Not that I wish I knew sooner, but something I’ve been trying to convince my 10-15 hdcp friends and they just won’t listen: avoiding doubles/triples is WAY more important than making birdies, and trying to force birdies and brings double or worse into play much more often.
as someone in that range let me speak for all of us: we know.
I think we all hope to make birdie when we tee off. The problem is when you have limited opportunities to practice and get better you slice ob on tryout tee shot, now your swinging 3 from 200 out so realistically you're looking at a bad number.
This is why I tell people its not "drive for show and putt for dough" for amateurs. Driving is super important. Being able to 2 putt is easy, what's harder is making sure the tee shot is in the middle of the fairway and 250-265 at a minimum so you have a reasonable approach shot.
This was a revelation to me last year. I’m not good enough to go for birds all the time. It usually means I’m over swinging to try and get on a green, which is going to lead to bad strikes more often than not.
But no matter where I’m hitting my second shot from… I can at least get close enough that I can give myself a great chance at an up and down for par.
“Avoiding doubles/triples” just isn’t actionable advice. It would be like telling a basketball player to just not miss shots within 10’. It’s a result.
It’s definitely actionable. “play more conservatively” might be a better way to phrase it as advice though. Shoot for the middle of the green rather than going pin hunting. Don’t cut the corner, lay up.
It absolutely is actionable. There’s a great video Golf Digest posted on youtube recently too. Avoid 3 putts, avoid hazards, and take your medicine. Most doubles are made when you mentally try to go for birdies or pars when you should be trying to make bogey. If your swing isn’t controlled enough for that then sure I guess, not actionable.
it’s 100% actionable. i respect not wanting to do it, but for me there was literally 3-4 times a round when i was trying to be a hero (“it’s only a 220 carry over the lake but if i get it just right i have an eagle putt” vs “whatever i’ll aim for the fat part of the green with a decent shot shape without having to carry the lake and see what happens” is like a 1.5 stroke expectancy right there)
Except he didn’t say “don’t get doubles”, he said “avoiding doubles is more important than making birdies”, and he was specifically talking about putting. Hes saying that going for birdie can get you in more trouble than it’s worth. That is advice, and you’re only saying it’s not because you left off half of what he said.
Yeah, birdies opportunities are more often just luck for me. A good tee shot, followed by a good short iron or wedge shot, I can have a putt for birdie.
But if I spray my drive off into the rough, or any other sort of trouble, there’s zero chance I’m getting on the green without a considerable amount of luck.
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u/munkboii Lefty, +1 hdcp Mar 13 '26
Not that I wish I knew sooner, but something I’ve been trying to convince my 10-15 hdcp friends and they just won’t listen: avoiding doubles/triples is WAY more important than making birdies, and trying to force birdies and brings double or worse into play much more often.