Have you ever broke 90?

During the initial discussion at the beginning of a lesson series, I often hear that a student would see considerable improvement in their scores by getting more distance out of their clubs.  The average student making this statement shoots between 90 and 110.  If you have taken any lessons from me in the past, you should know that I am a firm believer in the chip shot.  There are two reasons for this, one, chipping is a very important part of the golf game.  If you aren’t hitting greens or getting it close to the flag inside 60 yards, then your score will definitely improve with better chipping.  The other primary reason is that chipping is the small version of the full swing.  If you rely on bad mechanics in the short game, you are likely to see it in a bigger version when the full swing takes place.  Have you noticed that in most cases, golfers with great short games have pretty good swings and have lower handicaps?  The second thing I like to work on during lessons is the 150 yard shot and in.  If you can hit a 150-yard shot consistently, then you can break 90.

Here is an idea I would like for you to consider.  If you take an average white tee golf course’s yardage of 6,500 yards and divide it by 150-yards you get a total of 43. I know that you won’t hit it in the hole every time, so if we add a 2 putt on every hole then we get a total of 36 putts.  When you add the 43 golf shots and 36 putts you would end up with a score of 79.  Now I know that there may be some water hazards and obstacles you may have to go around with only having a 150 yard shot, so we will add another 9 strokes for those situations and maybe missing a few greens on the approach.  When we add 9 more strokes we get an 88.  Remember, that is from the middle tees so if you are playing the front tees, the score could be even lower.  Also note, this is without using a driver, 3 wood and possibly those dreaded long irons.  Those are usually the clubs that mess with the swing and drive your score up.

I challenge you to try this sometime.  Go play nine holes with the clubs you hit 150 yards and less, then see what you shoot.  Keep track of where you lose shots and I bet it won’t have anything to do with loss of distance.  If you consistently score under a 45 then it’s time to add some more yardage.