Decisions, Decisions, Decisions! Golf is all about decisions. What club to hit; where to land the ball; lay up or go for it; or I can make this low percentage shot! No matter where you are in your round, golf offers you the opportunity to make a plethora of decisions. The real decision you should be making is what shot will lower my score? That is it, there are no other factors to decision making in golf. Each shot is an opportunity to lower our final tally regardless of the outcome of the shot. I say this because execution is completely different that decision making because a poor decision is rarely saved by your ability to hit difficult golf shots. Conversely, a great decision will save you strokes even after a poorly executed shot. Honest it does!

In the above image, Blair made a conscious decision to hit under the tree and round the one in the circle 75 yards ahead. He made this decision because the ball could easily travel under the first tree and over/around the distant one. It seems very simple, but his decision making process took into account that it was more a natural shot with a 5 iron, than not. So, this was a good decision to hit the shot without concern of duffing his ball a few yards forward. In this case his decision making took into account the ball position, distance to the green, being able to advance the ball, position of the trees, etc. Even if he duffed his shot, he would advance the ball to have a clear shot at the green. The result was very good and Blair was left with a short chip for his up and down.

My second example is one where I decide to go for the green from a very challenging shot. To be fair, I am playing in a friendly match and only my score is on the line. I choose to go for the pin using a pitching wedge. My thought process was that I could easily make the green with enough elevation as long as I swing smoothly. This was a very difficult lie and one that if I was in a tournament, I would have made a different decision. The chances of failure was very high and as such, focusing on limiting the possibility of extra strokes due to a poor shot would have been foremost on my mind. I would have chipped out and relied on my up and down game for par. On a side note, I did make the shot, but I would put the results in the ‘lucky column’.

Golf is all about making the right decision for every golf shot. Sometimes we must take our medicine and chip out of trouble. Others, we play the odds with the intent of saving stokes. Other times, we make poor decisions and it costs strokes regardless of how well we execute the our shot. Learning to make decisions is a process in golf learned through the experience of playing. Every player’s decision process is different, however we all have to answer a fundamental question: will my next decision lower or raise my final score?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!