Prudent Golf 🙏

If you have taken a lesson with me, you may have heard me explain doing what is prudent in order to improve your golf game. I am deriving this fundamental from what is considered to be a heavenly virtue. Prudence in golf can be applied by making wise decisions on the golf course or while practicing.

For example, if your goal this year is to be able to score bogey golf, there are a few situations that you need to be attentive towards to achieve that goal. The vast majority of recreational golfers have a subpar short game, pun intended..

40% of your score will be putting alone. The prudent way to practice putting would be to make 90% of your putts from inside 3 feet, 50% from 5 - 15 feet, and lag putting from 20 - 50 feet without 3 putting. No 3 putts. Layered into these percentages would be adjusting for slope and green speed, which can be simply accomplished by approaching the hole from 4 different angles, circling the hole. If you find it difficult to pass these drills, you will automatically put more stress on other parts of your game.

Next, would be chipping from off the green. The common struggle for players when they have to chip the ball from the fairway or the rough, from about 5 - 20 feet off the green, is to miss hit the ball behind or to thin the ball across the green. A challenging layer to this situation is being able to read the lie of the ball. For example, the ball could be sitting down in the rough or sitting up, it could be a downhill lie or uphill lie, etc. You have to know how your swing needs to change to make the ball do what you want, while also selecting the proper club to play your shot. A good short game drill is to be able to get down in 3 strokes or less, regardless of the situation. That means 1 chip or pitch shot, and a maximum of 2 putts. If you have difficulty passing this drill, you put more stress on your long game.

Approach shots from inside of 150 yards tend to be challenging for most players because it involves other environmental aspects such as wind, slope, the lie, and recovery. The first step would be to make sure you can hit one of your clubs solid enough to get airborne at a height that if it lands on the green, would also stop on the green. 50 - 100 yards is difficult for most players because they aren’t comfortable controlling distance outside of a full swing, so hitting the ball short or long of the target is common. The drill from 50 - 100 yards is to hit your target area 80% of the time, which would be about the size of the green, regardless of the environmental factors. This can be difficult to simulate on the driving range because the lie is always flat, so you need to learn how to adjust when the lie changes.

From 100 - 150 yards, players tend to over swing, which causes technique issues, so there are many mishits, which causes shorter distances, less control, and more pressure to feel like you have to swing hard to get the ball to your target, which reinforces the problem. The drill here is to hit your target area 70% of the time, regardless of environment factors. Your target here would include missing the green in an area that chipping would be easier, so your miss can be wider than the 50 - 100 yard area. If there is water on the left, play to the right side.

From 150 - 200 yards, players rarely make solid contact because they will over swing with a club they haven’t proven to hit well during practice. Instead, just swing something you can hit solid, and then just finish the hole with a chip and putt. I know the ego gets in the way here, but your goal is score well. If you want to get better at that longer shot, you need a better technique and more practice. The drill here is to get within 30 yards of your target, in a safe area to approach the green from.

The tee shot 💣

“I hit Bombs” - Phil Mickelson. Grip and rip it right? Not exactly lol. A prudent tee shot is one that consistently ends up in play and 200 yards or more. This could be your driver, or it could be a 5 iron. Golf course designers do a great job with tempting the player to hit driver. Think of that short par 4 at the Genesis Invitational. I cannot stand watching tour players hit driver there. Holding the green is almost impossible and more than likely they will have a very awkward up and down. Imagine making bogey or worse on a 300 yard hole! Just play to safe area where you can control the spin.

The drill with the tee shot is to find a club that you can consistently hit 200 yards or more. If your driver isn’t that club, don’t play with it if you’re trying to score well. You need a better technique and if you appoach the game in a prudent manner, starting with putting and working upwards, you will improve faster than everyone just hitting balls at the range.

Play prudent golf, not perfect golf. Bogey golf is easy if you follow this formula. If you want to play better than bogey golf, you need to play and practice more and challenge yourself to get better at these drills and expand what drills you do. Golf is a situational and strategic game. It’s not one dimensional, which means you can’t “fix your swing.” There is a different swing for every situation, so practice situations instead of trying to fix your swing.

I hope there are golf courses in heaven! ⛳️

Let’s have a fun golf season!

Thank you for reading,

Coach Zach