Getting down to a scratch handicap is considered to be the unattainable dream by many.
However, by making just five changes, you will have a chance of reaching the promised land by becoming one of only 1.8% of golfers worldwide to hold a scratch handicap or lower.
Golfing Gazette writer Antony Martin, who spent four years playing the mini-tour circuit in America, has devised a list of five golf tips to help single-digit amateur golfers get their handicaps down.
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Most golfers would give anything to get down to scratch.
But here’s the thing, becoming a scratch golfer isn’t an impossible dream. If you’re a single-digit handicap golfer and have the time to apply yourself correctly, getting down to zero or lower should be an attainable goal.
Five key changes you need to make in order to get down to scratch
Here are five non-negotiables, if you are to have any chance whatsoever of joining the elite 1.8 per cent of golfers worldwide in becoming a scratch handicap.
Invest in training aids and a Bushnell
The road to becoming a scratch golfer begins on the driving range and on the practice putting green.
Invest in alignment sticks because it doesn’t matter how good your swing is if you cannot aim correctly.
The more you practice with alignment sticks on the range, the more that aiming correctly out on the golf course will become second nature.
Purchasing a Bushnell or any kind of distance-measuring device will be crucial to your hopes of becoming a scratch golfer.
In addition to this, you will need to know how far you hit every single club, so that when you’re out on the course, you can use your Bushnell to great effect.
Get fitted for equipment which fits your swing
Without the correct lies, lofts, shaft lengths and grip sizes on your clubs, getting down to scratch or below will be nigh on impossible.
If you have managed to reach single-digits, you must have some kind of natural talent to begin with and that’s a great start.
However, if you’re going to reach the next level, it’s all about marginal gains.
Pay a visit to your nearest PGA qualified professional or PGA registered club-fitting center and ensure that your clubs are correctly fitted to suit your size, body shape and most importantly, your swing.
70/30 practice method
The 70/30 practice method is a way of properly splitting your time when working on your game.
You should spend 70 per cent of your practice time working on your putting and chipping.
The other 30 per cent of your time should be spent on honing your swing on the driving range.
You should focus on three main things when putting and chipping. Firstly, on the practice putting green, you need to hone your skills from six feet and in.
You will face numerous putts of this length throughout your round and the more you practice those sneaky six-foot putts, the more comfortable you will feel out on the golf course when you’re faced with them.
Secondly, you need to work on your speed from outside of 30 feet. Place four tees in the ground in a two-foot circle around the hole.
The aim of the game is to hit 10 putts from outside of 30 feet inside the ‘circle of trust’, so to speak. You can only stop and move on to other areas of practice once you have completed this task.
Finally, the chipping drill you absolutely must use is figuring out where your landing zones need to be for each club.
Place towels down on different points on the chipping green. Obviously when you’re using higher lofted wedges, the landing zone will be closer to the hole and vice versa for lower lofted clubs like pitching wedges, 9-irons and so on.
When you gain a feel for how hard you need to hit each chip and where you should be landing them, the more comfortable you will feel on the golf course when faced with all kinds of shots around the greens.
On-course changes required to make the jump up to the next level
Once you’ve got all of your ducks in a row regarding your practice sessions and your equipment, the next step is to make some on-course changes.
Course management is vital
If you are to get down to scratch, you simply cannot afford to throw away shots needlessly.
Avoiding as much trouble as possible will be crucial on your quest to reach the promised land.
And the key to this is knowing how far you carry each club AND being comfortable with your natural shot shape.
If you carry your driver 260 yards through the air and there is a bunker 230 yards from the tee box, you will be better off hitting a driver rather than a 3-wood or a hybrid.
However, if it’s 250 yards to reach a bunker or a water hazard and 270 yards to carry it, you should choose a club that you know will not reach the trouble.
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The same applies to your approach shots. If the pin is tucked right at the back of the green, you should select a club that you know will not go long and vice versa when the pin is cut near the front edge of the surface.
To do this, you need to be comfortable with the fact that you’ll leave yourself a 30-foot putt. We’ve already covered how important lag-putting is and this scenario proves exactly why that’s the case.
Get comfortable ‘going low’
It sounds silly, but you cannot be frightened of shooting low scores.
When you get to one or two-under, the worst possible thing you can do is go into defence mode.
You have to keep attacking, where there are opportunities to do so, of course.
The best way to get comfortable with this mindset is to play from the forward tees. Swallow your pride and play from as far forward as you can.
This is a tactic that Bryson DeChambeau still uses to this very day.
The purpose of playing the golf course as short as possible is that you should be able to shoot lower scores.
So, when you’re playing from the tips, it won’t be such a shock to the system when you get under par.
If you have the slightest bit of natural talent for the game, it’s certainly not impossible to break the scratch barrier.
It requires a lot of work, effort and time but if you manage to implement the tips listed above, you will, at least, stand a chance.
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