How much is a realistic cut from........

[turkish]

28 from now until the end of next season?

I know the answer to this will be invariably how long is a piece of string but on average for someone who plays once a week (maybe twice in lighter nights) and practices at the range once a week.

I'd love to get to under 20 in my first full season but unsure how realistic that is?

I only started hitting a ball in July, got my 28 in september, then had a 6 week break for wedding and honeymoon. Now back and will try to play once a week weather permitting and at least once a week at the range!

There's also a few indoor lessons offers I'm gonna look into getting over the winter.

Played my 1st round since back at the weekend, in our winter league and got 29 points but really really enjoyed it. Walked round with my old man swearing and moaning at himself where I was in a good mood and chilled out- definitely going to try and be like this for future.

 

[duncan mackie]

factoring in everything you have posted 14 :thup:

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Depends on your ability and how often you hit the ball

 

[Dan2501]

And how many lessons you have, and how much you practise, how good your course management is, how good your mental game is, how many tournaments you play, how good you are from inside 100 yards, and how much you work on your putting. It really is impossible to say. If you're willing to put work in and you have a reasonable amount of natural talent your handicap could drop significantly.

 

[MC72]

I would reckon 18 is realistic, that is effectively you bogeying every hole. It probably won't work out like that as there'll probably be some doubles in there but as you play your course there'll be pars achieved too and hopefully they'll balance out.

if you can work through the winter on being reliable off the tee and also work on having a decent strike with your irons as well as your putting then that would leave short game stuff like chipping and bunkers for when the weather improves. At the level you're at just now getting off the tee reliably/consistently will save you a lot of shots as you won't go OOB as much and won't lose too many balls

Getting your fundamentals right prior to starting a lot of practice at the range will ensure that the practice is constructive. You'll only need a couple of lessons from a good pro to get you started on the right track.

28 from now until the end of next season?

I know the answer to this will be invariably how long is a piece of string but on average for someone who plays once a week (maybe twice in lighter nights) and practices at the range once a week.

I'd love to get to under 20 in my first full season but unsure how realistic that is?

I only started hitting a ball in July, got my 28 in september, then had a 6 week break for wedding and honeymoon. Now back and will try to play once a week weather permitting and at least once a week at the range!

There's also a few indoor lessons offers I'm gonna look into getting over the winter.

Played my 1st round since back at the weekend, in our winter league and got 29 points but really really enjoyed it. Walked round with my old man swearing and moaning at himself where I was in a good mood and chilled out- definitely going to try and be like this for future.

 

[hamshanker]

I had this scenario with a mate who started playing last year and started off with 28 as thats as much as you can get.

Through last year his stableford scores where around the 20 points mark at start of the season and by the end he was hittin high 20's with odd 30 pointers.
This year he has been hitting more in the high 20's to mid 30 points but couple times through the year he was getting litle down hearted because his handicap wasnt coming down until we explained to him that his 28 h/cap is the most he can get but realistically he was probably a 45+ handicap and in the last month of the season he went down to 26 so weve explained that in the 2 yrs of playing hes knocked maybe 20+ shots off and is now playing better than the 28.

So for yourself dont be to down hearted if you dont come down as much as you'd like as you may be playing more to a 35-40 h/cap but lessons and lots of practice you will soon know when you are actually a 28 handicapper and will soon see it come down main thing is that you enjoy it:thup:

 

[Keeno]

I wouldn't worry about getting cut just yet. At the end of a full season you will have found your Level, that may be 5 or 25.

Get used to playing medals and enjoy it, your handicap will take care of itself.

 

[ScienceBoy]

My first handicap was 17, I had regular lessons, once a month and a playing lesson every 3 months. I also played 2-3 times a week and practiced putting at home with my V-Easy to a 5p.

I was down to 12 in a season and a half.

If you practice grip, posture and putting at home in the evenings as well as grabbing yourself a V-Easy I would say 14 is doable.

I was quite dedicated however, I remember one evening after work holing 50 odd 4 footers on the practice green in a row!

I would go to the club just for an hours putting and chipping whenever possible, I actually did very little swing work, mostly the odd range session 1-2 a fortnight at most. I did play 5 or so holes in an evening twice a week during the summer, once a week in the more weather dependant evening months.

I guess I was 50% posture and putting practice, 30% putting and chipping and 20% playing practice. Throw in at least one competitive round every other week, sometimes 3 in a fortnight during the summer, which all helped my rapid decent. Yes it was only 5 shots but I could not have done it without a game plan and a V-Easy .

 

[turkish]

I wouldn't worry about getting cut just yet. At the end of a full season you will have found your Level, that may be 5 or 25.

Get used to playing medals and enjoy it, your handicap will take care of itself.

Thanks for the input... I'm not terribly concerned with a cut.... more of a fact of showing I am improving. Like hamshanker said I was probably about 45+ when I 1st started hitting and now probably around the 30-32 mark although I have had a couple of under hancicap rounds under my belt. (95/70 being my best from the yellows)

 

[PhilTheFragger]

You will probably find that once you get a feel for the game you will rapidly descend to your natural handicap level (whatever that is).

dont be surprised if you then plateau, this is entirely normal, just means that you need to have more lessons and do more practice to get to the next level.

Welcome to the world of the Handicap Golfer

 

[Sir Scoop-A-Lot]

Obviously everyone will have a different view/opinion depending on experience/ability.

I have been playing for just under 2 years (it will be 2 years on New Years Day) and I was a solid 28 scoring 110+ up until the July last year where I was able to hit it a few times below 100. (Never in a competition though, so I stopped playing them). I then had a bad patch hitting around 105 back at the beginning of this year.

In June I started to play in competitions again and was scoring around 28-30 points. In the last few competitions I have played over the last two months I have absolutely nailed it managing to get down to 24.4 (playing off 24). Today I scored 22 points over 9 holes.

I am hoping that this is a sign of a major decrease on the horizon and my aim for the end of the year is 22. Just three months ago I thought it was unrealistic, now its only 2 shots away!

 

[patricks148]

i suppose ultimately it depends of what sort of ability you have had eye co ordination wise and how often you can play.

But no reason you can't get down to low teens or lower. Id never played golf before and went from 24 to 12 in 3 months.

been rubbish ever since mind

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Are you planning to get tuition or trying to do this yourself. I'd be looking at lessons to get the fundamentals sorted and then work hard on the drills you are given. If you can get a swing that's fairly repeatable over the winter it'll stand you in good stead. I'd play over the winter with little thought of score and just use it to test your progress in a real life environement. Once the better weather comes early next year, focus on the short game and putting. This will save you a lot of shots. Whatever way you decide to do it, work hard, enjoy the challenge and keep us posted. I think 28-20 is definitely achievable