How to get a single-digit handicap

There is a definite order of skills to develop to be able to break 80 on a semi-regular basis. First, get the ball up to the green in a hurry. Learn to hit fairways and get the ball on the green or close to it with your irons. Short game and putting are no help if you waste strokes getting to the green.

It should take you no more than 38 strokes per round to get the ball green-high in regulation.

Next, learn to chip. I know, you might think putting should be next. But if your average leave with your chip shots is about six feet, you won't get many up-and-downs. There need to be a few stone cold tap-ins every round, and a chip-in every other round or so.

Still no putting. Pitching comes next. Learn to get the ball on the green in one shot from under 100 yards. You might be surprised, if you keep track, at how often you don't do this if you're a 15 or higher.

Next comes putting, specifically, cutting down on three-putt greens. Those are caused most often by leaving your approach putt short. So practice approach putting a lot. From forty feet in should be two-putt territory.

The other critical putts are the 3- and 4-footers. Inside that, you're 90 percent. Outside that to six feet, you're fifty percent. But those mid-range shorties are the key to closing the deal on the green.

Here's a short way of saying all that. In order:

- Drive 225 yards, in the fairway.
- Hit the green from 150 yards in.
- Pitch on, always.
- Chip to under three feet.
- Approach putts to under two feet.
- Ninety percent within four feet.

Or in terms of scoring, look at it this way:

- Par all the par 5s.
- Par two of the par 3s.
- Par five of the par 4s.

That gives you a 79. You still have to do some playing, but if you look at it that way, it isn't so hard.


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