Reducing your golf handicap|!! possible or not

i swear i posted this message but cant see it.....

Anyway start again, has anyone out there managed to reduce their handicap bu quite alot say 10 in one year or so ??

this is my aim this year - and i keep getting told its a bit too far fetched - i remember some dude in the golf monthly mag new to golf managed to get down to scratch in a year !!

been told i wont manage it by the old hackers i play with...lol, but now im determined even more - started playing mid 2005 after a 6 week basic free course - got into golf last year but never really tried to lower my handicap to be honest - now this year is the challange !! playing off 20 right now, last played in october last year due to bad whether, so have been doing lots of reading (but not practising) however thinkim ready now with all my shall we secrets !!

again forgot the question i originally wanted to ask you all.....lol

It took me two years to get from 23 to 18 playing about once a week with the odd visit to the driving range.

What would it take for me to get from 18 to 8 from here? I think it would be improving my short game. When I analyze a round, I always seem to be able to get near the green (within 20 yards) in regulation. What happens next is why I am off 18. From 20 yards, a low handicap player would expect to convert a significant number of these to up and downs, to make their par, I tend to take three shots.

So, for me to improve my handicap from 18 to 8, I would play twice a week, one half hour practise session on the driving range per week and two half hour practice sessions on the short game per week (this is difficult to do, as most clubs don't have good short game practise areas, but they do exist)

Its the same for me. I'm sure I could get down to single figures, but its just the time to practice the short game.

Hi guys, i just wrote yet another message and it aint here again !! arhhhh

Anyway thanks for all the replies.

I definately agree with your comment christopher about playing with diferent levels of players - i hope i dontsound arrogant but i think thi is probably where i tend to lose it also, its so easy to become distracted and kletyour mind slip into others games to the extent that you lose control of yours.  but to be fair thats what seperates the best golfers from me...

Dont wanna give you all a 300 page story but last october i was playing alone and i managed to catch up to a more experianced and older player who i went round with from the 3rd hole, after the match we had a few drinks and he gave me some brilliant yet very simple and logical advise.  Anyway i had to take notice as he went round in 78 compared to my 94.  Two days later i remembered everything he said to me and followed this, i walked off shooting an 86, talk about being on cloud 9, worse thing was i missed about 3 very easy putts so keep kicking myself thinking it should have been an 83 really.

Only problem is i havent played since due to the darn rain !!  Gonna try and stay positive and if i can do this again, im VERY confident that my handicap will be down this year, by alot.  Gonna become a member of my local course also and practice loads..........watch this space !!

great advise - thanks matt, oh trust me when i say practising is at the top of my list, so much infact that im becoming a member of the local golf course (along with a secret weapon I have from planet kypton..lol)

My first ever golf round happened by shear coincidence in kuala lumpur in may 2005 - anniversary pressy courtesy of the hotel I stayed at, Well the Mrs practically convinced me to go (so she coud go shopping of course) so I thought what the heck.  (especially as I was told to give up football after damaging my other calf muscle to the extent that involved me sitting at home off work for a month).  Anyway after telling the club pro that i had never played he gave me a typical idiots guide lesson and then agreed to play 18 holes with me.  Anyway managed to round in 102.  Came back to the uk had six free group lessons at the local council course and been hooked ever since.  I think my worse ever score is 108 and my best ever score is 84.

But during all this time I have never actually been bothered about consistency, handicaps etc, until late last year.  Id say my average score is about 92ish and if I was truthful to myself at least 10 of those shots are due to ALWAYS being silly trying to ho those 300 yard drives just for the hell of it on those tempting holes you get.

Well hopefully the ground will dry out and I'll find out if I am capable of achieving this......

Hiya guys

finally got out and played on friday - shot an 85 on a par 70 course, course was still slightly damp but the greens were fine, great to be back on a course again....and now some bugger on TV has mentioned snow........great !!

I managed to go from 30 to 20 in my Society - but only because I won a couple and also scored over 36 points to earn 4 stroke reductions in each. Then I managed a win under 36 points for a further 2 stroke reduction.

But like I say, I am talking Society h/c's.

Dead right wayne....Sombrero to boot....

Sussed it....h/c now reduced - doh now I aint got a hope in hell....:-)

finally became a member at the local golf course and shot my best ever score today on a rainy day as well.....an awesome 82 !  and look guys it bought my handicap on here down to 17.7 - ok i know its earlt days still but breaking that 18 mark feels good.  Playing again 2moro at the same course i keep targeting breaking 90 everytime - have to say though today I was very lucky, my short game was on fire !

Sure does Wayne, just wish the other guys would actually all submit there cards too for handicap adjustments,  kinda wrong when the guy who regularly always shoots less than 85 still insists he is a 20 handicapper !!  ok thats my moan over !!  lol

Only ever managed to break 90 once - strange kind of round as my wife and daughter where off to Blackpool so I had to rush around the course early one morning on my lonesome and scored but didn't tot up until I got home.

Result was an 89....:-)

Similar to Alps I use to go round trying to break 100 and shot 102 to 106. My mate then said "why do you do that..? try break 90 -it's in your game so now I try and break 90 and although never do, I break 100 often..

Mybe now Alp's you should go to the course trying to break 85 rather than 90 and see what happens..

82 - cracking score that - well done

hiya guys

I think that 82 round was a pure fluke, funny you mention that result of 89 tho Robbie that u did- i think when u rush around people probably tend not to think too much so you just end up playing more of a unpressured game and do well.....i think!!

Hey Chris did I understand this right you play in comps for cash ??  drinks on you champ !!  lol..tell you what tho you better work on that short game tho if you wanna win....

I am becoming a little bit frustrated with my handicap.  I shot a 93 today which means i was 3 under with my handicap.  My handicap continues to either go up 0.1 or stay the same.

I see some peoples handicap reports on here with similar scores to mine who have handicaps of 18/19.   

I look at for example Robbie Allen's handicap with scores of 96, 100 and 102, he gets a handicap of 20.3.  Its a conspiracy I tell ya!

 Or am I just being daft and need to start producing scores in the 80's?

What score do i need to get to reduce my handicap???

Thats fair enough Wayne.  I picked up 38 points today, so things are going in the right direction.  Going again Saturday so hopefully I will have better news. 

I did not know you could manually adjust your handicap.  

Really determined to go out and score more points this weekend!

Cool - but this is my only handicap.  Till I find some random members to sign my card at the club.  Dont know anybody yet to sign the cards to get an offical one.  So I will have to go off this one.

So the people whose handicaps that dont seem to fit there scores may have manually adjusted their handicap?

I totally agree, you would be cheating yourself.  I think I am just annoyed that my handicap is not falling as quickly as I thought it would.  Only been playing since August, so maybe I should just be more patient.

managed to shoot an 87 today at western park.  Blimey I think reducing this handicap is gonna be tougher than i thought!!

hey chris (watmore), I kept track of my putting and I never 3 putted once, for me my long game fell apart big time, managed to even end up in a hazard about 20yards from the tee (much to a lady's amusement who was walking her dog...lol).

Also by the way chris (waterworth) work on that short game especially around the greens and you will definately see your handicap come down..........providing its not taking you loads of shots to get onto the green...

Alps.

My putting average is now at 33.5 puts per round.  I must admit its my game from 40/50 yards in thats my problem.  I need to get on that par 3 course at my club and get practicing.  

Hey Chris,

Thats a brill idea - I go round with my 6 year old on the pitch n putt - that way its alot of fun also......cant forget that part of the game hey !!

33.5 putts aint that bad if you can take off say another 2-3 then im sure that will help get that handicap down as well.

Where in the UK are u ???

Alps,

I have just arranged to play the par 3 course before our Societies tournament on Saturday. 

I live in Crewe, Cheshire but my club is in Shropshire near Telford.

Good luck for your society tournament mate, im sure you'll do well....

Alps,

Cheers mate, will let you all know how I get on!!

WAY TO GO CHRIS !! (Watmore)

Thats one hell of a score - just think its only one shot and you could have broke 80 on the day - da0 th6se three putts !!

(Note to self - dont bet on anything with Chris !!) lol

flippin eck this is becoming difficult to keep up with two Chris's on here !! lol

Oh dear what a day.  So much expectation, so much promise from myself and I finished 4th outside the medals.  The only saving grace is that I will be in the top groupings in May.  I shot a 103, a bloody 103 after building up nicely all week long to let myself down so much.  1st was an 84, then a 98 then 103 but with the society handicap he ended beating my by 3 shots.

I was so inconsistent today.  I thought I had turned it round after getting 3 pars on the trot, 8,9,10th but I just blew it!  Even on the range this morning i didn't feel right.  Is there such a thing as too much preperation??

As for reducing my handicap today, nowhere nearenough points, a pathetic 28 points today.

I am so angry with myself!!  I am playing again Thursday so the handicap persuit goes on!  Will keep you posted.  

CHRIS (Watmore), that fourteen year old that plays of 3.........DAAAAAM thats just insane !! BIG RESPECT to him ............I can only dream getting to a 13 let alone 3.

Yeah your absolutely spot on i think about playing with better players, possibly due to these reasons:

1. your not expected to do better than them - so no real pressure, therfore you actually end up playing the game of golf and not the game playing you.....hope that makes sense...

2.you can learn alot from them

3.makes the game more interesting (no disrespect intended to my usual playing partners, if you read this) but when you know what others can and cannot do its possible that you tend to lets say relax more and therfore dont stay as sharp

Im sure theres more to add, but anyways..

-----

I went round this morning in 84 at Western park in Leicester - best score for me there on that course ever.....plus i managed a birdie...............yes ok it was a flukey one, but hey it all counts....lol

Chris (Waterworth)

That first score of an 84 is great .........that card would have taken your handicap down a little i bet.

David has given you some great advise there, focusing on the positives really does help your game..........dont worry just keep that 84 in your head and next time you will end up doing the same or even better.........

Alps,

I wish the 84 was my score, that was the winner of the society match. My awful score of 103 (net 79 with society handicap of 25) did not help my handicap! I will take on board David's advice as I do agree with a lot of the things he said.

Looking back over the week I think I think I was putting myself under a lot of pressure. I will look again and try and keep the 93 I had last Thursday fresh in my mind.

I had four pars in that round of 103 so I am going to try and think about what i did well on those holes - like hitting the greens in regulations on on all four of those pars. I also had three of those pars in a row on 8, 9 and 10!

Stick the positives - God I never thought Golf would be such a mental game!

oh sorry chris i assumed you played three rounds thats why i thought you shot an 84.  Dont worry we all have off days - some more than others as well ....lol

 Stick at it and before you know you'll soon be playing off a much lower handicap.

cheers chris,

yeah I know what u mean, landing on par 3's and walking off with a four doesnt help me at all.  But I know I can get round that cus to be honest my short game inside say 40yards is pretty good(I know at worst I can get say a bogie), the problem is the dam long par fours which are just too hard for me to reach in two, if I did I guess I could start aiming at 2 putting for alot more pars.  Oh well I guess it wouldnt be fair on all those PGA players if I were that good anyway....lol

Chis - I may be way off on this but do u work at a golf club??

Oh does this mean you get free lessons off the pro as well as free golf......ah some people have all the luck dont they ............lol

I see your handicap is reducing down very nicely as well, well done mate keep it up.

Definately very wise took me about a year to get over the fascination of bombing each drive as far as I could, still get the occasional temptation on those open fairways tho....lol

Blimey tho getting home at 9pm really makes some of those days long, dont think my Mrs would be too happy if I tried that a few nights a week....lol

what you aiming to get your handicap to by theend of the year ??

Go for it, single figures would be great hey, oh beleive thats something to be well proud of if you can do that.....put the fear into your playing partners also ...lol

Interesting thread this, can't say I saw it when it first came out.  My particular problem is that although I play off 20-21 and regular get on or around that when playing I know where the shots are going.  I can usually count 10 completely duff shots per round (not including putts) without any trouble.  Taking into account that some of these actually cause me to take penalties on subsequent shots I reckon that I get 15 shots per round that are wasted which really should leave me as a low teens handicapper.  Don't know why I collect these shots, it's a cause of much frustration to me, it's most likely to do with over enthusiasm and lack of concentration.

One day I'll make those shots - and you'll all label me a bandit! 

cheers steven (blimey this was an old post!!)

yeah im consistently shooting 80s nowadays and just like tim i usually remember the duffed shots as well and those dredded 3 putts every now and again.

I think when i orinally posted this i had ambitions on getting to about 10, im sure i can get there with loads more practice - althpough i have to admit at the time of posting i didnt know about handicaps buffer zones etc, i just thought to calculate handicap you took your score less the par and voila !!! Anyways be great to hear from you all on how you all managed to reduce your handicaps ! comon dont be shy now !!!

I'll tell you when I do Alps!

Yeah a trip down memory lane this, back a year.  Handicap has tumbled now and I am now consistantly shooting in the mid 80's.  My society handicap has been slashed!

Was good to read this thread again - still improving as well!!  Wish I could play this weekend put school planning plus 26 reports to write tells me I aint going to make it this weekend!

Ah well.