Staying inspired?

Having been around the golfing scene for a long time now, I notice that the many lower handicap players do not appear to enjoy their golf.
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Not that I was ever a low h'cap player, but I didn't enjoy my game, that's why I quit.

I felt I'd run into a hurdle that just couldn't be overcome.

If I come across that hurdle again....which is looking quite likely, I just hope I don't quit again.
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It's the challenge that inspires me. I love the fact that breaking 80 one week doesn't mean I'll ever do it again. I might shoot 75 on Saturday for the last time ever in my life but it isn't going to stop me trying to do it again.

Before this year I've played comps since 2006 and not had a single cut but never once did I get put off, it was frustrating but it just became another challenge.
 
Uncanny this , I was chatting to my missus last night about the exact same thing. I'm off 4.6 atm and tbh I just cant be bothered with it all. The hours and hours of short game practice that go out the window cos I drive it into the trees 3 times a round. I take a 3wood for safety on a par 5 and hit it OOB , whats that all about ??

I have been the most ultra competitive golfer ever since I started and have always strived to lower the handicap as that is what we are judged on. The frustration and anger that comes with bad shots turning into bad rounds has finally overwhelmed me and I've decided NO MORE.

I just dont think I can summon up the desire to get lower anymore. I'm going to go out from now on and accept all of the good and bad with equal indifference. I got up this morning and it was like a weight had been lifted off me.

Like you say James , it really doesnt matter if I play off 5/4/3 or scratch , its only a number and no-one else gives a stuff about it.

So for me from now on it's take whatever comes and enjoy the odd round that things still work well and the majority where it doesnt then so what. Thats a big change in attitude for me and it will probs take a little time to work into my pysche but thats my goal. If it doesnt work then thats fine and i'll just give it all up again...
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Jammy, I feel your pain :)

I gave up in 2000 after a shocking round, my clubs were sold and I had £700 in my pocket before midday.

Starting again in 2008 I realised how much I had missed it. Right now I think I'm just having some kind of downtime - Summertime blues perhaps!


I know that if I don't practice then h/cap 2, 3 or even 4 are going to be hard to achieve again but at the moment I just don't seem to care - maybe I just want to enjoy my golf for a little while before taking the bull by the horns again - that might be next week, next month or next year - but I don't think I'll ever give up again. Right now I'm temporarily 'golfed out', at least mentally.

Getting out to some forum meets over the past 18 months has been a great experience, met some really nice people so far and those friendships mean a lot to me.

I'm definitely not about to pack the clubs away... haven't even scuffed my new wedges yet! :p
 
Waste of time all this handicap nonsense

Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I hadn't got involved in project scratch. The original ambition was to be better than my brothers but their games have fallen apart through lack of practice or remodelling their swing.

That said I find hitting good shots satisfying and great shots (for me) amazing. I started playing golf because I had to give up football and still have that competitive streak that needs satisfying. So I think I would have wanted to win competitions so that would have motivated me instead.

Funny thing is the ambition would have been to win as many comps as possible and ironically a lower handicap makes it harder to do that!

I do enjoy practicing but like the other high handicappers that is probably because you get to see tangible improvements when you play (well sometimes).

So short answer if it wasn't for the project I don't think I'd care about the actual handicap number but more about how I was playing and which parts of my game needed sharpening.
 
I think that having a bit of variety in you golf keeps you on your toes as well. Playing different courses, playing with different folk, some fun formats, forum meets, just something different from your weekly 4ball stableford or medal.

There was a good player at our club (1 h'cap) he was adamant that he wanted to play off scratch. He would go to the club before work at about 06:30 every morning and hit balls on the range. He'd go to a driving range during his lunch and hit balls. At the weekend he would either be playing in a club match or comp or in a county comp.

He dipped his toe in and out of scratch all year but his interest started to flag.

I asked him if he'd ever played a round with some mates just for a laugh, chucked a few tins in his bag and just played for fun?? Nope, never. It was all or nothing for him and eventually it became nothing as he gave up his membership and no longer plays anymore.
 
I asked him if he'd ever played a round with some mates just for a laugh, chucked a few tins in his bag and just played for fun?? Nope, never. It was all or nothing for him and eventually it became nothing as he gave up his membership and no longer plays anymore.
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Sobering tale really. Play to enjoy, it's the only way.
Thankfully, despite my current obsessive keen-ness, I just love playing. One day I'm convinced I'll go out and shoot 18 straight bogeys. If it happens I won't be down about it; I couldn't have said that in 1998.
 
I do recall years ago, when I was off 19/20, and trying to get my Handicap down, and finally getting hacked off with it all, telling myself to 'stuff it', and then finally seeing it drop, and learning the lesson.

So here I am, at 9.7, ....and 'trying' to get my Handicap down........

So Stuff it.

Lets see what happens now. :cool: :)
 
I want to get better than I am now. Sadly I haven't (and never had) natural ability and so everything I've done has been as a result of lots of practice and lessons even from early on. It probably explains why I am happy to work on my game providing I can see results. Sometimes I get frustrated like I did in March/April where I was putting the work in but getting nothing (apart from 0.1 everytime) back.

Then when it starts to click as it has done recently or you get your pro telling you that you are actually hitting it better and swinging well it makes it all seem worth the effort. I know there is still a single figure golfer inside me and I'm much happier playing more and practicing less (certainly compared to 2008 when I guess it was 70% practice - way too much and just ingraining bad habits). I'm getting out more and more in the evenings for a few holes and the worse that can happen is I lose a few balls. I'm trying to take on board what you've all been banging on to me about for years and to go and enjoy it. Enjoying it and improving. What other inspirations are there
 
That's where I think I miss out. I don't know enough people who play golf to get that variety. Only hope that as I play more competitions I will meet more new golfers and next year I'll be aiming to go to at least a couple of forum meets.
 
Got a few days to myself but don't feel like dumping myself on the practice ground or indeed playing. If I spend a lot of hours out there again working on my game and eventually get my h/cap to drop by a shot or two, so what?

Does it REALLY matter if I play off 6 or 5 or 4?

How do you keep yourself motivated? What drives you?
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What motivates me is knowing that i have the desire and the passion to get to 6,5 or 4 and retiring from football last year i have a new goal to set ......Iv set the bar high for myself and i know one day i will eventually get over it......when that day comes i dont rightly know but this is my motivation.

Iv never had lessons and i do what comes naturally to me and when i figure out something that im doing wrong i know that its a challange that i have overcame with persistance.....

Roll on saturday so i can bomb it into the cabbage :D :D :D
 
The ultimate motivation has to be enjoyment, whether playing alone, with the same group or mixing it up. You have to enjoy it otherwise why bother.
We all have to accept that there will come a point where we cannot improve further. That may be 28 for some, +2 or 3 for others. But sooner or later the "wanting to improve" bit isn't going to be there. All that's left is enjoyment.
 
I love to get out and play, I will play with pretty much anyone looking a knock, as I have just moved back to NI i pretty much have to as my mates are in newcastle, and i dont know that many folk here, thats why i put my name down for club teams.
I want to get as good as i can, that is what inspires me. I want to win, but I want to improve more, i want to try and get down to low single figures, but I play to enjoy it, when it becomes a chore i will rethink, I have a family, and if it became too much like hard work, or was to much of a strain on family life i would stop!
Before the weekend when I waas playing poorly, i thought the pressure was getting too much and just went out and had fun, shot 75, now i have realised that thats all that matters! :)
 
For me it is all about getting the handicap as low as possible that keeps me motivated.
I have never had a lesson or spent any time practicing as I just can't be bothered and instead prefer to play 18 holes whenever I can.

Last year I put myself under too much pressure I played as often as I could and got close to single figures only to rise again .1 in the last 10 medals and was close to quitting golf, this year I set out with the attitude of accepting whatever I shot and not caring if the handicap went in the wrong direction as it would just reflect the standard of my golf.
I have seem a dramatic improvement in my game with this carefree attitude and I now rarely shot over 80 in a medal and have taken 1.8 off my handicap.

I am one good round away from a single figure handicap, if for whatever reason I don't make it I will just have to try again next year. :-)
 
My aim is to get my h'cap as low as I can. It's a bit different for an 11 though compared to a 6 because I'm sure I can get to single figures without putting loads of practice in, whereas a cat1 (or close to) golfer has to put more effort in to keep reducing the h'cap.

It's not my reason for playing though. I play because I enjoy sport, being outdoors, and meeting new people. Basically it's fun.

If my only motivation to play was to lower my handicap then I'm not sure I'd bother.
 
Motivation ?

Desperation, more like.

I'm never going to be 'good', good.

But I hate being crap.

Everything else is somewhere on the scale

Golf
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^
^
^
^
Work

But life is far too much about work at the moment, so even a glimpse of golf every now and then is like a little sniff of freedom to an old lag.

I went on the practise green last night for an hour. Not particularly because I want to get my putting spot on ( although that would be nice ), but just because it was sunny, and it's the nearest I've been to a course in over a month.
 
That's where I think I miss out. I don't know enough people who play golf to get that variety. Only hope that as I play more competitions I will meet more new golfers and next year I'll be aiming to go to at least a couple of forum meets.
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you are a bit out in the boonies aren't you.
still whenever you get the chance get out on the forum meets - and don't be embarrassed by your handicap.
I went to first Goswick off 25 and got nothing but encouragement from everyone there (Dodger is a real softie really!)

I'd like, no I want to get down to at least 18 (lower would be nice) but I don't practice well; I get bored and I'd rather be playing (the only sport I practised at all seriously was shooting). I will get there though (it might be quicker if I could learn not to play the hollywood shots!)
 
I have just found out that there is life after scratch!!

I follow this thread on why we try to get down to a level we think may be difficult to retain so why bother and I pick up the paper this morning and find my club champion, playing in the semi final of an interclub match play comp, having just won 3 and 2, telling the reporter " If I play to that standard in the final I have a chance, I was 7 under when the game finished"

SEVEN under through sixteen holes!!!!!

He has obviously stayed inspired.

Maybe we should smell the roses on the way round and thank God that we found this wonderful game.
 
I've just spent 3 1/2 hours on the range working on things from my lesson on Monday followed by a quick 9 holes.

Trouble with inspiration? Not me :D
 
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