For the past four years, I have organized a small match play tournament at the Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort. With and Open and Club Champion events, I am always hoping to add more players. This year, under a straight match play format, the numbers are smaller than last year, but alas that is the nature of the event. Regardless of the numbers, I am hoping that the field continues to be have fun and at least have a chance at playing some competitive golf.
Continue readingReading The Break On The Green
One of the greatest challenges faced my golfers happens on the green. Reading the break is a challenge at the best of times and understanding how the ball breaks in relation to your putting style and speed is vital to a great short game. When playing with others, we always watch their putt (or at least we should) in order to garner any information of what happens around the hole. Unfortunately, many players do not process this information well because they are not processing the proper data in order to apply it to their golf game. It is this oversight that causes players to misread their putt on a consistent basis. I know this this is a challenge for many amateurs and I think I can help.
Continue readingWhat Putt Distance Do You Struggle With The Most
I sometimes am asked what putting distance I struggle with the most. This is a legit question and many amateurs, as I did, seem to find 4 to 6 feet the most challenging. Have you ever wondered why this relatively short distance is the most challenging. I have some thoughts on this and a sure fire way to stop worrying about these knee knocker putts.
Continue readingPlaying Golf After A Forced Lay Off
For the past month, I did not play any golf. Actually, that is not entirely true, I did play one stunted round last week that I will discuss later. My lack of golf was a result of an operation (nothing serious) that prohibited me from any physical activity which, unfortunately, include golf. Well, time has passed and I am now cleared to slowly start increasing my physical activity. I have to take it slow in order to prevent injuring myself, so slow it will be; hence the lack of articles at the Grateful Golfer. I am back now, so I anticipate writing more often.
Continue readingWorking On Lower Golf Scores
Unfortunately, there is no magic tip that will instantly lower your golf scores. Yes, you can find on a particular area of your game that requires your attention, however it rarely happens instantly. Over the years, I have found that to truly lower my golf scores I needed to practice and focus on specific aspects of my game. I am fortunate to be fairly athletic, so my golf swing came naturally once I understood the mechanics. I was not a better than average player right away, it took many years to of practice and playing to break 80 consistently and that is the crux of today’s article. We can only go so far without focusing on specific aspects of our game and then working on those challenges in order to overcome their hold on higher golf scores. The question most will have is how do I identify those areas that need the most work?
I decided to revisit an article I wrote a few years back. It focuses on six areas of my game that I needed to work on in order to Break 80. Of course, like all players, I do have games where I do not perform to expectations resulting in a higher score, but we will not talk about those. 😉 To consistently break 80, I need to do the following:
- Practice Putting
- Work on your wedges for all distances
- Practice around the green (within 25 yards) including out of bunkers
- Aim to the middle of the green side of the pin
- Start swinging all clubs under control. This will vary between clubs
- Work on course management
As you can see, my focus is from the pin outwards. To truly lower my score and sustain any level of excellence, my short game had to be at the forefront of how I play golf. Many players overlook the strokes lost around the green (most amateurs shooting 85 and higher have to realize that at least 60% of shots taken during any round happen within 25 yards of the green) Amateurs think that hitting the ball long to get the ball close to the green is where strokes are saved and in some cases this is true. However, chipping and putting account for a up to 60% of their score during a normal round. Therefore, to break 80 consistently, our short game must be the focus.
Since you now know that most shots happen close to the green, you can start to develop a practice strategy to lower your golf scores. I was introduce to a pin outward focus on how to improve my game and decided to give it a try. I worked on my putting first, then wedges and well your read the six areas I improved. Now, my biggest focus is on improving my GIR percentage and by all accounts I am getting there…..slowly.
Lowering our golf score is usually the top goal of golfers. If we were not concerned about how to measure our success on the links, we would not keep score at all. I know that some will not take my advice seriously and that is okay, but for those who want to break any milestone I recommend adopting my six focus area and develop practice strategies to improve your game. You might be surprised at how easy you shoot lower golf scores when you have a basic plan to follow. Good luck and let me know if this advice works for your golf game.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 