Every golfer’s goal is to pass a benchmark score. The three major ones for recreational golfers are 100, 90, and 80.

There are really two problems to solve. One, how to break that benchmark score. Two, how to keep doing it. They both have the same solution.

Move up one set of tees and play a shorter course. If you are close to that benchmark, doing this should get you past it. First problem solved.

Then take a good look at how you did it from up here and compare it with why you can’t do it from back there. Work on eliminating the difference. Second problem solved.

So often you hear touring professionals say that your score is made from 100 yards in, so that’s where you (the amateurs they’re taking to) should spend most of your time practicing. The trouble is, they’re projecting the way they score onto your game. That doesn’t make sense.

The professional game is built around getting the ball in the hole as quickly as possible once it gets to the green. That’s how you make birdies, and save pars if you miss. But the pros are taking for granted that they’re already getting the ball up to the green as quickly as it is possible to do, and we aren’t.

If you count on hitting 12-14 greens per round, then the short game is what will make you stand out. But if you generally hit just three or four greens, how is your short game going to help you break 80? or even 90?

If you want to get your score down, you have to stop wasting shots getting the ball up to and onto the green. Ball-striking, hitting more fairways and more greens, is the key. That means getting swing lessons and diligently practicing what you were taught.

I’m not saying you should neglect your work around the green, but all you need to be for now is to be adequate. The quickest way for you to get into the 70s is to have a swing that reliably hits the ball straight. Once you’re there, you can become a short game and putting wizard if you want to start chasing par. But get that swing straightened out first.

One last way to look at this. Which would led to a lower score? For a touring professional to hit all your full swings shots, or to hit all your short shots and putts?

I thought so.

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

Yesterday I mentioned that I have begun, with smashing success, to hit all my long pitches with my pitching wedge. It feels good. It feels right. I feel in full control.

Yesterday I hit one from 60 yards, and one from 35, and both of them ended up less than three feet away. The second one almost rolled in.

This brings to mind that we have a lot of clubs in the bag we can use to hit a lot of different shots. It should not be said that you have to use this club for that shot, or that shot has to be hit with this club.

You should feel free to hit any shot you want with the club that you want to use. Not the club that everyone else uses, or what the pro says to use.

The reason is that when it comes down to putting the club to the ball, it has to feel to you like the right thing to do. You need to feel at ease with it in the same way that you write with one hand and not the other. It has to feel like your shot.

Let me give you an example. I have a stroke of one particular length and firmness that I use when I chip. Every time, for every chip, the same stroke. For some reason, that’s the way I like to hit those little shots. This stroke turns on the artist in me.

So to chip the ball different distances, I use different clubs. I make little adjustments to fine-tune the distance, but it’s basically the same stroke every time.

To play golf, you need
a tee shot,
an advancement (fairway) shot,
a pitch,
a chip,
a long putt,
and a short putt.

If you can find your way to hit each of these shots, with the clubs you like, your golf will improve immediately, because it will be your golf.

P.S. I sometimes use two putters. One for long putts and another for the shorties.

See also Play a Difficult Course

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

Wherever you are on the golf course, wherever the ball is, there’s only one question you need to ask yourself. One question that will help you shoot the best possible score. That question is, What’s the best shot I can hit from here?

What is the best shot I can hit from here, given my skills and what I have to do to get the ball in the hole as quickly a possible from here. That’s the long version, but that’s the question.

The question is not, What’s the best shot Arnold Palmer could hit from here? The question is also not, What if I hit my 5-iron like I did two months ago one time? It’s, What’s the best shot I can hit from here, right now?

Brad Faxon once said that you should play conservative shots with a cocky attitude. He meant to play shots you know you can hit, with all the assurance you can muster.

If you have 160 yards from the fairway into a well-defended green, and you know you can get the ball there, then hit the shot. If you have 160 yards into that same green, but from the rough, the best shot you can play from there might be a layup to your favorite chipping distance.

Attack the course with the best shots you have, and you’ll get the most out of your skills and have the most fun.

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com

You practice lots of shots with different clubs so you’ll know just which shot to hit with what club for each situation you’ll find. Most of the time, that’s the smart way to play. Unless there’s no option, the pros won’t play a shot they haven’t practiced many times before.

On the other hand, sometimes you hit a shot that turns out uncommonly well. It felt easy, and it feels like you can do it again and again. So go ahead.

Did you just hit a pured 6-iron? Believe in this club and hit it again as soon as you can. Did it work out again? Now hit that club as often as you can the rest of the round. Give yourself opportunities by laying back on shorter par 4s and on the par 5s.

Did you just fly a chip to a few feet from the hole with a lofted wedge? Keep hitting it that shot with that club, even if you would normally do something else.

Performance is all about confidence. If you find something on the course that gives you confidence, ride it for all it’s worth. It could be a shot, or a club. It could be a thought. Just take every advantage of what helps you perform your best.

The next time you play, try that thing again, but if it doesn’t work, let it go and start looking for the next one.

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com

If you keep a record of your golf scores on the courses you play, you might find there are holes you make a bad score on more often than you should. There is a hole that lures you into trying to hit shots that you really can’t hit that well. Or you’re on the edge of your ability with no room for error.

The way you play the other seventeen holes on the course doesn’t work on this hole. You need a different strategy. That strategy is to figure out the hole in reverse. Architects design holes to look as frightening as possible in the direction they are played. But when you look at the hole in reverse, you can see there is lots of room and several safe places you can hit the ball to.

So from the fairway, find a safe landing area for your tee shot, and hit it there. You’ll have to make note of the line from the tee to that spot, as well as its distance. Look for a safe place near the green. Note how far away it is from the green so if you have to hit to that spot, you’ll know which club to use.

This strategy might mean you’re playing for bogey and you’ll only get a par with a great chip and a great putt. That’s OK. You’ll have taken the big number out of play, and that’s how you shoot a good score.

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