Scoring better

Truth! I grew up playing at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth where Ben Hogan was a member. One day my dad and I were practicing on the Little 9 par 3 course. Hogan drives his cart by and asks "What are you guys doing?" My Dad said "We're practicing our short games!" Hogan responded "You don't see much of that around here. I guess all these guys get on in regulation every time..." then he drove off. Solid advice from a legend!

I got paired with a guy on the course yesterday who thought he was hot stuff and had the most expensive everthing. He played from the blacks and could hit it a mile. During the round his game faltered and he started losing balls. Then it took him 4 to get out a sand bunker of a par 3. He helicoptered his sand wedge at his bag and shattered a $700 driver! This had me thinking about scoring better in 2022. As 65% or more of our shots are from 100 yards and in how come we don't practice like this? Dustin Johnson spends 80% of his practice time 100 yards in. If I can bash the ball as far as I can but get up and down 50% more I would probably improve by 10 strokes a round. Practicing wedges and chips isn't as fun as hitting 40 driver shots but it's probably way more productive. I'll let you know how this works!

Would be great for all of us to meet with Tom in SC. The latest video with the disco ball and his knees wobbling was a SCREAM!

Does anyone know why the PW in the older Hogan iron sets had an "E" on the sole, not "PW"? That "E" stood for Equalizer, which was the name of Ben Hogan's famous wedge that would turn some of his errant misses into par saves, or birdies. He firmly believed in using one club for the short game, in this case the E. In those days I believe the E (PW) was 48-49 degrees, but he could turn it into about any loft he wanted with ball position and grip adjustments.

So when I head out to the practice range I purposely leave all my clubs at home except for a 56* and putter. My goal is to get to know my 56* by hitting all kinds of shots, from 5 yards to 40 yards. Downhill, uphill, tight lies, lies out of dirt, rough, etc.

As for the selection of "one club" like Hogan, when it comes to wedge distances for amateur golfers, a 48 degree pitching wedge travels 120 yards, a 52* about 100 yards, a 56* about 80 yards and a 60* about 70 yards. While I can get caught up in gaining "more precision" by switching around from a 52 to a 56 or a 60 on the course, it also introduces variation, mainly in ball flight and roll out, plus the look of the loft itself. The majority of short game shots are not close to being full swings, even with a 60*. Plus, a 56 can easily be turned into a 54 or 58, or close enough to a 60 for a flop shot. Thus I believe the 56 is the best choice for overall course play when using one club.

And if anyone really wants to save strokes, ditch the driving range early and get in a practice sand trap. I see more doubles and triples from the sand than from about any other shot. The sand is actually the best training area for me because I can draw a line in the sand and try to hit that spot. It's very easy to see if I did given the immediate visual result. Plus, in the sand our feet are often lower than the ball, so you'll quickly see why you hit fat shots because the arc of the club path will enter farther behind the ball than on grass. If I hit thin / bladed shots I know my low point has moved to the left. If that happens then my low point on the course is also drifting to the left. Thus I suggest drawing a line and hit that line every time. Then when in a bunker on the course, visualize the same line (low point) in the sand and sand shots will be much easier. Aside from hitting sand shots, it's excellent "low point" training for the brain and body to learn for full shots off the fairway.

Then there's putting. Have a goal to make 95/100 from 3 feet. 80/100 from 4 feet, or set your own goals. Tiger would stand and hit 100 putts from 3 feet using his right hand only. Many of us can become fearful of a 3 footer because it looks "far", more chance to miss. But if I putt 200 from 3 feet, and 200 from 4 feet, the 8 and 10 footers, even 15 footers, start to look shorter. I believe it's because my mind adjusted to seeing a 4 footer as being "short", so as the putting distance increased, 4 feet was the new "short putt" and the 8 footer becomes the 4 footer, mentally.

The path to reduced scores is via the short game and putting. With a good short game there's no need to get all down on one's self for missing greens, then pumping short shots all over the place. A good short game takes the pressure off the longer game and makes the overall game much more fun.

I think it's important to play the appropriate tee boxes to play the "same" or "similar" game as the pro's. If folks are hitting hybrids and long iron approach shots on par 4's, they're playing a much harder game than the pro's play. Pro's hit - 8/9/PW to greens. I see folks hitting 3W, hybrid, 5 iron approach shots. If I recall correctly the average approach shot should be a 7-ish iron on par 4's.

If someone's average drive is 200 yards, they should be playing a course length of around 5,400 yards. If 225 yards, the course should be around 5,800-ish yards. I see many folks playing 6,400 yard tee boxes yet hit drives 200. The problem is their approach shots land short in the worst areas in front of, or around the green. One of my old coaches would tell me "when you can shoot par from the reds, move back a tee box". That may be somewhat punitive, but in reality he wasn't far off. He would say if I can't hit greens with shorter wedges, how can I hit greens with 3 irons?

There are some great ideas here. Here are a few more thoughts from a hacker:

-Be more strategic before and during your round. There's a reason you see the pro's looking at their yardage books all the time. I review the the course with Google Earth before the round if I haven't played there before and come up with a game plan. Play to the wider parts of the fairway. Play away from trouble. You don't have to use Driver every time. Tom got me motivated to start using long irons again and I tee off with them all the time which has been a huge help.

-Be smarter around the green. I can't tell you how many times I've chunked/bladed a lob wedge around the green. I use the old Texas wedge as much as possible then 8 iron to chip and then the gap wedge for everything else from 75 yards and in. I use sand/lob for speciality shots only. This has been a big help in cutting back on stupid shots.

-Zen Golf and Bob Rotella constantly write about focusing on the target. When I do that and spend less time going through a million swing thoughts I do better.

-Use the right tees. I can hit my driver in the 250-275 range but I play the whites. Why make the game harder than you have to people? It's a lot more fun to have a 8 or 8 iron approach than a 5 iron/3 hybrid. If the pro's had 250 yard approaches every time their GIR% would be low like us as well.

-When putting focus more on speed. This is a tough one for me. Even if you pick the wrong line if you have the right speed you'll have a kick-in. Wrong speed leads to 3 putts about every time.

-Stop trying to be Phil Mickleson when you are in the woods. Just punch out sideways or the easiest way to the fairway. Your chance of getting through that 12 inch hole between trees is about as likely as you breaking 60.

-Stop getting mad. I'm guilty of cursing/throwing/breaking clubs in my golf history. That just doesn't help. I read somewhere about the pro telling the amateur they're not good enough to get mad. We don't do this for a living. It's supposed to be fun.

Just my two cents!

Matt

Something for me that has helped, is don't fight your swing during the round too much. If you normally hit a slight draw, or straight ball, but today your last few shots have been fades, just go with it and play it that day. Yes, we make on course corrections as we go, but don't take that too far. Also, don't try and hit shots during the round that you haven't done, or practiced before. Todd Graves told a story about his college coach, basically if you're in trouble, take your lumps and knock the ball back into the fairway, don't try some crazy hook or slice around the trouble. I'm not very good at taking that advice, lol, I want to be like Phil M too often.

Hi Cody. I split my round into 6 three hole blocks. I set a goal for each block. For me it is +3 as I am trying to break ninety. I find it helps me stay in the moment and reset every 3 holes. Start fresh. Phil

@Ian "Twiggy" Jones - That's great news!! Welcome back and have fun out there!!

Looking forward to hearing about it!

Tom

Map the course working back from green to tee.

If the hole is 350 yards, and you want to hit into the green from 150 yards, go with what you can hit solidly and straight 200 yards.

Always aim for the middle of the green

If you miss the green, play the percentage shot to make sure your next shot gets on the green and gives you a putt......easier to sink a putt than chip in.

Use an app to track your main stats (FIR, GIR, Putts, Up and Downs) and see which holes are costing you shots and where and find a strategy for those particular holes.

Grip it and rip brother, and rely on your short game.

@Tom Saguto OMP is the man! YMJ is Young Man Josh, on the channel too, a true inspiration! It's fun to watch regular guys get out and have fun and make ridiculous shots along the way! Way better than watching the news! LOL

No problem with OMP, @danny!

I just wrote a 3 page report as a response to this and hit the back button accidentally and it disappeared.. dammit! Short answer... check out this you tube video (Tom I hope you don't mind) https://youtu.be/HpRKmaCIdk8

This 80 year old, 70 year veteran of the game offers up strategy to play the course without stress and lower your score.

The rest of the channel is an amazing amount of fun! I watch a video everyday to live vicariously through their round of golf.

@Cody McDowell - I've pinned your post so hopefully it'll get some nice action.

Not sure if it'll help, but I do talk a little strategy - including something about "hero shots" - in my course VLOG that I recorded for the YT channel last year.

Thanks for the great conversation starter!

Tom