What do you think is your golf handicap ceiling?

[Joff]

If you carried on playing/practising as much as you do now...

I started off a 22 hdp in dec '10, and I'm now off 8. When I first got the handicap, I thought the best I could be was a 12. I now feel I could get down to 6... Any more than that, I'd have to practice. Which I do next to none of (hit a few balls before a round in the summer only). I play between once and twice a week.

I find practice boring, would rather have a few holes. I will say I'll always have a little putt before a round when the putting green is open!

 

[pokerjoke]

Im like you mate i think i could get to 6.
Not practising as much now,due to back restrictions.
However short games improved well,puttings much better.
Would like to be more consistent off the tee,learn to hit a driver,then i think
6 is a possibility.

 

[MadAdey]

I am a firm believer in practice can only do so much. You need natural talent and ability, there are people on here that practice non stop and have lessons all the time, but there are still not a scratch golfer. I think like most things in life you will get to a level that you are capable of then that will be it.

I think you have to do an honest assessment of your game is the first thing. I know I still need to work on my putting as I have totally lost the plot with it and it is still costing me 1/2 shots a round, which is an improvement to a year ago when it was costing me 5/6 shots a round.

I think my potential with some good practice and lessons is down at scratch. I hit a good distance, I am pretty straight, I can hit any iron from most lies accurately and my chipping although not the greatest in the world is still pretty solid. So the putting is not brilliant, but that is just a couple of lessons away.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Im like you mate i think i could get to 6.
Not practising as much now,due to back restrictions.
However short games improved well,puttings much better.
Would like to be more consistent off the tee,learn to hit a driver,then i think
6 is a possibility.

Likewise - over the years I've drifted from 6 to my current 11.5, but after a good many years struggling I think I can get back to playing to 6 - but that would be it I think. Whether I ever get back to 6 handicap though, I have my doubts. I have never practiced and I just don't have the time or, in truth, the inclination at the moment to play as much as I did when off 6 (5-6 rounds a week). But my driving is better today than back then - in fact my all-round game is better. Where I need to get the improvement is the 150-180yds mark as my % hitting the green from that distance is way too low - 50% at the best I'm guessing.

 

[Alex1975]

If you carried on playing/practising as much as you do now...

I started off a 22 hdp in dec '10, and I'm now off 8. When I first got the handicap, I thought the best I could be was a 12. I now feel I could get down to 6... Any more than that, I'd have to practice. Which I do next to none of (hit a few balls before a round in the summer only). I play between once and twice a week.

I find practice boring, would rather have a few holes. I will say I'll always have a little putt before a round when the putting green is open!

12 for me....

 

[bladeplayer]

If you carried on playing/practising as much as you do now...

!

Doing what i do now ? 5 possibly 4 ... then the hard work would realy have to start... have set a handicap goal of 5 this year .. its not just about geting low tho its about being able to play to it...

G1BB0's thread on the handicap thingy is going to be interesting , some people will go lower but will be interesting if they keep playing the same ammount of golf where will they finish ..

 

[Khamelion]

Unofficially my HC is 20.1 (that's according to the online score tracker I use) now I know if I can cure my slice I'll be able to knock at least 10 shots off a round (I'm always in the trees or deep rough, hell if I wore camo gear while playing you only ever see me on the tee and green), by losing 10 shots a round, I'd make my first goal of breaking 90 and be close to breaking 80, but to do both I've got to :-

1. Cure my slice
2. Concentrate
3. Take each round a little more seriously

If I can do the above, I should be able to get into realms of a single figure HC

 

[louise_a]

my problem is consistancy (the other day I started double, double, triple, then played the next 7 in one over), and I am also constrained a little by age and distance, my target this year is 14 but I secretly hope to get down to 12, i would think the absolutee lowest i could get to is around 8.

 

[Foxholer]

.. its not just about geting low tho its about being able to play to it...

This expression always puzzles me. It may be that my relatively consistent scoring is different from the streaky way others play, but in order to get down to a particular handicap, you have to actually play below it! So 'merely' playing to it should not be a problem!

Seems to be more an attitude issue than anything else, though crossing a Category boundary does reduce the buffer allowance.

 

[pbrown7582]

I was down @ 7.8 few years back and firmly believe was on way to 6ish before an accident at work, followed by wife and little lad so those days are long gone for a whole at least carrying on as I am now hopefully get to 9 maybe 8 but that's it without reall
Effort I think.

 

[AmandaJR]

I think I could get to 6 in the next couple of years although single figures would make me happy. I don't like odd numbers though so would have to be 8! Not sure I'd even really want Cat 1 but never say never and perhaps the nearer I get to it I might change my goal. Not getting any younger though but am physically fit so nothing there holding me back.

 

[MadAdey]

I think the problem is there is no formulae to work this out. All you can do is look at what you do now, how much you practice the different areas and what room for potential improvement you have in each area. Break your current golfing abilities down into certain areas and see what it looks like.

I always look at the different areas of the game by handicap category. If I did my current abilities and potential ability in each area it would look something like this. I have looked at these specific areas of the game by what I am like now compared to what I think I could realistically improve to with more practice/lessons.

Driving: Cat 1 - Scratch
Approach: Cat 1 - Scratch
50 yards in: Cat 2 - Cat 1
Chipping: Cat 2 - Cat 1
Putting: Cat 3 - Cat 1

It is pretty obvious what I need to improve if I am to get back to a Cat 1 handicap. My putting is woeful and my shots from 50 yards in could be a bit closer to the hole. I say I am Cat 2 with chipping as I never hole any, but I do more often than not hit it to around easy 1 putt range(that is for someone who can putt though )

 

[CMAC]

Most people practice the wrong thing....incl me.

 

[Tab373]

I don't practice and play mayb once a week sometime once every 2 weeks due to young family and work but play off 6 and I find even if I have a bad round I won't score higher than 81 and good rounds are 2 or 3 over. Mate of mine plays 4/5 times a week and plays off 6 I wish I could play that much I seriously think I could play off 3.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

As I don't practice at all (other than on the golf course) I think it is how I approach each round I play that can make the difference. I need to play enough non-qualifiers so that in these rounds I allow myself to 'go for shots' and 'practice' approach shot without worrying too much about the end result. So that when I play a qualifier I don't need to 'see if I can play such and such a shot; recover from here' etc - rather I rely on sensible course management to put me in a position where I can end up with a decent round. For me a good score will not come from me trying to get a good score, but from me allowing myself to get a good score.

 

[Joff]

Some brilliant replies in here.

 

[JPH]

I have no clue really

Scratch (I have a dream)

Truth be more like 10 and that's if m back holds out

 

[Joff]

Im like you mate i think i could get to 6.
Not practising as much now,due to back restrictions.
However short games improved well,puttings much better.
Would like to be more consistent off the tee,learn to hit a driver,then i think
6 is a possibility.

If you could use a driver you'd be 2 shots a round better off comfortably. I don't really think you WANT to use a driver though. If you're honest.

 

[Curls]

Might sound like a cop-out but I don't want to put a number on it, same reason I didn't enter the 2013 handicap thread. I'm going to try to break down some mental scoring barriers this year, found myself "allowing" myself my handicap at the end of last year, after making good progress at the start of the season I felt myself uneasy in new territory and an early double bogey would instantly start the counter rolling - "only 9 shots left". No way to shoot a low score. The result was a bunch of +1s and buffers.

This year I'm going to try to play medals like I played matchplay last year, completely uninhibited by numbers and just playing the best I can on every hole. I played low in those games, a few of those in the year and my handicap would be slashed. I'm not going to stand on the first tee as a 12 h/c, that number doesn't mean anything when I'm playing very well or indeed very badly. I'm hoping that by becoming un-obsessed with the numbers I shoot really really low ones.

Have no idea where that will lead this year or beyond, but should be a fun experiment this season anyway. If I can keep it up of course!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If you could use a driver you'd be 2 shots a round better off comfortably. I don't really think you WANT to use a driver though. If you're honest.

And for most Cat 2 and Cat 3 golfers I'd say that to enable yourself to get a good score you have to consider if you really NEED to use a driver - on a round-by-round and hole-by-hole basis. Driver or not for me is the classic risk and reward decision every time I step on to the tee of a par 4/5. And to be honest - for me the inherant risk is usually greater than the potential reward. But I will still often take a driver when I really shouldn't or don't need to. So as well as trying to improve my 150-180 approach shots I will be focussing on increasing my % fairways hit. I don't know what that % should be and I'm not going to give myself a target - but I'll know what it is when I'm there.