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Discount Golf Tee Times

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Annual Progress Report 2005

When I began golfing in August of 2004, I kept all my score cards so I could enter them into the system once I had a number to track my handicap. By the time I had joined a club and received my shiny new SCGA number in January, I had probably played around 30 rounds. We entered them all in at the same time and my first official handicap was 33.5 in January of 2005. My index for January of 2006 has now been officially posted by the SCGA and is 16.3. So in one year, I have dropped my index by 17.2 strokes. Not bad.

I have now been tracking my scores officially for one year. I count every stroke of every round and have been strict about posting every single one. The one time I took a mulligan during a round when we were wagering and everyone else had taken theirs, the scorecard I entered into the system still reflected what actually happened. I’m the one looking at my stats and they would be meaningless to me if they weren’t accurate. Now that I have a year’s worth of data, let’s take a look at my development as a golfer according to the numbers.

Month

Year

Index

Change

January

2005

33.5


February

2005

32.8

-0.7

March

2005

33.1

0.3

April

2005

32.5

-0.6

May

2005

30.8

-1.7

June

2005

28.8

-2

July

2005

28.9

0.1

August

2005

24.9

-4

September

2005

24.6

-0.3

October

2005

22.7

-1.9

November

2005

19

-3.7

December

2005

18.8

-0.2

January

2006

16.3

-2.5

So, I had two months (March and July) in which my index actually increased (by tenths of a stroke), and the rest of the months I showed improvement. I didn’t play as often from January through March because of the rains and course closures and damage. Frequency of play will obviously effect anyone’s progress. Other than that, I can’t account for the changes. I haven’t had any instruction to speak of that I can point to on the chart. I became a non-smoker in April, but would that make any difference? I could point out that I started competing in May, but who’s to say that had any effect? I’ve always been pretty competitive and tend to increase my focus when something is on the line, but that’s not tangible data. I mean, I started blogging in June and having an outlet to share my passion might have had an effect, too, but we can’t really point to that either. Or can we?

I keep expecting my progress to level off like the rest of the golfers I know. What will be my magic number before I have to take drastic measures (anything other than just playing more) to jump start my development? Or should I take a proactive stance and just plot out a chart for my future now to include lessons, a new fitness plan, a commitment to range time and all that good stuff? I know I should… maybe I could even increase my rate of improvement if I did rather than watch it level off and stagnate before I take action. I was thinking about getting lessons from a local pro that has friends and relatives in my club and social circle. But I just found out he won the Big Break reality show so he'll probably be off on tour or something or at the very least out of my price range. Besides, I think I'd want more of a long term coach than an instructor for a series or two of lessons.

Anyway, I think I need to launch some kind of action plan and the ideas keep brewing in my head. So stay tuned!

Next post.

3 comments:

Stacy Solomon said...

I first picked up a golf club in June 2000 and played my first round in 2002. Since that time my handicap has dropped from a 23 to a 16. I believe it should be lower because I wasn't able to calculate my last 4 or 5 rounds because the handicap system stops posting at the end of October.

I should get a nice surprise in the spring when the handicaps start up again!

PS: My husband just bought me a 6 pound medicine ball to improve my core muscles.

http://golf-for-beginners.blogspot.com

Golfchick said...

Hi Stacy,

Nice improvement! Let me know if you are ever in the So-cal area and we can go play a round. Maybe we'll both be single digits by then!

-Kristen

Anonymous said...

Have you thought of looking at par as a reference for improvement? 2 putts make par. If you average 36 putts per round, you know where to improve and it's not with the short game. That's how I see it, anyway. I've played for about a year now and I broke 90 (89) on my 45th game using 6 clubs. Congrats and keep it up.