Category Archives: playing the game

The Social Hazards of Recreational golf

Recreational golf is primarily a social game. The most important part of the day is having fun with the people you’re playing with and making their day as enjoyable as yours. It is possible, though, that socializing can prevent you from playing your best golf. Here’s how to be a good friend and a good player at the same time.

Between shots your mind will be on the people you’re playing with. When it comes time to hit, all your attention need to be placed on your shot. The danger that the social aspects of golf create is that when that time comes, you won’t switch your focus from your friends to your shot.

We don’t want you to spend the round in a little cocoon, of course. But when it’s your turn to hit, that’s exactly what you have to do so that your best performance can emerge.

The requirements for hitting your best shot are first, to figure out what that shot should be, that is, what shot from here makes the most sense in getting my ball up to the hole the quickest and easiest? Next is getting your mind ready to hit that shot by convincing yourself that you can do it. Finally, you set up to the ball, aim yourself, and swing away.

You can’t do any of this while you’re still having a conversation with a playing partner or thinking about something someone else is doing. You really need to spend about forty seconds being a bit self-centered.

Don’t think that this is being selfish, because it’s not. It’s really a matter of respect. By withdrawing from pleasantries to hit your shot, you’re respecting yourself by giving yourself the best chance to play well. By quieting the conversation with another player who is getting ready to hit, you give that person the same respect.

One of the ways we help our playing partners have a good day on the course is to do whatever we can to help them play their best. Golf has a unique set of etiquette rules designed in part to make sure that players do not disturb each other when a stroke is being made. Good golfers know these rules and follow them.

Beyond that is respecting each other as athletes. Golf is a sport that everyone wants to do well at. When everybody in the group understands that, the athletic and social halves of the game combine perfectly for everyone’s benefit.

What do you do if there’s a talker in your group? One day I was paired with one. I stood on the tee behind my ball looking down the fairway. He kept talking and I kept looking. Talking, looking. More talking, more looking. Finally he realized that I wasn’t going to move until he quieted down. I don’t know about the others in our group, but I didn’t have a problem with him again for the rest of the day.

Enjoy golf, enjoy it with your friends. Just remember that too much of the social whirl isn’t what makes you a better golfer. Don’t be afraid to step out of it when you need to.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Golf Course Management In a Nutshell

Good golf is not only a matter of hitting good shots. If it were, we would play it on the driving range instead of the golf course. Golf is about getting the ball into the hole in the fewest number of strokes. That’s such an obvious point, but the way I watch some people play, you would think they didn’t know that. Here’s how not to be one of them.

Let’s expand that statement about golf a little bit. The question is, from here, from where you’re standing now, how are you going to get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of strokes, given your skills? That’s what you have to be thinking, and if you are, you’ve come up with a shot sequence from tee to green that you will attempt to play out. The wrong way is to hit the ball somewhere and then decide what to do next when you get up to it.

To create this plan, work from the hole backwards.  From where on the green do I want to hit my approach putt? From where on the fairway is the best place to hit the ball to that spot on the green? True, you might not be able to see from the tee where the pin is, but most holes have a preferred angle of approach, and you can try for a spot off the tee that gives you that angle. Once you get to the fairway, you can complete your plan.

Few of us, however, are good enough to put the ball exactly where we intend. When you miss the spot you were aiming for, you might have to modify your plan. Here are three scenarios that illustrate the point.

1. On a fairly easy par-4 hole, you planned a drive into the fairway and a short iron onto the green. But you muffed your drive, and now you have 280 yards to the green. You could bang away with a fairway wood and pitch on, or hit two 7-irons and cover the same distance.

2. You wanted to stay left off the tee of a par 5, but you went right and now must hit dangerously close to water to have the pitch onto the green that you planned on. Or, you can advance the ball to the left and away from the water, but you’ll have an 8-iron into the green.

3. You’re about 40 yards off the green and the pin is behind a deep bunker on the left side that you’ll have to pitch over, off a tight lie. Or, you could chip the ball to the center of the green, which is wide open to you, and get down in two putts.

Again, the question you should ask yourself in each case is, which sequence is the most likely to get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes, given your skills?

When you play like this, golf becomes a game of strategy, rather than a game of this shot followed by that shot. Now you’re thinking all the time, connecting your shots into a single plan so that they work with each other, feed each other. By doing so, you get more out of the skills you have, you become a better player, and the game just gets to be more fun.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Two Clubs and a Putter

I’ve been going out with my grandson the past month to play golf with him at local nine-holer. I decided these rounds weren’t that big of a deal for me, so I would just take a few clubs to knock the ball around the course, and so I could carry my bag instead of using my pull cart.

I pack a 7-iron, a gap wedge, and a putter. After three rounds of this, let me tell you. You can put up a pretty good score just that set. One of the reasons I’m only taking those clubs is that I’m undergoing a difficult swing change. A 7-iron is the longest club I can reliably hit right now.

We play from the red tees, since he isn’t hitting the ball all that far yet. Still, there’s distance to be covered. The red tees don’t turn it into a pitch-and-putt layout. I tee off with the 7 and hit it from the fairway, of course, hit 7-iron punches into greens, chip with it. It makes me feel like a regular Seve Ballesteros the way I have to create shots with this club.

And you know what? They work! Last time out I started bogey, bogey, bogey, then finished par, par, par, birdie, bogey, par. Not bad.

We have a three clubs and a putter day every year at the men’s club of the course where I normally play. The first time I tried it, I took a 2-hybrid, a 7-iron, a sand wedge, and my putter. Shot a 39 from the white tees measuring 3,150 yards.

There’s something about having a limited set of clubs that frees you up, even relaxes you as you stand over a shot that is clearly not suited for the club you’re holding, about to use it not as it would “normally” be used. Now your creativity has to save the day, and this is where golf starts to get fun. “If I do a little of this and play it like that, it just might work.”

If the shot doesn’t come off, it’s no big deal, since it wasn’t supposed to anyway. But if it does, you have added a great positive experience to your mental skill set that is quite liberating. Instead of playing golf the way everybody else does, the way your pro says to, the way you see on TV, you’re playing it your way. Once you get the hang of having to create, you’ll be in touch with a skill you didn’t know you had.

Try playing a round or two from the red tees with just three clubs and see what I mean. Then move on to playing a course you normally play, from the tees you normally play, with six clubs and a putter. Francis Ouimet won the U.S. Open in 1913 with just seven clubs.

I would pack a driver, a 3-hybrid, a 5- and 7-iron, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a putter. I’ll bet I could shoot a decent score, too. I’ll bet you could, too.

Golf is supposed to be fun. Do fun things with it. This is one of them.

For tips in how to hit the full set of clubs, visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

These Are the Golf Shots You Need

Even though everyone on the course is playing the same sport, with the same equipment, players of different skills are playing a different game. The object is to get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes, but depending on your skill level, you’ll rely on different shots to do that.

I’ve identified four skill levels common to recreational golfers and the shots that you need to be able to hit well in order to achieve that level.

If you are brand new to the game, you need to just keep the ball in play and have an idea of what putting is all about (it’s not as easy as you think). So work on the 10-foot putt — learn to get it to the hole and not way beyond or way short — and a strong chip with a 6-iron. This shot is much like a greenside chip, but the club is taken back to hip height, the club shaft rising no higher than parallel to the ground, and your wrists stay firm throughout the stroke. You can acceptable play golf with this shot while you’re developing your swing.

If you need to break 100, you’re hitting the ball reasonably well, but leaking strokes that you shouldn’t. It’s time to start tightening up your game. Practice sinking putts from 3 feet and under — you miss more of these than you think you do; the fairway-wood off the tee — do not try to hit it hard, just straight; and, a pitch to the green (from about 40 yards and in) that lands on the green and stays there. It doesn’t matter where the flag is, just get the ball on the green.

If you need to break 90, you have too many three-putt greens. Practice 30-foot putts, because that’s three-putt territory; the greenside chip, because you’re leaving the ball too far away to get the ensuing putt in the hole. You also have a swing flaw that sends the ball off line too often. Get lessons and get that flaw corrected. You’re stuck where you are unless you do.

If you need to break 80, practice the 5-foot putt — missing these can be the difference between 79 and 81; irons that reach the green because you can hit them straight, and you know, really know, how far you hit them; the driver, which you will use to hit fairways at distance — it’s time to start taking your game to the course instead of the course handing you your hat.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Do You Play From the Right Set of Tees? – part 2

Last February, I posted some advice on playing from the right set of tees based on how far you normally hit your drive. If you hit your drive 225 yards, then around 5,600 yards is the right set of tees for you. That calculation is based on the average driving distance of touring professionals and the length of courses they play. See that post for the details.

Now the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America has gotten into the act, and is singing the same song. They recently started a “Tee It Forward” campaign to urge golfers to play from the tees that reflect their ability, not their ego.

Based on driving distance, they recommend these course yardages:

DD       CY
300     7,275
275     6,800
250     6,300
225     5,900
200     5,300
175     4,500
150     3,600

Those are actually the mid-points of suggested ranges. Their formula is somewhat inconsistent, but if you do the math you’ll see that the CY to DD ratio at DD=300 is 24.3. It climbs to 26.5 at DD=200, then descends again to 22.0 at DD=150.

About the time I made my earlier post, I talked to the supervisor of the men’s club where I play and pointed out that our weekly competitions are played from a set of 6,400-yard tees, and a set of 5,900-yard tees is available.

There are a few, but not many, guys in the club who routinely hit it 250 off the tee. There are a lot of them who come in reliably at 225. Maybe I’ll suggest this to him again, because the Establishment has taken up the cause and it’s not just some guy with a calculator and too much time on his hands.

Sure, the bombers would shoot better scores, but they always shoot better scores than the rest of us right now. Maybe we could have two flights – a white tee flight and a gold tee flight. There’s a set of red tees at 5,100 yards, and some of the guys should really be playing from those, but I won’t go that far.

So again, I say make an honest assessment of your skills, and play from the right set of tees. You’ll get more pars, play faster, and have more fun.

See I Played From the Red Tees Today

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Footnote: June 16, 2011
The June 17, 2011 issue of GolfWeek magazine printed my letter regarding this campaign. It reads:

“I was pleased to see the Tee It Forward notice [In the News, June 3]. I blogged earlier this year on the same idea. Touring pros would howl if they had to play an 8,000-yard course every week, but that is what many amateurs do, relatively, by choosing a set of tees that is too long.

“If you’re not hitting short-iron second shots into half the par 4s, you’re playing from the wrong tees.”

How Far Should Novice Golfers Hit Their Clubs?

Distance. That seems to be the reason play golf, to see how far you can hit the ball. There’s the part about getting the ball into the hole, too, but if you asked any golfer if they wanted to hit the ball farther or score lower, the answer would likely be farther, every time. We can take care of scoring later.

This is a question that new golfers face, and it’s a mistake to look at the professionals for the answer. Male professional golfers routinely hit their 5-iron 200 yards. Heck, it was reported that Dustin Johnson recently hit his 7-iron 240 yards.

Let’s not concern ourselves with those numbers. What can golfers new to the game expect?

The answer depends on you. Most novices don’t hit the ball very far. Men might hit a 9-iron 120 yards, a driver 200. A woman new to the game might get 90 and 150, respectively. Whoever you are, much of it depends on your athleticism and your prior experience with ball-and-stick sports.

Every golfer has to realize there is a limit to the distance they can hit the ball. Hitting the golf ball a long way is a talent. Some baseball players hit home runs, others don’t, and you can’t tell by looking who can hit them and who can’t.

Similarly, some people can just hit the golf ball a long way.

What is important for the novice is learning how to hit the ball accurately. That means you make contact in the center of the clubface, with a square clubface square to the swing path. When you do that, you will get all the distance you are capable of. What that distance is doesn’t really matter. All you have to do is play from the right set of tees and you can play for fairways and greens all day.

Really now, what distances can a novice attain to? Look at the Trackman data for professional golfers. Go the LPGA Tour Averages chart, second column from the right. Make sure the Select Units button says Yards. For male novices, take 85 percent of these distances, female novices, 75 percent.

Those are the distances you’ll get until you learn how to hit the ball on the center of the clubface, with a square and in-line clubhead, and hitting the ball first, ground second.

And you know what? Even if you never hit the ball farther than that, if it goes straight, you can get a good score.

See also: Leave the Long Clubs Home

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

How to Make More Pars

Par is a good score for a recreational golfer. There are two shots you must play well to make pars: your tee shot and your approach putt.

To put par into play, you have to get the ball in the fairway. Use the longest club you feel confident doing that with. For most of us, it ain’t the driver.

When you hit a green, you are likely to be a good distance away from the pin. From there you have to be able to set up the par putt. More three-putt greens come from leaving an approach putt too far away from the hole than from missing three-footers.

More likely you will miss the green, so your greenside chip stands in for the approach putt. Did you ever hear that your worst putt is better than your best chip? That just means you’re a lousy chipper. This is an easy stroke to get good at if you put in the practice.

Clearly, there is a lot more to getting pars than just these two strokes. But these are the two strokes that do the most to put you into a position to make a par. If they are weak points, you are leaving a lot of pars on the course.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Ten Rules For Hitting More Greens

The shot into the green is your scoring shot. Hit the green and par is yours for the taking. While no one hits every green, these ten rules will help you hit more than you do now.

1. Use enough club. Figure out which club you would use to hit the back edge of the green and take one less club than that. -or – Determine the distance to the pin and add five yards. Choose your club on that distance.

2. Make generous allowances for unusual conditions. Use one club more, at least, when hitting into the wind, and one more club hitting with a cross-wind. Use one club more when hitting off uneven lies, including a downhill lie. True, the downhill slope will de-loft the club, but you will be swinging more easily to keep your balance, and a perfect strike is hard to come by.

3. Aim for the center of the green. Save pin-hunting for the pros. The center as your target gives you the most room for error in direction and will leave you with the shortest approach putts on average in the long run.

4. Know which iron is the longest you can reliably hit the green with. When you hit longer irons than that toward the green, favor the side of the green that will give you the easiest up and down if you miss.

5. Get good with your 8- and 9-irons. When you have one of these in your hand, it is a money shot and you must have the confidence that you can hit the green with that club every time.

6. Get good at the 50- to 100-yard pitch. This is the shot you will be hitting into par 5s if your first two shots were adequate. Good pitching sets up an easy par and makes birdie a real possibility.

7. Irons are for direction, not distance. If you hit the green from 140 yards eighty percent of the time, the only person who will care that you need a 7-iron to do it is you.

8. Start your divot in front of the ball. This is how clean, crisp contact is born. Your club does hit the back of the ball, but what you should be hitting at is a spot on the ground about a half inch in front of the ball.

9. Aim yourself correctly. When you end your practice swing with a classic high finish, the spot you are looking straight at is where you are aimed. -or- look down at your thighs and mentally draw a line across them and down the fairway to show you where you are aimed.

10. Work on your short game at five yards from the green and in. The majority of your misses will be in that zone. You will swing with more confidence if you are not worried about a miss, and you can still save your par if you do.

Bonus: Swing easily with your irons. Slug your driver if you want to (well, really don’t do that), but make an easy pass at the ball whenever it is on the ground to make sure you hit it neatly.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Your Strategy For Breaking 90

If you can shoot 95 regularly, you have all the shots you need to break 90.

By re-orienting your mental approach to the game, and making a few adjustments to how you play, you can get there.

The first thing to do is start believing that you are an 80s golfer. We live up to the image we have of ourselves. Right now, your image is that the best you can do is 92. Time for a new image.

Second, play every shot with confidence. Never play a shot before you feel that it will come off as you intend. Reserve a few seconds in your pre-shot routine to allow that confidence to emerge.

If you can’t get that feeling, pick another shot or play the ball to a different spot.

Because half of good golf is wrapped up in how you use your mind, you’ll need a solid mental game to see the course clearly, choose the right shot, hit it with confidence, and stay composed throughout the round.

Play every hole with a plan you have worked out before tee off. Your days of hit-and-hope golf are over. You plan is, which combination of shots can you hit, and to where, to get the ball near or onto the green quickly?

A typical par-5 hole runs 485 yards. Say you put your drive in the fairway 225 yards out, leaving 260 yards to go. Why hit your fairway wood next, which is a difficult stroke to play? Try covering that distance with two 8-irons. Much easier.

If you’re playing a difficult par 4, maybe you could lay back and play it as a par 5 so the ball is always in play, making each stroke a comfortable shot instead of reaching for something you seldom produce.

On long par 3s, consider playing short of the hazards around the green, and chip on for your bogey, or a par if it works out. Avoid the double, because they’re easy to get on these holes.

Remember that you don’t have to play for par on every hole. Lots of bogeys and a few pars will do nicely.

Off the tee, unless you’re very good with your driver, leave it at home. To break 90 you have to get the ball to the green as fast as you can. Chasing down errant tee shots is not the way to do that.

When you get onto trouble, chip out, then continue down the fairway. That will cost you one stroke. Hitting your fairway metal because you’re 230 yards from the green, ignoring the fact that the ball is in calf-high weeds, will cost you two or three.

As for putting, the critical skill is approach putting. Many more three-putt greens come from leaving 30-foot putts too far from the hole than from missing short ones. (But learn to get those three- and four-footers in the hole, too.)

You no doubt miss a lot of greens, so hit your short shot to get the ball on the green inside two-putt distance. Just get it on the green in one shot, and close enough. Don’t ask anything more of your short game than that.

Another mental skill: it’s time to become a forgetter. Forget about the bad shot you just hit. Forget about the bad scores you made on prior holes. Hanging on to them makes you think they have ruined your chance to shoot a good score.

They haven’t.

You’re going to make mistakes and have bad holes. Just don’t think that you can’t make any mistakes, or that making one or two sinks the round.

My First 18 of the Year

My first 18 where I had to turn in the score, I mean. That changes everything. No more do-overs, no more experiments. Straight golf. It wasn’t pretty. I shot an 86, and looking over the round, without much effort and a bit of clearer thinking, it could have been a 79.

Here’s how I broke it down. Skanked my drive (skanked, not shanked) on the first tee and tried to get to the green with a 4-iron. The trouble is, a creek runs across the fairway about 30 yards in front of the green. If you skank your 4-iron, you won’t clear the creek. I did, and the ball didn’t. From bad to worse gave me a triple on the first hole. A layup second would have given me an easy bogey.

I settled down and played the next six holes in two over, but on the eighth I made the classic double bogey: three shots on and a three-putt. The problem? I got too cute on the 35-yard chip and the ball checked up way too soon.

A swing flaw resulted in five topped irons overall, one of which went into a water hazard, and three others turned easy pars into unnecessary bogeys.

Throw away all the stats you keep about fairways hit, GIR, number of putts, and all that. Just go over your round and see where you lost strokes. If it’s bad thinking, note what it was and don’t make that error in judgement again. If there’s a swing flaw, fix it.

Most of the time you’ll find your errors came because your head wasn’t in the shot and your skills were thus prevented from coming out. When you learn to play with a calm mind that is clearly in tune with what you’re doing, you won’t dribble away shots that you know should be yours to keep. In the meantime,

visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com.