how good can you get?

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erobbins

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Is there a limit to how good a person can get, given enough time and dedication to improvement?

Take a guy who gets to scratch or slightly better without ever practicing or having a lesson, just playing 2-3 times a week. Can he get to say, +4? What about a 5 or 10 handicap in the same circumstances? I guess I'm wondering if the limit is natural or learned.. could you take anyone and make them a great player if they had the time and money? Or is it something where you just have to "have it"?

opinions?
 
speedracer68

speedracer68

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if you look at the tour there are different kinds of people out there..jimenez to villegas..woods to daly..i think with the right work ethic anybody can play excellent golf..It's mostly in the short game anyway..even 80 year old's can get up and down and out putt a 20 year old anyday..=)
 
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Qball

New
I think there is a ceiling for golfers. Some physical and a lot mental. I know a few really good golfers that shoot in the mid 60's most of the time, but could not make it past the first stage of Q school, or Monday qualify for the Nationwide tour. Knowing there physical game, I would say it has to be in there heads. I have always believed that athletes that make it to the top level are "wired" differently then the rest of us.
 
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Qball

New
A follow up to this. About 5 years ago there was a top pro golf instructor that was doing an "experiment" (more or less) by taking a pro volley ball player, Gabbriele Reece and was going to turn her into a pro golfer. I never have heard how that experiment actually went, but I don't see her on tour. Now she may have the mental/physical capacity for volley ball, but maybe not for golf.??
 
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fronesis

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My own 2 cents, for whatever they are worth.

First, I agree with Hogan: anyone can break 80 if they learn the fundamentals, work on their game, practice and improve.

Second, I think that for some golfers, there is a physical limit that prevents them from regularly shooting lower than the high 70s. Keep in mind, most amateurs can't even come close to breaking 80 so this is still a vast improvement.

Third, a large group of people will have the physical abilities to play right around scratch if they work hard enough.

But after this it is ALL mental. Being able to shoot 72 at your home course bears almost no relation to being able to regularly shoot at or below par in competition. Competitive golf is a whole other beast. Plenty of people are capable of shooting right around par most of time, but will still find a way to 3 putt a few greens a take a couple of double bogeys when playing in a tournament.

I played a lot of competitive junior golf and I played for my college team, so it's not as if I'm new to tournament pressure. Still, while for the past few months I haven't shot more than 2 or 3 over par in friendly rounds, my handicap is still an 8 (down from 12 at start of summer) because I play in the UK where only competitive rounds affect your handicap - and it's just a harder game under pressure.

I would also say that of that small group of people who can break par in competition there is even a smaller group that can shoot lights out and win tournaments. Of course, *within* that final small group I think that there are physical differences that emerge (Tiger has some abilities that others don't, for example), but for those that have the physical abilities to get to scratch I think that the journey from scratch to top 100 in the world is all mental (and practice and preparation, of course).
 
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Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
I agree with the above post. I think most people have the physical skills to get to scratch. A lot of it is mental, but it's mental in a different way. Adults are too analytical. By age 18 we have lost most of our imitative ability and thus try to analyze everything, which is counter productive in golf. When adults do get over this mental problem of being too analytical, it is only then that they can even begin to "learn to play" .......

Needless to say it gets frustrating and a lot of adults quit.

The Problem:........Most of us wannabe players simply took up the game too late. I know I am not alone. I was a 3 sport high school athlete and a college athlete in 2 sports. In short.. I have some physical ability.....so why am I stuck at a 4-6 handicap? I started too late at age 25.

A lot of people can say what they want, but if a teacher ever really figured out HOW to teach ADULTS who picked up the game in their late 20's, 30's or 40's to be scratch or better (not just the exceptions. i.e. Larry Mize)

They would rule golf....without a doubt.

IMO, the reason I am here a lot, is because Brian comes the closest to doing just that.
 
Bill Miracle

Bill Miracle

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glcoach said:
A lot of people can say what they want, but if a teacher ever really figured out HOW to teach ADULTS who picked up the game in their late 20's, 30's or 40's to be scratch or better (not just the exceptions. i.e. Larry Mize)

They would rule golf....without a doubt.

IMO, the reason I am here a lot, is because Brian comes the closest to doing just that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the reason he's not is he's not cloned in every city. I'd be there monthly if he was local to me. Starting golf at 47, I think he could get me close to scratch but it would take more hands on, in-person teaching vs. the once to twice a year that I am going to be able to visit him.

Get cloning down Brian and rule the world!
 
birdie_man

birdie_man

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Of course there is a limit for every person.

I don't really concern myself with it.

The bottom line to me is that you'll never know until you find out for yourself.

And of course you never really want to settle either. (unless you're content with that...which you may be)

i.e. ALL you can ever do is keep trying to improve.
 
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Leek

New
I believe we all have a limit, but most of us (myself included) haven't found it yet. I think it depends on priorities and perceived limitations.

GLCoach- like you I took up golf way too late, at 30. I also haven't been able to get low (6 -9 range for the last year). I also know that I don't have the time or inclination to practice my short game a few hours every day, to work on ballstriking another few hours daily. If I did, I'm sure just the short game work would shave some strokes. How many? I dunno.

I do know I got to a 5 hdcp with a horrible pattern in my early 30's playing 6 days a week with little or no practice at all. I might have hit 5 greens per round back then, but I was long and could get up and down from damn near anywhere. If Brian had been teaching me then, I bet I could have gotten rid of those 5-6 strokes.
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
This is a really good question. Larry Nelson took up golf at 21 and won three majors. I guess once you figure out the mechanics, play enough to understand the nuances of scoring, all that is left is to have enough balls to do it under the gun. Very difficult but not impossible.
 
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joeparr

New
I started at 57, excelled in any sport soooo I thought how hard could golf be. Ok you know the rest in two years I was an 18 down to 11 (whe the course was easy) they redid the course and it got alot harderso I was a 14 for a while up till last year I got the yips and went to tgm method I`m now an 18 at 73 My swing speed is the same as when i first started (90). My swing is good but I move alot forward or up and down that causes me to hit thin and knock it down and i cant stop doing it,its been my problem all my years of playing. I really believe at my age I can play to 7-8 if I stop moving infront of the ball.....joe
 
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puttmad

New
Joe,
Try earlier axis tilt, whilst keeping your head over your right leg......allow your right shoulder to collect your head and take it to the finish
Pretty hard to move forward if you do that..:)
 
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LiftOff

New
joe

Just a few years younger, but close.

Try keeping the weight on the back foot until after impact. Weight distribution 40/60 Front/back until impact. Try to turn in as small a space as possible. The lateral move/bump/shift to the target is NOT turning, it's lateral. Turn/Sit (if you can)/Turn.

Happy Holidays
 
B

Brian Manzella

Administrator
THE RULES: How to get good at golf.

1. Bad information is WORSE than none at all.

2. Practice (beat balls, chip, putt, etc) and Play EVERY day.

3. Get some good equipment that works for you.

4. Gamble to the point that makes you choke, at least once a week.

5. Play in any event that "counts" any chance you get.

6. Be VERY selfish with you own game.

7. Play very easy courses to learn to go low.

8. Play very hard courses to learn what you need to work on.

9. Hit balls some place that you can shag 'em yourself.

10. Know you yardages and tendencies better than you know yourself.
 
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LiftOff

New
What do you mean by #6??

Brian Manzella said:
1. Bad information is WORSE than none at all.

2. Practice (beat balls, chip, putt, etc) and Play EVERY day.

3. Get some good equipment that works for you.

4. Gamble to the point that makes you choke, at least once a week.

5. Play in any event that "counts" any chance you get.

6. Be VERY selfish with you own game.

7. Play very easy courses to learn to go low.

8. Play very hard courses to learn what you need to work on.

9. Hit balls some place that you can shag 'em yourself.

10. Know you yardages and tendencies better than you know yourself.
Click to expand...

Can you explain??
 
bts

bts

New
Your mind

erobbins said:
Is there a limit to how good a person can get, given enough time and dedication to improvement?

Take a guy who gets to scratch or slightly better without ever practicing or having a lesson, just playing 2-3 times a week. Can he get to say, +4? What about a 5 or 10 handicap in the same circumstances? I guess I'm wondering if the limit is natural or learned.. could you take anyone and make them a great player if they had the time and money? Or is it something where you just have to "have it"?

opinions?
Click to expand...
You get where your mind gets.
 
G

goley

New
why 9

when you gotta pick them up yourself...... you start to realize your actual distances as well as your tendancies...
 
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