Off TRAQ Podcast — Golf's Real Conversations
Jun 9, 2026 · 59 min · 14 segments
Most golfers improve quickly at first… until they hit the same wall. The scores stop dropping. The handicap stays stuck. And no matter how much they practice, nothing seems to change. In this…
The first thing we're gonna talk about today is people getting better or, in my case, not having gotten better in a few years.
But I was thinking about this the other day.
It seems like most golfers stall at certain parts of their handicap or improvement journey, right? So it's like the beginner that you don't know what you're doing down to that, like, 15, 18 range, right? That's a journey in and of itself.
And then there's, like, the 15 to 10, 10 to 5, let's call it, five to scratch, and then scratch plus, something that arguably, uh, I will never get to, at least not with this attitude.
[laughs]
But wanted to talk about why that happens at each tier, what is the realistic solve for it, and then, you know, just generally also, how long does it take? So that said, which one do you think is the hardest obstacle to overcome?
Oh, man, I think the, the hardest one is probably the one that you're stuck on, which is [laughs] that 10 to 15.
Trying to break to that, I think is a very, very tough plateau.
Everything, I think, beginner to getting to around 15, you could do it with just a little bit of consistency, but yeah, breaking into that singles was the longest part of my journey as well.
Mm.
So let, let's go back to that beginner journey because that's a good point, and I, I think it's something like 50% of golfers in the world are, are stuck at that point, right? And when we say golfers, it's, like, anybody that self-identifies as a golfer.
Yeah.
So that's, you know, people that, like, maybe own a set of golf clubs, go out, like, once or twice a year.
But for them, getting down to, let's call it 15, right, 15, 18, right in that area.
For me, it, it did take a little bit of time.
How long did it take you to get down to a round of 15?
I feel like it took me maybe not 15, but, like, around, like, 17, 18.
I think it was fairly quick.
I wanna say it took me, like, six months, maybe six to nine months.
Mm-hmm.
How long did you stay there before the next big jump?
[laughs] I think I stayed in that, like, 15 to 10 handicap range for majority of my golf career.
Hmm.
That's where I spent almost a decade.
Yeah, it's...
The first thing we're gonna talk about today is people getting better or, in my case, not having gotten better in a few years.
But I was thinking about this the other day.
It seems like most golfers stall at certain parts of their handicap or improvement journey, right? So it's like the beginner that you don't know what you're doing down to that, like, 15, 18 range, right? That's a journey in and of itself.
And then there's, like, the 15 to 10, 10 to 5, let's call it, five to scratch, and then scratch plus, something that arguably, uh, I will never get to, at least not with this attitude.
[laughs]
But wanted to talk about why that happens at each tier, what is the realistic solve for it, and then, you know, just generally also, how long does it take? So that said, which one do you think is the hardest obstacle to overcome?
Oh, man, I think the, the hardest one is probably the one that you're stuck on, which is [laughs] that 10 to 15.
Trying to break to that, I think is a very, very tough plateau.
Everything, I think, beginner to getting to around 15, you could do it with just a little bit of consistency, but yeah, breaking into that singles was the longest part of my journey as well.
Mm.
So let, let's go back to that beginner journey because that's a good point, and I, I think it's something like 50% of golfers in the world are, are stuck at that point, right? And when we say golfers, it's, like, anybody that self-identifies as a golfer.
Yeah.
So that's, you know, people that, like, maybe own a set of golf clubs, go out, like, once or twice a year.
But for them, getting down to, let's call it 15, right, 15, 18, right in that area.
For me, it, it did take a little bit of time.
How long did it take you to get down to a round of 15?
I feel like it took me maybe not 15, but, like, around, like, 17, 18.
I think it was fairly quick.
I wanna say it took me, like, six months, maybe six to nine months.
Mm-hmm.
How long did you stay there before the next big jump?
[laughs] I think I stayed in that, like, 15 to 10 handicap range for majority of my golf career.
Hmm.
That's where I spent almost a decade.
Yeah, it's...
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