Learn from your
scorecard
By Ben Alexander, PGA Professional Director of Instruction,
Poppy Hills Golf Club
Many golfers struggle to play better golf but few lack the
direction to get started on the road to better scores. One of
the first things I do with my students is ask them what their
handicap is. If they say "28," for example, I then ask them,
"Well, where do you think you are losing 28 shots per round?"
Far too often their answer is, "I don't know."
If more players knew how to use their scorecard to their
advantage, they would know where most of their strokes are lost.
A great learning tool, I tell my students, is to use your
scorecard during your next four rounds as a record of every shot
you hit. Along with the score for each hole, mark down on your
card how many fairways you hit, how many greens in regulation
you hit, how many putts per green you use, and how many times
you did or didn't get up and down.
Ideally, I'd like to see you do this type of record-keeping for
at least four rounds on four different courses. That way it will
give you truer average of your strengths and weaknesses.
Once you do this, you and your PGA Professional can go over the
results on the lesson tee and really see where you are having
the most trouble scoring. Then it's simply a matter of working
on the areas of your golf game that need the most help.
