If you had to drop your handicap by 5 shots over winter could you

[Deleted member 21258]

Lets say you had been offered a chance to play Augusta next year, but your handicap had to be five shots lower.

Could you do it and what would you have to work on in order to get there or would you just say I don't want it enough to bother ?

 

[robinthehood]

yeah just put in a few fake supplemental cards

 

[pendodave]

Nope.

If I did nothing else between now and next April I think I would struggle to knock off the 3 shots between my current 11 and 8.

It's not just the technical bits and bobs throughout my game that would need to be worked on, it's actually learning how to play that much better thru 18 holes on a regular basis - I don't think that my brain could adjust quickly enough.

 

[Smasher]

To play Augusta......whatever it took, by hook or by crook it'd be a shot lower than necessary (just to be safe).

 

[Tiger man]

No, our handicaps are froze.

 

[USER1999]

No. For me, that would be impossible.

Added to which, I don't rate Augusta at all.

 

[Grant85]

It depends where you are starting from. If you are in single figures and have been playing regularly for years, it's going to be tough to find 5 shots.

However there are obviously a lot of things you could do to give yourself the best chance of this and manage your progress, if you were purely focussed on handicap.

Clearly lessons and a lot of dedicated practice will be the main driver in achieving this.

In terms of what course you play at, what days you elect to play medals (or don't elect to play medals) could also help you with a couple of shots if you manage it effectively. i.e. only play when good weather is forecast, greens are receptive and specifically choose a course that suits your game. While weather does affect the CSS, in theory, these don't tend to vary by more than a shot in my experience.

Also, courses tend to be set up easier / shorter for midweek medals as they are playing into the hands of seniors who tend to play midweek comps.
For a Saturday trophy day, then clubs will set up back tees, tighter pins etc.

You can also play supplementary rounds for your handicap off yellow tees - I believe as often as once a week. So this would give you a much bigger opportunity to pick good conditions to try and get everything working to your advantage, as well as only being tested against the SSS of the yellow tees - even in perfect conditions.

 

[chrisd]

No but I'd give it a damn good go 😀

 

[Orikoru]

I don't understand the question. Aren't most of us trying to lower our handicaps anyway?

 

[Wolf]

I'm with Murph in as much that I have no desire to play Augusta at all so I'd probably just stick to enjoying golf than putting unnecessary pressure on my game.

Plus I need to get a handicap first to know what I'd be aiming for with regards of where to shave 5 shots off, but knowing my game and if it were a a course like that I'd probably need to find a way to up my ball speed up and work a bit harder on my long irons

 

[garyinderry]

5 shots over winter won't happen as its non qualifying. it would also take a fair amount of brilliant scores to drop the 5 shots.


If the challenge was to work all winter and tee it up with one attempt and shoot 5 under handicap I could give it a good go but this is all in the realms of fantasy as I wont be working all that hard. Lol

 

[Slab]

I don't think the course ratings always accurately reflect the shot differential/difficulty of similarly rated courses, & rightly or wrongly I believe I play tough courses (at minimum I'd describe them as pretty hazardous) so if I wanted a reduction of 5 shots I'd just join an 'easier' course

I think that would be good for at least a 3 shot drop in handicap over a couple of months

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Surely it's a theoretical question folks, just for fun.

I suspect I am not capable but to get close I would need to stop work, practice, play, take lessons, practice more. Perhaps I could get near, high h/c already, but I think I would fall short.

Trying to do it within the restrictions of work etc, no chance.

Sorry, what to work on: Ball striking to improve consistency. Short game and putting. I could tighten up those two and take 2-3 off relatively quickly if I had the time and inclination. The rest would be harder.

 

[patricks148]

Love to lower mine by 5 shots but that would take me to scratch which i think is pretty impossible now TBH.

also no interest in going all the way to Georgia to play in a field

 

[NorwichBanana]

I don't understand the question. Aren't most of us trying to lower our handicaps anyway?

If you could play Augusta next April but you had to get your handicap to 15, could you manage the necessary cuts over the winter?

 

[spongebob59]

Easy, get a Trump handicap

 

[Orikoru]

If you could play Augusta next April but you had to get your handicap to 15, could you manage the necessary cuts over the winter?

Given that this whole year I've gone from 22 to 20, the answer is probably not.

 

[NorwichBanana]

I'd call it boarderline impossible, to be ready for April 1st. To get cut from 8 (8.1) to 3 (3.4) over the winter would be so so tough.

Id have to take off 4.7 shots, of which the first 2.7 shots would be in 0.2 decuctions (14 under handicap without any 0.1s), then the final 2.0 shots would be in 0.1 chops (further 20 under handicap)

Based on my current playing schedule of once a week. I'd have 19 rounds to play 34 under handicap - almost 2 under each round I played. If I was able to do that then surely my handicap is currently wrong to play that many rounds on such a consistent level!

 

[NorwichBanana]

I'd call it boarderline impossible, to be ready for April 1st. To get cut from 8 (8.1) to 3 (3.4) over the winter would be so so tough.

Id have to take off 4.7 shots, of which the first 2.7 shots would be in 0.2 decuctions (14 under handicap without any 0.1s), then the final 2.0 shots would be in 0.1 chops (further 20 under handicap)

Based on my current playing schedule of once a week. I'd have 19 rounds to play 34 under handicap - almost 2 under each round I played. If I was able to do that then surely my handicap is currently wrong to play that many rounds on such a consistent level!

Of course this is without any possible ESR's being thrown in!

 

[BTatHome]

Not a hope in hell, whilst we have qualifiers through the winter, to drop from 5 to scratch would be almost impossible for me (no ESR for Cat1 so to shoot 50 under cumulative over that span would be ridiculously good golf)