1. Play from the right set of tees. Don’t give yourself a problem you can’t solve.
2. Hit fairways with your driver. If you spray it, learn how to hit it straight. It’s not that hard to do. This, use your 3-wood instead, stuff is nonsense.
3. Know, I mean really know, how far you carry each iron. By that I mean your average distance, not your maximum.
4. Given the distance to the pin, all things being equal, pick the iron that will pass it, not just get to it.
5. Short game, short game, short game.
6. Did I mention the short game? Your long game that gets you up to or on the green quickly makes good scores possible. The short game makes the score. From greenside, down in two must be an expectation.
7. Putting. Get very good at approach putting and putts from four feet and under. That’s all you need to practice.
8. You’re a handicap golfer. Some holes out there are too hard for you. Get your bogey on them and get your pars elsewhere.
9. Play only shots you can hit. If you don’t have absolute confidence in what you’re about to do, then do something else.
10. If there is a shot or a club that is working really well, ride it as hard as you can all day.
EXCELLENT “overall” advice, Bob. If we have decent putting, chipping, and pitching skills, we’ve got the percentages on our side for reasonably good golf scores.
Our driver and long iron skills are important, yes, but they’re “second” to the other 3 skills — the 3 that REALLY make a BIG difference in scoring. Thanks!
Craig, this is my favorite golf quote of all time. It comes from the chapter on putting in Percy Boomer’s book, On Learning Golf: “While it is true that the man who cannot putt cannot win, because no hole is won until the ball is down, good scores are only made possible by good play up to the green.” Just to be sure, he doesn’t neglect the short game.