Single handicap

Finally — a Single-Digit Handicap!

Well, I finally made it!
After almost 15 years of playing golf, I finally reached a single-digit handicap in 2008: 7.8. For several years I had been hovering just above 10 and had begun to wonder whether I would ever get there. Then, in 2008, I decided to cut back on work, which gave me more time to play. Instead of playing only once a week, I could suddenly get out on the course two or three times a week. That made an enormous difference. I also started working much harder on my short game — and, as every golfer eventually discovers, those shots around and on the green can make or break a scorecard.

Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui, Hawaii, 2016.

But there was another factor that made a surprising difference: golf-specific core stability training. When golfers think about fitness, they often concentrate on the obvious muscles — arms, shoulders and back. But much of the power and stability in a golf swing comes from the core: the abdominal muscles, hips and lower back. These muscles connect the upper and lower body and provide the stable foundation from which the golf swing develops.

Improving my core strength gave me better balance and control throughout the swing. At the same time, I worked on shoulder and spinal rotation, because flexibility is just as important as strength. A good golf swing requires the body to turn freely while remaining balanced — particularly if you want to generate power without simply trying to hit the ball harder.Fitness also helped with endurance. Eighteen holes is a long walk and, as every golfer knows, the last few holes count just as much as the first. When fatigue sets in, technique and concentration begin to suffer. Being fitter helped me maintain both my swing and my mental focus throughout the round.

Of course, no amount of exercise can replace technique, practice or a reliable short game. But for me, playing more frequently, working hard around the greens and adding golf-specific core training proved to be the combination that finally brought my handicap below 10.

And there it was: Handicap 7.8 — single figures at last!

That was in 2008. By the time I was 70, my handicap had gradually drifted back to 12.8 — but that is golf, and perhaps ageing as well! As the years go by, you inevitably lose some distance and flexibility. The drives that once seemed effortless become a little shorter, recovery takes a little longer and the body does not always do exactly what the mind tells it to do. But one of the wonderful things about golf is that getting older does not mean you have to stop enjoying the game. Experience, course management and a good short game can compensate for quite a few lost metres off the tee.

And perhaps your attitude changes as well. When I was trying to reach a single-digit handicap, every shot and every stroke mattered. Today, the score is still important — I am a golfer, after all! — but there is more to the game than the number on the card. Being outdoors, walking the course, enjoying the company and occasionally hitting that one perfect shot have become at least as important.

I am 77 now and still play once or twice a week, although these days only on courses in the Netherlands. My handicap may no longer be 7.8, but the pleasure of walking onto the first tee is still there. And every now and then, a drive flies exactly as intended, an iron finds the middle of the green or a long putt disappears into the hole — and for a brief moment you wonder why your handicap isn’t still 7.8!

Perhaps that is one of golf’s greatest qualities: you grow older, your game changes with you — but you never really stop trying to get better.

And after all, I did make it once:
Once a single-digit handicapper, always a single-digit handicapper —
at least in my memories!