How to best use your strokes

To get the best out of your golf game you must have the right mindset by using course management relevant to your handicap. This is best illustrated by an experience I had one Sunday morning in the pro shop at Winterfield Golf Club, near Dunbar in East Lothian.

As I was handing out scorecards for the weekly competition, one of our members, was bemoaning his luck. He jokingly suggested the club should dig up the 13th hole (368 yards, par-4, stroke index 2), because he could never make a par there.

"It always messes up my scorecard, along with a few other holes I could mention," he said, revealing that his handicap was 17. I asked him what he thought the par for the hole was.

Soon you will have new way of thinking with regard to par and i guarantee you will be surprised how much easier it is to play each individual hole. A par-4 on a course where you have a stroke  means you can take three shots to reach the green in your handicap-related regulation, then two putts. Think this way and you will be pleasantly surprised how many times you make a gross par, which for you means BIRDIE.

I told to him think about this new approach to  the golf  course - how par-3s can be considered par-4s and how much easier that is on the mind.

"It's a par-4 Kevin. You know that!"

"It is for me as a pro, but for you it's a par-5. With your handicap you can take five and still not lose anything in relation to your handicap."

I swear a little light went on in his brain!

This great game of golf is hard enough without putting undue pressure on yourself. Manage your own game better by thinking correctly and your Golf course

management will improve along with your enjoyment of the game. Look at each hole on your golf course in a different light. Draw up your own personal

scorecard and be prepared to be surprised by your own ability.

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