Difference Between 3 and 0 Handicap: Peak Performance?

Hi Chris,
I think you're spot on here. My goal has always been to get to scratch, and I've been as low as a 4, but now sit somewhere between 5-6. I truly believe the mental game and confidence are every bit as important as mechanics and technique. The more I find myself bogged down mentally, the worse I play. When I catch myself thinking about an issue at work, or tasks I must complete, I often find myself hitting poor shots.
I've seen so many 10+ cappers hit amazing shots on the range, then get to the course, tighten up, lose confidence and then bang- poor performance bites. The mind is an amazing thing, and I believe it's every bit as important as swing mechanics.

The ability to accept a bad swing/mistake and move on to the next swing with proper focus and commitment is absolutely a difference maker when it comes to shooting good scores. As a HS golf coach I try to help my players understand the value of not compounding a mistake and that golf if a game of how good your bad shots are not really about how good your good shots are

Chris,

I'm currently going through this myself. I'm checking in at a 3 handicap and yet have never shot par on a full length 18 hole course. I track my stats using a strokes gained model and it's clear my short game needs a lot of work. But no matter how hard I grind and practice it, it ultimately comes down to my mental state. And example from last season: I was +1 through 16 holes, knowing I had an easy par 5 to finish my round. Mentally, I was amped up and thinking how I can finally shoot even par! I ended up birdieing 18 but what was missed was my complete lack of focus on 17 resulting in a 3 putt bogey.

I notice myself all the time thinking about my score when I'm playing well. Then I ultimately make a silly bogey and cannot recover. I wish there was an easy way to not think about golf while playing golf but I guess that is what separates me from those who go low every weekend. They are comfortable shooting under par.

I think you are spot on with your thoughts. At this point, the mental game trumps the mechanical part. You can make every putt on the practice green but if you can't make them on 17 when it counts, none of that practice matters.

Chris-
At my all time lowest I was a 2.5...zero kids and a country club membership to boot. Now I bounce around from 4.0 to 6.0 depending on seasonal conditions and if my playing partners meltdown looking for snacks that are gone by the 5th hole.

I'm perfectly happy knowing that I can play to a 5.0 while coaching a 7 year old on the links as well.

Those players who have the time and resources to maintain those scratch handicaps are gifted or work very hard to have incredible games from 100 yards and in. You have to have the ability of a sniper hitting wedges and putting lights out.

You are right about the Mental Edge...you still have to have that repetition of those shots and putts to make them seem meaningless and effortless. You have to have that Mental Ability to go blank while hitting your best shots...Executing in the Subconscious.

It's amazing to me how easy it is for the Elite player to go from a 45 second fairway walk conversation with an opponent to hitting it stiff and making birdie.
The on/off switch and clearing the brain for the body to do its thing is pretty complex and powerful.

I wonder if Kylo Ren could pull it off?

Dr. K

Yeah I agree, I think it is probably mental. You can do all the drills you want and can be the best putter, ball striker, etc... but if your head isn't on straight or you get too mad too quickly you are gonna eventually have a bad hole or just have a mental breakdown. Golf is a mental game. I'm no expert but that is just my opinion.

I'd agree on the mental side of it. Let's face it. If your a low single digit handicap you're already in the top 2% or less of those who play this game. But if you've ever played in serious local, State, or USGA tourneys, you've may have been humbled by those who who are consistently at the top of those tourneys, or qualifiers who seem to never make mistakes. Pretty tough to be a casual player or weekend player and get too far beyond the low single digits. Keep the mind sharp and think like they do at Augusta. Be careful shooting at pins. The best only do it when it's an easy pin or a small mistake won't put them in the hazard or worse. Minimize your mistakes not by trying to play it safe per say, just don't be aggressive all the time. Many times it's best to take the bogey than try the low percent shot and be looking at double. I always try to remember Venturi in the tower watching someone set up for the miracle shot, saying "....Jimmy now he's bringing 6 and 7 into the picture".

Great thoughts from everyone. Now for the REAL truth. No offense to anyone on the board here, but becoming a scratch or better takes 2 years of very good golf. When I say VERY good golf, I mean your BAD days are 73. How to do that? You have to make more birdies than bogies, plain and simple. Remember, it's course rating, not par that your handicap is based off.....20 years ago I was pretty good mini-tour player, working at a club as a GM. I was a solid 1-3. I began sparring around the practice green with some other aspiring pros. Started playing with them. They all shot under par on a bad day. The moral of the story is it IS all mental. Next thing you know, I'm a +3 around Orlando. It's being hungry to get better mentally that is the hardest part. You can't practice enough from inside 100 yards. And you can't hit enough putts, ever........The difference between a 0 and a 3 is a lot more than 3 shots. The 0 is a better putter, driver and strategist. And he's much better mentally, and emotionally. He handles a bad shot better, and doesn't get TOO excited when he hits a great shot......When he makes a double, he generally re-groups and forgets it.

Great story!

I think the key to becoming a scratch is mental like having the ability to make those par putts and not getting rattled can be the difference between a couple strokes

For me it was the swing i got to a 1 and started looking for better. lessons etc and lost my swing for a few years. Finally I just found the old swing one day and back came the consistency

There may be some minor tweaking of a swing, some little adjustments in the stroke, but for the most part the mental/emotional side of the game is the part that moves the handicap down.

Just last week, I had two very low rounds going. Both times, my thoughts were not on my swing but were with the mental demons inside. Fortunately, it worked out nicely in the end both times. But I could feel the battle going on inside me, especially towards those last few holes when I knew I could post a low score.

What a great game! Haha

Enjoy!

Paul

Mental and not having the confidence is my biggest cause for my handicap going up or down...

BUT... I have to remember and IMO, the players that 0-3 or scratch, these are players that do this for a living or are able to practice every day which of course I'm extremely jealous. Those players should be low.. Unfortunately I don't have that luxury with 2 little ones.. Someday though, someday.. I just hope I still have the energy then...

I agree with Paul, golf is a great game!!! Wouldn't want it any other way..

i agree on confidence. On days I have a good flow the game is easy. I can shoot under par, I have the feeling the game is easy. But when I start out slow, I change my swing, tempo, lose confidence in my putting., The I can shoot well over par. I am thinking what has happened.

I having been as low as 2 at my best I always believed the difference between a 3/4 and a scratch was not so much the quality of the good shots but more the quality of the not so good shots, which I guess is as much mental as physical. Excepting that every shot will not be perfect and missing in the right location or knowing where your pressure shot will miss is the difference in my mind. We see this every time we watch a tournament, the players that control the quality of there misses always seem to be at the top of the leader board.

In the END, you gotta go hunting birdies.......18 pars on most golf courses isn't scratch....LOL

As a teaching and former professional player I can say the bloggers are close but are lacking a big piece. The mental side, yes. Confidence, yes. However, how do you obtain those things, because they are not you can pull out of thin air. The pre-shot routine is huge, but the biggest difference is course management. An amateur looks at each hole backward. The are on the tee and let their drives rip and hope for the best. I, and the other pros I played with, looked at the green; decided the best approach given the shape of the green; and would measure back 3 distances (mine were 125, 150, and 175 yards); then, draw a line back to the tee. The club used off the tee would be determined by which distance (125, 150, 175) gave you the highest probability of hitting the lay-up yardage. That increases your odds, decreases the errors, keeps you scoring from the fairway, increases confidence, and makes it so that when you go to the range that you practice primarily the 125, 150, 175 yard shots instead of every club in the bag. It makes practice more beneficial. Think about the times you see a pro hitting a 2 iron or 3 wood off the tee. They are laying up to that target distance- to a shot they have practiced. If a player hits the 125, 150, 175 yard clubs (again, your yardages can be what ever you choose) you will have much more confidence hitting those (hitting several hundred shots with them each week) rather than practicing with all of your clubs that you may only hit a few of each week. There is much more to course management than this, but this is just to give a glimpse as to what the low handicapper misses in approaching the course. I had one student that came to me as a 14 handicap player. through the course of a few months, he was playing to a +2 (2 below scratch) and 90% of his transformation was teaching him a strong course management and how to play to his strengths. He went on to win many titles and got a full golf scholarship.

An amateur looks at each hole backward. The are on the tee and let their drives rip and hope for the best. I, and the other pros I played with, looked at the green; decided the best approach given the shape of the green; and would measure back 3 distances (mine were 125, 150, and 175 yards); then, draw a line back to the tee. The club used off the tee would be determined by which distance (125, 150, 175) gave you the highest probability of hitting the lay-up yardage. That increases your odds, decreases the errors, keeps you scoring from the fairway, increases confidence, and makes it so that when you go to the range that you practice primarily the 125, 150, 175 yard shots instead of every club in the bag. It makes practice more beneficial.

I've said that for 50 years to anyone I've ever helped in golf.

The best tip by far!!!!!!

Deno

I have been as low as a plus 4 and now a 2.4. The key I felt to score well on the course was to have a plan as to how you were going tackle the course. I knew before I even played the round what clubs I were going to use on every shot I made. I knew when I was going to play conservative and when I would play more aggressively on a hole. I did the mental preparation the night before I played. Before the round I would determine what one swing thought I would use consistently for the round that day. The next step was just executing my plan focusing on the process you planned the night before. I never ever focused on score, or what I needed score wise to get my par if I was grinding. I just stayed focused on the process. Leave swing mechanics back at the range not on the course. Stay in the present not thinking about the last hole, or the last shot, or what you need to do on the next hole to recover a stroke. The icing on the cake was to do all this without being stressed and to be mentally relaxed as if you were playing a round of golf with your Dad or wife. Whenever I scored well for the day this is the one take away that always stands out in my mind. How relaxed I felt while I was playing. My pre-game preparation in conjunction with my low-key approach to the round many times seemed as if it was a key I needed to perform well. As the round would progress my confidence would build on itself as I went from shot to shot achieving the shots I had planned the night before. The score I would achieve hole by hole were just the result of my preparation and execution and not a result of me saying to myself that I need a birdie on this hole to get me to 2 under par for example.

Anyway, this is what always seemed to work for me. Prepare, stay focused on your plan and the processes needed to execute your plan (ie pre-shot routine), and stay mentally relaxed for every shot. Getting pissed off because you missed a 3 foot putt will never help you achieve your goal so why get upset? If you start to implement these types of stratergies I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised at the results you will achieve also.

Best Wishes,

DV

Interesting discussion. I have another angle to look at it from. First off, the tour pro's and really good amateurs for the most part are 'born with it'. Hand-eye co-ordination. They are given a certain amount of talent (more than most) before they have even picked up a club. Yes, practice, training, mental game etc etc. is what separates' the absolute elite.

I played Soccer professionally as a younger adult. My career (or lack of) was cut short at age 21 due to a knee injury. As a youngster I also played Cricket, Tennis, and Australian Football all at a decent level. Thankfully Golf has kept my competitive spirit alive. At age 21 after my knee situation was the first time I picked up a golf club, ever. Within a few months I got my first handicap, which was 11. In a matter of only 18 months playing regularly I was down to 4, then to 2, then to scratch. A few years later I am know playing off +3. I am lucky enough that I can go six months without playing and still shoot par or better. I never practice, if anything I may chip and putt for a few minutes before my round. I usually have a few beers during the round and I don't think too much about what I am doing (or not doing) on the course. Point is, I was blessed right from the beginning. Almost any sport is fairy easy for me.

That said, short game is a big deal for me. I'm not (and never have been) a great putter so my strategy is always to hit the ball as close as I can and if I miss the green I rely on my 60 degree from everywhere to put it as close to the hole as I can. I always say to other amateurs who as for advice is to just work on your chipping. We miss more greens than the tour pros (obviously) so work on that short game.

I've met many amateur players who get to scratch and all of a sudden think they are good enough to 'make it'. Haha. Not even close!! The Tour Pro's are incredibly good!! The ball makes a different sound when they hit it. Makes even a +3 handicapper look pathetic.

Happy golfing!!

Dave

All the tour players are good or they would not be there. The great players have unbelievable shot making ability and know how to putt the ball in the hole. How many times do you see the great ones put the ball in the hole from off the green or sand traps? They are great shot makers when the money is on the line. The short version. With respect.

Handicap is your best 8 scores out of 20. I am a .2 currently with scores from 70 to 78. Average score is 74.6. Course rating and slope obviously come into play. My 8 scores that count are 70,71, 72, 73,73,72,74,71. I have posted 78 twice but they don’t ‘count’ for handicap. He’s what got me from 3 to 0....proximity to the hole from inside 100 yards. Big difference between 20 feet+ and inside 10. Well, how did I do that? Practice practice practice. Ask yourself, when is the last time you spent an hour hitting an 88 yard shot? Then hitting a 72 yard shot over and over. Once you do that enough, it’s bringing it to the course and trusting it. The MENTAL side. Not as fun as hitting bombs but that’s what did it for me.

Lowest ever was a 5.0, but it took a lot of work and during rounds it took real focus on every shot. I am currently a 10 and am looking to go much lower this year as I am finally starting to play enough to make that possible. I keep having to tell myself to slow down, both mentally and physically to put me in the right spots on approaches, and accepting the difference between a true birdie chance, and a good lag.