You have developed your golf game to the point where you hit the ball well and have most of the shots you need to score. What is the next thing to work on to take a few more strokes off your score? Is there more to the game of golf than you have been applying? The next big part of your game may very well be the most important part you can work on to move to the next level. The most important part of your golf game that you must improve to be the golfer you strive to be. Let's look at the six inches between your ears. Your mind and your mental golf approach. How do you manage your game and the course to assure that you will score the best that you possibly can. You need to manage your mental game before, during and after your round.
Pre-Round Preparation
Before you even go to the course you should prepare yourself mentally and physically for your round of golf for the day. You should have a good breakfast or lunch that has some protein and vitamins to sustain you through the round. You should hydrate your body for the heat you will face during a summer game. Take along a water bottle and snack to consume during the round. Finally, you should relax and relieve the tension of the day before you leave for the course. Do you need to take any Tylenol or Advil for aches or tightness in your joints and muscles?
You should arrive at the course early enough to stretch your muscles and hit some golf balls on the range and putting green. Warm up with purpose. Mentally play the first four or five holes on the driving range. Imagine the shots that you will need to hit from the tee and in the fairway. Rehearse your drive for the first hole a few times so you will know how you want to play it. Hit a few pitches and chips that you might encounter on the course and then go to the putting green and hit some long putts to get the feel for distance and then make several four foot putts to build your golf confidence before you go to the first tee.
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On-Course Strategy
Analyze your game and determine your strengths and weaknesses. Play aggressively when you can take advantage of your strong points and play conservatively around the weak areas of your game. Do you hit the ball long? Are you accurate with your woods? Do you have a slice or hook? Do you hit your short irons accurately and do you know how far you hit your irons? Do you chip and putt well? Let's look par 3, 4 and 5 holes and determine your strategy for each.
Par 3's are usually set up to challenge the golfer through hazards, distance or deception. Short par 3's are often well protected by sand, water or elevation. If you miss the green by even a small amount, you are penalized by water that swallows your ball and adds penalty strokes, bunkers that challenge your finesse with a sand wedge, or mounds that carry you to the bottom of a hill where you must float a soft, high shot onto the green to give yourself the faint chance of a one-putt par. False fronts and sloping greens also add to the difficulty of these holes. If you are accurate with your short irons and know the distance you carry each iron, you can play aggressively and confidently on these holes. Determine the total effective length of the hole. Consider the pin placement, wind, and elevation. Select the club that you normally hit that distance on a fly (Do not pick a club that you hit that distance once, seven years ago). Set up within the tee box in a position to give yourself the best shot into the pin safely away from the trouble. Picture where you want to hit your shot, not the trouble you want to avoid, and confidently hit your tee shot to that spot. If you hit your irons well, you should have a putt for a birdie, or at least a routine, two-putt par. If you are not as accurate with your irons as you like, hit to a part of the green that is not guarded by a bunker or lake. A two-putt par is good, but bogey or double bogey from the sand, lake or rough can hurt a round quickly.
Most par 4's play between 350 and 430 yards. They often have a dogleg and fairway sand bunkers, ponds, creeks, roughs and wooded areas to penalize poorly struck drives. A well struck drive will leave an approach shot between 100 and 180 yards to the green. The golfer should tee his ball up on the side of the tee box where the trouble is located and hit away from the trouble. He should plan ahead and try to hit to an area that gives him the best access to the pin placement. Therefore the player should always look ahead to pin placements on holes that he will be playing later in the round. Sometimes hitting the driver is not the best strategy on a par 4. Often a hazard or dogleg is located in such a position that a shorter wood or even an iron should be used to lay up and not hit into the hazard or through the dogleg into the rough or woods. Sometimes a hole will dogleg around a lake, allowing the golfer the opportunity to hit over as much of the lake as he feels comfortable hitting over. On occasion, one can completely drive over the lake, leaving a very short chip to the green. The reward may not justify the risk taken to try to clear the lake, when a good drive over a portion of the lake will leave a wedge or 9-iron shot into the green. This is known as a "sucker shot" and should be avoided. The second shot should be hit based on the pin placement, sand traps and other hazards that may come into play and the golfer's confidence in the shot he will hit. If a pin is cut near the edge of the green near a sand trap or thick rough, the smart golf shot may be to hit to the side of the flag with the most green available. "Short siding" yourself can lead to a difficult chip that results in a long putt to save par, where a shot to the safe part of the green may yield a birdie, or at least a two-putt par. Remember, pars are good, bogeys are ok, but double bogeys and worse are to be avoided at all costs.
Par 5's get your adrenaline pumping and too much adrenaline can lead to missed shots. A missed shot on a par 5 may not kill your score since there is room for recovery, but it will be remembered as a missed opportunity or a shot "given away." Many par 5's are not accessible in two shots to most golfers so here is where strategy comes into play. Play an aggressive drive that keeps you in the fairway if at all possible. If you are too far from the green to hit your second shot close enough for a short chip, consider hitting a safer shot to your favorite distance to the pin. You are much better off hitting a full wedge or nine iron into the green than trying to hit a half pitch from inside 70 yards. This strategy also allows you to hit to the area that gives you the safest approach to the pin for your third shot. Two-putt pars are great and bogeys are acceptable, but nothing worse can be tolerated.
Always keep a scorecard with your statistics. Track fairways hit, greens hit in regulation, and number of putts per hole. This allows you a quick look at where you played well and where your game needs work. I look at the course as 18 par five holes for scoring purposes (45 each side). I track each hole as a score under, even or over a 5. If I par each of the par 3's and two par 4's (6 under 45 for the nine) I have played well, shooting a 39. This is providing that I have played smart and avoided double bogeys. This places a premium on my short game since there are four strokes to gain on par 3's. It also emphasizes how much a birdie helps and double bogey hurts your score. Pick your spots to be aggressive wisely. Golf is more often about the bad shots you do not hit than the great shots that you do hit.
Post-Round Evaluation
Keeping all the statistics mentioned above is worthless if you do not do anything with them. You need to see if you are 3-putting too many greens and look at your total putts as well. If you can keep your total putts to 30 or so, you will have a good round. Looking at fairways hit and the result that had on you score is important. It is so much easier to play from the short grass than from the rough and hazards. Greens hit in regulation is key to scoring well. It tells if you are giving yourself the chance to score par. With the information gleaned from your scorecard, you should know what part of your game needs attention at the range and putting green. If you put in the practice time before you get to the course, you will be able to trust your game and play with confidence.
Dennis Krall is an avid golfer that is willing to share tips and experiences with others that share his passion. You can find more tips and information at http://hittingthegolfball.com and http://lefthandedgolf.us.
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