i would bet an unlimited amount of money on and 18 getting to 12 over a 5 getting to +1.
this is nowhere even close to being an even bet and please let me know if this is a real situation because i'm ready to wager my entire retirement on the outcome.

I don’t know who you’re talking about but perhaps he has 40 years experience being a dumbass as well?

It’s infinitely more difficult for a 5 to shave off 6 strokes than an 18. I could probably take 95% of 18’s to 12 in less than a year without stress.

I think/hope you meant that the other way around (since the question was what's harder), but either way it's clearly way harder to go from 5 to +1 than from 18 to 12.

Anyone even wanting to argue that isn't worth the time because they clearly don't know what they're talking about.

This is what he said I thought it was a bit dumb.

you need to take this opportunity to bet him every chance you can and take all his money.
I play with many single digit HCs that will never in their life sniff scratch or better. I also play with many players in the high teens that could shave 5 or 6 strokes off their HC pretty quickly in one summer with the right adjustments.

Imagine if his wedges were sharp

He's right about some stuff here and wrong about some stuff.

He's dead on about the upper echelon of golfers having something special, they can accomplish things that others will never be able to even with infinite work. But 6 handicappers are not unicorns, not even close. Most scratch golfers aren't unicorns. Unicorns go shoot 62's at the drop of a hat and don't think twice about it.

An good unicorn example would be Larry Nelson who didn't touch a club until he was 21 and within a year was a scratch. Then shortly after became a star on the PGA Tour.

Almost every tour pro broke par within two years? That is so stupid. Any tour pro within the last 20+ years started playing golf as a kid, if you start at 8 you almost certainly aren't breaking par at 10 on a standard length course.

Things like this are a perfect reason why most instructors on youtube have zero credibility.

Bo much kinder than me. That guy is a ****ing moron. 6s are unicorns? lol lolololol

Imagine being a teaching pro and thinking you couldn’t help an 18 find 2 shots.. lol why the **** are you even teaching then. It doesn’t even make any sense

I feel like most reasonably athletic guys in their 20s and 30s who take up golf with any seriousness could be a single digit handicap within a couple of years, assuming they have a good bit of time to play/practice. I know a lot of guys who quickly went from pretty new golfers to like a 7 or 8, a few of which have gotten down to the 0-2 range, and a few of which have struggled to progress.

I don't know a lot of guys who have taken the game up later in life who have managed to become plus handicaps, though I'm sure it can happen with enough work and some innate talent.. feel like most of the guys I know who can rip off scores in the 60s with any consistency played in college.

Basically everyone I know who can shoot a 62 played professionally for a stint.

What RedEyes said. I would bet any amount of money on the 18-12.

That a "legit 6" is a unicorn is indeed incredibly laughable. Of course, he tries to qualify it by defining "legit 6" as something outside what the USGA says it is. In my usual group of 10-20 guys there are five guys less than a a 6: a 5 (and he's 75 years old), two 4s, a 3, and a 2. We aren't playing on tour, but we play for money, and scores are legit. These particular guys will never get below 0, and probably won't hit scratch, considering they're all 50+; they just play consistent golf.

Perhaps the better argument is I was a 5.5 when l was on high school golf team, and I was a 5'6" weakling with no flexibility who would rather be playing Golden Eye than practicing golf.

Yeah, this part made me laugh. If you're making a dumb argument, change the goalposts.

Much like H_P, I was a legit 5.8 not too long ago, as defined by the handicapping system. Posted my scores. But I've never been able to just walk on any golf course and play to my index, there is too much variation in conditions and too many weaknesses in my game.

Yeah, the "play your index" statement was incredibly dumb for many reasons, not the least of which is that's not what a handicap IS (unless you shoot the same number every time), and the fact that rating/slope exists.

This conversation reminds of The Dan Plan, the guy who had never played golf before and made it a goal to spend 10,000 hours practicing and make the PGA Tour (a goal most, including myself, thought ridiculous, but still a fun endeavor). If I remember correctly he got down to a 2.5 or so after 5,000 hours, but didn't really get beyond that before quitting the plan at 6,000 hours when his back gave out.

Simply how handicaps are calculated and scoring distributions an 18 -> 12 is far easier than 5 -> +1.

I've seen guys go from 18 to 12 in a month. I know only one player who went to 5 to +1, and it took him almost a year.

doing that in a year is incredibly quick

I remember that thread. Didn't he also disappear with some money that people gave him to try and fund it too?

i don't believe anyone was seriously putting money in to fund it, more like he was getting free stuff (greens fees, equipment, etc). google 'the dan plan' and the first hit should be an Atlantic article summarizing the state of things. no need to click on thedanplan.c0m...that domain has been lost to the ether.

Going up to MN and bringing the sticks along. Playing 2 courses I always played as a kid and early adult. Trying to get on the CC where I was a member at in high school. Hope it happens as I loved that course back then. Would be cool to see what it looks like now.

Which courses? I spent ~ 10 years in MSP and it’s a great state for golf

Yeah, one of his problems was he wasn't getting the funding he thought he'd get. Columbia Edgewater, one of the nicer clubs in the Portland area, gave him a year (or something like that) of free membership, but then kicked him to the curb. He then went to another private club down the street and tried to get them to give him a membership, but they also said no. I was member of that club at the time and saw him a lot (obviously, since he was always there). Nice enough guy.

Two courses in St. Cloud. I have a tee time for Wapicada. I had a membership there when I was 12-15ish. That was also the home course for college back then. Also trying to get on St. Cloud CC. I was a member there from 15ish to 18. That was my high school home club.

Then I have a tee time at The Links at Northfork. I used to play there a lot when I was out of college. Pretty cheap back then and wide open.

Played the Links a bunch back in the 90s, always enjoyed it. It was a bit of a hike but a regular in the rotation. Never played anything in St. Cloud.

Catching up on the TXG live stream and someone posted a question about having a Long Drive Contest at the Olympics, Pretty decent idea imo.