Ball striking and scoring

There is a correlation between ball striking (broadly defined as how well we hit the ball) and scoring (much more easily defined by the scorecard). However, that correlation is nowhere near as strong as we might imagine.

Some tremendously athletic and powerful ball strikers are never going to win consistently because the odd great round is far outnumbered by the rounds characterised by missed short game opportunities, be they poor chips or missed putts, or some other indiscretion near the green.

Professional golfers who play four rounds cannot afford to have one or two 'ordinary' rounds and expect to feature in a tournament. Similarly, once-a-week amateurs cannot afford to have two or three disastrous holes in a round and expect to have a good score.

The search for consistency is an often fruitless one for the player who pays too much attention to the ball striking part of the game. This is the player who goes to the range and pounds hundreds of balls, with very little thought, and very little improvement.

From bitter experience, trying to maintain a lower-middle handicap is frequently sabotaged by the above-mentioned missed or wasted opportunities. The good player gets up and down from just off the edge of the green more times than not, and doesn't miss more than the very occasional putt from inside a metre.

The average player takes three to get down from near the green maybe three-quarters of the time. And the average player probably misses several very make-able putts per round. This converts an 80 into an 88 or a 90 into 100.

It is very frustrating. So what is the answer?

Given that I am still intent on developing my 'magic triangle' golf swing, it will not be easy to shift focus to the short, scoring game.

In fact, the shift will probably have to occur in stages, something like:

Continue to use the 'magic triangle', while swinging as easily as possible, and swing out and beyond the target (the latter crucial in limiting the current prevalence of pull shots).


Work at clarifying what shot to play and club to use in various short game situations (still suffering lots of uncertainties).

Try to putt with freedom, ignoring the results

Some of this involves thinking; some of it involves not thinking. Making the right choice and then following through with it is the biggest challenge.

What a joy it would be to be able to hit the ball nicely and have a sharp short game. Is it too late; is it a bridge too far? Time will tell.