Unified Theory Of Golf

Strategy
#11

We all have such a limited amount of time to invest in our hobby. Drilling down and finding the most efficient way to improve is different for everybody but super important vs just spinning our wheels.

You are correct GIR is the key. Truly the only way to have sustained improvement. Almost impossible to improve your percentage and have your index go up.

I have always focused on 2 things. Driver in play and hitting the green. If I do those well score will take care of itself regardless of how I putt or how my short game is.

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#12

Much more succinct than my rant :slight_smile:

It is also periodization. You have to put in hard work to improve the full swing. It sucks. It usually takes time to really see results.

But once you make that improvement you enjoy some compound interest. Get your short game sharp and have some good variance and you may shoot some low scores.

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#13

I think I have said a couple times in these forums, especially about my current imperfect game, I do my best to get a 42* to a 51* in my hand as quickly possible and as often as possible because I am really solid with those clubs at a specific distance and a putter. The rest of my clubs and game I would say are slightly above average. I track GIR, Recovery, Putts, Scrambling. I know I’m focused currently on gaining a bit more length off the tee just to gain a bit more of an advantage I mean I’d rather hit a 7i instead or a 4 or 5i, but being honest, I cannot hit 270-300 yds and I really dont have the ability to hit 60-80 yd wedge shots from 3"-4" ruff…which on my home course, the ruff is increasingly more penal the closer you get to the green. It’s the biggest and only defense our course has at only 6200 yds from 270-300yd bombers. So papaG, I’m on your page completely. If you want to score you have to be as deft as possible from like 90-125 yds, be a reasonable chipper of the ball and really eliminate the 3jack from your game. I will say, I only average 6-8 GIR currently, of those I can usually convert 1-2 for subtractions, I can usually get 7-8 or more within 10yds of a green, but I only save par maybe 40% of the time, the other 1 or 2 could be from a penalty area or back in plays (really want to eliminate those guys) and although I can get out of bunkers fairly easily, my save % last year was 27%. Not exactly tour material. I’m not good enuff to break par anymore, I could have a fluke round, my best score last year was 72, my high round was 88. I avg 78 and currently play to a 9.2. I guess you could say that’s boring golf. However, focusing on what you posted as a Unified Theory I would not call it Golf, I would agree with you and call it the Unified Theory of Scoring is a solid observation for us mortals…Let me pose this question…would you rather hit the 46* out of like 1.5 to 2 inch ruff from 110 or hit the 60* from 60 yds out of 3"-4" thick ruff that they water often in the summer? I just don’t see bashing it 40yds past me into severely tapered down fairways and rolling or worse,bouncing into really deep salad as a scoring advantage…

#14

I would take either… currently i am punching those out from the trees 20 yards left of the positions you mention !

#15

Again, I was very fortunate with how I learned to play the game. I am not the straightest or longest off the tee, but most of the time I’m not off the grid either. However, i was taught to think rather differently than most. Lets say we are on a Par 70 course, I lose one off the grid…I’m now playing a Par 71 course. Put my next shot into the best position I can score from. If there is an opening, great…if not put it back on the grid. The absolute best example of that was was the final group, 4th hole, Sawgrass. That one hole cost those guys the tournament. Unless I’m in the 95% mode that I CAN execute the hero shot, I’m playing to save a shot and looking for the easiest way to have the opportunity to make no more than the +1. Like I said boring golf…but I get into alot of people’s pockets and have won a fair share of trophies and passed a PAT in the mid '80s playing really boring golf.

#16

A couple things here, papa.

  • Thanks for including the table. It looks eerily like my efforts. We are not alone.
  • On 5 hdcp golfers - do they even exist? OK, I’ve played with one scratch golfer - once.
  • I absolutely agree with you on your nGIR approach (so to speak). Any approach shot that gets me in a “down in two” situation, I consider a good shot. Pars are our friends.

Very nice lead off comment, thank you.

#17

BTW, I reviewed your chart about scratch players avg 7.5 GIR…more like closer to 60%. 2-7 like 50%, 7-10 like 38%. BUT, understand this if you are breaking 85 legit consistently, you are in like the top 2% of players in the world! Something like that. It’s just us chasing Nirvana after that. It’s alot work to go into 10 more yards or 2 more GIR…so very minute improvements, and nutz like us celebrate this!

#18

Love this @papageorgio - PUTS. Looking forward to Vol II :sob:. I’m in that boat buddy

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#19

How was Ure experience with the low hdcp player. It’s fun to observe right? BUT they play a different game, they get pissed off about stuff we only dream of executing consistently and I’ve said this before, boring golf. It’s like you being paired with someone that is learning to break 90, right,? So relative to the sitch.

#20

Plenty of scratch guys are out there. I was always between 0 and +2 until I had kids and then the number started to creep up. Last year, I went from 3 back to +2 and, for the first time, religiously kept my stats. The thing I found interesting was how routine all the rounds were along the way. I had few runs where I would birdie 5 out of 6 or something like that but, for the most part, it was just a lot of pars and a handful of bogies. The key to getting better is to avoid compounding your mistakes. You can be a very low handicap and still make a bunch of bogies. The big difference between me and the guys I would play with (most of whom were between 5-15) was that I rarely made a big mistake, Part of that is because I’m a better ball striker so my dispersion is tighter but most is because I just made better choices along the way. I am convinced that I could cut all of their handicaps in half if I could coach them along the round. Making better choices is such a low hanging fruit but nobody ever seems to realize it.

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#21

Fantastic post. I love the thought process!

#22

You’re striking on the very thing I think about post round far too often. I get tempted into hitting driver and end up putting it in a penalty area. Regularly results in double bogeys or worse. Eliminating the double bogey or worse category is absolutely critical to playing consistent 70s golf. I got down to 2.0 last year and finished the year at 3.0. We hear a lot about “playing it smart” but I would say it’s a lot more about patience for me. I press to par the hardest holes and birdie the easier holes and essentially make “unforced errors”. On the other hand, when I’m patient and focus on giving myself par putts, I approach tee shots and recovery shots very differently. I’m still sending it of there’s no penalty areas but if I’m in the trees, priority number one is getting my ball out to where I have a clear shot at the green.

It’s so stinking simple but the competitive side of me is always lurking and “trying” to make birdies. Patience is key.

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#23

Correct.

One way I could re-state this is that you hardly ever make double bogey after achieving a nGIR (it happens, but far more often a double bogey is related to a poor full swing or a compound error)

Once you get out of position you have to dial back expectations and reset! Bogey is a good score after you drive it in the trees! Easy to say so damn hard to do!!

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#24

It was surreal playing with the scratch. I enjoy playing with my friend (5hdcp) because he’s better but nit that much better than I. We do a lot of talking and watching during the round that we both can pick up a little improvement tidbit. Golfing with the scratch, I just laughed and shook my head. There was absolutely nothing I could have learned from him, our levels were so far apart. All I could do was laugh and shake my head. It was truly a pleasure.

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#25

You are so right. Big Mistakes are round wreckers. A little bit of game/course management goes a long way. And, it s/be low hanging.

#26

At one point, I was a 1.7. I don’t know if I can get back, but I enjoy playing, and it’s fun every so often to have a round where it all comes back together and I can threaten par, especially with my group. I especially remember the first time I think I shot 71 and they just looked in amazement and said we always thought you were full of it, until the first time they see it…It does get more challenging with age…I had a couple of beers with a ballplayer named Mitch Williams. He was a relief pitcher that could throw in the high 90’s consistently. I’ll never forget him saying a few years after he retired…you know I throw just as hard as I ever did, the ball just doesn’t go as fast…how true! I think there’s a direct correlation to golf.

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#27

I think many people do not understand ghin indexes. A scratch shoots over 75 with some regularity (not sure the exact scoring average).

Someone who shoots 3 under to 3 over and has a scoring average of 72 is a plus handicap because of how index is calculated!

In other words, many 0-3 indexes won’t blow you away with a ball striking showcase. They are getting around the course MUCH more effectively than a 5 index though

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#28

Yes, the idea that a handicap is an average score throws people way off. I play at a place with a course rating at 74 so I don’t have to do anything spectacular in my 8 rounds that count to be at a 0 or better. I’ve played with a lot of people who I think are a bit suspicious of my handicap when I shot a pedestrian 77 with them but those scores are very much within range and to be expected.

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#29

Gotta avoid the BFMs (big ********* mistake)

True in life and golf

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#30

I’m going to disagree on this slightly, and flex my philosophy degree…

Mistakes happen. Big mistakes happen. Life, golf, work… it’s going to happen. We are going to mess up. That’s fine.

It’s our reaction to those mistake that compounds the problems and makes things worse… trying to hit a recovery shot out of the woods, covering up a mistake at work… basically our unwillingness to admit we are fallible.

If we can get over that, swallow our pride and make the smart choice based on the situation we are in (vs the situation we think we deserve to be in) we will be better off.

I don’t often push the golf is a metaphor for life stuff, but I do think there are plenty of things that correlate. Mistakes aren’t the problem… even big mistakes. It’s our reaction to those mistakes that what changes the outcome.

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