27 years old and i've been playing golf for about seven years now but only recently i've started taking it more seriously i play off 23 handicap and i've recently felt massive improvements in my game however. my scores aren't reflecting this i'm getting more powers than ever and sometimes up to three or four in 18 holes which for me is great. But i'm still shooting around 97 205 my home golf course is a part 74 which is quite rare in it possible yeah um i have told i've been told by some mates that a better way to improve my golf is actually playing in medals. Or club competitions is there any truth to this. Or simply playing with friends um and solo is that enough to better my game like i said i feel like my game's improving. But i'm struggling to hold scores together so just quickly can i just throw something before you give your expert advice on this i think he's we mentioned a couple of weeks ago well i think he's on the podcast might have been in real life forget that when you first start golf. And you hit earth shots you're topping it you're shanking it a lot more whatever they are what you class as bad shots as you stop doing that. And you get better those bad shots become hopefully less frequent but bad shots might be things that hit in the bunker getting out of bounds you still you strike it better as such but it doesn't go we want it to go which can still result in a high score yeah is that what you're suffering what do you think it could well be i mean he's been playing golf. For seven years now i mean it sounds to me he's kind of been playing quite a casual game of golf i think it could go either way if he plays in medals i'm not saying that's the worst advice ever his friends have said that his friends might have seen improvement with that it just depends on his personality like if he's con suddenly if he's normally used to playing with a couple of mates in an afternoon where it's nice. And chilled it's nice and quiet and it's got a nice vibe to it to go in there and going playing on the saturday morning let's say in a club medal where you've got to pay an entry fee. And it feels a bit more official and you get a proper score card and and you go and you've got to you know keep up the speed of play and you've got to play properly obviously not that he's not doing but you got to play really pro properly that could switch someone's mind and move them from third gear up to fifth gear and that concentration level can definitely help improve the game on the flip side the nerves might kick in they might go oh my god i'm throwing a big boy tournament. And suddenly like shoot 120 and like not want to play again so it really depends on that person's personality i would say and don't you know don't knock it until you try it we gave advice similar to this a couple weeks ago where don't just worry about playing medal either like do have these different formats i think i think. So many golfers obviously they see it on the pga tour the dp world tour the break 75s you know these crazy people play medal all the time like full-on scores but that's that's not the only way to play golf um so yeah i think if he can give it a go play the medal he might enjoy it he might be nervous get you know maybe give it a couple of goals. But all apart from that just really trying to identify what his weak areas are i think enough golfers will put a number on will put. So much emphasis on the end score let's let's say he goes out and shoots 97. that 97 has been made up from many different shots loads of different tee shots different iron shots wedge shots putting bunker shots well look at that round and go well what area what area out that those selection is really letting me down most you know i mean like people i don't think golfers quite look at that enough well it's interesting at that level just rereading his email he says i have made massive improvements which is a bold shout out. But he scores that improvement so i'm interested to see like what is a massive improvement is it strike is it the fact that he used to hit it very thin very heal. And now is catch it much more efficiently. But if he scores out improving there must be something going quite badly wrong. And also it is that massive improvement the fact that he might have not played with a mate. For six months and suddenly he's been practicing he gets on the first tee and hits a great drive and his mate goes oh my god you've massively improved it's true but actually has he actually massively improved or or is it just because he's strung a few nice shots together. And his mate said oh you've really improved. And he's gone no i have i've really improved. But has it i've listened to club the podcast twice over i must have improved um medal's difficult it really is. But really try and identify if you can what pockets of area in this game does he need to go. And write let's really try and nail that like if he's going out. And shooting 97 by having 40 ports well that's not good enough he could knock five or six shots off his score if he just works on his putting or whatever that may be i've got a question well not even the question of theory uh maybe a question i don't know what it is. But i actually feel like a lot of golfers never improve once you get to a certain point because there's a lot of members at my golf club who i hadn't seen for a long time cause i wasn't a member then.
I've rejoined and they're still often the same handicapped the guys off twos quite good the guys are 15 the guys have 22.. And they've been playing for years fairly consistently do you think we get to some sort of even my friends really they've improved they're not massive golfers they all played football. And they've kind of started to play golf the last five ten years but they play in the summer they don't ever go the driving range play golf maybe three times a week max once a week normally in the summer and they look up to a decent standard now of like let's say shooting mid to high 80s possibly but they've not only got any better do you think we can get to a point in golf where like that's your standard. And unless you do something drastic that's what you're kind of your best you'll get i bet there are limitations physical limitations like some golf remember when i was coaching full-time. And and they'd they'd be desired desperate to hit the ball longer but physically regardless of what we did technically physically they weren't fast enough strong enough they couldn't make the club travel fast enough to hit the ball longer i bet when you're at me. And used to work in the pro shop there was some members you're off like 15. For literally years and they're still still will be now that's not that's not a bad handicap i'm just saying that it's not like you suddenly start playing golf when you get off 23. And then.
Or 28 or whatever and it becomes 23 then.
17. then.
Like so some people that clearly happens but for a lot of those people is it is it a case that they're just reaching the kind of natural potential do you know i just think it's a lot of people have that handicap interests people if you want to email us if you've had a handicap. For just years let us know the other flip side though let's say you are 30 years old playing off 10. just. For argument's sake 15 years later you're 45 playing off 10. you might have lost distance have you actually you might have actually improved you've aged by 15 years but you're still playing to the same standards you know the course but you know puts better you know how to play the game that we might have lacked in strength yeah exactly. And the other this i still remember this conversation you and brody smith had a port rush do some golfers want to improve i still don't think they do like i i genuinely i honestly think i think if you asked them they'd say yes yeah at least my point wasn't that they want to improve my point was lots of people play golf with very little care about how they play. And i still stand by that like it's my golf club again i'm using it a lot today.
But it's my own experience there was there's groups of men. And women but there's a certain group of women who were lovely they used to play everything it was tuesday. And saturday or sunday and there was probably about 30 of them in the kind of ladies hardcore sex. And who would like go every every compo ever and for them and rightly so it was. So much more about socializing walking around a hilly golf course and some good exercise in and they could obviously one week one might win and she might be over the moon but they weren't bothered they didn't throw clubs around and go the driving range some of them had lessons admittedly but the vast majority were just there just to have a good time it's like it's okay a lot of what we do in this podcast. And obviously your video is about people getting better. But equally it's okay to not be bothered i think i think golfers certainly didn't just want to maybe just stay competitive like they want to every now. And again shoot a good score and shoot under the handicap but they don't want to they don't want to completely scupper themselves by playing so well and they have to play to a handicap they can't really play too well that's the thing they kind of want to just be quite level like say a lot of people only play once a week if they get time or not even that sometimes once once every two weeks they just want to go out and just enjoy it have a bit social they kind of know what to expect yeah i might have a good round i'm out of a crap round that's all right it's funny i again i played on friday when i saw the new flags. And me and my mates played and we didn't none of us played great and i ended up winning like 31 points which obviously isn't great to win there's only three of us um but for me it was like i said to my mates we're walking up 18 like realistically how many points are you happy with again they're not hardcore golf's like 30. yes well right if you can play a golf course with your pals. And you get 30 stable points yeah you should get 36. But 30 feels like a semi-respectable like i've not played great but it's okay. And i think that's. For most people if you could just go around most times and get 30 sometimes 36 or 32 points 34. pretty good in it yeah well a handicap. And i've still remember a handicap is a snapshot of you on a good day yes that's what people forget it really is you on a good day right. And you look at like say any any golf club around the world on a saturday when they've got their normal competition there'll be two or three golfers that have really shot the lights out yeah. But not many and sometimes those new those golfers that have shot the lights out and played way under the handicap are either quite new. And they're improving dramatically yeah you know. Or they might be there might be younger golfers who are practicing every day because they can do um. But it's all it's also perfect acceptable just to cruise and just go and enjoy it have a bit social.
