I played nine holes yesterday and shot a 41. Not bad, but it could have been lower, not if I had hit better shots, but if I had made better decisions.<\/p>\n
On the first hole, I had to hit to a green above my feet, and over a bunker to get to the pin. I thought I had enough club in my hand, so I aimed at the pin. Bunker. A deep one with hard wet sand. It took me four to get down. <\/p>\n
Mistakes? First of all, I didn’t have to hit over the bunker. I could have aimed left of it, and even if I missed the green I would have had easy up and down for a par.<\/p>\n
Second, I hit the second shot really well, but I should have used one more club. <\/p>\n
Second hole, I was green high in two, but about 20 yards from the green with a bunker right in my way. I was still spooked from the last hole, so I took more than enough club to pitch over the bunker, and aimed left so as not to hit over it.<\/p>\n
Too much insurance. The ball went way too far, and way left. I could have taken two less clubs, aimed for the pin, and been just fine, because I’m pretty good at this shot. I got a bogey, which could have been a par. <\/p>\n
Two holes later I had an easy pitch into the pin which ended up hole high, but because I forgot to take careful aim, the ball ended up about fifteen feet left instead of much closer. Another possible par given away.<\/p>\n
Two holes after that I had a pitch into the green from a lie significanlty below the green. I figured the club to use from my chart for normal (level) lies. I forgot that hitting from an upslope adds loft to the club, which will make the shot end up shorter. I used my gap wedge instead of my pitching wedge. The ball ended up about 30 feet short of the hole instead of much closer if I had used the lower-lofted club. Two putts to get down instead of maybe one.<\/p>\n
So let’s say out of those five possible strokes saved by thinking more clearly, I got three of them, for a 38. Just by thinking more clearly. <\/p>\n
I’ll bet you could lower your average score by four or five strokes over a 18-hole round just by making better decisions. Me, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I played nine holes yesterday and shot a 41. Not bad, but it could have been lower, not if I had hit better shots, but if I had made better decisions. On the first hole, I had to hit to a green above my feet, and over a bunker to get to the pin. I … Continue reading An Easy Way to Lower Your Score<\/span>