I have dabbled with playing golf here and there but never made the time to actually get fitted, take lessons, and play more than a few times every few years. Life circumstances have recently changed a bit, and I'm wondering if I might want to start playing more seriously.

Knowing my competitive nature, but also my family constraints, I'm not sure I want to go for it unless I could be decent. So here's my question:

-would an athletic male who a) got fitted, b) took 6-12 lessons with a good pro, and c) started playing once a week with a range session every other week be able to shoot consistently in the 90's or high 80's in a year or so or is that a pipe dream?

Not sure it matters, but a few months ago I played 9 holes with rented clubs at the Hyatt lost pines course and shot 55. That was no mulligans, gimmes, etc. Actually had a par on a par 3 that I put about 30 feet from the hole on the tee shot. So I don't think I'm terriblelol.

90s is doable. 80s very unlikely to do consistently. There's a range of athletes out there - twitch vs strength vs hand-eye, or some combination thereof. If you are the strong hand-eye type, then odds improve somewhat. That said, conflicts + weather will add plenty of unplanned gaps to that schedule you planned. And with golf, after that early improvement phase, if only doing it once a week, you'll spend much of your time just trying to get back to however good you were the week before instead of getting better

Rental club or not, 55 is terrible. If you claim yourself as a decent athlete, it will that much frustrate you because you suck now and you will suck forever with not much improvement. I know you don't believe what I'm saying and I sound like a ********. No one can stop you from "golfing." But do us a favor and keep pace and we will all be OK.

And getting fitted now with a terrible swing is like putting on a taylored suit on a weight loss challenger with 75 pounds to go.

I had a friend- a 42 yo- who took up golf in a similar way. He played 18 holes everyday for a year. Had some lessons(5-10 total). He was a regular 80-85 guy by the end of the year. His swing sucked tho. So when he backed off in intensity, he still shoots mid 80s to mid 90s

DannyDuberstein said:

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90s is doable. 80s very unlikely to do consistently. There's a range of athletes out there - twitch vs strength vs hand-eye, or some combination thereof. If you are the strong hand-eye type, then odds improve somewhat. That said, conflicts + weather will add plenty of unplanned gaps to that schedule you planned. And with golf, after that early improvement phase, if only doing it once a week, you'll spend much of your time just trying to get back to however good you were the week before instead of getting better

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I think the type of "athletic" comment is spot on. Are you in shape and fast/strong? That won't mean much at all. I've got a lot of "athletic" friends who are awful at golf and always will be even if they practiced quite a bit. Do you have good hand-eye coordination? Are you good at sports like basketball, baseball, tennis, ping pong, etc and generally have good hand eye coordination (and these types of sports come somewhat natural to you)? If so, then that will help you pick up golf much faster in my opinion. For instance, my dad has never played a round of golf and never even been to the range, but if we are hitting/chipping balls in the back yard or in his pasture with the kids, he can chip well and get them all in the air. Some people it would take a long time to ever get that good.

There is no harm in trying it out for a year. I would say go for it. Just don't set hard line expectations. Try to have fun and keep improving and then keep going after a year if you are enjoying it.

The latter "athlete" you describe would be more like me. Competitive HS baseball player, can still jump into a batting cage and hit the fastest machine after years, won the company ping pong tourney without having played in years, etc. So that gives me hope. But everyone's honesty is helpful even if humbling.

aggiefan2002 said:

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The latter "athlete" you describe would be more like me. Competitive HS baseball player, can still jump into a batting cage and hit the fastest machine after years, won the company ping pong tourney without having played in years, etc. So that gives me hope. But everyone's honesty is helpful even if humbling.

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These are all cool, but also completely irrelevant. Golf is hard, dude. All your "athleticism" won't mean a thing if you can't control the face of the club. It also won't help you read putts, chip, or come up with a creative shot out of the trees, which you'll be in constantly.

Don't get me wrong, I won't say it's impossible, but you're the eleventy millionth baseball player to walk in and think they can peg this game quickly. The ball isn't even moving when you hit it! Irrelevant.

My advice, before we even talk about practice amounts, is to drop everything you you think you know and go straight to lessons. You're already screwing yourself by comparing how you play baseball or ping pong to how it will translate to golf. It won't. Golf is a mental game and you're coming at it from the wrong direction.

The guy above you literally mentioned baseball and ping pong as potentially relevant reference points. Lol

I honestly didn't expect this post to get such harsh feedback. I tried to ask an open ended question and give some content that might help others with more experience than me answer it less blindly. Clearly it didn't land as I expected and attempted, and I apologize for that.

My advice would be to drop the year goal and instead make it 3-4 months. Get a 6-8 pack of weekly lessons and make a range trip in between. So 2X per week for 6-8 weeks to build a foundation. Then spend a couple of months trying to practice and play once a week. At that point, you will have either caught the bug and continue with a foundation that can set you up for success (mix in the occasional reinforcement lesson), or you learn that maybe it's not gonna be your thing.

If you have good hand-eye, that approach can have you in the 90s in a year. 80s consistently is extremely unlikely in a year. There's not a simple formula or timeline for getting there, and 75-80%+ never do.

aggiefan2002 said:

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The guy above you literally mentioned baseball and ping pong as potentially relevant reference points. Lol

I honestly didn't expect this post to get such harsh feedback. I tried to ask an open ended question and give some content that might help others with more experience than me answer it less blindly. Clearly it didn't land as I expected and attempted, and I apologize for that.

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He's wrong too.

My comment wasn't meant to be harsh, but it looks like it came across that way. That's my bad.

My point is that golf is unique and there really aren't that many "indicators" that you'll be better than others just because. Golf just doesn't work that way.

The point I was trying to make was to come at this game without all the expectations of athleticism mattering, etc. Come at it as a beginner, or you're destined to not enjoy the game because you think you're better than you are.

There is a lot of truth to what some of the posters above stated, but don't listen to the negative Nancys. Your response about baseball and ping pong were prompted by the previous poster, I saw that, Obi must not have?

My 2 cents, it is a tough sport, it will be difficult, but who cares, try it out and then come back a year from now and either hush the naysayers or join most of them that still suck and post on the "F Golf" thread every 2-3 weeks.

If you want to be solid, lessons are great and they'll help tremendously, if you find a good instructor. But to reach your goal, you'll need to practice with purpose more and play more. Even if it's 15min in the garage, in the house or front yard training your muscles and developing a fundamental sound swing. Rather than banging balls for 2-3 hours once a week.

This is a silly comment, but I have found good golfer are also generally good ping pong players. It's the same science on creating spin.

I think if you have a powerful baseball swing, and are good at ping pong, that's about all you can ask for in the hand-eye coordination department.

I appreciate the honesty even if some of the responses did come off as unnecessarily harsh.

I've enjoyed the few dozen times I've played golf so far in life and always wondered about putting in the time to get decent. This thread and even the more frank responses have given me a lot to think about.

I'm doing exactly what you are talking about right now...BUT I'm in my 60's.

As stated, golf is hard. I'm taking lessons and they have really improved my irons and I just took a lesson last week that might helped my driver - one round in, but we will see (one aspect of my game that is adding strokes). But I still have the ridiculous shank or misplayed shot on holes that turns a bogie into a triple. Really frustrating game, but also addictive.

Take it up and have fun.

Lots of really negative comments here, for what reason I don't know. Good/Better golfers can have a reputation as being dicks - might be a valid based on these comments.

Can you shoot in the 90's absolutely you can. I've done it a few times now and started lessons in July. 80's - that's my goal - no idea if I can get there. Might not achieve it but why not try to get better at a sport you can play the rest of your life?

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I think the type of "athletic" comment is spot on. Are you in shape and fast/strong? That won't mean much at all. I've got a lot of "athletic" friends who are awful at golf and always will be even if they practiced quite a bit. Do you have good hand-eye coordination? Are you good at sports like basketball, baseball, tennis, ping pong, etc and generally have good hand eye coordination (and these types of sports come somewhat natural to you)? If so, then that will help you pick up golf much faster in my opinion.

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Michael Jordan, superior athlete, coordination, all the money in the world to get lessons from the best in the world and he is still a 2 handicap. He's only slightly better than Kenny G. Alfonso Ribiero would wax both of them.

Have you seen NFL, MLB, NHL guys play golf - they look hideous. They're strong, in shape, coordinated. The best thing about golf is you don't have to be the tallest, fastest, strongest, biggest to be good. All shapes and sizes are an indication about the physical skills to be good.

It also depends on what your definition of good is, or you even said just "decent"...let's assume that is average, then have fun shooting 105 and don't get caught up on being "decent".

Remember, a "scratch" golfer looks like this:

This player has a 0.0 index.

Scoring average over last 20 rounds is 74.8

Here are the scores from best to worst:
69, 69, 70, 71, 73, 73, 73, 74, 74, 74,
75, 75, 76, 76, 76, 78, 79, 79, 80, 82 pic.twitter.com/2pNrN6Irno

— Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (@LouStagner) September 13, 2023

If you don't care about your performance and just enjoy golf for what it is, then play as much as you can.

NHL players are oftentimes good due to the stick translating to golf. Dan Quinn has won that celebrity tournament multiple times.

Go for it OP!!! It's a fun fun game!

Not on here often, but this thread took a strange turn early and the masses just seemed to pile on! It's not that difficult to shoot in the 90's and high 80's, especially if you're playing weekly.

It's funny to me that so many of these guys act like that's such a big deal! If you're focused and you listen to your pro, practice, temper your expectations you could most definitely shoot in that range. You don't have to be a world class athlete to shoot those scores. I'd understand these replies if you had said you planned to break 80 within the year…

aggiefan2002 said:

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Knowing my competitive nature, but also my family constraints, I'm not sure I want to go for it unless I could be decent. So here's my question:

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First thing's first: the game never gets easier. Your expectations just change. Until you can drive it 600 yards and get it in the hole on your first try every time, you'll never be satisfied with your game.

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-would an athletic male who a) got fitted, b) took 6-12 lessons with a good pro, and c) started playing once a week with a range session every other week be able to shoot consistently in the 90's or high 80's in a year or so or is that a pipe dream?

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I think this is do-able. I'd qualify your definition of "consistently." I'd say solid play you're in the 90s. Play really well and you've got a shot at breaking 90.

A lot of this depends on where you play (not a super hard course and from the proper tees) and how intelligently you practice. If you focus your efforts on becoming a really good chipper and putter this is a reasonable goal.

aggiefan2002 said:

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I have dabbled with playing golf here and there but never made the time to actually get fitted, take lessons, and play more than a few times every few years. Life circumstances have recently changed a bit, and I'm wondering if I might want to start playing more seriously.

Knowing my competitive nature, but also my family constraints, I'm not sure I want to go for it unless I could be decent. So here's my question:

-would an athletic male who a) got fitted, b) took 6-12 lessons with a good pro, and c) started playing once a week with a range session every other week be able to shoot consistently in the 90's or high 80's in a year or so or is that a pipe dream?

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I started getting into golf when I was 38. I'm married and had 1 kid then. I now have 2. I played once every week or two on a pretty tough course and went to the range 1-2 times a week. I took 2 lessons with a golf pro. I went from being crippled with anxiety to play around or with others, to not caring and just enjoying myself. I even went so far as to going on a golf trip with some friends in Myrtle Beach. Those were some tough courses but I had a blast. I've improved drastically and don't make near the amount of hacker shots as I used to.

That being said, I've never once broken 100 in a round. There's a 9 hole course up the road from me that I've shot as low as 41 on, but I've never played it twice and considered it a "round". I'll only accept a sub-100 round on a 18 hole course. That's just me though. Point being, I revved up my practicing and playing and still haven't gotten to where I want to be. But like my golf obsessed buddy told me, you don't need to get mad at yourself on the course if you aren't playing 2-3x a week. To justify getting mad at yourself, you better be playing almost daily. I don't put near enough time into it to be good or even average...but I enjoy the hell out of it. That's all that matters. Get a good crew to play with and a good score is just the cherry on top of a good time outdoors.

My take is more positive for the OP than many of the posts here. At this OP's age and athletic ability I think it's absolutely possible to pick up a golf club for the first time and consistently shoot in the 80's within a year. A few comments:

1) Don't worry about getting fitted right off the bat. Not important until you groove in a (good) swing. Assuming you're between 5'10" and 6'2", just grab a decent set of used stock length & lie angle clubs. Assuming you have decent eye-hand coordination, I'd actually recommend steering away from the massive "game improvement" shovels and getting something with a bit more playability. The enhanced feedback will help you figure out your misses more quickly.

2) That lesson plan should be good, but be sure to spend time learning the short game. Also, make sure you're getting really good lessons. Pay the price. No club pro bullsh at some goat ranch. Not all teachers are created equal.

3) You're going to need more than 1x/week practice. If you really want to get better, you need to hit the range 2-3 times per week for the first three months, and try to play at least once a week on top of that. Again, those 2-3 times per week need to include equal time short game practice. Maybe you can taper that off after a hardcore first few months. Maybe.

4) Learn your misses. Learn course management...and I mean really learn it. And practice it. Easiest way to get into the 80's (and below) is to keep the ball in front of you and not put up crooked numbers.

5) Again, short game. Really learn it. Really practice it. Short game. Important.

6) Short game.

I don't think I speak for all disgruntled but maybe for some. And if we come off as discouraging, this may explain why some of us are disgruntled. Some of you may get some of the reasons and/or none of it.

• I learned the game in the 70's from my dad who lectured us for weeks and months on golf etiquette before we ever set foot on the golf course. Unfortunately today, we see some new and experienced golfers with zero regard for good golf etiquette. I'm going to repair more than one ball mark on every green. I'm going to go through several bottles of sand filling divots. I just don't see many doing this.
• Before covid, tee times were plentiful and golfnow.com $25 green fee specials were everywhere and it went unused. Tee times are difficult these days.
• Used clubs were reasonable and more often than not, 2 to 3 year clubs were severely discounted on ebay. Not anymore. In addition to this, new driver now commands over $500. Ridiculous.
• There are too many swing gurus on social media teaching some secret moves. They're teaching golf swing and not golf.
• Now every Joe Blow wants to golf... they say it's good for golf to grow it...but good for what and who?

And most importantly, some of us should be posting on F Golf... but instead, we're taking it out on OP.

Ok, sorry OP. Hurry your ass and come post on F Golf soon.

I'm on a similar journey now. I relocated over to Scotland for work and have really tried to improve my game over the past 3 months, attempting to get into the 90s right now. Golf is cheap here, I pay 30 pounds/month and get access to 5 courses that completely blow away anything I ever played in Houston. My driver/iron game has progressed well but I am really struggling with the short chip/pitches say 30yards and under….plenty of duffs going on.

Being athletic my whole life I will say this is easily the most difficult/struggle I have ever had with a sport. That said when I hit that 54 wedge just right from 90 yards out it is a thing of beauty that keeps me coming back

As others have said… golf is hard. But in my opinion it's also extremely rewarding.

Hand/eye is huge as far as what your peak can be. Ping pong and baseball have a lot more to do with being good at golf than swimming/running/lifting.

Get lessons. If your instructor doesn't start your first lessons with a foundation of grip, stance, posture, ball position… then find a new instructor.

Practice a couple of times between lessons. Shooting under 100 will be about ball striking. Breaking 90 will be about ball striking, short game and course management.

aggiefan2002 said:

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I have dabbled with playing golf here and there but never made the time to actually get fitted, take lessons, and play more than a few times every few years. Life circumstances have recently changed a bit, and I'm wondering if I might want to start playing more seriously.

Knowing my competitive nature, but also my family constraints, I'm not sure I want to go for it unless I could be decent. So here's my question:

-would an athletic male who a) got fitted, b) took 6-12 lessons with a good pro, and c) started playing once a week with a range session every other week be able to shoot consistently in the 90's or high 80's in a year or so or is that a pipe dream?

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I think we're pretty much in the same boat. Same age, same goals, etc.

I started playing golf extremely casually in high school. Gave it up entirely in college. Played sparsely after college (like maybe once a year). Bought my first set of clubs for myself around age 30. Hacked around with those playing maybe once every 6 months, no practice but enjoying places like Top Golf. I could work my way to breaking 100 most rounds, but never shot better than 95.

Fast forward to 40. My kiddo is getting into it. I'm needing a selfish hobby to relieve some stress and get away from my phone and computer. I start trying to play more often (i.e., every other month) and I started going to the range a little at lunch to blow off some steam or when my kid had lessons.

A co-worker started going through lessons himself and getting fit for clubs. I was wanting to take it more serious. I went out and got fitted for irons and then I took my first lesson. I go for lessons every 2 weeks, and I've tried to make it a point to practice once a week (even if it's just swinging in the backyard) and play a round every month. I'm not sitting here breaking 90 yet, but I emphasize "yet" because I can tell I am getting better. Of course, some of the tweaks have "fixed" the things I was doing that I felt worked, so it's learning a new swing all over again.

Long story slightly shorter, I think it's doable and a good investment in yourself. If you enjoy golf, you'll enjoy learning how to get better.

I am 40 as well and would like to get into it. I actually went and played the Campus course today. This was the third time I have played in the last year and first time since spring break. Shot a 94. The above comments are correct…short game and putting is THE KEY. I had at least 3 or 4 holes where I was 100-150 yards out after my drive or second shot on a par 5. Got a double several times because my short game SUCKS.