It's no secret that golf is more fun when you take fewer shots. Breaking 100 is one of the most important milestones for golfers. And although many golfers have the ability to achieve a double digit score, there are multiple aspects to the game that make this a challenging goal. One of these, that more consistent players have already learned, is the concept of course management/strategy.
This is a brief discussion on how adjusting your expectations and changing your strategy can take strokes off your score. Watching pro golf has warped many of us into thinking that we should be making birdies and pars out on the course. Shooting in the 90s does not require you to hit a bunch of greens, and sink putts left and right. It's about playing smart and limiting your blowup holes.
If you play 18 holes and make a double bogey on every hole your score on most courses will be 108, just 9 shots over where you want to be. On a typical 18-hole championship course, the par is 72, and a score of 99 equates to 27 over par. That’s a lot of shots over par. Break down 27 over par for 18 holes… that’s 9 bogeys and 9 double bogeys. Now, making bogeys and double bogeys seems alot easier than birdies and pars right? Great! So now that your expectations have been adjusted lets relax and create a strategy on what you need to do to play your next round under 100.
Questions to ask yourself:
- "Where can I save 9 shots?"
- "How many penalty shots do I average in 18 holes?
- "What if I do not hit driver to tee off?"
- "What club do I hit best? Why not use that club to tee off with?"
- "What if I stop trying to hit the green in regulation?"
Goals:
- Play par 3's with the goal of hitting the green only on the second shot.
- Play par 4's with the plan of taking three shots to get onto the green.
- Play par 5's with a safe plan of shorter consistent shots to get onto the green with the 6th shot.
The above may seem like obvious advice but you will be surprised that by taking a club that you can hit consistently and using a safe plan of attack, how many times your score will be under double bogey.
And, once you break that mental barrier it is much easier to do it again.
Looking for more ways to lower your golf scores? Contact the golf professionals at Coal Creek.
"I have never seen a location on a score card that asks how? Only how many?"