Golf is Like Fighting
When I was a kid I was always fighting. Training to fight. Street Fighting. Wrestling. You name it.
One of my fondest teenage memories was fighting a “Black Belt” in Tae Kwon Do. This guy was a non-athlete who apparently was very good at large roundhouse kicks, flying sidekicks, etc. In other words he had very pretty moves that would look good in a movie.
We were fighting because of a girl. Go figure. He assured everyone his technique would enable him to beat me to a pulp. He was arrogant. I was quiet as I had already been in several fights at this point.
It started by us circling each other. I glanced up. He did too. I shot in and tackled him (double leg for those familiar with wrestling). My head was at his chin as he was probably a foot taller than me, so I head butted his lip/mouth as I tried to inch up to head butt his nose. He freaked and rolled onto his stomach. At this point, I could have finished him off in a dozen ways, but - for some odd reason that only a 16 year old on roids will understand - I repeatedly elbowed his ear and head alternately as he attempted to cover until he was a bloody mess. It was over in about 50 seconds.
Get it? Golf is the same way. You can spend hours at the range working on making your swing pretty. Fussing with your grip. Video taping yourself to look as elegant as possible. The only thing that matters is getting the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible.
You can never anticipate every divot, bad lie, tree branch and hot drink cart girl that will foul up your game.
If you really want to score, you need to scramble, kick, scratch and punch your way into the hole. You need to fight for every stroke you can.
What does this translate to out on the course? Something uncommon in recreational golf: uncommonly smart play using PUNCH shots.
Forget about hitting a nice, high soft shot when you can punch the ball up there and let it roll onto the green.
Don’t try to hit a high draw over a tree to stick the green from 210 out. Punch the ball back onto the fairway for a good look at the green.
Got a long 230+ par 3 with trouble all around? Let me guess, there is nothing between you and the green but grass? The hole is surrounded by trouble. Punch the darn ball up as far as you, wedge onto the green for a par putt. Worst case, you walk off with a bogie. (Try getting a bogie when you’re dropping 3 on a slope lie with a wide bunker between you and a short green with trouble in back.)
Instead of trying to POWER THE BALL OVER A TREE, punch the ball low and run it to the edge of the green.
If you’re a mid to high handicapper and you’re not playing this shot at least a handful of times per round, you are leaving some strokes on the table.
Punch Punch Punch.
Oh, the other corollary here: quit trying to make your swing pretty and get to course to play!