Recently, I had a discussion with a friend of mine who is a very good golfer and still competes at a high level in his late 40’s.
The discussion centered around a particular service now available to golfers, focused toward better players, that helps them manage their games more efficiently.
My friend suggested he learned quite a bit from the program, and it has helped him improve.
Then I read his scores from a tournament held in my hometown over the weekend. He definitely didn’t have his A game.
However, what blew my mind was how dreadfully the field played.
First, some background on the golf course.
It stretches to maybe 6,600 yards. It is always in tremendous condition. It has undergone some significant changes over the last 15 years that have clearly made the course play more difficult.
For instance, many greens that have slopes have shaved areas in front of them similar to what you would find at Augusta. The rough along the fairways is often lush and thick, particularly this Spring, which has been very wet.
The greens are not large, and they have significant undulation and are often rolling at 12 on the stimp.
For this particular tournament, I was informed that the rough was quite thick, greens fast, and pins tucked in some tough spots.
The winner of the tournament shot 69-77, which was +2 for the tournament and good enough for a 3 shot victory.
The scores were generally higher on Sunday, which was not overally pleasant…a bit breezy and cool.
However, what struck me were the scores from the rest of the field.
I used to compete against many of the players in the field up to the late 1990’s. Of course we are all much older now, but with the technology, many of us still hit the ball as far as we did 20 years ago, some further.
But, out of 58 players, only 16 managed to shoot under 160 for the tournament. While not the strongest of fields, most of these golfers have low single digit handicaps, or are scratch golfers.
A few good golfers I’ve known for years shot over 170 for two rounds.
Some of these golfers I know still get some regular golf instruction.
In other words, this was less than impressive golf.
So, with all the technology available, balls that fly further and straighter, clubs that are more forgiving, courses that are in better condition, many advances in instruction such as V1 video analysis, Trackman and K-Vest, etc., why do we still see limited improvement?
One thing I’ve come to realize is that tour pros have a better understanding of how to PLAY golf than the average amateur.
I’ve relayed this story a number of times over the years.
In 1991, on this same golf course, I played a U.S. Amateur qualifier with Jim Furyk. Jim was still in college at the time, but we all knew how good he was.
After proceeding to take myself out of the tournament by making triple bogey on the first two holes, I simply enjoyed watching Jim play.
However, it has only been recently that it’s begun to sink in how he played the game differently than I did.
Distance wise, I had Jim by 20 yards off the tee. I was still playing with a persimmon driver as well.
What struck me that day is how, on a couple par 5s, Jim elected to tee off with a 2 iron. Neither hole was particularly tight, but, as I mentioned, the rough has always been thick on that course.
Jim understood that he would never reach either green in two. So, he played to his strength…his wedge and putter.
Meanwhile, I would blast away, and even if I had a 3 wood left, I would still go for the green on either hole, even though both are heavily guarded by bunkers and thick rough.
To this day, I recall few birdies on any of the par 5s on that course.
And therein lies the lesson for this post…playing golf well has nothing to do with bombing it off the tee. But, it has everything to do with understanding how to play each hole to your own strengths.
For example…if you have anything more than a wedge in your hand and the pin is tucked toward the right side behind a bunker, and you typically hit a draw, you have no business aiming at that flag.
Playing great golf means shooting low scores. That means playing to your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses.
I suspect that if most of the golfers in that local tournament kept this thought in mind, they all would’ve enjoyed better scores.
Getting better at golf involves more than just improving your physical abilities. You’ve got to improve your abilities between the ears as well.
I’ll get to that down the road. Thanks for reading!
