My challenge. Round after round.
Here, I’m documenting my journey from a handicap of 16.1 to a single-digit handicap – honestly, transparently and without sugar-coating anything.
Every round, every insight and every step forward will form part of this chronicle.
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PlayGolf18 Founder Challenge: noch 26 Tage | Start-HCP: 16,1 | Aktuelles HCP: 14,0 | Ziel: Single Handicap
Day 64 of 90
6 September 2026
⛳ Perhaps I’m trying too hard.
Two more rounds of my PlayGolf18 Challenge:
📍 Wednesday – Murstätten Championship Course
91 strokes.
At least a really good back nine with 41 strokes (+5).
📍 Today – Murstätten South Course
94 strokes | 16 gross | 29 net.
Training’s actually going well. I feel as though my game is on the verge of taking the next step.
And that is precisely what is becoming a problem right now.
Once I’m on the pitch, I suddenly want to force everything. I’m getting impatient; I’m desperate to hit that perfect shot and turn a good round into a very good one as quickly as possible.
And as I’m writing this, something else strikes me:
Of all things, I didn’t use my AI caddy on the last two rounds. 🤦♂️
Yet that is precisely his role: not to choose a club or devise a game plan – but to help me stay calm, focus on the next shot and stick to my routine.
So perhaps the next experiment for the challenge is already obvious:
Don’t force it. Switch on the AI Caddy. Stroke by stroke.
Let’s see if it makes any difference. 😉
HCP stands by 14,0.
And then, at the 20 September 2026 another special highlight: my first regional final at the Austrian Amateur Open.
Ironically, a higher handicap isn’t a disadvantage there at all. 😅 Still, I’d obviously be happy to improve it beforehand.
The challenge remains exciting.
Day 50 of 90
26 August 2026
⛳ The challenge continues – a handicap of 14.0 for the first time!
Following a minor setback at the 9-hole tournament at Klockerhof, it was back to 18 holes – this time at the Wednesday Cup at GC Murhof.
The result:
🏌️ 88 strokes
⛳ 37 putts
🎯 71% FIR
🟢 39 % GIR
🔄 18 % Scrambling
Things went really well off the tee in particular this time. 71 per cent of fairways hit – it seems the driver and I have made up again after that failed ‘midsize’ experiment. 😅
Of course, it wasn’t without its drama: an 8 on the 7th hole and a 7 on the 17th show quite clearly where I’m still losing strokes.
Nevertheless, this round is enough for the next small step:
Start: HCP 16,1
Current: HCP 14.0 📉
Goal: Single Digits
We’ve managed to achieve a handicap of 2.1.
And the interesting thing is that he’s now consistently producing good spells of play. The key now is to eliminate the major mistakes from his round and maintain his standard over 18 holes.
The challenge continues. ⛳
Day 45 of 90
21 August 2026
⛳ A minor setback – but I’ve learnt something from it.
Next stop on my challenge: the Austrian Amateur Open at GC Klockerhof.
9 holes, 28 strokes, 18 Stableford points – and yet my handicap went up from 14.1 to 14.4. 📈
It’s a bit of a surprise at first.
So I finally took a closer look at the score differential – and now have a much better understanding of how 9-hole rounds are factored into the handicap calculation.
My personal takeaway from this:
9-hole tournaments aren’t necessarily the best choice given my current handicap. 😉 To play a round at ‘single-digit level’ with a handicap of 14.1, I’d need to achieve a score differential of less than 10.0 – in other words, a round that’s roughly equivalent to a handicap of under 10.
But that’s exactly what makes it a challenge.
Don’t just rack up scores – strive to understand your own game better and better.
Day 42 of 90
18 August 2026
⛳ Three rounds. Three completely different stories.
The PlayGolf18 Challenge continues—and golf is still golf. 😉
📍 GC Murhof – 96 strokes, 38 putts
Not many highlights on the course. But it was a really cool round—and sometimes that’s exactly what makes for a good day of golf.
📍 GC Erzherzog Johann – 86 strokes
The day got off to anything but a great start, though: I woke up with a sudden back spasm and could barely turn my head to the left or right.
Step by step.
As I kept moving, my game actually got better and better as the round went on—and suddenly my golf was clicking, too: I played the back nine in just +3. My handicap briefly improved to 13,6. 📉
📍 GC Murstätten – 93 strokes
My back wasn't quite behind me yet, but the round still started with a front nine in +5 Really good. Unfortunately, I couldn't maintain that level on the back nine—so my handicap went back up to 14,1.
What remains?
It's clear that I'm already playing at a level suitable for a lower handicap. But I still can't consistently maintain that level over 18 holes.
Day 30 of 90
6 August 2026
⛳ The challenge continues—but not every round results in a new handicap.
I've just finished a 9-hole round in the Murauen.
No handicap update. No big leap forward.
And maybe that's exactly what a 90-day challenge is all about: improvement isn't a linear process.
So now it's time to:
Training. Training. Training. 🏌️
After all, there are three tournaments on the schedule through Sunday.
Three new opportunities to put my training into practice—and find out if I'm getting a little closer to my goal.
Current: HCP 14,1
Started: HCP 16,1
Goal: single-digit
Let's see where I'll be on Sunday night. 😉
#PlayGolf18 #RoadToSingleDigits #GolfChallenge #GolfTraining #Handicap #Golf #GolfLife
Day 27 of 90
3 August 2026
⛳ The challenge continues.
Yesterday saw the next round take place on the Murstätten South Course – in 34 °C heat and with a playing time of over five hours.
I also tried something out, which turned out to be a mistake.
It was the first time I’d played my driver with a midsize grip. gespielt.
The result? Three drives out of bounce.
Sometimes you have to try things out to realise that they simply don’t work.
The standard grip has now been refitted. 😉
Nevertheless, there were some positives too:
🏌️ 86 strokes
⛳ 36 putts
🎯 50% greens in regulation
📈 New handicap: 14,1
Not every round is perfect.
But every round brings new insights.
And that’s exactly what my personal PlayGolf18 Challenge is all about: trying things out, learning and getting better bit by bit.
👉 Find out more about the challenge:
https://playgolf18.com/challenge
#PlayGolf18 #RoadToSingleDigits #GolfChallenge #Golf #Handicap #GolfLife #GolfTraining
Day 20 of 90
27 July 2026
⛳ Two venues. Two completely different rounds. An important insight.
This week I played two rounds in a tournament – and had an hour’s training session with my golf pro as well.
📍 GC Fontana
95 strokes
44 putts 😳
64% of fairways hit
44% greens in regulation
Not the result I’d imagined.
A day later:
📍 Schloss Ebreichsdorf
83 strokes
33 Putts
79% of fairways hit
50% greens in regulation
And most importantly:
📉 My handicap has improved to 14,6.
The figures show me once again that golf is rarely a straight line. There are setbacks, good days and bad days. The key is to learn from them and keep working at it.
That’s exactly why I launched the PlayGolf18 Challenge – not to play every round perfectly, but to gain a better understanding of my game, step by step.
The next lessons will follow. ⛳
👉 https://playgolf18.com/challenge
#PlayGolf18 #RoadToSingleDigits #GolfChallenge #GolfTraining #Handicap #Golf
Day 15 of 90
22 July 2026
⛳ Challenge Round #3 – GC Loipersdorf
Another small step forward. 📈
🏌️ Total: 15 over par
📉 New handicap: 15,0
But the most exciting thing was how the race unfolded:
After the first 9 holes, I was only 3 over par – that’s exactly what shows the potential that’s already there. I was only 3 over par
Unfortunately, the back nine was followed by a significant slump, particularly on the first four holes. That’s exactly where I lost control of the round.
The good news is: the potential is there.
The key now is to maintain consistency over 18 holes.. That’s exactly where PlayGolf18 is designed to help me, with data, analysis and the right training focus.
The challenge continues. 💪
#PlayGolf18 #GolfChallenge #Golf #Handicap #Loipersdorf #FounderJourney
Day 7 of 90
14 July 2026
🤖 What should I practise in the run-up to the next round of the challenge?
Following the analysis of my last round, PlayGolf18 has set a clear training focus. Don’t just hit balls at random.
Instead, I’ll focus specifically on the areas that are currently costing me the most strokes.
🎯 That’s why this week’s focus is on the short game and scrambling.
We’ll see whether this is already reflected in the statistics in the next round that counts towards the handicap. ⛳
#PlayGolf18 #GolfTraining #ShortGame #Scrambling #GolfChallenge #FounderJourney
Day 4 of 90
11 July 2026
⛳ Challenge Round #2. GC Gut Freiberg
📍 90 strokes
The statistics tell a bigger story today than the score:
✅ 69% of fairways hit
✅ 44% greens in regulation
❌ 41 putts
❌ 0% scrambling
From the tee to the green, most things went well. It was around the green that I lost those shots.
That is precisely why PlayGolf18 not only analyses your score, but also shows, where the greatest potential for further improvement lies.
Now it’s time to practise our short game. 💪
#PlayGolf18 #GolfChallenge #Golf #GolfTraining #Scrambling #Putting #Handicap
Day 1 of 90
8 July 2026
- Kick-off with the first tournament at GC Murhof.
- HCP at the start: 16.1
- Result: 86 strokes, 23 gross points, 39 net points
- New HCP: 15.5
- Highlights: Birdie on the 4th
- Findings: Scrambling and the short game are the biggest weaknesses
- The new AI training plan takes exactly that into account.
- Next tournament: 11 July 2026. GC Gut Freiberg
