3 Simple Things You Can Do to Win Your Next Tournament

Whether it’s your home course that you’ve played a zillion times or a course you’ve never seen, there are always things you can do ahead of your round. Here are some things to think about. Start by grabbing a scorecard:

Have you ever wondered what those numbers are at the beginning of your scorecard?… the pair of numbers that seem to make NO sense? Believe it or not, they are actually quite useful to determine how a course might play. Course ratings are universal, and they provide an indication of what a Scratch golfer SHOULD shoot at the course from the tees provided. In the example below, if a Scratch golfer played this course from the back tees, they would be expected to shoot 73.9 (we will round to 74) - since this is above the par total of 71, it tells us this course plays hard!

Another simple thing to note is the overall length of the course as well as the shorter and longer holes on the course. Naturally, longer holes are almost always harder, and shorter holes can be divided into 2 groups. Sometimes they offer scoring opportunities (think drive-able par 4s), whereas other times, the architect might heavily protect a green or narrow a tee shot landing area to make the hole significantly more difficult than it might appear. Similarly, the hole lengths can give you an idea of what clubs you’ll need most off the tee and from the fairway. If the course is quite long, you might want to hit a few extra long irons on the range, for example.

When looking at individual holes and the yardages, pay extra close attention to the par 3s, as this is where you can gain the most ground on the field.  Joe LaCava (Tiger Woods’ caddie) says that Tiger often looks at scorecards ahead of time to get yardages for par 3s, rehearsing those shots on the range to get a feel for them.  If he is doing it, why aren’t we?!

PRO TIP: Here’s a fun game you can play on the range leading up to an event. Grab a bucket of balls and pull up the scorecard of the golf course.  Go through all 18 holes in order and envision hitting the tee shots that are necessary on each hole, giving yourself 1 point if you ‘hit the fairway’ and 0 points if you miss. Then do the same for approach shots into imaginary greens. If you’ve already experienced the shots on the range, your mind will be so much calmer throughout the event.

This one is probably more applicable for smaller events or your weekend fousomes, but across any competition, it always helps to know who you’re up against. It should go without saying - you should always aim to shoot the lowest possible score, but you might choose to adopt a bit of gamesmanship dependent upon your competitors. If you know your partners are playing well but perhaps they like to play a bit too aggressively, and you also know the course is playing tough that day, you might get a bit more conservative yourself. Let your playing partners beat themselves up with poor decisions while you prod along making pars.

On the flip side, perhaps you yourself might have an advantage if you’re the long hitter in your group and you come up on a risk/reward drive-able par 4 or a long par 5. As long as you can keep the ball in play, you might be able to gain a few shots on the field across all 18 holes if you can use your length to your advantage.

Obviously you need to stay focused and present throughout each individual shot you have- i.e. don’t want to get too caught up worrying about anyone else. But if you know the competition is top-notch in a specific event or if you’re playing against 3 buddies that all played D1 college golf, you might need to make a few more birdies that day in order to prevent your wallet from being cleaned out!

Arguably the most important of the three, knowing where YOUR GAME stands and being honest with yourself is the clearest path to victory. Golfers are an odd bunch- after a series of duffs, shanks and skulls, we can hit one perfect shot and suddenly think we’re about to rip off 4 birdies in a row. You must level set your expectations with reality, however. Know your strengths and the shots you can rely on, and play within yourself. For example - if you are fighting a slice and can’t seem to get rid of it, rather than panicking and trying to troubleshoot (which can result in the dreaded over-correct), simply aim up the left side of the hole and let it come back. 

It’s a seemingly impossible task, but the more you can go into a round without expectations, the better you’ll fare. Golf is funny- you may have hit a perfect 10 yard cut off every tee box the day before, but then you’ll find yourself hitting big sweeping draws on the range the next day. Instead of getting mad or fighting your tendencies, play what you’ve got. When you step on the first tee box, you should be willing to accept any outcome and do your best to make the game reactionary. Mike Tyson’s famous quote applies perfectly here: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth!” So be an athlete and respond to whatever situation arises with no expectations. Just enjoy the fight!

We have a growing audience of 26K+ loyal readers and an additional 25K Facebook + 24K Instagram followers. If you’d like to promote your brand or course to our audience, click the button below!