Question to ponder

[hvnit2gd1975]

My buddy and I were arguing about a question of scenario that I had.

I told him after watching all the golfers out there that shoot between 80-100( which is probably 95% of all golfers) That if you took a reg joe off the street who regularily shoots say in the mid 80's to low 90's and hooked him up with the best golf coach in the land for 6 months to a year and played nothing but golf everyday. Like a pro would. Thats all they did was practice and play.

I am thinking that you could make that golfer a consistent 70's and sometimes hit the upper 60's player.

What does everyone else think ????

[hvnit2gd1975]

Re: Question to ponder

He says no, I say yes. He said well why couldnt you do the same with baseball or basketball. I told him its not even close to the same thing.

Baseball and basketball players at the way upper levels are gifted physically. Golfers on the other hand are more techinical and mechanical rather than gifted with physical attributes, so it would be easier to make someone a good to very good golfer than it would be to make someone a good to very good basketball or baseball player.

Just my opinion, and this is not a dig at golfers. i try and play as much as humanly possible. I just think that its all about reptition and practice with golf. Not how tall or fast or strong you are.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Question to ponder

I agree at the consistant 70's even an occasional 60's number. Playing is contagious, and easily a player with basic talant will progress to that level doing nothing but playing and practicing for a year...even without a coach's support. I would go so far as to say that he would be competative at a state amature level after the year is up with this coach. This guy who just won the golf/coach lottery would need to want it though...so it is still subjective who you pick as your guinea-pig.

[hvnit2gd1975]

Re: Question to ponder

Yeah, I agree. I was just saying that golf is like no other sport in that you can take an avg joe and make him better than most golfers out there. On the other hand its not so with basketball, baseball, hockey, football. well you get my point. All those require some degree of athletic natural gift where as in golf it not really necessary.

We are not talking about getting as good as tiger woods or most tour pros. They I would agree do have some gifts of talent. But you can, I think make an avg golfer better than 90% of the golfers out there with the proper coaching and practice. Not the same with the other sports.

I would even venture to say that if you did work with tiger woods or the likes of him and the coaches on that level, you would get to be pretty close to tour player in ability although probably not consistency. wouldnt it be nice to shoot the low 70's and high 60's on a regular basis. Again we are also not playing on the same level courses as the tour players either.

[shootin4par]

Re: Question to ponder

I believe most everyone could do this, but I dont beleive they would believe they could, and therefore most would not achieve it. Physical talent is not the issue in golf, it is the mentality of the golfer that is most important.

[trob2034]

Re: Question to ponder

i do think this is predicated on the person have a some physical coordination talents to go along with a work ethic.....normally these are people that have done well in some other sport......

for example the same should apply for a bowler where u dont need tremendous physical gifts to be successful....

in closing i think u need some type of physical gift that will push u to the top with your work ethic.........

[LowPost42]

Re: Question to ponder

hv - Bob Rotella agrees with you. He believes that with a good coach and a committment to practice, anyone can shoot in the 70's.

Chuck Quinton states that if you can stand up and turn your shoulders back and forth, you can properly swing a golf club.

I'm with you - I think that if someone is willing to practice the right things, they can easily become better than 90% of the golfing population.

[james.welsh]

Re: Question to ponder

I don't think golf is any different than any other sport at the highest level. T he difference between who is the best, who is great and who is good; is an extremely fine line. You need to be in the 99.9 th percentile to compete.

Just like downhill skiing where the winner beats everyone by a thousandth of a second. Look at hockey. Millions of kids play the game hoping to be the next Wayne Gretzky. One a very select few make it to the NHL each year. I dare say it's the same with every other sport.

It might be easier to move from the "you suck" range to the "your pretty good" range. But other sports have that too, that's what makes sport such a popular past time.

I used to draw a lot and with a lot of practice became quite good at it. It's not easy and it does take some talent to begin with, but I imagine anyone could learn to draw fairly well with enough practice. Would you become the next Picasso? Probably not. But amongst those that ARE in the highest category of artistic expression, there is someone who is considered the best and others are not quite there.

In project management they have a saying... "It takes 20% of the effort to get 80% of the project completed, but 80% effort to get the last 20% completed!" Maybe it's like the rest of life?

You're saying even I could drop my score 20-30 points with a lot of practice -- I love you guys! Actually I think that's the best thing about golf -- it is possible to get better. Even if you're an out-of-shape dope like me!

[bill reed]

Re: Question to ponder

hi oi think most golfers would play in the low 70 but some i dont think would do it often just as some would play in high 60s more than others, i do think everyones game would be so much better but think some will go back to there bad habits like we all do after we pass our driving test and start driving on the roads. the ones that keep working on the basics and on there game will stay in the 70s, but i think most will get to 70 and like greg said not all will have the same drive to be the best.
bill

[hvnit2gd1975]

Re: Question to ponder

Do any of you guys think its possible to make an avg joe golfer who already in the 80's a good enough golfer to compete on the same level as pro players. Im not saying the likes of tiger woods, not even close, but maybe the nationwide or some other lower level pros.

I think you def would have a shot at it physically, but golf is such a mental game that one would need to have an extreme amount of confidence and dicipline. I do think that it is possible though.

Unlike basketball lets say, I dont think you could take an average 20 something or late teen basketball player and even get close to the CBA or the developmental leagues of the NBA. Physically you just have to be superior.

[ginola]

Re: Question to ponder

There was an article in Todays Golfer about a year ago, this guy, who had never picked up a golf club in his life just decided that he wanted to become a scratch golfer inside of a year. He wasn't particularly athletically gifted and hadn't excelled at any sports in his life but thought he would give it a try. It didn't say so in the article but i suspect that he was independently wealthy and he bought and studied every article, book and video (probably this website too), he would hit 300 balls a day at the range and chip and putt in his garden till it got dark. The guy made it down to scratch with a couple of months to spare. It can be done, given the right time and resources.

[Iktomi]

Re: Question to ponder

Golf Digest has a list of the top 200 CEO's handicaps from this year. I'm pretty sure these guys are not "average joes" but they have every other criteria you mentioned. The top 50 have handicaps of less than 10 so they can regularly shoot 75 to 83. There are two possible senarios, some had the talent and if they had chosen golf as a profession could have made a living. The other (more likely) is that they have the best teaching, clubs, courses, and time to improve their games.

[shootin4par]

Re: Question to ponder

Golf Digest has a list of the top 200 CEO's handicaps from this year. I'm pretty sure these guys are not "average joes" but they have every other criteria you mentioned. The top 50 have handicaps of less than 10 so they can regularly shoot 75 to 83. There are two possible senarios, some had the talent and if they had chosen golf as a profession could have made a living. The other (more likely) is that they have the best teaching, clubs, courses, and time to improve their games.

or a third possibility is that they all believe in working hard to achieve a goal, so they use that will power to get better

[Mox]

Re: Question to ponder

Two words ...


PICK ME !!!

[james.welsh]

Re: Question to ponder

Yes but even the best CEO's still have a handicap i.e. they aren't even scratch golfers.

Just imagine being able to play every hole of a round of golf at par. To me this is an incredible achievement.

59? Mt. Everest.