Chasing better golf

OK, now the UK weather appears to have turned a corner and we’re getting some days that feel more suited to golf rather than special forces endurance training, it’s time to ask myself the perennial question “How can I improve my golf scoring?”

I decided it might help to set myself some clear goals for the rest of 2024.

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Do I have the potential to be better?

As mentioned before, I’m a pretty ordinary golfer, but I always feel like I’ve got the potential to be better. I got to a 12 handicap at the age of 16, and almost 34 years later, I’m at a 10.5, which at Saffron Walden translates to 12 or 13, depending on the tees.

So, I’ve basically been at the same level for all that time. To be fair to myself, I didn’t play a lot of golf for a lot of those intervening years, and certainly didn’t practice or have any lessons. I’ve still only had a handful of lessons and practice time is a bit limited due to…general life…but I’m going to try and fit more in over the spring and summer.

I feel like I’m a better player now, and I did briefly get down to 7.5 last year, but it soon shot up again, and lately my scores have been extremely ordinary.

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My golfing goals for 2024

I think it might help to set some goals, and then break down what parts of my game I’d need to improve on (apart from all of them), to get my handicap coming down.

So, my goal is to get my handicap index down from 10.5 to 6.5 by the end of 2024.

To achieve this, assuming I’m playing most of my golf at my home course, means shooting around 80 (+8 over par…it’s quite a tough course) 40% of the time.

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What does an 80 look like on this course?

Par 3s

There are four short holes. An average score of 3.5 = 14 shots.

(Current average = 3.7)

Par 4s

We have ten par 4s. An average of 4.5 = 45 shots.

(Current average = 5.0)

Par 5s

Four par 5s at an average of 5.25 = 21 shots.

(Current average = 5.8)

Total = 80

Current average = 88

That seems quite achievable, although I’ve only managed it a couple of times and you can see from my current scoring averages that I’m quite a way off, especially on the par 4s and 5s.

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Let’s break it down some more.

We are talking about, essentially, 10 pars and 8 bogeys per round.

How do I achieve that?

Looking at my stats, the most obvious thing is that I need to hit more greens in regulation. I generally hit 50% of fairways, but only 32% of greens (and often much less than that).

So that’s at least four holes per round where I’m on the fairway but don’t get it on the green.

I need to work on being more accurate from 120 yards and in.

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It’s all about those recovery shots

And when I miss those greens, my chipping isn’t good enough. I only get up and down 12% of the time, and only 7% from the sand.

I need to get much better at chipping and pitching from near the green.

Linked to this, my putting needs to improve. I’m averaging over 34 putts per round, and considering I’m not hitting many greens, that also reinforces the point about my chipping.

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Avoid the big misses

Going back to that fairways hit stat, 52% feels OK (7 of 14) but I’d like to nudge that up to 8 or 9.

Clearly, avoiding double and treble bogeys is also a massive factor, which for me tend to come from wild drives and lost balls. I can hit the ball a decent distance, but Saffron Walden is a fairly short, tight, tree-lined course, so I’m usually hitting a 3 wood or an iron off several of the par 4s, so this should be possible.

I need to work on better accuracy with my driver but also these other long clubs, just to keep the ball in play more often.

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So this is what I need to work towards

Off the tee

Hit 8 out of 14 fairways, with the other 6 at least in play.

Approaches / Par 3s

Hit 9 greens per round

Recovery

Get up and down twice per round, with the other 7 times no worse than three shots to get down.

Putting

Average 2 putts per green in regulation

Average 1.78 per missed green

This would all add up to:

14 tee shots

4 par 5 second shots

9 approaches on the green

9 approaches missed

10 chips/pitches

34 putts

That gets me to 80 (I’ve allowed for 10 chips or pitches from off the green, just to allow for the occasional mess up).

This all looks quite simple on paper, and it should be a case of just eliminating the big misses and the really stupid shots.

If only it was that easy…