Entry 24.12

Why is golf so hard? If I had to count how many players have every asked themselves that question, I would just stop and come up with the quick answer. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Honestly, easy enough and probably a true answer. What makes golf so hard? Now that is a very different question. I think part of the reason that golf is so hard is because a vast majority of people don’t actually play golf. As we half-jokingly say at times, people play golf swing, not golf. That’s just adding another layer to this complicated game that just doesn’t need to be there. Yes, mechanics matter. Good mechanics will help you control the ball more. And while my job seems be very mechanics related, it isn’t the most important part of coaching. There are so many intangibles that actually lead to scoring better. Mental and emotional control, decision making, course management… These are all complicated topics. At the end of the day, the goal is to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes possible. I hypothesize that most players tend to forget that fact. Where does this line of thinking come from? My main two sources of information come from a quick analysis of the types of lessons that I teach and the statistical analysis of competitive golf.

First off, let’s look at a quick analysis of the lessons that I teach. Starting at the top and working down.

Type of Lesson

Number of Lessons given

Full Swing

109

Club Fitting / Club Bending

21

Putting

14

On Course Sessions

6

Distance Wedges

5

Short Game – Greenside

2

Now I absolutely love teaching the full swing. But full swing isn’t where most people need to focus their attention in lessons. Lessons based on 100 yards and in? I have taught 21. So, 16% of my lessons have been focused on the area where we play 60% - 65% of all shots in a round of golf (the statistical number that is widely accepted in the industry). Am I saying that full swing doesn’t factor into that number? Definitely not. We must get ourselves into good positions off the tee. Playing from the woods or having to drop is not conducive to scoring well. So, should be working on our tee shots? Yes! But what needs to be even sharper? Our ability to play the game from 100 yards and in. In 2017 on the PGA Tour, players took an average of 2.9 shots from 100 yards to get the ball in the hole. Let that sink in. Hopefully that got your attention and started to shift your expectations.

Let’s talk about expectations. In my own experience playing golf and coaching, this is where players tend to shoot themselves in the foot. Because they see the best shots from the best players in the world on TV landing and stopping so close to the hole. In the 2020 season, the PGA Tour only had 25% of approach shots from 100 yards land within 9’ of the hole and only 4% ended up within 3 feet of the hole. Yet, when talking with players during lessons, they expect to be in that 25% number or better with every single shot. Here is the proximity to the hole averages for the PGA Tour in 2022 FROM THE FAIRWAY. Guess what, this means that Downback, if we take the average Tour pro, they are going to miss a lot of greens. Take a look.

Distance

Proximity to the Hole

100-125 yards

20’

125-150 yards

23’ 8”

150 – 175 yards

27’ 8”

175 – 200 yards

34’ 1”

200 – 225 yards

42’ 5”

O boy. If that’s the average Tour pro, what does that mean for us? It means we need to have a stellar short game and be able to putt. Because no matter how good our approach game is, we are going to need it. But let’s take one last look at why elite players score so much that we do.

Scoring is where players like us can start doing better than we currently are. And we are going to compare PGA Tour professionals to scratch golfers (no matter what you think, there are not that many scratch golfers here at Methodist.) The first concept you need to understand is that you should not be trying to make birdies. Many people believe better golfers make several birdies per round, but the data suggests that eliminating big numbers (doubles or others) is the key to significantly lowering your scores. A scratch golfer only makes 2.2 birdies per round with a PGA Tour pro only making 3.82. Based on the scores we see at the top of the leaderboard on a weekly basis, I would’ve thought it would be closer to 6. But even the PGA Tour leader only made 4.88 (Scottie Scheffler). Bogeys per round? Scratch golfers make 4.6 with the Tour average being 2.52. The number two player in the world (Xander Schauffele) only makes 1.55 bogeys per round! Using that math and saying that neither scratch golfers or PGA Tour pros don’t make anything worse that bogey means scratch golfers make 11.2 pars per round and professionals make 11.69 pars per round. How many of us make 11 pars per round? Here is where you start making your money and lowering your scores. Play for par, every hole. By trying to force birdies, players tend to make more mistakes. The hero shots start happening. And then big numbers get made. One final chart for you.

Scratch

PGA Tour

Par 3

3.1

3.06

Par 4

4.2

4.03

Par 5

4.7

4.63

The difference between scratch and professional golfers isn’t all that much. Compare all that information that to a golfer who is a 6 – 10 handicap per round: Birdies or better: 0.9 Pars: 7.0, Bogeys: 7.3, Doubles: 2.3 and Others: 0.5. The number of pars goes down and bogeys go up.

So how do we start scoring better? We first start focusing on making more pars, not more birdies! Next, I would say most of your practice should be from 100 yards and in so wedges and putting. Next, focus on tee shots. That doesn’t necessarily mean driver, it means tee shots. Then finally, start working on your approach shots. Manage your expectations next. Don’t add pressure or make it more complicated. Keep this mantra in mind: Play for par, let birdies happen. Boring golf is good golf. A bonus is when your mindset is to play for par, you’ll start making more birdies.