Your level of golf?

[Skooch]

Learned to play a little less than a year and a half ago. Still haven't broken 90. I still learn new things all the time so hopefully I won't suck forever.

[offTopic]

Purely recreational (kind of like poker, actually) never played any level of organized golf, and never hit a ball on a golf course until after high school (probably 20 years ago).

I'd play a few times per year, generally less than once a month until I met my now-wife who is more avid than I am. We play most weekends...I'm a 16 (up from 14.5 [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ) and she'll probably be around an 18 on Aug 1.

Best round relative to par was 78 at Poplar Creek in San Mateo, but I don't consider myself to have broken 80 because that course is sooo short.

Besides that, +11, +12 seems to be the number I'm stuck on when playing really well.

[Spy Dog]

[ QUOTE ]

what didn't you like about college golf?

[/ QUOTE ]

We had a pretty competitive program in the Midwest. Our top 3 guys were set in stone. And then there were 6 guys always battling for the last 2 spots. So, it was constant qualifying. If you weren't traveling to a tournament then you were in a qualifier to get into a qualifier. So, while our team might be playing Thu-Sat, 4 guys would be playing in a prequalifier for 2 spots over the weekend. If you qualified then you would get to play in a 2 round qualifier on Tues-Weds with 1 or 2 guys who played bad in the previous tournament. If you happened to play well in that qualifier you were off to the next tournament. Playing in tournaments was great, but it meant missing 1 or 2 days of classes which meant scrambling to make up for tests and such.

So, it was literally like 5-6 competitive rounds per week (a lot of college tournaments were 54 holes in 2 days) in springtime Midwestern weather (windy, cold, and rainy).

The time commitment was huge. I probably spent 45+ hours per week either practicing, playing, or driving to/from the golf course (one of which was 1 hour away). Not to mention that I had to schedule my classes to end by noon. That meant an 8:00am class every friggin day.

Typical schedule looked like this:

7:00am-8:00am Shower. Maybe eat breakfast.
8:00am-12:30PM CLASS
12:30pm-1:15pm Scramble to the dining hall to grab lunch.
1:15pm-1:45pm Drive to golf course
1:45pm-6:45pm Play another 5 hour round of golf
6:45pm-7:15pm Drive back to campus
7:15pm-8:00pm Get dinner at dining hall or grab pizza if dining hall closed.
8:00pm-9:00pm In food coma because I pigged out after walking 18 holes of golf.
9:00pm-11:00pm Too exhausted to study. Maybe I'll go out for a few beers.
11:00pm Bedtime.

Balancing that with an active social life and trying to maintain a 3.0+ GPA in a tough accounting program was not fun.

I hated college golf but it helped pay for my school.

[SlyGuy]

Rec player for the most part.
Low score: 75
Current Handicap: 14 ( I am horrible this year)
Hole One: 1 (Last week)
Best Stretch: -3 over 6 holes

[esad]

Might have posted this before, but here goes.

The old man played golf so like a typical son I wanted to play. Started around age 13 and was completely self taught. Played on and off until I was 15 and then got more serious. Was in some junior leagues, etc.. one of which I won (SoCal in case anyone cares). Got down to about a 5-6 handicap, which was pretty decent at the time.

When I was 17 I thought, "Hey maybe I could make something out of this golf thing." So I talked my parents into sending me to a golf camp for 16-17 year olds in SoCal. You had to play to at most a 12 handicap to get into this camp. So, it was a more serious camp, not "Let's learn golf!"

When I got there I was able to play with and see other 16-17 year old kids that had real talent. This gave me a little epiphany that no matter how much I practiced, as long as they practiced just as much as me they were going to be much better then me.

So I gave up the dream and just played for fun. I sucked bad last year after injuring my wrist two years ago, but I've made a commitment this year to get back down to signal digit handicap again. Took a few lessons from a Pro for the first time ever after playing for over 20 years. It's coming around and now I'm playing at about a 14. Should be down to an 8-9 in a few more months. Luckily I have a great touch around the greens and putt great. Just working on ball striking, which has been horrible, hence the crappy handicap.

Cliff Notes: Started playing at 13, got good enough by 17 to realize I had no real talent. Play the game for fun now.

[rianb]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

what didn't you like about college golf?

[/ QUOTE ]

We had a pretty competitive program in the Midwest. Our top 3 guys were set in stone. And then there were 6 guys always battling for the last 2 spots. So, it was constant qualifying. If you weren't traveling to a tournament then you were in a qualifier to get into a qualifier. So, while our team might be playing Thu-Sat, 4 guys would be playing in a prequalifier for 2 spots over the weekend. If you qualified then you would get to play in a 2 round qualifier on Tues-Weds with 1 or 2 guys who played bad in the previous tournament. If you happened to play well in that qualifier you were off to the next tournament. Playing in tournaments was great, but it meant missing 1 or 2 days of classes which meant scrambling to make up for tests and such.

So, it was literally like 5-6 competitive rounds per week (a lot of college tournaments were 54 holes in 2 days) in springtime Midwestern weather (windy, cold, and rainy).

The time commitment was huge. I probably spent 45+ hours per week either practicing, playing, or driving to/from the golf course (one of which was 1 hour away). Not to mention that I had to schedule my classes to end by noon. That meant an 8:00am class every friggin day.

Typical schedule looked like this:

7:00am-8:00am Shower. Maybe eat breakfast.
8:00am-12:30PM CLASS
12:30pm-1:15pm Scramble to the dining hall to grab lunch.
1:15pm-1:45pm Drive to golf course
1:45pm-6:45pm Play another 5 hour round of golf
6:45pm-7:15pm Drive back to campus
7:15pm-8:00pm Get dinner at dining hall or grab pizza if dining hall closed.
8:00pm-9:00pm In food coma because I pigged out after walking 18 holes of golf.
9:00pm-11:00pm Too exhausted to study. Maybe I'll go out for a few beers.
11:00pm Bedtime.

Balancing that with an active social life and trying to maintain a 3.0+ GPA in a tough accounting program was not fun.

I hated college golf but it helped pay for my school.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow. almost carbon copy of my experiences/thoughts. those first days of tournaments are so [censored] brutal. you'd think it would get easier, but 36 holes in the heat and the grind of a tough tournament almost weekly just takes its toll. don't think i ever do much but get a nice shower and lay in bed the rest of the night after those days.

d-1 golf is basically a full time job if you want to stay competitive and it def can wear people out faster than they would think.

[stadler]

Spy dog what school did you play for?

[black knight]

Won Div titles in conseq years and a bunch of other local tournies as a junior. Got scouted by a Pac 10 school in grade 10 (happenstance, but I happened to shoot -1 from the tips at a tough course that day which got his attention), but got in a really bad car accident that fall which took me out for 7 years.

I'm finally back playing now and hope to get to the Cdn and US Am matchplay stage within 4 years.