![]() ![]() That’s how much you need to adjust your aim to accommodate your misses. What matters here is the distance between the center of your new shot pattern and the center of your old shot pattern. Your new center point might have to shift so far away from the hazard that it’s now in the left rough. Now picture the center of that shot pattern and shift it away from the hazard so that none of the balls in the pattern is in the penalty area. The resting position of those 50 balls creates what we call your shot pattern. Imagine hitting 50 drives on a hole with a hazard on the right. And you don’t necessarily need to change your swing to find it. Not true! Almost every hole with a hazard has a safer route on the other side. (FYI, a stroke-and-distance penalty represents a strokes gained of –2.) Most weekend golfers figure that slicing a ball OB is an unfortunate but inevitable result of poor technique. (For Tour pros, that number shrinks to 0.3.) Drives hit out-of-bounds or into stroke-and-distance hazards are huge score killers. My research shows that 90-golfers lose an average of three shots a round due to “awful” drives where 80-golfers lose 1.8. Changing your strategy in one area will be a boon to your scores. With that in mind, let’s look at the differences between 90- and 80-golfers in each of the four main shot categories: driving, approach shots, short game and putting. The other 5.5 strokes of the 10-stroke difference between 90- and 80-golfers come mainly from shrinking shot patterns-that is, slightly straighter drives, closer proximity on approach and shortgame shots and lag putts knocked closer to the hole.īig improvements in scores come from reducing, but not eliminating, the number of awful shots and hitting marginally better shots with all clubs in the bag. A 90-golfer is never going to eliminate every score-killing skull and chunk, but there’s no reason that that same player can’t reduce their awful shots to the rate of an 80-golfer, trimming an average of 4.5 strokes off their score in the process. Golfers who card 90 lose an average of more than nine shots per round due to awful shots compared to just under five for 80-golfers. A more realistic goal is to minimize your most painful mistakes. If we could figure that out, we’d be playing on Tour. We’d all love to drive, pitch and putt like pros. Blow-up holes can happen because of a single awful shot (a tee shot that sails out-of-bounds) or an accumulation of two or more below-average shots (picture a missed green followed by a chip to 25 feet and a missed five-footer for a double). To understand what causes snowmen on your scorecard, you need to focus on those individual shots. Instruction Sick of losing golf balls? Here are 5 tips to never lose one again By: (By contrast, birdie holes account for less than 10 percent of the difference.) In other words, bad shots hurt you more than good ones help you. These “blow-up” holes contribute 80 percent of the 10-stroke difference between 90-golfers and 80-golfers. On average, 90-golfers make double or worse on five holes per round, compared to two holes per round for 80-golfers. Looking at the data, an important truth quickly becomes plain: It’s a lot easier to save strokes by reducing your double bogeys than it is by increasing your birdies. By comparing your play to that of an 80-shooter, you can start to see where the biggest differences lie and figure out your clearest path to improvement. Suppose you’re a 90-shooter and your goal is to cut five to 10 strokes off your score. Improvement comes by setting realistic expectations, then devising a plan to help you reach them. But you can work steadily toward lower scores by getting a better understanding of your game and goals, and focusing your practice accordingly. ![]() You can’t snap your fingers and suddenly start shooting the best rounds of your life. Instruction How this golfer went from shooting 118 to 75 in just 3 years By: ![]()
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