For many in the US, the golf season is close to concluding if it has not already. Hopefully, you have had a successful season and improved. The nice thing about golf is there are always ways to improve. We can improve our driving, irons, short game, putting, bunkers, mental game and more.
The first thing to do is an assessment of where you are so you know what to work on.
- Driving distance is important, how far does your average drive carry. The national average drive for men is about 212 yards of carry.
- Driving accuracy is just as important, what are your fairways hit percentage.
- Long irons, how often do you hit the green from over 175 yards.
- Mid irons, what are your greens in regulation percentage from 150 yards.
- Short irons, how close is your average shot to the hole from 125 and 100 yards.
- Short touch shots, how often do you get it up and down from 30-70 yards.
- Pitching, what percentage do you get it up and down.
- Chipping, what is your average shot total per chipping approach
- Putting, what is your average from 5′, 10′, putts per round and putts per green in regulation.
- How is your mental game? When is the last time you worked on the mental side or read a book on how to improve your mental side, breathing, relaxation or any other methods?
- What needs to improve on your body. Most of us can use some help with strength, flexibility, and mobility. Go see a good PT and get an assessment of what you can work on to help your golf swing and your life. Most of us have ailments that can be easily improved with the proper treatment.
Fill in the charts to see where you need to put in the work vs tour averages
- Driver __________________ carry distance Tour 285 yards
- Driver __________________ fairways hit Tour 66%
- Long irons __________________ greens hit from 175 Tour 54%
- Mid iron __________________ greens hit from 150 Tour 67%
- Short iron ___________________greens hit from 125 Tour 85%
- Short iron —————————-greens hit from 100 Tour 94%
- Mid short shots______________ proximity from 30-70 Tour 7% error
- Pitch shot ____________________ percentage up and down Tour 60%
- Chip shot ____________________percentage up and down Tour 75%
- Putting ____________________ % 5 feet Tour 80%
- Putting ____________________ % 10 feet Tour 42%
- Putts per green in regulation_________ Tour G-I-R ave. 1.73 per gir
- Putt per greens missed ______________ Tour missed gir 1.25 per gir
So take a look and make a proper assesment of work you need to work on. Then make a plan. Try to get a error rate or miss in your golf shots that is 10% off target and distance as your average. 7% would be exceptional. You can look at strokes gained numbers on the PGA Tour website and calculate how good the guys and girls really are. You will notice that the great players during wins average under 7% error rate.
Golf is a great game and one of the few that you can always improve on no matter your age.
Jim Hartnett, PGA
