If you went full time, how low could you go?

[howbow88]

Years ago I knew a guy who said that if we could all work on our games like the pros, we would all be playing scratch. I think that is nonsense - there are some guys I know who could probably work on their games 60 hours a week and would still struggle to break 90.

But what do you think you would get your handicap down to if you say had 1 year, and you could devote up to 40 hours a week to the game? I'm currently off 10 and I think I could possibly get down to 3.

 

[robinthehood]

+ 8 at least. Plenty of people have done the whole hacker to hero thing. They seem to plateau pretty quickly. I guess a lot depends on your starting point.

 

[Macster]

Hmmmm.....at my age, nearly 58, I'd doubt I could get 'that' low. Perhaps down to 7 I imagine.......some of best round ever have been when I havent played for a while !
I always joke that I should 'Play less more Often' !

 

[GG26]

That’s a question that I have thought about and the answer is I honestly have no idea. I would like to think that I could get to single figures, but that’s not a given.

 

[GB72]

Not much lower than I am now. All the time in the world would not get rid of the fact that I find driving ranges boring and really could not motivate myself to spend all day practicing. Add to that age, weight, and a dodgy back from years of scrummaging and I would be hard pressed to hit more than a big bucket of balls in one go anyway. Oh and the lack of natural talent may impact as well. May, at a real push get down to 11 or 12 but really never going lower than that.

 

[Curls]

Assuming I also had pro-level resources, scratch. If anyone would like to fund this experiment I will set up a crowdfunding page.

Give generously, I promise not to blog about it. If you don’t give generously, I will vlog every practice session and explain how I’m getting much closer to scratch as I hit the high 20s.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Possibly low teens, possibly.

In reality I lack the skills and desire to put in that much effort so I will keep on bobbing along. My competitive, really competitive kick your granny to win, days are behind me now and I am quite chilled about that.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I think the body would break before I got good, as I would need to undergo major swing changes.

But probably around 3 to 4 range.

 

[howbow88]

Plenty of people have done the whole hacker to hero thing. They seem to plateau pretty quickly. I guess a lot depends on your starting point.

Yeah, I think its hugely important at where you are starting from. I daresay though that a higher handicapper would be able to drop further in percentage terms, and quicker.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Could get to 5 or under. But very doubt scratch.

 

[Crazyface]

Depends on which course I would be attempting this. Last place I was at I could probably get to 5. At my current place maybe 9. Most courses have some holes where you have to be a bloody good player to consistently par them, and that is where I get duffed up.

 

[Reemul]

I reckon low single figures, however if I could do it say in Florida for a yer with great all round weather i think that would also really help, hard work over here what with the weather etc.

 

[Orikoru]

Really difficult to answer. Instinctively I would say about 8 or 9. Even if I was playing every day I'm never going to work that hard at it. And everyone's going to hit a wall at some point where no amount of practise improves them - the limit of their natural talent if you will. I don't hit it a long way, and I would never push myself hard enough to get down near scratch in spite of that.

 

[patricks148]

easiest way to get to scratch would be to turn pro... job done, no practiceor hours on the range


When i first started i had just retired and didn't really do much esle during the week (didn't play weekends) soon got bored TBH, if i was 20/30 maybe but not now.

 

[AdamC28]

I think low single figures would be possible but it would be a huge stretch to think I could get to scratch.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Would I have access to physios, PTs etc

If I had the time to practice I'm sure I could get to somewhere near scratch, it's only a 4 shot drop, but not necessarily in one year.
My main issue is that my body doesn't take kindly to range sessions, or being hours stood over putts etc. So I would need the full professional team; masseuse, physio, personal trainer, coach, psychologist etc

 

[patricks148]

Would I have access to physios, PTs etc

If I had the time to practice I'm sure I could get to somewhere near scratch, it's only a 4 shot drop, but not necessarily in one year.
My main issue is that my body doesn't take kindly to range sessions, or being hours stood over putts etc. So I would need the full professional team; masseuse, physio, personal trainer, coach, psychologist etc

if that were the case i would go for the full Tiger team as long as it included lots of slutty looking blondes

 

[jim8flog]

I have always been able to play as much golf (within reason) as I wanted to and used to practice for an hour or so every day. The lowest I got to was 5 (SSS to par -2).

Had I started golf at a much younger age I might have gone lower, reaching my best at the age of 50.

 

[pendodave]

Currently 11, i doubt i could get below 8 without a full frontal lobe remap.

 

[Wolf]

Could possibly get back down to low end of cat 1 like I was back when I was 19 and golf was all that mattered with all practice i was doing. However I don't have the inclination to commit that much time anymore golf really isn't that important to me now, it's just a hobby and not bothered about handicap anymore. If I had that much time on my hands now there's much more I'd do with it than practice or play that often.