Is it possible for Mr Average to become a scratch golfer in just 12 months?

[MadAdey]

Level par golf is a huge achievement, and IMO a bridge to far, you need good mental strength, being able to hold it together if you get to level par with 3 holes to go, the ability to cope with set backs,injuries, bad weather and just general being fed up of golf.
In this instance I'd generally be more inclined to get you to play non stop, and not practice as much as others seem to think,learn how to get the ball in the hole. Sure you will need to practice but I'd definitley be hitting the course far more often than the range.

IMO you need to do totally the opposite. You are new to golf and all playing will end up doing is getting you to ingrain bad habits into your game. Work hard on the practice ground and get all the fundamentals correct or you might just regret it.

There are no negatives to what you are trying at all as long as you get some good coaching and practice along the way. Chances are if you do have any ability for this game you will probably end up as a single figure handicapper anyway.

 

[londonlewis]

Oh its 'Possible'.

So is me, at aged 52, getting a sudden call up for Englands Internationals against the All Blacks........

...but I'm a realist !

Actually these things are not the same odds.

As we can see, the golf objective has been achieved before!

No one, at aged 52, has ever been called up to represent his country against the all-blacks. Not a former player, let alone someone that would be awarded their first cap.

 

[londonlewis]

Golf is not a hand eye coordination sport, otherwise how would blind golfers get on?

Correct.
Golf is not a hand eye coordination sport as the ball is not moving before you hit it.
Golf is more of a 'muscle memory' sport.

 

[Andr3w]

I'd urge anyone who thinks you need 'natural talent' to succeed at golf to watch The Short Game on Netflix. These 8 and 9 year olds are getting up at 6am to work on fitness and staying out practising even in the rain for hours every day. In 20 years time, after doing this process every day under the guise of elite coaching, one of them might win a professional tournament and someone in the crowd will marvel about how 'naturally talented' they are. Meanwhile those that know what they went through will realise how utterly meaningless that is.

 

[Crawley1981]

If i had of seen this thread a year ago then i would of thought it would be very unlikely, however my link below proves it is possible as i managed it:

http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/showthread.php?65565-Freak-Round

If you fancy a round during the week on Woldingham, Westerham or Surrey National then i would be up for it.

 

[MadAdey]

I'd urge anyone who thinks you need 'natural talent' to succeed at golf to watch The Short Game on Netflix. These 8 and 9 year olds are getting up at 6am to work on fitness and staying out practising even in the rain for hours every day. In 20 years time, after doing this process every day under the guise of elite coaching, one of them might win a professional tournament and someone in the crowd will marvel about how 'naturally talented' they are. Meanwhile those that know what they went through will realise how utterly meaningless that is.

I think that we are getting back to the old argument of natural ability. I have seen 'The Short Game' on Netflix. You do need both, it is as simple as that. Those kids work very hard, but if that all it takes then I am putting all my money into a top coach and practicing so I can go on the PGA Tour in a couple of years. You do need to work and practice hard, but if you ain't got it, then you haven't got a chance.

 

[CMAC]

I did it many years ago, 18 to 5 h/cap in a season culminating in a 3 under par 67 in a medal which I won with a nett 62 by 1 shot. (nice big trophy too)

so yes it's possible, but here's the factors that helped me.

1) I was young and athletic
2) I had no responsibilities so played golf pretty much most days with friends and we tried every shot in the book.
3) Long hot summer.
4) I practiced every day, even when it rained.
5) when something didnt work I did trial and error until it did.
6) Putting held no fear, if I was on a green I expected to hole it (why not)

I felt good enough to get to scratch (no chance in one season), got to 2.7 the next season........

then women, gigs, alcohol, smoking, women, music, work etc took over and golf was out of my life for about 10 years. Had some flashes since getting back but you gotta do it while you are young and fearless.

Good luck! You can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.

 

[scottbrown]

Sorry but I disagree. Natural talent is exactly what it says on the tin, Natural.You've either got it or you haven't. Others may call it "very good hand eye coordination "

I'll Agree that Johnny Average could probably get down to Cat1 over a number of years with plenty of practice and Determination. But there's also a Small number of Golfers out there that find this game quite easy, They can just go out and play & don't need to practice much & still maintain a H'cap of low single figures or less.

Im sure most of us know one or Two of these annoying people
I'm not sure if Theres any who post on here though

In my opinion, if the OP is going to pull this off he needs an amount of natural talent for the game, and also to learn his strengths and weaknesses out on the course very quickly.

That sounds like me.
Don't do lessons, don't do practice and generally don't care what I shoot. Just rock up, whack it round and see what the total is and it's not too often it's over 80 on a par 72 SSS 72 course.

 

[Andr3w]

I think that we are getting back to the old argument of natural ability. I have seen 'The Short Game' on Netflix. You do need both, it is as simple as that. Those kids work very hard, but if that all it takes then I am putting all my money into a top coach and practicing so I can go on the PGA Tour in a couple of years. You do need to work and practice hard, but if you ain't got it, then you haven't got a chance.

I'm sorry but this concept of needing to have "it" in order to achieve excellence is an old fashioned way of thinking and based on pre-conceived and ill-informed notions.

I could summarise many literature on this topic but take this academic piece for example which probably puts it better than I could:

http://www.indiana.edu/~jkkteach/P335/shanks_expertise.html

 

[garyinderry]

if all it took was practice, lower league teams would just train twice as long and twice as hard.


hard work will get you far. very far in fact. to get to the very top requires that little something extra.

 

[Qwerty]

I'm sorry but this concept of needing to have "it" in order to achieve excellence is an old fashioned way of thinking and based on pre-conceived and ill-informed notions.

I could summarise many literature on this topic but take this academic piece for example which probably puts it better than I could:

http://www.indiana.edu/~jkkteach/P335/shanks_expertise.html

How would you explain the thousands of Golfers that are beating balls on the range every night and throwing lots of £££ at lessons over a number of years and still struggling to achieve single figures.

Ive read the article and it makes interesting reading and tbh I wish it was 100% correct. If it was I'd be back on the range beating balls as Ive done in the past. But I'm sure there are tens of thousands of talented people throughout the world who's story would contradict the above.
Greg Norman being one of them.

 

[MadAdey]

I'm sorry but this concept of needing to have "it" in order to achieve excellence is an old fashioned way of thinking and based on pre-conceived and ill-informed notions.

I could summarise many literature on this topic but take this academic piece for example which probably puts it better than I could:

http://www.indiana.edu/~jkkteach/P335/shanks_expertise.html

I have just read that piece and like all these type of things it is how you want to read it and how the person writing it wants you to read it. You can't argue with what someone has wrote on this subject as it is their opinion and findings on a subject. But it is not an exact science that they are using. I do not think their is an exact science you can use to measure this with regards to golf.

The only way I could think of is if you say took triplets and gave them all exactly the same coaching and nurturing and see what standard they get to. If you did this from when they could stand and they all committed to it until they where 18 then going on the theory that natural ability plays no part then they should all be exactly the same standard. So if one of them is a tour pro then so should the other 2. If one of them is a cat 1 golfer then so should the other 2.

 

[Andr3w]

I have just read that piece and like all these type of things it is how you want to read it and how the person writing it wants you to read it. You can't argue with what someone has wrote on this subject as it is their opinion and findings on a subject. But it is not an exact science that they are using. I do not think their is an exact science you can use to measure this with regards to golf.

The only way I could think of is if you say took triplets and gave them all exactly the same coaching and nurturing and see what standard they get to. If you did this from when they could stand and they all committed to it until they where 18 then going on the theory that natural ability plays no part then they should all be exactly the same standard. So if one of them is a tour pro then so should the other 2. If one of them is a cat 1 golfer then so should the other 2.

This has kind of already been done... but in Chess. See Polgar chess sisters.

 

[Andr3w]

How would you explain the thousands of Golfers that are beating balls on the range every night and throwing lots of £££ at lessons over a number of years and still struggling to achieve single figures.

Ive read the article and it makes interesting reading and tbh I wish it was 100% correct. If it was I'd be back on the range beating balls as Ive done in the past. But I'm sure there are tens of thousands of talented people throughout the world who's story would contradict the above.
Greg Norman being one of them.

There's some really fascinating books out on this that would give answers to this that would do far more justice to the topic than I could in a forum post, try:

Bounce, Matthew Syed
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle
Talent is Overrated, Geoff Colvin


But, I mean, in summary the problem is they are just 'beating balls'. They say to master a field you need 10,000 hours of deliberate practise. I'd hazard many amateurs have scarcely achieved 1 hour of quality, deliberate practise!

 

[mchacker]

Interest in learning
plus
Hunger to improve
plus
Money for equipment and lessons
plus
Education from someone who can make you understand what you need to know
plus
Intelligence to apply what you learn effectively
plus
Access to facilities to refine what you learn
plus
Honesty to admit when you haven't been working hard enough
plus
Encouragement from those closest to you
plus
Attitude to stick with it when someone says you shouldn't
plus
Fitness to stay away from injury
plus
Concentration to make the longer sessions purposeful
plus
Determination to get out and train in the worst of weather when the couch is calling
Plus
Mental freedom to let the bad moments go
plus
Creativity to experiment to get the best out of your skills

If you can look at yourself honestly and see all of those qualifications then very best of luck to you, you have a chance(no matter how slight) to achieve your goal. Any doubts whatsoever, pay your bet now and save the stress.

 

[Andr3w]

if all it took was practice, lower league teams would just train twice as long and twice as hard.


hard work will get you far. very far in fact. to get to the very top requires that little something extra.

It's not just about training longer and harder though is it. Do you think that's all they do at La Masia in Barcelona? Or just maybe do the employ better training methods.

 

[garyinderry]

golf is a multi faceted game. the three main parts being mental, skill and strategy.


you can beat balls all you like. you can become very good at ball striking from a mat. learning how to hack it out of a very ropey lie surrounded by grass that graps you club like a tormented soul from hell takes experience. knowing when not to hack at it comes later. all this will not come over night.


getting the three components of strategy, skill and mental strength just right in one year to shoot level par will take some doing!

you can try and over power a course by learning to nail the driver long and straight then short iron your way to pars. if I was to attempt this I would only ever play the same course over and over. I would devise a plan for each hole. work out exactly where I DO NOT want to be and try to avoid these places non stop.

work out what clubs to use on par 3s with various wind directions and strengths. then practice them like hell.

after I got to a stage where I could start putting a run of pars together I would start at the first and every time I made a double bogey I would go back to the first tee. this would get me used to having a good run going and feeling a little pressure.

that's all I can think of for now!

 

[Birchy]

Natural ability will see you improve much quicker than somebody who doesnt have it. Some people are just not sporty and some people just dont learn well. It doesnt mean being top at their sport is impossible but it will make it much more difficult.

Just look at handicap golfers. You could see two people start on 25 handicap and play the same amount of golf and practice. One could be down at 12 at the end of the season and the other could be 23. What do you think has helped make that extra difference?

Getting to the top is very similar but on a much bigger scale. Theres not enough time in a lifetime for a lot of people to reach the top or everybody would do it.

 

[Andr3w]

Natural ability will see you improve much quicker than somebody who doesnt have it. Some people are just not sporty and some people just dont learn well. It doesnt mean being top at their sport is impossible but it will make it much more difficult.

Just look at handicap golfers. You could see two people start on 25 handicap and play the same amount of golf and practice. One could be down at 12 at the end of the season and the other could be 23. What do you think has helped make that extra difference?

Getting to the top is very similar but on a much bigger scale. Theres not enough time in a lifetime for a lot of people to reach the top or everybody would do it.

Your handicapper golf argument is just far too simplistic. There's so many variables that go into making us who we are and what we're capable of and many of these just won't be obvious on the surface to the onlooker.

Perhaps the one that improved more quickly played rounders every night when they were a kid and developed the motion which is just a golf swing on a single horizontal plane. Meanwhile the other guy stayed in playing video games every night. These facts won't be obvious though and people will just say 'talent' which for me is nothing more than an argument from ignorance.

 

[guest100718]

http://novice2scratch.com/
http://parfromafar.com/

those are 2 blogs of golfers who gave up everything for a year to try and get to scratch, they both saw it through to the end and didnt get close. The web is littered with plenty of others who gave up after a month or so.



A par round is very possible though.