Let the Carnage begin....

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With the US Open starting today at Oakmont CC, a venue where green speeds will be up at around 14/15 on the stimp and rough about 5” deep just off the fairway, you may be wondering just what comparisons we as Club Golfers can draw from the hardest Major Tournament of the year

Throughout the coverage over the next four days, you will undoubtedly hear how ‘Par is your friend’. This is particularly true during a US Open, but is also incredibly important across the whole of the game.

With the USGA sticking to wanting the winner of the event to be as close to Par as possible, avoiding disasters all week will be the most important element of the winners game.

In my experience, the majority of Amateur golfers perceive that the separation between themselves, their peers of a lower handicap group and the best on the planet, is the amount of birdies/eagles they make during a round. Statistics from Shotscope/Arccos have proven this to be incorrect.

At Oakmont this week, Bogeys, and in all likelihood Double Bogeys will be unavoidable. A slight miscue off the tee, or a firm bounce on the green can easily result in a dropped shot here or there, and with birdies hard to come by, particularly around a US Open venue, plodding along and making Par’s will go a long way to claiming the USGA’s Gold Medal on offer this week.

The same can be said for us Club Golfers on a week to week basis. In the table below are some of the real differences between different levels of golfers, which have been taken from the thousands of golfers across the globe tracking their stats.

Your eyes may be drawn to the apparent ‘lack’ of birdies Tour Pro’s/Scratch golfers make in a round…..however the biggest differences come in the two columns on the right

Keeping the disasters off the card is the fastest way to lowering your scores and keeping your score going.

Far too often I see Amateurs taking on shots where the risk far outweighs the reward….only in an effort to try to avoid making a bogey, only to successfully put a double….or worse….down on the scorecard. What normally follows is a plethora of continuous bogeys or worse and the scorecard gets hypothetically ripped up

So what can we do….whatever level you play at, you will always hit bad shots. This is unavoidable and is something that we all need to accept. We also get bad breaks….the bad bounce, the lip out, the bobble on the green from a badly repaired pitchmark or bad lie in the bunker. We must all remember that we play a sport in the most unpredictable environment of any sport on the planet.

How you deal with set-backs, and these bad breaks is what separates the best from the best.

If you make a bogey, which statistically you will, don’t let it lead to another, then another. Try to put it behind you and play the next shot that is infront of you. It can be difficult to achieve, particularly if you react to a bad shot or bad break with anger.

Additionally, as a rule you should use the 80/20 rule when faced with a difficult shot. If you can successfully pull off a shot 80% of the time, then go ahead and pull the trigger with commitment. If on the other hand you feel that you can only achieve the shot 20% of the time, opt instead for a more conservative shot which you are able to hit.

Enjoy your golf, and enjoy the carnage to unfold in the following days

Rich