Golf Hacks

New Thread!
Golf Hacks as in well... I'm not fully sure what a "hack" is, but I see it on twitter when someone is mentioning neat tricks to save money or time. So in this case these are tricks I have used recently to shave some strokes off my golf game. How many strokes is up to you, but I've lowered my average score by close to 9 strokes in the last 12 months. Now, of course I am not the best golfer in the world, but if these tips can save you a stroke or 2, it's cheaper than a new driver!

Golf Hack #1
Start keeping your stats. Get a little notebook to take with you then crunch the numbers when you get home.  I track the following:
Course Name
Holes Played
Score
Par
Fairways Hit
GIR
Up and Downs
Putts
Club Used
How it was hit (left, right, long, straight, etc...)
Penalty Shots

You can keep whatever data you want, but having numbers help you know what to work on. For instance I played 9 holes this morning and 76% of my shots came from just 3 clubs in my bag:
Putter 40%
Putter (off the green) 6%
Sand Wedge 17%
3 Wood 13%

(I play my 3 wood off the tee a lot of the time, since the driver is not necessary unless it is 380+ yard par 4 or if it is a length based par 5)

Take a look at that for a minute, almost half the shots are with the putter. Which means next time I go to hit balls at the range, I need to spend half my time on the putting green. My 3 wedges (48* Pitching, 52* Utility, 56* Sand) accounted for 23% of my shots. Which means I need to spend at least a quarter of my time at the range chipping and pitching. My woods (Driver and 3 Wood) 17% and all my irons (2-9) 11% round out the rest.

So if I've got a hour to spend at the range, I should break it down as follows:
Putting - 30 minutes
Chipping and Pitching - 15 minutes
Woods - 10 minutes
Irons - 5 minutes
Sounds weird, but the stats don't lie.... I'll beak down my routine at the range in the next golf hack, until then start keeping your stats and I'll show you great ways to use them.

Thanks for the read!

G