I learned something few years ago that has helped me with my overall game, and how to get more out of my practice routines. Most golfers have a handicap number assigned to their game, but this number covers their entire game. Off the tee, long/short approach shots for a “GIR“ percentage, short game chips, pitch shots, sand saves, and of course putting. It is not a new idea, and certainly not mine, but what if you were to break down the various parts of your game, and assign each part it’s own handicap? Would not that handicap number give you a point of reference to focus on during you practice sessions? Also, when keeping these handicap numbers, would you not see the improvement in those various areas?

This is what I have been doing that works well for me. I play on a course most of the time that has four par 3, eleven par 4s, and three par 5s. Below is an example, and can be changed to anyone’s personal needs.

There are 14 holes that require a tee shot that is supposed to land in the fairway. These same 14 holes require approach shots that are supposed to land on the green. The other four par 3 holes (from the tee box) require me to hit the green in one shot.

Just pulling numbers out of the air here.

14 tee shots, and I miss 6 fairways which cause me to have shots where I can’t reach the green in regulation. That would give a tee box handicap of 6.

Now I have 8 fairway shots to reach the greens in regulation . Of those 8 shots I miss the green 4 times, which means I have to take 4 extra shots to get on the green. This gives me a “GIR” handicap of 4.

Those 4 extra shots become part of my up & down game, which in a perfect world would be 4 chips, sand shots, or pitch shots and a 1 putt for par. If I only get two of these approach shots close enough where I one putt for par that leaves me an approach (U&D) handicap of 2. (This would be the same scenario for all par 3s when the green is missed from the tee box.)

Once on the green I have two putts or less to hole out. If I have a 40 total putts for the 18 holes, then I have a putting handicap of 4.

To recap;

Tee to fairway handicap…………………..6

Approach shots (GIRs) handicap…………4

U & D handicap…………………………..2

Par 3 U & D handicap…………………….2

Putting handicap………………………….4

Total handicap……………………………18

What this tells me is that I am weak off the tee, and my putting is in the toilet. The easier of the two to work on is putting. If I get my putts down to 32 putts per round, my putting handicap will be -4, with an over all handicap reduction of 10. A big improvement just by working on the easiest part of the game.

Now if I work on my off the tee game, and let’s say I improve from a 6 to 4 missed fairways, this will also reduce my GIR handicap since I playing from more favorable lies, more often. With my GIR handicap lower, this will also help lower my U & D handicap since I am hitting more greens in regulation. Lets say from these three aspects of my game I improve by 2 strokes, then my over all handicap will improve from a 10 to an 8. I know from doing this for several months that this overall 8 handicap will equal out to about a 12 handicap on the course.

The one key point to all of this is to use the numbers you obtain while playing an actual round of golf. Then use those numbers as a focal point as to the part of your game you need to practice on. You still need to practice on all the various aspects of your game, but with these numbers you will know where you need the most practice, which will benefit your game the most.

Hope this is of some help to your golf game. ....FHs