SI 18 is 110 yards but has one of the biggest slopes on the course. If you're above the pin in the height of summer you can just touch it and run it off the other side. I can't even imagine having to one-putt that every time for 2 points. :LOL: It even annoys me that I don't get a shot on this hole, let alone losing one.

Just as an aside, the highest indexes always seem to go on par 3s, but I find a short par 4 much easier to be honest. I'd rather not have the shot on some of them. Obviously in medal play it doesn't matter where you get them, but just for Stableford purposes.
 

Jason.H

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Last week I birdied index 1 and 2 in the same round, looking at the eclectic shows I’ve not made the most of some of the so called easier holes.
 

RichA

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Currently sitting at 0.9. Had a low of +1.1 last year.

Whole new bag this year, irons are a club longer, fairway club is much more consistent. If I can keep hitting fairways and making putts (I’m selling all my putters bar 2, to remove the temptation to fiddle).
With a real plan for practice I think +2 would be possible.
To all the people that have said plus numbers. It’s a whole different ball game once you start giving shots back to the course. Par2 holes are a mental nightmare.
I had never even thought about that. Our SI 18 is a 178 yard par 3 where you can't actually see the putting surface from the tee box. I'm trying to imagine it as a par 2 and it's idiotic.
 
D

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I don't think I could look at a par 3 as becoming a par 2.
Instead I'd just treat the Par 5's as par 4's, especially the reachable ones. After all, to a low handicapper, par 5's are the easiest holes.
 

AAC

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That does sound awful. Not something I'll have to worry about, but our SI 18 is 110 yards but has one of the biggest slopes on the course. If you're above the pin in the height of summer you can just touch it and run it off the other side. I can't even imagine having to one-putt that every time for 2 points. :LOL: It even annoys me that I don't get a shot on this hole, let alone losing one.

Just as an aside, the highest indexes always seem to go on par 3s, but I find a short par 4 much easier to be honest. I'd rather not have the shot on some of them. Obviously in medal play it doesn't matter where you get them, but just for Stableford purposes.

Our par 3's are SI 8,10,11,12 & 17, if you par them all you are likely to have played very well
 

Orikoru

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Our par 3's are SI 8,10,11,12 & 17, if you par them all you are likely to have played very well
At my course, SI 18 is a par 3, SI 17 was a short par 4 but is currently shortened to a par 3, SI 16 is a par 3 which is a blind shot off the whites - I absolutely hate not getting a shot here! I can't stand blind shots and I'm lucky if I hit the green. :confused:
 

Lump

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I don't think I could look at a par 3 as becoming a par 2.
Instead I'd just treat the Par 5's as par 4's, especially the reachable ones. After all, to a low handicapper, par 5's are the easiest holes.
Agree that par5’s are a chance to make a score, but what if that chance to make a birdie now becomes a must make. Changes how you look at a hole.
For my brief visit to plus numbers, this is the hardest thing I found.
Those rounds where your grinding for a score, birdies aren’t happening but your quickly forced to make a birdie to keep a score going. It’s hard, I have mad respect for the plus players.
Playing off scratch is “easy” enough, plus is a different game.
 
D

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Agree that par5’s are a chance to make a score, but what if that chance to make a birdie now becomes a must make. Changes how you look at a hole.
For my brief visit to plus numbers, this is the hardest thing I found.
Those rounds where your grinding for a score, birdies aren’t happening but your quickly forced to make a birdie to keep a score going. It’s hard, I have mad respect for the plus players.
Playing off scratch is “easy” enough, plus is a different game.
I don't know how they do it!
3 of our +4 lads played the comp on saturday, & each shot 1 under par 71. Most of us would be happy/delighted with that, but of course they were 3 over handicap - inconceivable!
 
D

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I don't know how they do it!
3 of our +4 lads played the comp on saturday, & each shot 1 under par 71. Most of us would be happy/delighted with that, but of course they were 3 over handicap - inconceivable!

Even worse when their handicaps go lower with 95%.

Our recent 36 hole scratch a +5 was playing off +6 off the back tees and shot 74,75 for net 80,81 :ROFLMAO::rolleyes:

Strangely he would have been +5 off the yellow tees, can't get my head around that one.
 

SimonC

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How about this bloke who plays at St Andrews:

1653048154480.png

He would be playing off +9 at my home club which is a par 68, therefore he would have to shoot a 59 just to play to his handicap, that's beyond ridiculous.
 

Imurg

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How about this bloke who plays at St Andrews:

View attachment 42661

He would be playing off +9 at my home club which is a par 68, therefore he would have to shoot a 59 just to play to his handicap, that's beyond ridiculous.
When it gets that state you just have to say " Golf? Yeah, completed it" and walk away...
 

pendodave

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HI of 9.3. I must be the worse single figure golfer in congu...
I think 7 is about as good as I could possibly get, but even that would require something unexpected to turn up.
The trouble with being a bit pish across the board is that there no one thing that I could work on to nick a couple of shots.
 
D

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Even worse when their handicaps go lower with 95%.

Our recent 36 hole scratch a +5 was playing off +6 off the back tees and shot 74,75 for net 80,81 :ROFLMAO::rolleyes:

Strangely he would have been +5 off the yellow tees, can't get my head around that one.
Correct me if I'm wrong, it's happened twice before, but wouldn't a + handicap go closer to 0 when applying the 95%?

ie 95% of 6 = 5.7 rather than 6.something
 

stefanovic

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My lowest ever h/cap was 10 and that was a bit flattering because it started to go up from then on.
Only ever had 2 scores in the 60's on short courses.
Only ever had 2 holes in one.
Only a few eagles, never an albatross.
I can only ever remember driving a par 4 once or twice.

My game is mainly bogeys today.
At age 72 I believe that upper arm strength is a big factor in how long you hit the ball, and it declines with age.
As does my ability to keep the ball on the clubface longer which should provide more distance and accuracy.
My brain is also shrinking so my ability to be inspired is declining.

But, we all have one foot in the grave from about 30.
 
D

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Correct me if I'm wrong, it's happened twice before, but wouldn't a + handicap go closer to 0 when applying the 95%?

ie 95% of 6 = 5.7 rather than 6.something

Not sure how it works fully but something like a hcap of -4.6 plays off plus 5 off our yellow and white tees and plus 6 off the very back Blue tees. Might have nothing to do do with 95% but less shots for a much harder track takes some getting the head round.
 
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