In order to improve, I am instituting a "WristySwing" par.

[WristySwing]

My handicap is higher than I'd like.  It has crept up to 14.5 over the last 2-3 seasons with little play.  10-12 years ago I was a 6.  I was playing last week and felt immense pressure to improve my game, with the goal of getting to a single digit by the end of the season through more short game practice, more range time, and just more playing reps.  However, I am doing one thing to help my mental aspect.  I remember Earl Woods instituting "Tiger par" when Tiger was a kid.  I am going to do the same.  "Par" for me is going to be 14 over for a round with the goal of shooting even par or better each time I tee it up until I get to my goal of 9.  

 

What do you think?  Is this a worthwhile endeavour to help motivation for someone who gets easily annoyed at playing poorly?

[ChristopherMcDonald]

Golf is supremely mental. If you feel like visualizing your game in that way will help you lower your scores then by all means you should do that. I subscribe to a similar line of thought, 9 over per 9 holes (or Bogey golf) being my "par". 

 

I also focus on the "typical" ways to score better, to support my Bogey or better mentality:

1. No triples 

2. Less than 36 putts

3. Focus on course management (not all holes require a driver)

[GungHoGolf]

That's what course handicaps are for. If your course handicap is 14, then on the 14 lowest handicapped holes (typically the hardest holes), your true par is a bogey.

 

With a 14 C.H., none of the par 3s will typically be a handicap hole for you. Whatever the 4 easiest holes are, your net par is actually par.

 

In other words, you can start tracking your NET score, not your gross score, to gauge progress. It gets harder as your index drops. And keep in mind, due to the way handicaps are calculated, you should only play to a net even par around 25% of the time. If you're playing even net par or lower more often than that, your index will drop.

[Krt22]

I personally think these discrete results driven goals don't do much of anything, if anything they can be detrimental. They do absolutely nothing in terms of identifying your main weaknesses and can lead to pressing.

 

What happens if you blow up and are 11 over on the front, do you press hard on the back and start compounding errors? Do you give it a half-assed effort since going +3 on the back seems like an impossible feat? Or what if you are +5 over the front and feeling good. Then you get a bit greedy and blow up on the back, then beat yourself up about it after the round. 

 

Be truthful with yourself and work to find your main weaknesses and work on those. Play each hole with good strategy to the best of your ability. Don't press for birdies or compound errors if you get out of position. Add them all up after 18 and see where you stand

 

Tiger's 5 rules are far better IMHO

 

https://golf.com/instruction/5-golden-scoring-rules-scott-fawcett/

Edited July 25, 2022 by Krt22

[goaliedad30]

One thing that I did as a kid when I was just learning the game was give each hole my "personal par". There were a couple of long par 3 holes I couldn't reach reliably; I started out treating those as "short par 4" holes. Similarly for a couple of very long par 4s, I'd treat them as par 5s. I think my personal par in those days started out around 75 or 76.

 

Interestingly enough, when I played those holes thinking about par differently, I found I made quite a few "birdies".

 

Take a scorecard at your home course and realistically assign your personal par to each hole.  I'll guarantee you that you will mentally approach a 210-220 yard hole differently if you think about it as "short par 4" vs. "long par 3". Same for a 430 yard par 4 ....

[WristySwing]

Thanks, everyone.  @Krt22I will look at the Tiger tips, I haven't seen that before.  The first round out with "my par" didn't go so hot.  But still a few months to chip away at it.

Edited July 26, 2022 by WristySwing