Ex golf pro Mike & amateur golfer Pete have got together to bring you the ultimate guide to lower scores.
Flavoured with advice from pro’s Luke Donald & Ian Poulter. Read on and if you are an amateur like Pete you will soon start to think like a pro and use your GPS like a real pro caddy. You will shave shots off your round and beat your opponents with smarter golf.

This is the absolute ultimate guide for you to get the very best out of your GPS to become a better, smarter, savvy golfer. You may be aware of some of our tips already as some featured in our tips for high handicappers published on Golf Today. But with those expanded and many more added making 19 in all (front nine, back nine and 19th hole), we believe we have compiled for the first time in one place the ultimate guide in which I’m sure your going to find some gems, whatever your handicap. Did you think its only use was to tell you the distance left to the green?

Pete: Let me say straight away. I am not a pro golfer and I don’t have a particularly expert swing, but most probably like you I am always looking for ways to get round in as few shots as possible.

Being small of stature (I’ll not use the term your thinking, but yes), I don’t hit it miles so I have to make up for lack of distance with other means. GPS fuelled course management is my preferred weapon of choice.
Frustratingly for my golfing partners, smarter golf seems to more than make up for their braun over brain
approach. Very satisfying!

Mike: Regardless of whether you are a short or long hitter you can be smarter than your opponents and become a better golfer with lower scores if you make the best use of what you have. Most wasted shots are because of errors of judgement. If you have a GPS then make sure you use every ounce of it to avoid those mistakes.

Beginning with some advice from Luke Donald, read on for the ultimate guide to the art of using GPS for lower scores.

The Front Nine
TIP 1. Centre of the green

Luke Donald: Play the Percentages There’s no point going straight for tight pins if you can’t play those really high pitches that land softly. Try finding the heart of the green and giving yourself a simple up and down instead. Once you start to make them it’ll give you greater confidence as you’re going around. Effective course management really works If a professional like me could guide an average amateur round a golf course I know I could help shave several shots off your score.

Pete: Avoid sucker pins. How many times have I/you done this? Aimed at the pin and slightly miss-hit or pulled the shot, ending up missing the green and having to deal with a hazard on the next shot? Ok now we know ‘caution’ might not be your middle name, but think like a pro and let your GPS help you avoid some big mistakes on the sucker pin holes.

Mike: A sucker pin may be positioned just over a bunker or positioned close to a hazard or OOB at the side or back of the green. View the green carefully or zoom in to the green view on the GPS to check where the trouble is, then ignore the pin. The GPS gives you distance to the centre for good reason, this is your maximum margin of error for hitting the green. Adjust this distance and your aim slightly to account for the location of the severe hazard, now you have your target. Confirm the distance by tapping the target location on the green view screen. If you miss 10 yards in any direction, chances are you will still be putting.

 

TIP 2. Control your distance

Mike: You may have read a lot of what has already been written about how important it is to know your club distances. I can never stress enough the importance of knowing an accurate distance you consistently hit for each and every club in the bag.  When you look at the distances shown on your GPS you should instantly know which club you need.

“GPS is a great way of answering uncertainties about distances on any course for any level of golfer, getting to know the exact distances and getting to know your own personal distances will only enhance your chances of shooting lower scores” Phil Archer Tour Professional

Pete: It doesn’t matter so much how far you hit each club, what matters is to consistently hit each club the same distance with a normal, repeatable swing.

Now I know you probably just want to turn up at your course and get playing or get down to the driving range and smack away, but spending an hour on the practice ground with your GPS, tracking your distances accurately can actually be fun! Practice with a purpose is much more fulfilling. And if you doubt it for a moment, just think of those times on the course where you have lost it for a moment when it didn’t go to plan or you had no plan. See how to use the GPS practice feature to obtain your accurate distances.

Mike: Stick a list of the results to the back of your GPS so you don’t forget them.

 

 

TIP 3. Check on course distances and recheck for each season

Pete: Your swing can change for a number of reasons, and distances change due to seasonal temperature and course conditions.  You can check the distance you just hit each shot by tapping the screen of your GPS when you arrive at your ball. Hey, did you think the distance hit feature was just there to pat you on the back when you hit a scorching drive? No, the feature is there to help you get more accurate, get better and be smarter.

Mike: If your on course distance differs regularly by more than 5% from your expected club distance, then it is time to get to the practice ground and recalculate them. You don’t want any doubts about club selection before you hit a shot. It is a good idea to check them every 3 months to coincide with the seasons anyway.

 

TIP 4. Simulate playing the course at the range

Pete: Now I know it can be fun to just blast through a bucket of balls at the range, but try this; not just for fun (especially if you have a partner to compete against) but to give yourself a mental edge in preparation for your next round.

Take your GPS to the range and bring up the course you want to simulate playing. Look at the hole map on the GPS, now visualise the hole before you and plan your strategy, choose your club and hit the shot just as if you were on the course. Estimate the result on the GPS by tapping the screen to move yourself down the hole to the position where you estimate your shot ended. Continue for the whole course marking your score on the GPS. If you estimate you hit the green add 2 virtual putts to your score, however if you estimate a missed green add 3 for a chip and 2 putts. Be hard on yourself as this will increase your focus on the target.

For a course with three par 3′s, twelve par 4′s and three par 5′s you will be aiming to hit 36 shots plus your handicap. You can reward your lower scores by treating yourself to a blast of any remaining balls with your driver.

Mike: This is particularly effective before playing a course rarely played before. When you actually get to the first tee it will feel familiar, you will know what to expect and you will be much more confident and decisive.

 

TIP 5. Recover to lay up – don’t compound mistakes

Pete: Okay so it does not always go to plan and there are some situations where you will have to take your medicine and chip out to recover. The unwritten rule of golf is if you make a mistake, don’t follow it with another one.

Mike: Even just chipping back onto the fairway can be a mistake if it is done blindly without thought.

Try to give yourself the best chance of recovery by using your GPS to identify the place where you want to play your next shot from.  This will most likely be to a lay up position where you will leave yourself the distance of one of your clubs. This might even mean it’s better and smarter to go back 20 yards to leave a full wedge rather than try to get closer and so leave that tricky 50 yard shot which you might be prone to duff.

Luke Donald: Leaving yourself with a 40 or 50 yard shot into the green isn’t easy – that’s why you never really see the professionals hitting it to that distance.

 

TIP 6. Maximise your margin for error

Pete: Give yourself more margin for error – For example imagine this scenario, my GPS tells me that I am 200 yards from the green, but having strayed from the fairway I have to play over tall trees. I should be able to clear the trees with an 8 iron which I can hit 125 yards to leave a 75 yard wedge to the green. The urge to hit the 8 iron to get it down there as far as possible is strong, however, this approach risks failing to clear the trees and instead of having a putt to save par I could rack up a big number.

Mike: The safer, rational option which gives you almost as much chance of saving par is to reverse your thinking. Take your wedge which you can be very confident will clear the trees and leave yourself the 125 yard 8 iron to the green. Use your GPS to help you make rational decisions that maximise your margin for error.

 

In-between distances – choose the club that avoids trouble front or back

Pete: We’ve all done it… tried to hit a really hard 8 iron to squeeze an extra 5 yards out of it or eased up a fraction on a 7 iron to take a few yards off in order to cover that ‘in-between’ distance. What has been the result? In my experience, a complete wreck!

Mike: Unless you are Luke Donald then it is advisable to hit your normal shot with your chosen club. So which do you choose? Use your GPS to see the front and back of green distances and then note where the trouble is. Allow for a few yards discrepancy either way on your normal shot. Which club takes the trouble out of play? Are you going to be safer missing it long or short. If  bunkers or a steep run off is all around the front of the green, take the longer club. OOB at the back? then take OOB out of the equation by using the shorter club.

 

TIP 8. Use your GPS at home to improve your strategy on holes you struggle on

Mike: Do you have a few bogey holes, metaphorically as well as literally? Get the holes up on the GPS and plan a strategy where you can take the nervousness and doubt away when you stand on the tee.

Pete: At a course I play regularly there is a 525 yard par 5 with a fairly narrow tree lined fairway, what’s more the fairway slopes from side to side, meaning that any fade on my drive is likely to end up in the trees, I’m then chipping out and it’s a hole I have struggled with, often ending up making 7 or 8.

However, I came up with a successful strategy using my GPS. I realised that an easy six iron will hold the fairway at around 150 yards, 2 more of those leaves me a 75 yard wedge and a putt for par.  This may sound overly conservative, but for holes where I regularly struggled I needed to adopt an approach that gave me the confidence that I can conquer the hole.

Teeing up on a hole like this with six iron rather than Driver or even 3 wood is a confident feeling. Especially when your opponent drives into the trees.

Mike: Pay attention to the stroke index 1-9 on the card. What difference would 6 iron or rescue off the tee make? Especially if you get shots on these holes, use them wisely.

 

TIP 9. Add Personal WayPoints for winter greens, lay up’s, dogleg corners, runouts

Pete: Winter’s coming and with it winter greens. Going to chuck your GPS to the bottom of your bag until spring? If you intend playing a course regularly then get your GPS out and mark your winter greens as personal waypoints on the hole. You will now have pretty accurate yardages for winter. But waypoints aren’t just for winter.

Mike: Also mark waypoints at dog leg corners and fairway runouts, mark your ideal lay up distance on par 5′s and long par 4′s. Now you instantly have the information you need to focus on to make the right decisions.

Luke Donald: Think about your next shot. Leaving yourself with a 40 or 50 yard shot into the green isn’t easy – that’s why you never really see the professionals hitting it to that distance. All too often amateurs will duff it or thin it through the green from there and then chip on and three putt. The average amateur is pretty efficient in getting it on or around the green but then they take another four or five shots holing out and that’s where rounds fall apart. That’s why better course management can help lower your handicap.

 

The Back Nine
TIP 10. Anger Management – The ‘right’ attitude on every shot

Pete: Hit shot. Swear or call self an idiot (or as per my golfing partner shout ‘I HATE GOLF!’). Optionally throw club. March up to ball and use residual anger to determinedly attempt miracle recovery shot. Repeat until feel like giving up.

Does this sound (feel) familiar? You are not alone. We might know in our heads that we should play one shot at a time and not let the previous shot affect the next, but it’s really really hard to do. We need some help. What tools do we have to help us? The best I’ve found is my GPS.

Mike: Your ball is where it is, now you can focus that anger on how you get back on track, channel your energy into using your GPS to problem solve. Check distances, check where your lay up distance is and plot your escape or recovery.

Pete: Now I can’t claim that I manage to do this every time, but I try to focus on the challenge, imagining someone set me a kind of puzzle I need to solve. If your partner placed your ball in this predicament and said ‘I bet you can’t recover from there’ then I bet your attitude and focus would be very different and you would rise to the challenge. Your GPS is your anger management tool and friend.

 

TIP 11. Plan from the green backwards

Mike: Apart from on a par 3 have you ever thought about where the ideal position and yardage range would be to approach the green from. Pete has a great example of how planning your shots from the green backwards with your GPS makes club selection a cinch.

Pete: A local course has fairway bunkers that cut into the fairway from the right at 160 yards short of the green centre on a 475 yard par 5 that sweeps in a curve from right to left favouring a draw for the right hander. Taking it down the left hand side makes it play 15 yards shorter, down the right 15 yards longer, a 30 yard difference.

To ensure that I carry the bunkers my target zone for the ideal position to play my approach from will be 145 yards and in from the left side of the fairway. Ideally I would like a 125 yard 8 iron or less.

My natural shot shape with the driver is a fade so I would most likely end up going the much longer route and hitting my second across those bunkers if I use driver off the tee. If I can go down the left I only need to cover 335 yards to my target with 2 shots.  4 wood rescue 175yards and 5 iron 160 yards will do it. A longer second will cut more of the curve of the fairway arc and the rescue has a higher ball flight so will be more suited to achieving the carry distance required to clear the bunkers. I have more control with my 5 iron so can confidently aim down the left from the tee with it.

My partner has out driven my 5 iron, but we have
almost the same distance remaining as he has gone
the long route and will need to hit over the cross
bunkers. I’m in good position favouring the shorter
left side, as the hole curves, with my lay-up target in
full view. (Am I sounding too smug?)

 

Working back from the green I have
8 iron approach from 125 yards
4 wood rescue (175 yards)
5 iron (160 yards) off the tee.

That covers the 460 yard short route avoiding bunkers using clubs I can be ultra confident with.

 

TIP 12. Get the right GPS

Pete: One of the trendy GPS watches is certainly convenient and easy to use but to really improve  course management and significantly lower your scores then you need a GPS with more features. The good news is it costs less too!

Mike: These are the minimum features you need to improve:

• Full hole maps showing all hazards – to plan how to avoid them
• Touch screen Point to Point (touch any point on the hole to get distance to/from that point) – for target zones, lay ups, hazards and recovery shots.
• Green zoom – so you can clearly see the green hazards and identify the pin distance
• Practice feature or club distance finder – to accurately measure the distances you hit each club.
• Distance hit – to track how your distances on the course compare to those calculated in practice
• Stats – to identify priority areas to work on and improve
• Personal Waypoints – to mark dog leg corners, lay-ups etc

And to be legal for use in competition it must not be a smartphone app such as on an iphone. (The presence of built in apps such as weather, compass etc unfortunately makes them illegal, whether you use those features or not.)

Shotmiser GPS Unit’s are legal and include all the features you need to enable you to lower your scores.

“As a coach from novice golfers to elite and tour players there is not a player from amongst those groups who would not save several shots using their Shotmiser to it’s full potential.

Even as an avid swing coach and technique coach I would have to admit the amateur golfer could save probably at least 5- 10 stokes a round using their GPS to navigate their way to a sensible shot making approach.”

Adrian Fryer.
Fellow of The PGA & Today’s Golfer Magazine Elite Teaching Instructor.

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