how good could you have been

I took up golf at the age of 46 - I still harbour dreams of single handicap but golf wasn't available to the likes of me as a kid
 
Like a number of people, I took the game up at 40 when running about sports got too hard. Currently off 11, so not unreasonable to think I could have managed single figures, but don't think I'd 've ever had the mental game to be cat 1.
 
Always been good at sports. As a schoolboy I excelled at javelin and was fairly good at most athletics and Rugby. Later I started to play squash and managed to play at county level, I continued with squash intill I was around 50. I started playing golf in my 40s but due to work and family I had limited time available, I started to play more in my mid fifties and managed to get down to low single figures. I still play to around six but know that I will not be able to retain that level much longer.
 
Mmm, could I have been better? My almost couldn't care less and awkward stubborn(yeah, I know you don't believe that of me) cantankerous pigheaded, I'll do it my way didn't help.

I started playing around the practice area and green at 9 years of age. From 12 onwards I loved the game, getting down to 2 as I was pushing toward 17. I played after school and weekends, and I hammered the course through the summer hols. The summer hols before uni my dad arranged some games with some of his friends, the result of which was the offer of 2 years sponsorship from Honeywell.

Golf was what I did for fun, and it was my fun, not my dad's. We had words. Not harsh ones, as we never did, and the upshot was the clubs went to the back of the garage and I went off to uni. I've often thought on those days and the reasons why. I didn't want to do it as a job. I didn't want to sell Mars Bars. And I thought I wasn't good enough - knew I wasn't good enough. And the awkward cantankerous bit, I didn't want someone else ploughing my furrow in life for me.

The clubs stayed in the garage for about 6-7 years, although there was one or two rounds a year. I then started playing Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings with a couple of guys from work at the local muni. Then society days were added and I joined a club again. Single figures came pretty quickly, and Cat 1 pretty soon after. And that's were I've been for most of the last xx years.

Could I have been better? I've had some fabulous rounds down the years, e.g. that 7 birdie round at one of Smiffy's Cooden meets. There's usually a few 5 birdie rounds a year, although they are starting to dry up now I'm the wrong side of 59. But my head/attitude has never been good enough. I just can't be bothered to be bothered.
 
Regrettably I didn't start playing till i was nearly 36, got down to 9 h/c but creeping back up ,now sitting 16.7.
Only ever had 1 lesson sadly it's been nigh impossible to teach this old dog any new tricks :( . Possibly could've reach 7 with some practice .
Just happy to plod along and enjoy the banter , with the odd good round (y)
 
First took up game properly at 13years old when my dad got me into the game, practised loads in summer hols and got down to 3, worked as assistant to our pro for a year but before registering to do my PGA I found out at 19 I was going to be a dad and couldn't afford the assistant less than minimum wage, so went off to work (joined the forces) and fell out with the game and stopped playing.

Started again when I was 26 played in few Army events and got handicap to 4 without really having much time to practise didn't really enjoy playing so after 2 years stopped playing again with exception of the odd charity game once a year for a couple years but then stopped that to.

Started playing again after attending the 2018 RC and got the bug again but this time for enjoyment rather than trying to get as low as I can, joined club in December after moving counties and got my first handicap in 10 years in January which is 8 so now its a case of enjoy the game and banter, I'd like to get back to Cat 1 if I can but not at the detriment of enjoying the game and company.
 
3.7 was the lowest i got so 4 hcap, played around 4/5 hcap for 7 or 8 years but that was through an awful lot of practice. Dont think i could have got much better, weakness in mid to long iron ball striking consistency so was always scrambling. Short putting was also not the strongest, streaky. Good wedge player, relied on it too much. My generrally straight hitting off the tee helped too, think i course managed quite well too, played the percentages. I needed to relearn iron play, full of flaws in set up/grip, perhaps if i could have worked through that might have improved a shot or two but when I tried to correct just hooked, not enough time. Having not really played in my 20s i left it too late for a serious go by my 30s. Hit 40s and chronic shoulder issues kicked in, surgery again in december, maybe get going next season so if i could play to 10 or 12 someday that would be great. Miss the exercise and distraction golf gives.
 
Growing up in Millwall in the 70s/80s I had as much chance of playing Polo as I had playing Golf! Football and Fishing being the main leisure activities for a lad on the isle of dogs.... Moved to Essex when I was 30 but still didn’t play my first round until I was in my 40s, (a work thing) quickly got hooked and still play every week, lowest I got down to was 14. Although that’s now crept up to a consistent 18.
Could I have got lower? Maybe but I don’t know if I had the right attitude when I was younger.
 
chrisd said:
I took up golf at the age of 46 - I still harbour dreams of single handicap but golf wasn't available to the likes of me as a kid
Click to expand...

Do I do it? So tempting. I need to resist. Nah what the hell? What clubs were you using in 1967 then?
 
I think maybe scratch. Dad thought I could have been a contender if he hadn't put me off at around the age of 11. I played hockey and he was adamant I should interlock my grip so I stopped playing golf with him in the holidays! Took it up again in my mid 40's and within 3 years was single figures. Always likely to be held back by mental frailty I think - when I was a kid I feared nothing (including failure)!
 
If I had started as a youngster maybe to scratch or lower but then again I would not have been as good at snooker as I was because most of sports time as youngster was spent on the snooker table.

The opportunity to start as a youngster was never there though my parents were never rich enough.
 
Impossible to tell. I started at around 14, used to play with my mum and dad. By the time I was 21 I didn't really play more than once maybe twice a year. When I was 28 (four years ago) I got back into it and back to playing once a week. So in all honesty if I'd have carried on playing more regularly in those in between years, maybe I'd be a few shots lower now than I am. Doubt I'd be any lower than 14 or 15 though.
 
Impossible to say. I had a strange way into golf, didn't really play golf as a junior, learned how to hit a ball in a local park from about age 6, played sporadically in a park and skipped on to a course now and then from 6-12 as family couldn't have afforded membership anywhere. Didn't play any golf from 12-18 which in my view wasted my best young years and I regret not sticking at it but if you can't be a member anywhere it's hard to do.
Started playing again at 18, joined a club at 19 and was given a hcap of 10, got down to plus 1 by the time I was 26. Now 28 and hopeful of getting better still but the focus is more on playing in national events etc than trying to get a hcap cut. Don't get me wrong I've spent a lot of time practicing in my 20's and have somewhat made up for my younger years but I know I could have been better if I had the means to do so as a kid. Who knows it's all what it's
 
Just to add a bit of hope to some posters.
My friends father retired at 67 off 8 handicap, got down to 2 in two years and continued to play between 2-4 well into his 80's.
He was a member of a tough championship links course.
 
Didn't play at all till my 30s, and not with any sort of regularity till my 40's. First handicap was low 20's and is now 19 - which probably tells the tale in full as to how good I could have been. Ok, I don't practice, and don't have lessons, and have not a clue about the technical side (Mate: "You're xyz-ing halfway througn the backswing". Me: "Oh, aye? I'll try to stop doing that - as soon as I have a scoobie as to what you're on about ...".

I reckon I could get to mid, possibly low, teens - and still harbour some hopes of doing so - but lower? Nah.
 
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