Greetings Golfers,

Just had a guy tell me that he’d be a really good golfer if he didn’t have so many penalty strokes. He was serious. Actually, I’ve heard that a lot over the years.

That’s like saying “I’d be a really good driver if I didn’t have so many accidents”.

Since I started with a car analogy, I’m going to stay with it. PGA Tour players are like NASCAR drivers – they have to keep it floored. If a NASCAR driver isn’t going full speed, he’ll get passed. If a PGA Tour player isn’t making birdies, he’ll get passed by someone who is.

Well, I don’t know about you … but I don’t like having car accidents. I try to drive to my destination and arrive safe and sound. I also try to drive a golf ball to my destination and arrive safe and sound. I’m not playing on the Tour – I like making pars. I’m not driving in NASCAR – I want to get to my destination at a reasonable pace … but I don’t want to risk my life to save a few minutes.

It’s fun to drive fast – I get it. It’s fun to swing the driver really fast – I get it. But, I also like to shoot a good score, and wild drives turn into penalty shots. And penalty shots make it pretty hard to have a good score. Just like driving fast turns into tickets and car accidents.

Obviously, there is a happy medium. Driving a car at 10 mph would be pretty safe, but it would take way too long to get to your destination. Sounds like another example of risk/reward. Same with using a driver.

It’s not just swinging too hard with the driver – it’s also trying crazy shots. Here’s a typical example: A player rushes to the first tee and tops their drive. It only goes about 50 yards, and it goes into the rough. Rather than just slowing down and hitting a 7 iron into the fairway leaving an easy third shot … they try to hit a miracle 3 wood out of the rough and hit it out of bounds. This player has already crashed and burned on the first hole … needlessly.

Tour players are not good role models. NASCAR drivers are not good role models. Common sense is a good role model.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM and Head Golf Professional