19th Hole

Jeff Fisher
Director of Instruction
Fisher Bryan Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club
Mesa, AZ
jfisher@obsports.com

More Information

It’s a Game! Make it Fun!

Golf is a hard game, and it always amazes me when golfers themselves do their best to make it even harder!

For the last year or so the PGA of America has been sponsoring a program called Tee It Forward and encouraging players to use tee boxes that are appropriate to their skill level and therefore allow themselves to have more fun at the game. After all, shooting 85 is more fun than shooting 95 and shooting 75 is more fun than shooting 85. So, why not help yourself do that?

Imagine if golf were like skiing and the tee boxes were rated according to difficulty like ski runs. If you were a 25 handicap skier would you be running up to a black diamond run and strapping on your skis? Of course you wouldn’t!

So, I am issuing a challenge to all golfers! Get brave, break away from what you think you are supposed to do and move up a tee box...or two! Set a scoring goal and make it lower than you have ever shot before. Now stay on that forward tee box until you shoot that score. Then move back a box and shoot your target score from there. By the time you reach the back tees you will have earned your spot there!

Challenge Number Two: Get organized! Scrutinize your game so that you know exactly where it is you are losing strokes. Don’t waste your time hitting drivers on the range if you three putt six times a round. Think about playing smarter shots if you are incurring 2 or more penalty shots per round. Maybe that 200 yard forced carry is not the best idea.

The golf industry each year tries more and more initiatives to help golfers have more fun at the game but in reality it is up to you, the golfers! Do something different this year. Play the forward tees. Make a scorecard with no par on it and instead of comparing yourself to a random number set by the USGA…just try to do better on each hole than you did the last time. See how many holes you can play with the same golf ball. I bet you would hit smarter shots if that was your goal!

Make FUN your target score for 2013!

Jeff Fisher is the Director of Instruction at the OB Sports Golf Academy at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. Jeff can be reached at 480.414.9330 or jfisher@obsports.com.