This article first appeared in Low Net, a Golf Digest+ exclusive newsletter written for the average golfer, by an average golfer. To get Low Net each week directly to your inbox, sign up for Golf Digest+ right here. Have a topic you want me to explore? Send me an email and I'll do my best to dive in.
One day earlier this summer I proclaimed my new focus was to not make any double bogeys.
The plan lasted roughly 12 minutes, until I three-putt the par-4 first hole at my course for 6. Later, my friends confessed to a side chat.
“He said his plan was not to make doubles,” one said. “What was he trying to do before?”
The problem was not the goal, but the absence of a strategy to achieve it. Of course I wanted to make fewer doubles. Ask experts what separates a mid-handicapper like me from players closer to scratch and they say it isn’t more birdies, but fewer doubles. Everyone from Tiger Woods to the course management expert Scott Fawcett have cited avoiding them as an essential pillar of scoring, often referencing the work of Columbia University professor Mark Broadie, the founder of the strokes gained metric and author of the groundbreaking book, Every Shot Counts.
But as simple as the math is to grasp, it’s not always apparent what you’re supposed to do. On one level, I thought I knew the principles: pitch out when in trouble, and focus on speed control on the greens rather than try to run long putts in for par. Still, the same problems resurfaced whether I was on guard for them or not.
This week I decided to consult Broadie directly with a simple question: if I really wanted to limit double bogeys, where would he recommend I start? The professor’s answers seemed logical. They also felt like recaps of my recent rounds. For instance:
1. Penalty strokes are death
The most obvious contributors to double bogeys are also the most damning. As Broadie said, a shot that sails out of bounds or into a hazard isn’t really bad luck if it’s a reflection of poor strategy. Multiple times in recent weeks I’ve tried to hug the left side of the No. 1 handicap hole at my course, only to clip a tree and have my ball kick out of bounds. To say I got screwed would be masking the truth.
2. So are recovery shots gone awry
Any attempt at escaping trouble that leads to more trouble is crushing. It might be catching a branch while trying to punch back into play, or wasting a swing on a lie you should have declared unplayable. Put it this way: if a shot has even a marginal chance of backfiring, it probably isn’t worth it.
3. A wedge shot HAS to be followed by a putt
The legendary coach Pete Cowen said it best ahead of the U.S. Open: Sometimes, it’s the guy who believes he’s a good chipper who gets himself in the most trouble. This is often my mistake. In a bunker, for instance, I’ll try to nestle a shot close, leave it in the sand, and wonder why I got so greedy. If I realized I wasn’t that good in the first place, I’d probably be better off.
4. Get putts to the hole
In Broadie’s view, short putting in general should be a focus for anyone looking to eliminate doubles. But a short putt left short is particularly egregious. Intellectually I understand a putt that doesn’t get to the hole has no chance of going in, but sometimes I focus so much on playing the perfect break, I still die it on the lip. Now I am vowing to give every short putt a chance because I’m determined to cut doubles out of my game. I’m serious. This time I mean it.