Tips To Becoming A Scratch Golfer

In the last 16 years I’ve improved from a player that shoots in the 100’s to a player that can consistently shoot in the 60’s. Sometimes I even shoot in the low 60’s. Here are some tips that I have learned over time that helped me become a scratch golfer.

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in the last 16 years of playing golf I’ve went from a player that shot in the hundreds and now I can consistently shoot in the 60s and sometimes shoot in the low 60s and I want to talk about all the strategies I’ve learned that have helped me get to this point so let’s get [Music] started I don’t know why I think golf is hard some days the first thing that’s helped me get to this point of being a pro that can shoot in the 60s is the club you hit does not matter and this is what I mean we’ve all been there you get to a par three you get the yardage you walk up there with eight iron your buddy looks in and goes you’re hitting eight iron I’m hitting pitching wedge and of course they’re going to give you a little bit of crap to start but you know what’s the only embarrassing about this whole situation is when they’re short of the green and you made it whole High pin High putting for birdie they’re the ones that should be embarrassed cuz they didn’t have enough juice to get there but you did you were smart enough to understand that just because say it’s 160 yards and you think you can hit pitching wedge there it doesn’t make it cool that you got pitching wedge there it makes you cool that you hit eight iron or nine iron or whatever is actually the club that you can get to the pin and have a good birdie putt so I think it’s so funny there’s this stigma that hitting irons far is cool when in reality clubs are all built different I’ve got clubs that are weaker compared to most if I got in game improvement irons I could hit 7even iron 210 yards but that’s not what’s going to help me improve my game hitting your iron super long Isn’t that cool it’s all about controlling them it’s all about getting them around the hole so any of those people that are just trying to hit pitching ledge or nine iron from a distance that like you really don’t need to hit it that far they’re just trying to feed their ego but the only thing that matters in golf is who got in the hole first so whether you hit five iron eight iron or pitching wedge if you were in the hole in three and they were in the hole in four you’re doing much better than them and imagine if the pros really care about this if they played with Bryson dambo he hit nine iron from 194 yards in the US Open there wouldn’t be a single Pro that could reach a green ever minus Bryson then it wouldn’t even be a challenge so just pick the club that works best for you no one actually cares what it was as long as it gets to the hole hey look another birdie I wouldn’t have done that if I hit pitching wedge the second strategy I learned that helped me become a pro is something I call the 80% Rule and that is for situations like this when you’re in a very challenging spot now I have a couple options here one is to either chip out sideways or go through this little Gap to try and get to the pin now how do I know which one’s the right option well this is where 80% comes in if I think I can get this ball through that Gap and around the green if not on it eight out of 10 times by all means I’m going for it if I think my odds are way worse than that going out sideways because if I can get through there confidently and consistently I’m going to gain shots doing that now if more chances than not I’m going to hit a tree and it can go anywhere I’m probably going to make double or triple out of that while if I hit it sideways worst I’m probably going to do is make bogey so it’s all about managing the situations you want to make sure like obviously you’re going to play with some people that like oh don’t be a wimp go for it well if you’re trying to shoot a score this probably isn’t the best option probably want to go out sideways but if you’re feeling really good maybe the gap’s a little bigger by all means go for it so just make sure when you’re in these challenge situations 80% if you can get through 80% of the time by all means go for it now for this situation I don’t think I’m 80% here smart play would definitely be to chip out we’re going to see if I can do it first try oh my God I did it well in this sense it worked out but honestly I’d say from here chipping out’s probably the best play that was a sick shot the third strategy I’ve learned that’s helped me get to this point is to forget about the pins the pins are going to have an influence on where you aim but they’re not going to determine where you aim what I mean by this is for this shot here I’ve got 210 yards tucked front right pin with water short and right there’s a huge penalty for missing it right and there’s plenty of room left now should I be aiming at this pin no I shouldn’t I’ve got a perfect club would be four iron but there’s room long so I have three iron I want if the ball ends up near this pin it’s because I missed it over there with a club like this you’re not going to hit a perfect shot every time obviously it’s a long iron it’s a difficult shot so you want to give yourself some room for error where I see amateurs make all these big numbers they step out the shot and they’re like okay going right at the stick but if you miss it a little bit you’re dropping right here you’re probably making six maybe seven but if I aim more towards the middle of the screen try to hit in the middle and sometimes I’m going to push it over there on accident and I’m going to have a nice short Eagle putt but it shouldn’t be the goal to hit it right at the pin here it’s just not a good core strategy you’re going to miss shots now if you were hitting a wedge yeah your Target’s going to be a little closer like let’s take the example of hole one had 90 yards left I on that one to a left pin was aiming a few yards right of it drew it a little more than I intended ended up going to a foot but I was trying to hit it a 5T right of the pin because I know there’s a little bit of dispersion so again forget about the pin take the percentage shot from here to par five I’m trying to get there in two middle of the green is great if I hit over on the right it’s a bonus but the goal is aim at at the middle you want golf to be pretty boring good golf is really boring golf middle of the green take that every time the fourth strategy I learned is a strategy I use around the greens and it is to utilize all the clubs you have in your golf bag you got 14 of them there’s no reason why you should only chip with one of them now I see this a lot and I used to be that guy I’d get up to a green and it was immediately grab the lob wedge which in some instances the lob wedge is the right Club but in shots like this I’ve got 30 yards of green to work with this shots a little bit more difficult one because I have to fly it really far down there and two my M hit shots are going to be way worse if I make a big swing here like that one I hit pretty good but if I bladed or whatnot or even just hit a a little bit hard I’m over the green that’s not ideal but I could go down to pitching wedge I can make a smaller swing I can utilize the green here my dispersion is going to be a lot less meaning if I Mish hit the shot a little bit it’s going to end up close to the hole so don’t be afraid one practice this before we go on the course and do it but don’t be afraid to take a club pitching wedge nine iron seven iron what whatever so you can just hit a nice little bump and run down there to the hole like I didn’t hit that perfect it’s running out I want to say that’s probably six8 ft past that’s not a bad Miss so don’t be afraid to utilize all the clubs in that golf P around the greens it’s going to make a lot of these shots a lot easier especially ones where you have a bunch of green to work with the fifth and final strategy we’re going to talk about in this video is to play to your strengths and what I mean by this is that just because it’s reachable doesn’t mean you have to go for it like this hole here it is a good driver to get to the green and I know you’re going to step up to a hole it’s reachable and your budd’s like well we got to go for it you know it’s reachable we’re going to get there but in reality you’re stepping up to the shot like I don’t really like driver here it’s just not super comfortable I think I’m going to hit in the water the smart play there is to lay up if you’re more confident with irons and wedges lay up no matter what your buddy says no matter if he’s like oh you’re such a wimp you’re going to lay up yeah who cares what he says you’re going to make a lower score but on the reverse side if you get up to this T box and you’re like feeling good with driver it looks great I’m swinging It Well by all means try to get on the green have an eagle putt but if that’s not the case play to your strengths just because it’s reachable doesn’t mean you have to go for it so yeah maybe that means you hit a six iron off his teeth or a five iron your buddy might call you wimp but you’re probably going to make a lower score just how it goes so that’s all I got for you in this video I hope you can take what you learned here take these strategies bring it to the golf course I don’t want you to feed in to that buddy you got that’s just trying to peer pressure you in to hit in shots you don’t want to hit or hitting clubs you don’t want to hit just forget about that guy you’re going to beat him you’re going to hit the clubs you want to hit you’re going to hit the shots you want to hit and you’re going to beat him in the score at the end so again thank you for watching the video leave a like leave a comment subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one bye [Music]