For most weekend golfers, shooting a score of PAR or under is a dream, and if they manage to do it in their time playing golf, they will cherish and remember that day for the rest of their lives. In fact, a very small percentage of recreational golfers manage to shoot a score of PAR or lower in their career, it takes a huge amount of work, dedication, and repetition to be able to shoot a level par score. Here is a look at how golfers can attempt to shoot PAR scores.
It is considerably easy for a golfer to lower their scores from 95 to under 90, maybe they just need to work on their putting and they immediately start shooting under 90. But you can’t say the same for the mid-70s shooter, at this point, we are no longer average golfers, we are approaching expert territory where improvement comes much more gradually and with much harder work and dedication.
First, we need to figure out what it takes to play scratch golf and shoot scores of PAR and below.
Second, we should conduct an honest assessment of our game and work on whatever is holding us back.
- What It Takes to Play Scratch Golf
Scratch golfers generally shoot even par. Unsurprisingly, they do so by carding a lot of pars, with a few birdies and bogeys thrown in. They rarely make double or worse.
They usually make par, but occasionally they make birdies and bogeys, This means that on a majority of holes, they are on the Green in Regulation (GIR) putting for birdie. They two-putt this most of the time, but occasionally they sink it for birdie.
Also, they almost always have a putt for par. If they miss the green in regulation, they are usually able to get it on with their next shot for an opportunity at par. Sometimes they make it and sometimes they miss it and card a bogey.
So what are our takeaways here?
They are good putters since they can make occasional birdie putts, par putts, and rarely three-putts, They can chip/pitch well, putting themselves in position for a par opportunity, They hit good approach shots, recording a GIR on a majority of holes
You could add the further takeaway that they hit good tee shots that then position them to hit good approach shots.
So how do we go from shooting 77 to playing like this?
2. Conduct an Honest Assessment of Your Game
With this in mind, we need to conduct an honest and complete assessment of our game to find out where we need to improve. This assessment really needs to be complete. Not only that we need to examine hard skills, but look at the softer ones as well.
Assessment should look at all of the following aspects:
- Putting
- Chipping
- Approach Shots
- Tee Shots
- Specialty shots (sand and punch shots)
- Course Management
- Psychology
The best way to do this is by playing several rounds and recording details stats, primarily:
- Total Putts
- GIRs (green in regulation)
- Scramble Percentage (% of times you make par or better if you miss a GIR)
- Sand Save Percentage (same thing as Scramble % but specific to the sand)
- Total Fairways
By looking at these stats in conjunction with each other, and over several rounds, you should be able to identify what aspects of your game need improvement.
But we should also take into account the two softer aspects mentioned above: Course Management and Psychology.
Course management is a much bigger factor than we might think, a lot of professionals suggest that one of the main weaknesses of amateurs is course management, here are two small suggestions to help with this:
Prioritize GIRs over being close to the Pin: If you could play a round where you could drop the ball in the center of every green with a putt for birdie, what would you shoot? Probably in the 60s. Try to recreate that in real golf.
Think About Where You Want to Miss: You don’t want to be negative, but you need to be cognizant of where you’re aiming and where you might miss. If you miss, give yourself plenty of green to work with or leave yourself with an uphill putt, etc.
On the Psychology end of things, this is obviously really hard to analyze but I’ll give one small tip:
Ensure you have a pre-shot routine to lean on. You should totally focus your mind on your pre-shot routine every shot, especially after a few bad swings. This is the best way to clear your mind and focus on the task at hand.
Once you’ve identified your problem areas, it just comes down to work. But with some focused practice, you might surprise yourself with how fast you’ll improve.
