Why are most golfers today rubbish?

[Jabba]

I agree with most of what Mongoose said. We all know people who constantly complain about some aspect of their game but never put any work into improving it.

 

[RGDave]

Golf is tough, but any reasonably able bodied male between 15 and 50 can comfortably play to single figures on an average dificulty course. Most dont. They choose not to do so. It really is a choice not to.

Can't agree. That's like saying anyone who starts the piano or guitar aged 30, and practises every day and yet never gets above grade 5 is choosing to not to get better.
Am I making a choice to slum it off 12?

In 1998 I'd have agreed with you. Not today, sadly.

 

[kid2]

Alex, apologies. I wasn't having a go at the likes of yourself who work hard at your game.
I was talking about the golfer who does no practice and thinks because he has all the best kit, he should be able to play well and moans when he doesnt.
I spend my days with both types and believe me I'd rather spend 2 hours working with a player like yourself who tries, than 10 mins with someone I know won't lesten to a word I've said.

Iv read nearly all the replies Bob and to be fair to you i completely understand what your trying to get everyone to see..
Unless your a freak of nature i dont care who you are you will not get better without some form of constructive practice...

Its practice that does take discipline and time but it can be fit in if people try hard enough..
Yes everything nowadays is travelling at 100mph and its one of my pet hates...No one seems to want to slow down and learn things properly...Like you said its as if they want a quick fix.....

Some people's niavity in being swayed by the powers of advertising can be excused but not all..
Iv got a young family and i work 9 to 6 but i still find time to get my practice in...And while my handicap at the moment isnt reflecting my progress i know that with patience and a little discipline it will start to drop...

Also there are ways around getting practice in with a family..HiD's being at home all day with my 2 is just crying for some HiD's time so when i can i grab my little fellow and give him his clubs and head to the range when i can with him...It gets him interested in the game and i get to spend some quality time with him also and i get to practice..

I cant speak for other people but iv played sports since i was 8 years old and i for one know that there is no way that you can obtain and maintain a level of fitness or skill without practice...Its physically impossible.



Golf in my eye's is no different.....
Just my 2 cents!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Back in the neolithic ages I also had the Dunlop rubber shoes and the best ball in my pencil bag was a Penfold Commando. Age 16 I was playing off 7 and half dozen or more other juniors were playing off less.
Shift forward over 30 years having taken up the game again last year I now have all the posh Ping pensioner kit, play off 13 but cannot break 80. My last 12 rounds have been between 80 and 84 so I am consistent if nothing else. My finesse from 100 yards in is almost non-existant. Problem is I get to the course and can't resist doing 18 holes just to see if I can break 80 again. As a junior it was my short game which got me my low scores and I honestly thought that when I took up the game again it would all come back to me. Funnily enough the long game is the best its ever been and I would put this nearly all down to the gear. Short game - now that requires some disciplined practice and until I decide to knuckle down and put the time in then that 79 will continue to be very elusive.

A kindred spirit and an answer that probably goes a long way to answering Bob's OP. Many simply don't invest enough time into their games and if they do its usually at the sake of the short game so they can bomb their driver. I'm sure Bob must see hundreds of pupils looking for a band-aid fix for their problems and who, if they do make a another booking, never ever work on the drills shown. They go out on the course with an alien swing, it doesn't work so they resort to type and the problem persists. Bob doesn't mind as he's got the cash already.

I understand the work-life balance issues and the fact that for most it remains a game for relaxation and pleasure. If they have a good round great and if not there will be next week. I also think there is a much wider choice than 30 years ago in all pieces of kit. There weren't the range of manufacturers and models around, blades were still en vogue and GI clubs were usually big ugly things that put more people off than they tried to help. Shafts were almost uniquely steel too which never helped. Fast forward to today and I think a lot of players do hit the ball better thanks to lighter shafts, better heads, the C/F option and more variety of clubs to use.

I don't think breaking 80 is actually a realistic figure as that means playing to 8-10 on most courses which is stretching it a bit especially for the average weekend, fun golfer. Maybe if you'd said breaking 90 then I could see your point.

Interesting thread though Bob.

 

[G1BB0]

have courses not also changed in this time? golfers expectations?

unfortunately we live in a materialistic world where the latest and greatest will always appeal, add to that the plethora of advertising channels now available compared to yesteryear and the days of playing with whatever you have got and making the best of it have long gone

 

[Piece]

Here's my take...briefly

1. Too much obsession on distance rather than accuracy.
2. Nowhere near enough time spent on short game and putting.
3. Doing bad practice, and lots of it.
4. Too much misinformation, misunderstanding, poor tips, mis-advice, etc.
5. Not seeking out lessons and not persevering with them.

 

[richart]

Has it always been 14 clubs?

When DCB started I don't think there were any rules

C'mon Bob, you're older than me so you'll remember these

Away an boil your heed.
I'm only 42

Why do all 'Pro's' say they are younger than they really are ?

 

[Leftie]

Away an boil your heed.
I'm only 42

Why do all 'Pro's' say they are younger than they really are ?

Oh! I thought he was talking about his waist size, not his age.

Silly me

 

[USER1999]

Tosh and piffle.

Those that have talent have talent, those who don't, don't. The ratio of talented people to non talented people has not changed.

I payed off 12 for 20 years. These spanned persimmon to huge headed titanium. Balata to surlyn. No difference.

What I think holds most golfers back Is a mental thing. Sadly, the mk 1 brain is still standard issue.

 

[viscount17]

Is it because these days we don't have the time to practice as much as those in the days of yore?
With Job, Family and a million other commitments it makes getting a meanigful practice session AND a round of golf in per week much trickier than it was.
We just have less spare time.

I understand what you're saying but sorry, I dont buy it.
In days of yore, people still had jobs, famillies, commitments and they found the time to practice.
Maybe it goes deeper with HID having more say today in how hubby spends his spare time. Interesting.

HID will just not stay HID. It's off with the pinny, out with the curlers, straighten the wrinkly stockings and onto the course.

so the nouveau HID is moaning 'cos he can't practice <u>his</u> golf

 

[BogeyHole]

All this talk about willingness to practise is interesting.

How many people have access to good pitching and chipping practise facilities?

I don't, and so my short game will only ever get better by actually playing the game, and that's my personal restriction.

I'm pretty sure that if I played as much as I did in the old days I would score reasonably well in comparison to then. I used to score in the low-mid 80s. Allowing that better equipment will counteract some of the deterioration in my aching old bones, I'd expect to score roughly the same if I played enough to consitentialise my game ( great word, if only it existed ).

For me, scores in the 70s rarely ever happened, and I can't see them ever happening again. I apologise if that thought offends the great and the good.

 

[HRC99]

We could all be better with more quality practice but are limited by, firstly, access to practice areas and, secondly, our preparedness to put the time in to practice in a systematic and quality manner.

But, the mental side of things is even more important though.

When I look back at opportunities that I have blown to win or just better my handicap, I will have put a bad swing/pitch/chip/putt or two in to get to that score. But that can and will happen to anyone during their round - even the top professionals.

When I look back at my missed opportunities, I can almost always attribute them to mental mistakes - wrong club selection, poor assessment of risk/reward, speeding up, slowing down, etc. I will also tend to compound those mistaks too, having made the initial mistake.

Golfers are undoubtedly tempted by the lure of shiny new toys which promise scratch golf but golfers have the same brains as they have always done and make the same mistakes time after time.

A GM piece on the sustained effect of mental coaching on one or more golfers' handicaps would be a very interesting experiment and make great reading.

 

[Mark_Aged_42]

Does media coverage have an impact on the way people expect to progress? We are bombarded with info about Watson, Johnson, McIlroy et al driving 300+ yards. So people enter the game wanting to do do just that because it looks cool. Go to any muni course and 80% of the young lads will be thrashing at the ball, and inevitably hitting it hard...and sliced. So par becomes an impossibility on a driving hole. The kit merely allows them to hit the ball further in to trouble.

 

[19thagain]

Having been born and brought up, many years ago, with the local course as my front garden .. no locals(within 30 miles) allowed to play unless a member .. I do not Bob, believe that the array of wee fat, big fat a*sed, golfers there present, enjoyed an average handicap in single figures!!

They were all privileged, bosses and bank managers sat on their butts all day, out to escape the wife in the evening and enjoy a few gins. The retired tea planter sharing his stories of how he could crack the whip, the retired major who snoozed in HIS chair (and God help you if you ever sat in it)who reminisced, when awake, about how the 'jocks' were only good for front line fodder.

The Pro, always referred to by them, using his surname, maybe with old before it and an ie at the end to make it less hurtful(old smithie/jonesie) - was never allowed in the clubhouse and only allowed to speak when addressed!

I do not believe that this array of ragamuffins were enjoying a single figure handicap back in those days!

 

[brendy]

But you could have your own chair? awesome!