I\u2019m a self-deprecating 4.6 handicap. The overall status of my golf game doesn\u2019t fluctuate round by round\u2014it fluctuates with every chunked chip, sliced drive, and missed three-footer. I admit I\u2019m a headcase\u2026but isn\u2019t every golfer?<\/p>\n
That brings me to the question that has quite literally hijacked Golf Twitter for the last month or so: at what point do you consider someone good at golf?<\/p>\n
After doing some research, I found that the USGA said just over 8% of male golfers own a handicap from 0.0-4.9, and 2% are skratch\u2014I\u2019m legally obligated to spell it like that\u2014or better.<\/p>\n
In my humble opinion, if you\u2019re in the top 10% of a given field, you\u2019re good\u2014and that includes golf (I\u2019m not just saying this because I fit the bill).<\/p>\n
As a sub-5 handicap, it\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows. Two Saturdays ago, I shot a cool 86 at my home club. But a few days ago, I posted a 71 that included a bogey-free 33 on the back. Golf, man. It doesn\u2019t make a whole lot of sense.<\/p>\n
But while considering possible requirements for a \u201cgood golfer\u201d, I had a more abstract thought, as well: good golfers don\u2019t make a lot of 6s\u2014stay with me now *in my best Chad Ochocinco voice*.<\/p>\n
To get this out of the way, good golfers don\u2019t make triples on par 3s. Unless you\u2019re playing in Florida where water is 50% of courses, 6s shouldn\u2019t happen on the shorties. That brings me to the dreaded doubles on par 4s.<\/p>\n
Now, doubles are going to happen\u2014they just are. But to shoot good scores consistently, they can\u2019t come in bunches.<\/p>\n
Finally, good players don\u2019t waste shots on par 5s. Those are rare scoring opportunities and chances to get back lost strokes. Even writing down a five hurts the soul a little bit.<\/p>\n
A good goal the next time you tee it up: go as long as possible without making a six. You\u2019ll be surprised how well that mindset can help you avoid big numbers that\u2019ll put a hurting on your scorecard.<\/p>\n
While this entire debate is 100% subjective, if Scottie Scheffler says a good golfer is one who breaks 80 on a regular basis, that feels like something we can all take to heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a self-deprecating 4.6 handicap. The overall status of my golf game doesn\u2019t fluctuate round by round\u2014it fluctuates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-846475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}