What's your true potential?

[Sports_Fanatic]

Slight musing, but I think it was Bob Rotella that said your hot streak was your actual true potential.

I get to play once a month, so always slightly frustrated due to short game rust and I've had a low-mid teens handicap for the last 10 years. Slight humble brag but I ask the question as recently I played an evening round where i had 10 holes in a row at level par (8 pars, birdie and bogey with +5 for the 18) and then despite my two comp scores this year being 91 & 92 my eclectic score is already 76. I finished on Friday holing a 5ft putt for Eagle.

So, am I deluding myself that I'm better than my handicap of the last 10 years (i'm still hoping to be a bandit)? What expectations do you have for your own game based on the shots you know you can hit?

 

[TreeSeeker]

Similar to you i've had a few hot runs, managed the front 9 at +3, which what you're getting 24 shots is quite a nice start! in honesty I think my potential is single figures but by no means anytime soon. Sounds like you, similar to me, have a few wayward high scoring misses to iron out!

 

[Hobbit]

Not sure I agree, or perhaps understand, where Bob Rotella is going with this. Going down the road of Rotella's thinking, if you can birdie every hole your potential is -18. If you've had a few eagles you could add those in and all of a sudden you're got a gross round in the 50's, which is unrealistic in the extreme. Or maybe its whatever your eclectic is, which again is in the 50's.

I'm more inclined to think that a true potential is a few shots under handicap, i.e. whatever your best round is, is your potential. It will almost certainly include bogies to go with the birdies but it does sound more realistic.

 

[jusme]

I get what your saying. There is not a shot in golf I can't hit. I don't play frequently enough or practice to get that to a consistent level. I play of 16 and have no doubt if I had a different life and enough time I would easily be single figures. Knowing potential is one thing. Having the opportunity or circumstances to get there is a totally different matter

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

Not sure I agree, or perhaps understand, where Bob Rotella is going with this. Going down the road of Rotella's thinking, if you can birdie every hole your potential is -18. If you've had a few eagles you could add those in and all of a sudden you're got a gross round in the 50's, which is unrealistic in the extreme. Or maybe its whatever your eclectic is, which again is in the 50's.

I'm more inclined to think that a true potential is a few shots under handicap, i.e. whatever your best round is, is your potential. It will almost certainly include bogies to go with the birdies but it does sound more realistic.

I'm butchering Rotella's comments and it's been a long time since I read the book, but I think he was trying to convery that if someone can make 6 pars in a row say, then there is no reason they shouldn't be capable of continuing that run. Mentally they should be setting up with a positive intent rather than the mental block many have that means a round falls apart when getting close to a milestone.

The reference to eclectic score was from me only and more the thought that it suggests all holes on my course are capable of being pared.

 

[patricks148]

unfortunately i'm a 4 handicap with a 24 bursting to get out

 

[Hobbit]

I'm butchering Rotella's comments and it's been a long time since I read the book, but I think he was trying to convery that if someone can make 6 pars in a row say, then there is no reason they shouldn't be capable of continuing that run. Mentally they should be setting up with a positive intent rather than the mental block many have that means a round falls apart when getting close to a milestone.

The reference to eclectic score was from me only and more the thought that it suggests all holes on my course are capable of being pared.

In terms of pure logic, I agree with you and would add that if someone can make 6 birdies then why not 18 birdies. I guess we've got to accept the various vagaries of the mental side of the game + the weather and the luck of the bounce.

I would love to bottle those hot streaks, and I often wonder just how do they happen. They're not flukes. Whatever in the zone is it would be great to play to whatever an individual's hot streak is, even allowing for the odd vagary.

 

[duncan mackie]

unfortunately i'm a 4 handicap with a 24 bursting to get out

I'm 14 with the 4 handicapper firmly kept in check....most of the time 🤗

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm 20, aiming for 17-18 this year. If I didn't work I reckon I could get to 15 but would plateau around there. I'm not delusional enough to think I can reach single figures, eclectic score or not.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I can play good nines on the front and back, just never together. I think I still have the potential to be much lower. Whether thats my true potential or as a result of a number of weeks playing well on a hot streak that sees the handicap tumble I don't know. Like others, I'm a 13 handicapper with a single figure player locked deep within and showing no signs of getting out

 

[Capella]

Well, I have played par on every single hole on our course before, so theoretically, if everything goes right, I should be able to play a par round. Not very realistic, though. A lot would have to go right to make that happen. But I have written out a course strategy for my home course, the way I want to play each hole and should be able to, giving me two putts on every green. According to that, if everything went to plan, I should be able to get round in 88 shots (playing bogey on every hole and par the two shortest par 3s). No magic or wizardry needed, I just have to avoid to miss the fairway and have to land the (relatively short) approach shots on the green and then two putt. Can't be that hard, can it? THEN WHY THE HECK CAN'T I BREAK 100?????

 

[chrisd]

I can play good nines on the front and back, just never together. I think I still have the potential to be much lower. Whether thats my true potential or as a result of a number of weeks playing well on a hot streak that sees the handicap tumble I don't know. Like others, I'm a 13 handicapper with a single figure player locked deep within and showing no signs of getting out

I pretty much share this view as my own. My regular playing partners tell me that I should be around an 8 handicap but I always contrive to mess up a hole or two on a comp round. I've been working hard this winter on lessons and practice, and just hope that the effort pays off this season.

 

[Scozzy]

I'm a streaky, aggressive player who also plays in fits and bursts due to work and family commitments so my best is pretty good (75 at Goswick) and my worst efforts to many to mention, safe to say I've raised the bat to the stands!!! I'm not too worried about potential as I know I can play well at times,I'd just like my gap between best and worst to be alot smaller

 

[Wolf]

Interesting thread and I've read that Rotella book it certainly depends how you take the context its written in.

My true potential I'd like to believe is somewhere around a 2 or 3 handicap where I was as a junior, but since I started playing again in November I'm literally able to par 12/14 holes a round but then those other 4/6 holes literally could be anything from single, double, triple or worse. My game since playing again ha sliterally been dependant on getting the tee ball in play, hence big swing changes happening but all that said I'm enjoying the game more now than I was when I was that low handicap before.

My dad is a great case for a thread like this he's 72, used to play off 4 and still to this day hits the ball like he did then an absolute brilliant ball striker, fit and strong still drives it a good 230ish but his handicap has drifted over last 10 years upto 16 all because he can no longer chip, literally has the chipping yips and loses a good 7-10 shots a round because of it he has tried everything to correct it but cant bring himself to use a chipper which really would help him. His true potential even using something as blasphemous as a chipper would at his age still be around 7-9 handicap. So maybe sometimes it's not what is our true potential is the question, maybe it should be do we do all we can to get to it.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I am probably someone who thinks I can be better than my handicap but isn't that true of most optimists.

On my day can go under par or easily within 5 of par even on hard courses that SSS is say 1-3 above par. The problem is, is 'that' day is about 1 in 15 to 30 games, bleeding stupid silly game, its tempts you and then slaps you more than it tempts

I am true with myself tho, my handicap will never be as low as I would hope as I am not consistent enough in all areas to get low.

 

[Orikoru]

I don't think what he's saying applies to golf. In theory your electic round is your potential, but that completely ignores factors like consistency and mental attitude. I don't see how you can quantify those either. It's like saying if you can hole a 20 foot putt, which I'm sure we've all done, then you can hole every 20 foot putt. But nobody in the world does that, so that can't be your potential can it?

 

[Curls]

Potential is a difficult word, it could mean so many things. But I'd say you could broadly categorise into:

1. what you could get down to if you got coaching and worked as hard as you reasonably could given that none of us do this for a living.

2. what you're capabale of right now at your best (in the zone) for 18 holes

3. what you could achieve if you won the lotto and commited full time and resources to the game

Those are all very different standards.

Personally I would define my potential as what handicap I could get down to given life (no.1 above) rather than the other two but all are valid. I believe I can make Cat 1, that would make me happy. Whether I get to 5 and want 4 I can't say, right now I feel like that potential is there but won't realise itself. It'll mean having the time and motivation to work more on my game and the mental fortitude to close out good starts, by no means givens.

 

[Yant]

Currently playing off of 2. My 'hot streaks' would be in the realms of 3 or 4 under, so i guess based on this i'm capable of being a +3 golfer? i guess?

 

[Grant85]

I'd say I could get to single figures if I work on the right areas of my game.

I'm getting back to golf after a few years off - been 17 in 2015 and this morning I was 24... will come down to 22 today and left plenty out there (2 triples, 2 doubles, 5 pars and 9 bogeys).
Also played the 4 hardest holes, SI 1 to 4, in 2 over par, so it's all there.

Putting needs to improve and proximity to the hole with wedges and pitches / chips.

I'd like to have a round where I take no worse than bogey on any hole and feel that is a realistic objective this year.

 

[bobmac]

As long as I get up in the morning, make breakfast and go to the toilet in the right order, I'm happy