For those of you who follow our blog, one of our guest posters is Shawn Augustson, a student at the College of Golf and writes the blog Golf with Shawn and has shared with us some of his recent lessons. Here is one such post for the benefit of MyScorecard members.
We have many different reasons why we like to golf. Some find it as a way to relax, others enjoy the challenge… but the common denominator is that we all find it fun. This leads me to the question that if we want to have fun, why do we set ourselves up for failure at the first tee?
I have friends who like to stretch the course out and play as far back as they can. “I want to get my money’s worth and see the entire course”, is what I have heard time and time again.
The simple reality is this. They do not have the skill set to play from the distances they “feel” they need to play at. They start off with high hopes but after a few holes there is a lot of complaining, self-doubt, and threatening to quit the game forever.
This could all have been avoided and they could have had much more fun had they moved up to a tee that was more comparable to their game.
We need to change our mindset and play the game where we can score and have fun. When I was attending the College of Golf, Dr. Wilson, PGA Master Professional, and Director of Golf would challenge us to play from the first set off tees. “If you can shoot par or better there, then move back one set until you shoot par or better from there, etc.” he would say to us.
The Tee It Forward program has a really good yardage recommendation based of the players average drive distance:
| Driver Distance | Recommended 18-Hole Yardages |
| 275 | 6,700-6,900 |
| 250 | 6,200-6,400 |
| 225 | 5,800-6,000 |
| 200 | 5,200-5,400 |
| 175 | 4,400-4,600 |
| 150 | 3,500-3,700 |
If you are finding that the game of golf is becoming frustrating, my challenge for you is this… with your next round of golf, move up one set of tees from where you normally play from. Move it forward and have fun. See you on the tee at Westchester Golf Course!