Shot Misers

While pretty much everyone wants to improve, the only game we can play with is the one we bring to the course that day. Golf involves much more than learning to swing the club in a prescribed manner. Golf is, and, until they change the rules, will always be about getting the ball in the hole in the fewest possible number of strokes.

While hitting the ball farther, or straighter, can help, the test for every golfer is to find a way to save strokes; to find the best way to get from the tee to the green and into the hole in the fewest number of strokes. Looking pretty, or stylish, is nice but not necessary in this game. An ugly four still beats a stylish five.

Two of golf's greatest champions, Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson, wrote about the importance learning to treat every shot equally, from a ten inch putt to a trouble shot from the trees. They both learned that golf was about saving and not wasting strokes. Prior to his winningest year of 1945 Byron Nelson reviewed his play and realized that he was having let ups where he was losing shots because he was playing some simple-looking shots or putts carelessly. 

Bobby Jones felt that the way to avoid being careless, or letting up, was to play every shot for it's ultimate possibility. Instead of trying to get a chip close, he would try to hole it. That kind of effort on every shot really paid off.

Good players are misers when it comes to strokes. They hate to take one more shot than necessary. And they realize that golf is often more about dealing effectively with trouble than it is hitting perfect shots. It's often more about managing to save your par than making a birdie.

The more we can learn to give every shot, and especially the simple looking shots, our full, undivided attention, the better players we will be. Grinding for the best score we can possibly shoot is a bit like work. It can leave you really tired after eighteen holes. But it's worth the effort. There is nothing like being able to say you scored about as well as you could have possibly scored with the game you had that day. It's a much better feeling than realizing you shot 79 or 89 instead of 75 or 85 because you wasted a few shots by playing carelessly or impetuously. 

The best players play this game one shot at a time, just like the drunks. They are misers when it comes to strokes. They hate to waste them.

Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson Had to Learn the Same Lesson

Two of the greatest players we've ever seen both had the same problem and managed to fix it. They were Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson. What was the problem?

They both realized, by reviewing their rounds, that they had the tendency to let up, or lose concentration, on easy-looking shots. Byron had this realization prior to his incredible season of 1945, when he won eleven tournaments in a row, and 18 in total. He improved his scoring average by one and a half shots per round, finishing the season with an unheard of scoring average of 68.33. In 1945 Byron was on a mission. He wanted to set some records to be remembered by and he wanted to earn enough to buy his Texas ranch so he could retire from the grind of the tour. He accomplished both those goals with a huge exclamation point, setting a record that will surely never be touched. And he did this by finding a way to play every shot, including the easy-looking ones, for all it was worth.

Bobby Jones went seven years before he finally managed to win a Major. Of course, he started playing in Majors at age 14, so it isn't as bad as it sounds. But it was only when he learned to play one shot at a time that he started winning. In the next seven years he won over 60 percent of the Majors he entered. 

Both players were extraordinary players, the like of which we may never see again. But both, despite their prodigious talent, had to learn the same lesson every golfer determined to play his best must learn. You must play one shot at a time and give every shot, no matter how simple, your best effort. And, if you think that's easy to do, just try it sometime. 

Bobby Jones believed that the fun in golf was playing your hardest, be it for a two dollar Nassau, or a Major championship. By throwing yourself whole-heartedly into the game, he was certain that you get the most benefit from it. Playing that way gives you a reprieve, at least for four hours, from any troubles or worries you might have; because concentrating on your golf gives you no time to think about work. It's all-consuming. The other benefit is an important psychological one. Whether you play well or poorly, at least at the end of the round you have the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you could with what you had to work with that day. And that is all anyone can be expected to do.

And playing hard doesn't mean you can't enjoy the walk and the company. It just means you have to mean business when it's your turn to play. I don't know about you, but I doubt I've ever managed to play like that; giving every shot my full attention and effort. But hope springs eternal. All you can do is try.