Golfers!

So i looked up a caclulator, luckly i've played 5 times this year and im about a 8 right now, hope to bring that down to a 6 or 7.
 
I've never golfed before besides at a driving range, but I am determined to learn this summer. My girlfriend's dad said he'd take me out and give me a lesson, and hopefully I can find some friends that wouldn't mind going with a beginner. It's really a sport that I want to get into and hopefully be decent by the time I'm 30 or 40.
 
im well aware of what im talking about, ive played golf for about 15 years or so. Theres a difference between being a professional golfer and being a PGA tour standout, which i think most of you dont understand apparently. Id be willing to bet that there are 100,000 professional golfers out there, and id say 95% of them DONT make a living from playing the game. Theyre instructors, course pros, dealing in equipment, or some other aspect of the game. out of the 100,000 how many are household names? props to you people who claim these insane numbers if theyre true.
A "scratch" golfer in the truest sense of the word can shoot par give or take a stroke at any course in the world, not just the local nine hole public course in your town with no sand traps or out of bounds. I shoot in the 70s every single time i play my home course, but as soon as I went to a PGA rated course, id be lucky to break 90 or 100. If that would make me a scratch golfer in your eyes, then so be it, but thats not what it really is.
 
I play, but not nearly enough. I get to the range a couple times a week in the summer but only had 13 full rounds last year (1 so far this year). My RCGA index is 11.5. I hope to get it into the 9s this year, but I really have to get out more.
 
I wish I lived in Summit, i'm back on the east coast currently which is pretty unfortunate. The drops at the river course off the tee were so much fun, gahhh I love that course! I didn't have a chance to play the Breckenridge course unfortnately- was at a conference in Keystone (not sure who decided to do it there, but damn it was fun). Hope they keep that course in shape, I'm sure I'll be playing there or in Summit sometime in the future.
 
unfortunately for you, your first post did not do anything to suggest you knew what you were talking about. you did not say anything about teaching pros, club pros, etc. you merely said "if their handicap were +1 they would be pro." which is clearly a false statement.
 
unfortunately for me? what are you my teacher? im sorry i didnt elaborate on my answer enough professor, but nothing i said was a "false statement" i just didnt elaborate enough to your liking. and i said a -1 or scratch golfer would be professional. if you dont believe me ill provide a USGA definition of a scratch golfer for you :

Male scratch golfer. A male scratch golfer is a player who can play to a course handicap of zero on any and all rated golf courses. A male scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 250 yards and can reach a 470-yard hole in two shots at sea level.

Female scratch golfer. A female scratch golfer is a player who can play to a Course Handicap of zero on any and all rated golf courses. A female scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 210 yards and can reach a 400-yard hole in two shots at sea level.
 
just because a guy is a scratch golfer doesnt mean hes a pro... tons of people play for fun and have absolutely 0 desire to become a professional at something just because they're good at it. I average 275+with my driver and can easily reach 470 yard holes in 2. I am not a scratch golfer, nor do i yearn to be a professional at the sport. your points are invalid.
 
where in your fancy definition did it say scratch = pro?
if you knew so god damn much about golf you would know that the VAST majority of scratch golfers are NOT club pros, teaching pros, ect.
i mean, hell, i have no problem hitting the ball 280 off the tee and putting it on the green of a 470 yard hole in two, so are you going to tell me that i'm lying because that would mean i'm a pro according to your definition of a scratch golfer.
shut the fuck up man, you're wrong.
 
My index is around a 14. I can not wait to get out and start golfing again this season, weather is finally turning around.
 
the point i was trying to make originally is that i highly doubt anyone on here is a true scratch golfer, and if they were, the are the caliber of player that could be considered professional, thats all. im not saying every scratch player is a professional, but they could be if they have the potential to shoot par at any and all courses. i can recall a sparse few PGA events where the leader finished over par, not that that happens often, but still. my focus of my point was on scratch golfers, not professionals.
 
well obviously those pros are lying and aren't actually pros because they can't break even at any golf course.
your logic is flawed.
 
The number 1 ranked golfer in the world (Martin Kaymer) shot 6 over in his first round at the masters and has missed the cut at that event three years in a row now...
 
in golf your game is either on that day or its not. no one can shoot par at every course, all the time, every time. so no, my logic is not flawed. having the potential and ability to shoot par every round is not the same as doing it every round
 
haha i love this. because this does nothing to aid your argument. first off: distance has no hold whatsoever on whether a person is a scratch golfer. second: how the hell is you actual comment any different than the way i remembered it? i mean, apart from an irrelevant word here or there. and finally: at no point did those definitions mention anything about a scratch golfer being pro.
me, and my golf friends all fit that description pretty well, except for myself as my handicap is a 3, not 0 or better. now tell me that 16 and 17 year old high schoolers are professionals. our parents, for the most part, fit that description as well.
now correct me if i'm wrong, but you mean to say that we are all professionals?? cool, just made my life a whole lot better!
seriously though, stop trying.
 
your handicap is a 3, im assuming at your home course, where you play more often than anywhere else. if you shoot par there every round, scratch golfer right? wrong. thats the point im trying to make. this is going way far off course anyway,but whatever. i guess when people see the words pro golfer they assume im talking Tiger, mickelson, etc, so maybe i just wasnt clear enough or whatever, but i meant theyd qualify to take the test be a teaching pro, because they can shoot par anywhere. no just a crummy home course, like the one i play on all the time.
 
I know very well what you mean, and no, the 3 hdcp is not at my home course, i have after all been paying attention to what you've been saying.
and for the most part yeah, but in my case i just naturally assume when somebody says "pro" they mean tour pro. because when they talk about a club pro or a teaching pro, they usually include the part about them being a club/teaching pro.
but yeah, sorry for all this because i didn't know you were referring to the qualifications for the test.
that being said, yes. everything you've said is true. just a little unclear
 
I've never calculated my handicap, but I typically shoot 42-45 on 9 holes, and my best on 18 holes is 91. I really want to get better this summer, and maybe get on the golf team for my college next year.
 
and the away course I played at that has a 76.1 rating was firestone south where they play the bridgestone. I shot 76 so i technically shot .1 under par so it still helped my handicap
 
ive never taken the time to get a handicap card and all that, i usually just tool around with friends and stuff, but safe to say that however many strokes you shoot over par per round is your handicap right? for easy computing? so like par 72, shoot an 84 regularly, youd be a 12? I know you need 20 rounds and all that, but im just talking average. thats always how ive done it in my head
 
nope. every course has a rating. Sure the par can change, but every course is rated based on slope and length and other variables. Look at a scorecard next time and you will see a different number for every set of tees. So lets say its a par 72 course, and the rating of the course is 74.00 What that means is that if a scratch golfer were to play, he should shoot 74. A +2 hdcp golfer would shoot a 72, and so on and so forth. Thats how the handicap is computed.
 
Its relative to the course rating. an easy course per say, could have a rating of 64.7, if you shot a 74, the handicap for the round would be 9.3
so right idea, but go by the course rating, not par on the round
 
no idea how handicap works but i shoot in the 90-95s, i wanna bring that down to low 80s for school but i dont see that happening anytime soon. but if my ball ever goes in the forest im hitting 100 that day
 
its as simple as making sure that your head doesn't move during your swing, and being able to align yourself properly. because as long as the ball is in play the whole time, i promise you 100 will be out of the question.
also, work more first on shots within say 75 yards, and chipping and putting. then as you get those on lock work your way through the long game. it helps trust me.
 
kid from my town has a -5, he shot 65 two days in a row at a tournament here on a legit course (Oak Hill). hes like 16 now and still getting better
 
kid from my town has a -5, he shot 65 two days in a row at a tournament here on a legit course (Oak Hill). hes like 16 now and still getting better
 
Never officially kept a handicap. but i guess i would play to a 5ish or lower. Want to get it lower this summer, consistency kills me.
 
BTW In regards to the Convo on scratch players and such.

I dont care how far you hit a golf ball. It is scoring that matters, you could drive the ball 320 but not be able to hit a iron. If you can not score it doesnt matter.

Another aspect that comes into play is course management. I am starting to get better at course management, I am predicting that it will help lower my scores by 5 strokes.

Drive for show, Putt for dough.
 
haha obviously i mean, the club pro at my home course hits it like 210 at most off the tee. but god damn does he have a good short game.
 
played competitively in high school. handicap was 5 on the home course. didnt play for a year and a half after high school, now i play 2 or 3 times a week in the summer,
 
i got my first birdie yesterday i hit my tee shot like happy gilmore and got it about 20 feet from the hole. then the next hole which wass the last hole i hit it 216 yards happy gilmore style im debating making that my regular swing
 
damn i had no idea there were this many NS golfers!

up here in ak we only get to play about 3-4 months out of the year, but i was around a 10-11 hdcp last season from the tips (i'll be shaving that down this season hopefully).

moving to oregon in the fall, so hopefully i'll get to play quite a bit more. anybody know if the portland area has municipal courses? or how expensive greens fees are?
 
haha never seen a golf edit

heres me on my first day out with my newest long drive club.

6 degree loft. triple extra stiff + 4in length. clocked this swing at 137mph.

 
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