This applies more to players who keep track of stats, but that can mean informally as well. Whether you keep meticulous notes about every single shot and use stat tracking software or whether you kind of keep a rough mental tally of things, those numbers are trying to speak to you.

It’s tempting to look at the raw numbers and just make a snap judgment about what they mean.

You might notice that your putting average is 1.75 putts per hole and start thinking that you’re putting like the pros. Not so fast.

Sunday evening, I finished up my 9-hole round and went home and tallied up my stats. I’ve been making great improvements in my ball striking, but still felt like I wasn’t playing well. When I looked at my putting stats, my average was over two putts per hole. I had only a single one-putt and had two three-putts.

Another bad round?

Not really. My final score was a 42. Not great, but my best at my new course this year.

You’re probably scratching your head wondering what I’m getting at. My putts per round is higher now, but why? (I’m including informal tallies in addition to my numbers on the stats page)

It’s for the simple reason that I’m hitting more greens now. I’m hitting 3-5 greens per 9-hole round where I was lucky to hit three before. Don’t forget, I’m not just talking about the rounds on my stats page.

What’s happening is that instead of missing a green and having an easy pitch or chip that might get me into one-putt or easy two-putt range, I’m finding myself as far as 75+ feet from the cup, in definite two-putt, maybe three-putt range.

I’m not only hitting more greens, but I’m hitting greens further out after big mistakes.

I’ve been having serious trouble with my 3-wood. Sunday evening, I sliced it way over into the rough of the adjoining hole. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find it, so I hit a provisional ball. And topped it. Just up in front of the forward tee, which was probably 50 yards up.

Since my duff was further back than my possibly-lost ball, I played my provisional ball up to the green so I could go up and look for my errant 3-wood. I was about 235 out and faded a 2-iron up to about 5 feet. I was totally happy with that, even if my ball was lost, I still had a great shot at limiting the damage to a bogey.

I eventually found the ball over on the other hole. It was in the rough, sitting several inches below my feet with a carry over water and bunkers. I gouged it out pretty well, but flew it to the back of the green and left myself with at least a 50-footer, which I proceeded to three-putt.

But the fact is, I hit the green with two separate balls, one from a long distance, and one from a tough lie over trouble.

Admittedly, my putting isn’t as sharp as it should be because I’ve neglected it a little bit with the full swing problems I was having.

The point to all this is: looking at the raw numbers doesn’t always tell the full story. When you analyze your own numbers (even if they’re informal), don’t rush to judgment. Try and understand why the numbers are what they are. That will let you properly target your practice time and will also give you some positives to look at. Instead of spending more time working on pitching and chipping, I clearly need to work more on lag putting and eliminating the duffs that put me in situations where I need to make long approaches from difficult spots.

Sure, I’m dissatisfied at my putts per hole, but I’m also happy to be hitting greens, especially from a long way out. If you’re being honestly critical of yourself, then it’s OK to pat yourself on the back too.

Like Tin Cup says, “perfection is unattainable.” That sure doesn’t keep us from trying.

We golfers are a unique breed in that we’ll do almost anything to improve our games. Whether it’s new equipment or the latest swing trainer fad, we follow like lemmings.

Unfortunately, to see real improvement in golf, elbow grease is what ultimately gets the job done.

Not enough time to spend practicing? Don’t worry too much, because there are lots of simple things you can do to improve your game right away. Here are my top ten.

1. Get a lesson. Yeah, I know, that’s obvious. But it’s going to be the single most important long-term improvement you can make.
2. Get a club fitting. If you buy off the rack, you could be hurting your game. A good club fitter will match length, flex, lie, loft, etc., on your clubs to be able to milk the maximum performance out of your swing.
3. Spend at least one hour per week working on putting, not counting pre-round warm-up (do that too). A par round assumes 36 putts. This is 50% of the total strokes for the round. How many times do you hit driver in a round? Probably 12-15 at most and maybe less on a tight course. But I bet you beat your driver to death on the practice tee.
4. Drop the long irons and look to woods and hybrids to fill your medium to long range needs. These clubs are typically easier to hit with their lower centers of gravity. Plus, they can help on long shots from the rough.
5. Drop one of your medium or long irons and add a third or fourth wedge. Scoring happens within 100 yards. Getting within eight to ten feet gives you the best chance to sink your next putt, whether you’re a weekend duffer or a tour pro. Give yourself the tools to do the job.
6. Give some thought to the mental game. It’s not all about physical swing technique. Confidence and focus are bigger than you think. Pick up a good book on the mental game and read a little each night before bed.
7. If you do put in range practice, then practice with a purpose. When you’re at the range, DO NOT simply beat balls without a purpose in mind. Keep yourself focused on specific techniques and targets. Every shot must have a specific purpose.
8. When you hit the course, make sure you’re properly hydrated and fueled up in the food department. Snack on something like fruit or trail mix during the round and drink plenty of water. Ignoring these things can cause excess fatigue that will make you sloppy on the course. You don’t want to eat a huge meal right before playing, but not eating at all will likely cause you to get a little (or a lot) drained.
9. Give up the cart and walk. It’ll be hard at first, but there are lots of benefits. Not the least of which are the increased stamina and health and the mental clarity you’ll gain by having time to think between shots to plan your attack or to wash away negative feelings from bad shots.
10. If you don’t have time to do a serious workout regimen (optimal solution), then at least set aside several short stretching sessions throughout the week. Doing 20-30 minutes every day is great, but if you can’t free up that much time, then try for 3-5 days per week. Working on hip rotational flexibility is a big one, as well as flexibility in the back, shoulders, and legs.

If you don’t have the time or motivation to put in serious work, then hopefully you’ll find at least some of these tips useful for dropping some strokes.

It’s hard to play golf without encountering obstructions.

Have you ever just barely missed hitting your ball out of bounds, only to find that you’re now obstructed by an out of bounds stake? Well, that’s too bad because they’re not considered obstructions. (You weren’t fooled, right?)

So what are obstructions?

Rule 24 tells us all about obstructions. According to the Rules of Golf, an obstruction is anything artificial, except:

• Objects defining out of bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes and railings;
• Any part of an immovable artificial object that is out of bounds; and
• Any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.

This can include maintained cart paths, trash containers, ball washers, benches, or television towers (hey, I can dream).

The Rules divide obstructions into two categories, movable and immovable. Things get a little more involved when greens or hazards are involved, so check Rule 24 for help in those situation, but following are the general guidelines for obstructions.

Movable Obstructions

As the name suggests, these obstructions can be moved. If the ball lies in or on the obstruction, the ball may be lifted, the obstruction moved, then the ball dropped, without penalty. Otherwise, simply move it and take your shot.

Immovable Obstructions

These include things like maintained cart paths or television towers. If your ball lies in or on the obstruction, or if the obstruction interferes with your stance or the area of your intended swing, you’re entitled to relief. Generally, that’s one club length from the nearest point of relief, no nearer the hole.

It’s also important to note that you don’t get relief from mental interference. The obstruction must interfere with your stance or the area of your intended swing. The distraction created by the smell emanating from the snack shack isn’t enough.

Integral Construction

The third exception to “anything artificial” often throws players for a loop. It tells us that any construction that the Committee has declared an “integral part of the course” is not an obstruction.

A very common instance of this would be a permanent retaining wall that holds up the side of a bunker or green or other part of the course. These are normally considered to be integral to the course and you are not entitled to relief. Check with your course or with the tournament Committee to find out what parts of the course they consider to be integral.

—-

That’s the basics on obstructions. Being able to correctly identify them will give you the relief you deserve on the course, or save you from big penalties coming from mistakenly taking relief when you’re not entitled. Just remember: Artificial, in-bounds, and not an integral part of the course are the important keys.

The big oak tree just off the fairway that you hit all the time? Not an obstruction. The “hole in one” car parked next to the tee? Obstruction. The “hole in one” car parked in the parking lot out of bounds because you somehow managed to hit it next to the tee? Not an obstruction. See that? There’s not much to it.

Grooves on the faces of our golf clubs are something that we might take for granted.

With irons, especially wedges, the grooves help put spin on the ball when it is struck. This allows us to hit shots into greens that stop in a controlled manner.

When we strike the ball with a descending blow with an iron, the ball becomes briefly trapped against the turf and is “pinched”. The grooves on the club grab the cover of the ball and impart maximum spin. That allows the shot to land softly and stop quickly or even back up after landing.

There is no question that equipment has changed the way the game is played at all skill levels. Players have gained distance, accuracy, and the ability to stop the ball quicker.

Consequently, all aspects of club design come under scrutiny and regulation. Club grooves are no different.

There has been debate for a long time about square (or, u-shaped) versus v-shaped grooves on irons. According to a United States Golf Association news release from February 2007, a technical report released to club manufacturers in August 2006 by the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) shows:

“The research findings clearly demonstrate that for shots struck by clubs from the rough with urethane covered balls (the type of ball used by most highly skilled players), modern square or U-shaped groove clubs result in higher ball spin rates and steeper ball landing angles than V-shaped groove designs that were predominantly used in the past. The combination of a higher spin rate and steeper landing angle results in better control and less difficulty for shots hit from the rough to putting greens. As this degree of difficulty for shots hit from the rough has decreased, the importance of driving accuracy on the PGA Tour has lessened. “

In that release, the USGA proposes two amendments to existing groove rules:

• The total cross-sectional area of a groove divided by the groove pitch (width plus separation) would be limited to 0.0025 square inches per inch.
• Groove edge sharpness would be limited to an effective minimum radius of .010 inches.

That will have the effect of making square grooves perform more like V-shaped grooves. If you like to dig into club specs, you can read the proposal online, including a comparison of current versus proposed regulations(PDF), as well as the groove measurement procedure(PDF).

The reason I bring this up now is that the deadline for submitting comments to the USGA about the proposed rule changes was yesterday, August 1, 2007.

My expectation is that the rule will be enacted and the effects will be felt on January 1, 2009 when any competition committee will have the option of enforcing the new rule, and we’ll all feel it starting on January 1, 2010, when all new conforming clubs will be required to adhere to the new specifications.

Recreational players have no-doubt gotten used to the extra stopping power and won’t be happy when new clubs don’t perform the same way that they’re used to.

I’m not sure how this will affect play on the Tour. The rise of “bomb and gouge” has seen players start to just swing away and hit the ball as far as possible, knowing that they can still spin it from the rough and stop it on the greens. Will they go back to putting a premium on accuracy over distance again? Maybe. Or, maybe they’ll still figure that a sand wedge out of the rough with dumbed-down grooves is still better than an 8-iron from the fairway.

Time will tell.

Oh, and one side note: did you know that the grooves on the driver are strictly cosmetic? Those shots require as little spin as possible and are struck with a level or slightly ascending blow. You’ll notice that the grooves on the face don’t normally cover the sweet spot. Consumers must not respond well to clubs with completely smooth faces, I guess.

——————————————–

Read More:

Since I wrote this originally I found a good post from The Wedge Guy giving some of his thoughts on the USGA groove proposal.

One aspect of the mental game that I’ve been paying serious attention to recently is target awareness.

Golf is a 100% target-oriented game. Can you ever think of a time when you hit a shot without a target in mind? That’s a bad idea, even on the practice range. Especially on the practice range.

I’ve always known about the importance of targets in golf, at least on some level. However, I’m not sure I had a real awareness.

It wasn’t until I was reading Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella (link to my review) recently that it all started to make more sense. There are many things he covers in the book, but three things resonated with me. It took random tips that had been fluttering around in the void that is my brain, and it turned them in to a process for improving my game.

Those three things are:

• Pick as specific a target as possible.
• During the pre-shot routine and during the actual shot, think of the target, not of swing mechanics.
• Commit absolutely to the shot and to the target you have chosen.

Pick a Specific Target

Picking a very specific target is something many players struggle with. It’s not enough to make your target the entire fairway or even the green. It reminds me of the movie The Patriot where Mel Gibson tells his son, “aim small, miss small.” Of course, that was on a different subject, but the thought applies to golf as well.

You cannot have too specific a target, because the more focused on it you are, the more likely your brain will help you get the ball there. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever miss. It just means that we don’t do ourselves any favors by granting permission to miss or to be imprecise before the shot even starts.

Think of the Target, Not of Mechanics

Thinking of the target during practice swings and during the shot is something that many people don’t do. This is especially true when things are going bad. We clutter our minds with swing mechanics and if things are going really bad, fear and anxiety as well. Dr. Rotella recommends players not think about mechanics during a golf shot and even during practice swings. He adds that if we must do it, then make at least one practice swing prior to the shot where we are only concerned with the target not on mechanics. Obviously, this changes on the practice tee, but for a round, it fully applies.

Absolute Commitment

I think absolute commitment to the target and to the shot is another spot where many players falter, including myself. It’s so easy to let doubt creep in. It’s the times when we think “don’t hit into the water” that we’re doomed to do it. It’s the times when we need to hit a draw but the last one we tried hooked out of bounds that we do that too. To be successful, all that doubt must be replaced with absolute commitment.

I’ve been working on a routine that incorporates these three components to my routine for each shot.

It might seem like an insurmountable task to change the way we think. Dr. Rotella says that we can choose the way we think, and I agree with him. Somehow, in a short time, I found a way.

Before each shot, I pick as specific a target as I am able. I decide what shot I’m going to hit. I commit absolutely to those two things. I take two practice swings, thinking of any mechanical thing I need to do better during the first and thinking only of the target on the second. A couple of waggles and I go, but only if I’m free from doubt and thinking about the target.

While I’m waggling, I look up at the target a couple of times and let it burn into my mind. When I look back at the ball, it’s sort of like looking at a very bright light then looking away and still seeing the bright light. I can still sort of “see” the target, if only in my mind.

Since I’ve been doing this, my scores and the quality of my shots has been increasing. I think if you become more target-aware, you’ll see the same improvement that I did.