Playing Golf Needs 7.2% Accuracy

First, I have the following useful numbers for playing golf.

Average golf course size: 75 acres
Average golf course length: 7200 feet
Number of holes in a golf course: 18
Golf cup size: 4.25 inches

Golf ball size: 1.68 inches
Golf ball weight: 46 grams

Par 3: 100 – 250 yards
Par 4: 250 – 475 yards
Par 5: 475 – 690 yards

I have studied the numbers for playing golf and have the following visualization: golf is a 7.2% accuracy game. If one can achieve this accuracy, the player is not very far from the professional level.

For an average Par 4 hole, the average length is about 380 yards. Let’s assume the player can put the golf ball into the cup with four strokes.

For the first stroke, the amateur player can drive at average 220yards in his first drive. With 7.2% accuracy, the ball will land within 16 yards from the center of the fairway. Usually the fairway is wider than 32 yards.

For the second stroke, the player can use a 7-Iron to drive the ball 160 yards. With 7.2% accuracy, the ball can land within 12 yards from the center of the green. The green is usually bigger than 24 yards in diameter.

Suppose the second shot put the golf ball at 20 feet from the cup, with 7.2% accuracy, the play can putt the golf ball within 2 feet from the cup.

The fourth putt will be easy if the golf ball is just 2 feet from the cup. The 7.2% accuracy player can putt the ball into the cup without much effort.

The problem is that the player has to finish four independent events in a continuous sequence. The total accuracy has to be 7.2% to the 4th power, or one in 37,211. That is one person in 37,211 people. That is why the professional players are so rare.

Playing Golf physically and mentally

Playing Golf is a physical and mental exercise.

For several times when I practiced golf swing in the driving range at the Ridgeview Ranch, I saw a father was teaching his son how to play golf. The father was teaching the son about perfect golf swings. The kid sometimes tried to look the golf ball right after he made the golf shot. That’s when the father was mad. The father said “don’t look at the ball, just concentrate on the swings.”

During Saturdays, Heath coaches the golf clinic for the golf player club members. I often join this free clinic (or the fee is included in the monthly membership due). One time he was coaching Zhen and me about putting. He said “don’t look at the golf ball until you hear the sound of the golf ball falling into the cup.” He was referring about putting.

I am thinking about those words said by the father and by Heath. I thought they were very profound. Golf is not only a physical game; it is also a mental game. At one side, one has to perfect his swings by repetitive practices for many times. At another side, one should be able to complete his intended action in his mind before the action is taken place.

If a good golf player has a target for the golf ball to land, he should be able to deliver the golf ball to the target without actually looking at the ball’s landing position since his action should tell him exactly where the golf is going. My personal experience is that I am anxiously to follow the golf ball’s trajectory as soon as I have finished hitting the golf ball.

From now on, I should practice the metal strength by making the swing action without the desire to look at the golf ball’s trajectory. It is important to do it for the woods, for the irons, and especially for putting. The standard errors should be reduced each time when changing from the wood to the iron, and finally to putting. The standard errors for the wood shots should be in yards. The standard errors for the iron shots should be in feet. The standard errors for putting should be in inches. In order to have two putts on the green, the mistake in putt can be a fraction of an inch. For example, if a golf player can control his wood shots in 9 yards, his iron shots in 9 feet, and his putting in 9 inches, the golf play must be a master in the game.

The father and Heath are actually telling the mental game side of playing golf when they stress the action of swing and putting without anxiously looking at the golf ball in its trajectory. When the ball has gone after the club-ball impact, the control of the ball’s trajectory is finished. I have often noticed that golf players actually bend their bodies toward their desired direction after the golf ball has already been in its trajectory as if their bending bodies can redirect the ball’s route.

Not anxiously looking at the flying golf ball is an important part of looking at the ball at the ground before the club-ball impact. This is to guarantee the body’s relative position to the ball for the swing to take place without any mistakes. Looking at the flying ball too early can change the body’s relative position to the golf ball so that the impact is not fully solid. Solid impact is very critical for playing golf right.

My First Birdie

We teed up around 2:30 this afternoon at the Ridgeview Ranch Golf Course. I was playing with Zhen, Jenny, and Shang. There were a lot of people playing today. The parking lot was full. There was not even one lot left for us to park when we arrived around 2 p.m. So our game did not start until around 2:40 p.m.

I got my first Birdie in the ninth hole (Par 4). I started with a 3-Iron at the tee. My first stroke landed my golf ball near the 150-yard black-white mark. I used a 7-Iron for my second stroke. The golf ball landed at the green about 20 feet from the cup. I putted the golf ball in the cup in one putt. I got a Birdie.

Overall the game was fine. I got 15 strokes over par at the first half and the 19 strokes over par for the second half. Over I got 34 strokes over par or 106 strokes.

At the 5th hole (Par 3) I landed my golf ball in the middle of the creek. I took the penalty and I restarted from the tee as my 3rd stroke. This time my golf ball went too far away to the right side of the green.

I did badly in my 18th hole. My first stroke landed my golf ball behind a tree (non-playable). I took one-stroke penalty and I moved the golf ball to the left of the tree and played from there. The golf ball passed through a tree and cut several leaves off the tree. So the ball did not go too far. Overall I got 4 strokes above par for the last hole.

I got my 99 strokes (first time I broke the 100 strokes mark) last Thursday when I was playing with my classmates at the Plantation Golf Course. The last week was not bad for my golf games.