So what's the big deal?

If you're a non golfer you're probably thinking that going from a 9 to a 2 handicap shouldn't be much trouble. Just practice, right?

Hardly.

Dropping seven strokes from a nine to a two is going to be a very tough goal to accomplish.

You may not think so but we nine handicappers are already fairly accomplished golfers. We know the basics of the game, including swing mechanics, strategy, shotmaking and equipment. In short, we've already picked the low hanging fruit.

How good is a nine handicapper? Well, according to the USGA's men's golf index, a nine handicap male golfer is in the top quintile of male golfers. So, if there are 49 other randomly selected golfers in a room with me there are ten or so who can kick my butt more often than not. But I'm going to dominate the other forty (on average, of course).

Now, how good do I have to get at this game to be a two handicapper? Two handicappers are in the top two percentiles, so given the same fifty randomly selected golfers chances are that I'm going to be the best golfer in the room!

So here's one way to look at this quest of mine. In order to become a two handicap golfer I'm going to have to figure out how to beat those ten out of every fifty guys who rule me today.

I'm gonna keep it real here.

I don't really like my chances.