How many golfers are "expert"? That's right, a microscopic few. Maybe 2% of all golfers are true par hunters on each round they play. So why are the masses measured by the same standard? Or are they? They are ultimately judged by the total number of strokes, regardless of par. Television, I learned this week, is what instigated the over par/under par scoring such that viewers understood where competitors stood amongst themselves while playing, regardless of where they were on the course.
Does this apply to the everyday player? I'm not sure it really does. How do we encourage more play or new players by measuring their performance against expert golfers' scores? Shouldn't we consider adjusting par for new golfers or less skilled golfers? Wouldn't that be more encouraging?
Take a brand new golfer. Ideally the PGA Professional meets with this student several times and systematically advances her skill level and basic understandings of the etiquette and rules of the game. Some confidence is gained and off to the golf course they go. The golf pro takes a deep breath and encourages the new student to relax now that they are on the real playing grounds.
The student is nervous nevertheless and proceeds to dink one off the tee a little sideways. Arriving at the spot she whiffs one (and you take the time to explain that this is, in fact a stroke), then tops the third stroke ten yards down the fairway. Tension is increasing and the fourth stroke is tagged dead left and out of bounds. Another rules situation to explain. The sixth shot is then hit fat and goes about thirty yards down the fairway. At this point we are 80 yards off the tee and have 170 yards to go. Deep breath again. Finally, she connects with one and hits it about 75 yards. She's feeling good at this point.
Arriving at the ball she proceeds to take another stroke and this time nicks it off the toe of the club and the ball goes sideways and into a bush. An explanation of an unplayable lie and a drop later she proceeds to drill one into the next bush. This continues for another ten minutes and the final tap in results in 15 shots on the 250 yard first hole. Congratulations! Par is 4! You are only 11 shots over!
Could the student possibly feel any success here? She's been on the receiving side of three rules explanations and I'm sure by now he's forgotten the one clean 100 yard shot he had in the fairway.
Two things need to happen here and need to be considered for new players. First, start this player from the 150 yard marker in the fairway and let him/her tee the ball up everywhere until they develop more confidence. ENCOURAGE the confidence! Secondly, the teaching professional, or who I'd like to refer to as a "coach" for a rank beginner should probably develop a generic scorecard with blanks for par. The professional should determine "par" for his student that provides a goal to improve but that is actually attainable. From 150 yards determine the difficulty of the hole for this student given the layout, carries over sand, contours, difficulty of the green, etc. and determine a par that is appropriate to the specific student.
Some of these holes will have a par of 5 or 6, some might be 8 or 9, and then again there may be holes with par of 12 or more. The point is, encourage the student by providing an attainable goal for them to strive for.
I did this for my father years ago. I added a stroke to all the existing pars on the scorecards at his courses such that par for him was 90. Within a couple of years he went from a 27 handicap to a 15. Sure it wasn't only because of the different par but he felt better about achieving more birdies and pars (using his new scorecard) than a pile of bogeys, double bogeys and the dreaded "others."
ENCOURAGE new golfers at every turn and in any way possible. Sometimes it is the most simple thing that can keep someone coming back!
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