DECISION making on the golf course is a massively important aspect of the game. I ask many players to complete post round analysis forms.

The form consists of many questions. I’ll look at some more of those in a future article.

One question, which is met with a blank expression, is ‘How many of the following did you make?’ * Poor Swings * Mental Errors * Poor decisions/Strategy Usually the form is filled in with several poor swings, no mental errors and no strategy or decision making errors. Some probing questions later and usually find out that there are fewer poor swings then there are mental errors and decision making/strategy errors.

A game which I often play can gradually change your behaviour. It’s called ‘Worst Ball’. You may have played ‘better ball’ when two balls are hit, you then choose your best one etc. It gives a best case scenario and you might shoot a great score. There are no second chances in golf and every shot counts. There is an altenative.

‘Worst ball’ is as simple as you think. You hit two balls from the tee. Choose your worst one, then drop two balls and hit two shots from that point. You then pick your worst of those two and repeat until you have finished out.

The reason behind this behind is that the choices you make will change so that you play a more conservative shot you know you could execute and finish in a reasonable position a vast majority of the time.

How many times have you been in a situation where you are behind a tree. You see a small gap of air you think you could hit the one in a million shot through? This tempting shot at glory is now met with the challenge of pulling the shot off twice in a row….much less likely and makes you rethink the decision, because you’ll need to deal with the consequences.

Play the percentages and you’ll shoot lower, more consistent scores.