How do you score on those days that your swing is less than video material? This isn’t your everyday round; this is a rough round. Change everything you know about scoring and work from an acceptable round back, instead of the perfect round forward. Eh? Sound self defeating…Not really; it can be very smart golf by allowing for errors.

So let’s not chilly-dip, that's too ugly. You could lay up on the 7 hardest holes on the front nine and two putt them for bogey, par the 2 easiest holes and you’d still shoot 43, without going for 7 out of 9 greens! If you one putt a hole or two, you're talking 42 – 41!

Stating the obvious but often forgotten, a 95 is made up of: 13 bogeys and 5 double bogeys…85: 5 pars and 13 bogeys and 75: 16 pars and 3 bogeys. If you really look at the numbers, they aren’t so scary. There is actually a lot of room for error, regardless of your handicap.  You can chilly dip the ball seven times in 9 holes, hit two greens for par and shoot 43. Depending on your handicap, that could be a pretty good score.

Ok, so what are we saying? On those iffy days, secure the bogeys, and the pars will fall! Unless you’re a pro, bogeys won’t kill your score, but doubles and triples can. Knowing your actual wiggle-room, frees you up to play smarter golf.  A 10 handicapper has a 10 for a reason. They tend to make 10-11 errors per round. Don’t wait for the error; lay up on difficult holes, and secure the bogey. You’ll be amazed at the number of pars that slip in.