Recently, some data has come out that shows the average amount of birdies and double bogeys for golfers, grouped by handicap. This, or a version of this, is the chart being bandied about.
This isn’t exactly groundbreaking - higher handicap players are not as good as 2 handicap players, and they rarely make birdies, and make a decent amount of double bogeys.
But the take away here is that, say, a 14-handicap golfer (coughs violently) makes about 1.5 fewer birdies than a 2 handicap, but 2.4 more double bogeys. The 2-handicap gains 1.5 strokes via those birdies but gains FIVE extra strokes when it comes to the doubles.
It’s easier said than done to say “STOP MAKING DOUBLE BOGEYS!”
When I look back on my data, I actually make almost exactly this many doubles/round. Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to set yourself up for a tap-in bogey than a risky shot to get you a chance at par.
And birdies? They’ll still happen, occasionally.
Where am I struggling? Like many mediocre golfers, it’s in the approach. This measures your ability after you hit your initial tee shot, or your tee shot on a par-3.
I hit a lot of fairways off the tee, but very few greens in regulation. There are two main reasons for this:
I don’t hit the ball far enough - either off the tee, leaving me more distance to the green - or in my approach shots. I have been working on this, and picked up a bit of distance - but I need more.
It’s hard to hit greens in regulation! Even for better golfers than me.
Let’s break down how I’m addressing the first point as the second one is just something we all need to remind ourselves of.
First, I’ve been working on gaining distance - or regaining it, to be more specific. I used to hit the ball at least an average distance but was fairly wild and I worked to get more control over the ball with the guidance the distance would come back. It really didn’t - perhaps aided by the fact I have gotten older. But I also developed some really bad habits in my swing which I’ve been working on. In some ways, everything that helps create “lag” - the act of the clubface picking up speed - were things I stopped doing. Good times.
I’ve also been working on - and I know how dumb this sounds - swinging HARDER. As part of keeping the ball on a straighter path, I slowed my swing down - but I have overcompensated in that regard. Swinging harder - but not in an out of control fashion - is going to have the expected result of the ball going farther.
In addition, fitness here is key. (Which, you know, is SUCH a bummer.) I’ve tried to work on stretching for flexibility, and aerobic activity just so I don’t get as tired towards the end of a round. But strength is obviously lacking, and the more I learn about it, it’s not just core, it’s not just the upper body, but the lower body as well. This will be a real focus in 2024.
I think I did this backwards because that’s the WHAT I’m going to do this year. But WHY am I going to do it?
I have a few actual #GolfGoals, like I do every year. Some of them are for fun - to play new courses, to play a certain number of rounds, etc. But as it pertains to the above, the following are WHY I’m going to work on my game.
I need to get my handicap to an all-time low. I’ve finished the last three years with an almost identical index around 13.5. The lowest it’s ever been is 12.9, I think. (It was so long ago, GHIN doesn’t even show it.) This means at some point - hopefully for awhile - my index will be 12.5 or lower.
I want to get my index down to a 10. This is a stretch goal - I’d obviously like to be a single digit index golfer, but I’m trying to be realistic.
I want - nay, NEED - to break 80 for the first time in my life. Most folks I play with are surprised to learn I’ve never done this, but I am not shocked. I don’t make a ton of birdies, so I score in the mid to high 80’s a lot, and when I have a good round, the low 80’s. I’ve shot 80 on the number once, 81 a handful of times and so on. Worrying about my score during the round tends to NOT work out well for me, but it’s gotten silly. One thing I may start doing is moving up a tee - yes, even to the “forward” tees - just so my brain can get a sense of what that means, and I can innately know that I *can* break 80. Honestly, of the three of these goals, this is probably the one I’m most motivated about.
What are your golf goals this year? How are you going to work on them?