Don’t Fix the Wrong Problem
A lot of golfers spend a lot of time on the driving range practicing hitting straight shots and long drives. They hear over and over that “the short game is where the money is made” but they think that if they can hit the ball an extra 10 yards they’ll suddenly be competing with the pros.
They’re wrong.
Today, when I golfed, I had one of the worst rounds of the year in terms of hitting the ball. I hit 3 greens in regulation and hit 4 fairways. Awful. But I also had 40 putts!
Rather than practice hitting my driver in the fairway tomorrow, I’m going to practice hitting putts. If I can shave 12 putts off my round I will shoot in the 70s, whereas if I hit 3 or 4 more fairways, I’ll probably still shoot mid 80s.
Fix the problems that have the biggest impact on whatever you’re doing before you work on the problems that are the most public. Sure it looks good to drive the ball 350 yards, but that will not improve my score as much as putting - being a good putter is much more mundane, but also makes me a much better golfer.
9 responses so far ↓
22 Jun 2008 at 3:58 pm
100% correct. Some of my best rounds have come from an off driving/iron day. As long as you can chip and putt, you can score decent and save a round. Considering you only use your driver about 13 times per round, it really shouldn’t be practiced much at all. As I’ve grown smarter of the last few years, so has my golf game. I go to the range now and the majority of the bucket is only hit with wedges to the 50 and 100 yard pins. Cory Pavin is a perfect example of where short game will get you.
26 Jun 2008 at 5:43 pm
I usually can’t fix the wrong problem, let alone the right one. I’ll take what I can get, Ben.
1 Jul 2008 at 5:23 am
So true, when I first starting golfing I worried about not hitting far enough but you can have a great drive off the tee and get yourself up to the green but it can go to put and you can easily end up adding an extra 5 shots just by poor putting or chipping. As they say it’s all in the detail
15 Jul 2008 at 2:16 pm
Great Post Ben!
I have just begun to learn the game of golf and I can tell you it’s true that it can be enticing to fix the obvious (public) flaws first. I personally look at it like this, a great basketball player (i.e. MJ, Kobe B., Paul Pierce, Steve Nash) are not the elite because they can DUNK (probably the most public move one can make in BBall). No they are The Best because they have all mastered the fundamentals.
So whether you’re blogging or teeing up on your very first golf hole…work on those often times “behind the scenes” fundamentals.
BTW…one of my favorite posts of yours also ties in well with this point …”Blog Architecture- Why I’m ignoring Your Blog.”
The HipHop Golfer
15 Jul 2008 at 2:17 pm
Just like programming, dont spend your time optimizing things that happen once, optimize the things that are repeated…a lot.
But going to the driving range can just be plain fun
19 Jul 2008 at 5:00 am
I’m crap at golf… how do I get better?
1 Aug 2008 at 6:24 am
I with ya on needing a short game and yes, if you don’t have a short game you are pretty much out of luck in scrambling for par. However, if you are in the woods or still 300 yards away from the green on a 400 yard par 4 then a brilliant short game really does not come into play until you are staring down saving bogey. In this case, which is about 89% of new golfers problem, a need to be comfortable with the driver would be what should be focused on out on the Lane of Pain (driving range). Then every trip to the driving range should end with lob wedge shot from 60 yards out.
I play lob wedge games with the juniors at the club, best four out of five closest to the pin, the person who is the furthest from the hole the most times buys everyone a soft drink…I had a time where I slam dunking two out of the five, but I still was buying because of these kids consistency to place the ball close to the pin…Work on your weakness and make golf fun, and balance the practice with every club in the bag. Let me know how I can help.
1 Aug 2008 at 9:19 am
This was never about golf, was it?
Great euphemism, made me smile.
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