I skipped one. A few weeks ago I played like I took up the game the week beforehand, so there was nothing to offer you from that disaster.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s round is a different story. The lesson is that with no increase in skill, you can shoot lower scores if you learn how to play the game.<\/p>\n
I call this the Floyd Rule, stated by Raymond Floyd in his valuable book, The Elements of Scoring<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I were given your physical game, and we had a match, I would beat you 99 times out 100 times because I know how to play the game better than you do.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowing how to play the game breaks down into three general areas:<\/p>\n 1. Being in a situation where you really do not know what to do.<\/p>\n 2. Being in a situation where you make the wrong decision.<\/p>\n 3. Being in a situation where you forget to do something you know you should do.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s number 1, remember it, then try to re-create that situation on the practice ground so the next time you know what to do and can do it successfully. Basically, it\u2019s not letting the course hand you a problem you don\u2019t have a solution for.<\/p>\n Number 2 is a matter of getting more experience. You played a shot you thought would work, but clearer thinking would have told you either that a different one would have worked out better, or the shot you played should have been avoided.<\/p>\n Number 3 is also a matter of experience, but in this case about establishing good habits so you never overlook a factor that is totally under your control. <\/p>\n Yesterday I shot a 44\u2014two pars and a double bogey.<\/p>\n Mistake #1: On the 7th hole, putting across a radically sloping green, that I knew sloped radically, I failed to play enough break on my approach putt on a putt I have had before. The ball passed about six inches in front of the hole and on its way downhill to the left about seven feet. Missed that one coming back. I had the pace, but not the line. One stroke lost, number 3 error.<\/p>\n Mistake #2: On the next hole I had a slam dunk chip to a pin 15 feet away, uphill, to a green that again slopes dramatically from front to back. I got too delicate and left the ball too short. Down in two putts instead of one. One stroke lost, number 3 error.<\/p>\n Mistake #3: On the 9th, lying about 60 yards from the green on a gentle downslope on the left edge of the fairway, I decided to chip and run with a 9-iron rather than flying on with a sand wedge. Safer shot, and all that. I hit the c&r to the left and it bounced its way into the rough, not reaching the green. Should have pitched on. That was my third shot on a long par 4, and it took me three to get down from there. One stroke lost, number 2 error.<\/p>\n Those were three strokes lost not because of bad shot-making, so much, but because of bad thinking.<\/p>\n There was one other, but I can\u2019t really say it cost me a stroke. I putted from off the green from about 40 feet, but was so concerned about the turf the ball had to cover before the ball got to the green, I forgot to line up the shot. It finished hole-high, eight feet to the right. Eight feet! <\/p>\n There\u2019s no guarantee I would have gotten down in two from there so I won\u2019t count it, but still \u2026 <\/p>\n There are no \u201cif onlys\u201d in golf. I shot what I shot, and that score represents how I played in every respect. But just by having a better mind I could have shot three, maybe four, strokes lower. <\/p>\n You’re a better golfer right now than you think you are. If you just think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I skipped one. A few weeks ago I played like I took up the game the week beforehand, so there was nothing to offer you from that disaster. Today\u2019s round is a different story. The lesson is that with no increase in skill, you can shoot lower scores if you learn how to play the … Continue reading Today’s Round<\/span>