What makes a good golfer!

[Hannu]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Sorry - might not be an answer, but thought.
Is a good golfer a person that plays well? Plays well with in their own criteria?
or is a good golfer a person that makes golf as a game something enjoyable? A social event - works as club officer, couch, referee, captain... and is fun to play with?
or is a good golfer a person that makes me look like a good golfer?

I'm not sure if I can look like a good golfer, but I like to feel like one.

[redlabel]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

The idea of what is a good golfer is quite subjective, but I'd say that those with a single digit handicap and less are good golfers. Those from 12 - 18 are about average. Personally for me, I hope I am smart enough to quit or die before I end up shooting in the 90's on a regular basis.

I have no problem playing with people who shoot high scores, I just don't want to do it myself.

I let nothing bother me during the course of a round. When I was younger we went out to our country club on saturday evenings and sunday afternoons with our children when the course was not busy. I remember being able to putt with a two year old running up behind me, whooping and hollering. All 5 of us played with the kids starting at the 100 and 150 yards markers and moving to the regular tees as they got older.

[Hannu]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

The idea of what is a good golfer is quite subjective, but I'd say that those with a single digit handicap and less are good golfers.

First I'd like to concratulate you on your picture of the bike and "saddlebag". Just before winter I sold my scooter and bought a Kawasaki R5 . (I'm playing a course that's 35 km from my home - not the one that is 2 km.) I did an internet search for how to transport clubs on a bike. BUT I'll just keep my clubs at the club house.

Secondly if I think of level of skill in playing golf I'd like to be a single digit handycapper. I've allways considered it to be a measure of a good player. I have no thought that I'll drop my HCP to under ten in near future. It's just takes a little longer when you start to play as an old fart like me.

[redlabel]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Thanks, I have a receiver hitch on the bike and the rack attaches to that. I saw the rack somewhere and showed my nephew a photo of it. He's a farmer and a pretty good welder so he made it for me. I'm thinking of doing a second one large enough to put the clubs and push cart on as well. It let's me combine my two summer hobbies and gets a lot of looks from passersby. I've hauled them along as far as 300 miles and it helps if the wife comes along so she can pack more items. I may have to get a trailer if she continues to come along.

Everyone will have an opinion on what a good golfer to them is. I think it's most important to have fun and enjoy the game when we play.

That's why I will always be around an 8 handicap. I don't practice, play 2-3 times a week, and have 16 good holes and 2 bad ones in me every round. I just never know when the 2 bad ones are going to happen.

Enjoy the game and have fun.

[slater170]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Somewhere between the start and ending posts the thread turned into what constitutes someone I want to play with rather than what is a good golfer.

Many of the posters show a great deal of arrogance, in that their idea of a good golfer, is someone they would want to play with.

My favorite so far is the quote from this guy,

A good golfer is a golfer who is happy with their own game and willing to listen to advice from experience.

That's not a good golfer, that's an arrogant jerk, and the first time he tried to give me any of his pompous advice, I'd tell him to keep his advice to himself.

thanks for that red label
dont quite see how the staement i made makes me an arrogant jerk
if an experienced golfer wants to give me advice then im willing to listen to him

[redlabel]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

thanks for that red label
dont quite see how the staement i made makes me an arrogant jerk
if an experienced golfer wants to give me advice then im willing to listen to him

I read it to be an experienced person imparting their superior knowledge to others.

If I read it wrong I apologize.

[BrianW]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

I read it to be an experienced person imparting their superior knowledge to others.

If I read it wrong I apologize.

Good advice is not necessarily pompous. I know and have played golf with some top class golfers, some who are PGA professionals. Any advice I have received from such people has always been given genuinely to assist me and I have welcomed and learned from it. In fact it is no different from the wealth of good advice I have received generally through my life from multiple sources. Time and experience does allow you to separate the chaff from the grain though.

[Teevino]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

To me, any "amateur" golfer who consistently shoots in the low to mid 80's is a good golfer.

I did not start playing the game until I was 59. I played, read and practiced like a mad man for at least a couple of years. Broke 100 then 90 then started shooting in the mid to upper 80's more often than not. My best game is an 82, once.

Now I am about to turn 63. Can't hit the ball as far as I used to - and I never hit it very far - and one health issue after the other has interrupted or affected my play. I have not played much this winter and when spring comes I'll be lucky to break 100 first time out. But I am not going to stop playing. The game, the exercise, the environment, the people and yes, the cussin and a fussin are all fun and positive activities for me to be involved in as much as possible. To set the criteria for whether I will continue playing or not on how high or how low my handicap is, well, I just can't imagine doing that. Though I will admit, it is a lot more fun and satisfying to shoot 82 than it is to shoot 102. Nevertheless.....

[redlabel]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

thanks for that red label
dont quite see how the staement i made makes me an arrogant jerk
if an experienced golfer wants to give me advice then im willing to listen to him

Good advice is not necessarily pompous. I know and have played golf with some top class golfers, some who are PGA professionals. Any advice I have received from such people has always been given genuinely to assist me and I have welcomed and learned from it. In fact it is no different from the wealth of good advice I have received generally through my life from multiple sources. Time and experience does allow you to separate the chaff from the grain though.

I've really missed out in life I guess. I don't know or play with any top class golfers, or any PGA professionals. But I do know when someone is trying to give me advice because they want to impart their superior knowledge or ability to me.

I listen politely, smile and say thank you and then go on my merry way, knowing that I'm much happier to play at a level where my handicap is in the 7 - 9 range and I'm in my comfort zone. I played with it at a 3 - 4 for a couple of years and it was too serious and to much like work for me.


So thank you, and if you're wondering, yes I'm smiling now.

[Hannu]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Looks like a good golfer is a person that knows when to give advice and who to give it to... and
a good golfer is a person that know what to do with the advice.

I've met golfers that are very pushy with their advice and just can't understand that some one is building the game with a different idea. Very annoying.

And somethings you play with some one that helps you see your faults...

I've stopped giving advice - If some one asked, I offer to video their swing with high speed camera (600 fps) and we can talk about what is happening. I'm very careful about giving advice on how to make changes on other persons swing. Even if they ask... (and I did consider a carrier as a golf teacher:-)

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Good golfer? Good mental attitude, great short game, and the ability to diagnose & fix a swing problem, with out the help of others when a poor swing issue unexpectedly pops up during a round of golf. If the golfer can fix their problems on the course, they are going to save quite a few strokes by not having to wait till the end of the round for the advice of others. GJS

[kbp]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Tiger Woods learned early in life under the strict tutelage of his father Earl how to survey the golf course AND his opponents with uncanny precision. Tiger does this through the fine art of course management.
John Lynch

With respect to learning course management at a young age, Tiger’s coach at Stanford has said this was not true. He said Tiger came to Standford shooting at every pin, trying to make every hero shot, playing very aggressive in all situations, etc. He said Tiger developed his course management skills during his time at Stanford.

I wish I could remember where I read this. It was in a book or in print, so I’ve had no luck finding it online to confirm.

[kbp]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

.....however when he has the lead I disagree with your statement that he shoots at every pin.

--John

I don't believe I made this statement, in the present tense.

I said his coach claimed he came to Stanford shooting at every pin and learned course management while at Stanford, not from his father and not from a young age, necessarily.

[GolfGurl]

Re: What makes a good golfer!

Could not agree with you more, James. There are very few golfers who are good enough to make a living at it. Most of us are just duffers trying to improve each time we go out. Respecting your fellow golfers, respecting the course and respecting the rules are key to being a good golfer. Remember we all were beginners once upon a time.

I agree with the others in the sense that a good golfer is someone I WANT to play with. I've played with a lot of BETTER players (almost all are!) but the good golfers are the ones I learn from.

Being polite has so much to do with playing golf. It is the most remarkable element of the game especially in today's sporting world, where soccer players fake pain to gain free kicks, or take performance-enhancing drugs etc.

On a slightly different note but I think very pertinent to this thread...

Dave Pelz (who I think is great!) says golf is actually 5 games in one. And to be good a golf as-a-whole, you have to be good at all of them. He actually talks about various golfers from the point-of-view of what game they were best and worst at. He feels the reason why Jack Nicklaus was so good was his mastery of many of the games within golf especially the management game. The games according to Pelz are:

1) The power game: driving, full shots etc
2) Finesse game: short game, any non-full swing type accuracy shots
3) Putting game: enough said!
4) Mind game: ditto!
5) Management game: course management

Maybe that's why the best golfers aren't always the ones that can hit the farthest or putt the best. This is also the reason golf is so tough.