1/ Background
One of my life's goals has been to shoot even par for an 18-hole round of golf.
In 20+ years of playing, I’d only really come close once — I had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th to shoot an even-par 72, but I lipped it out.
Aside from that one close call, I really hadn’t ever had much of a chance. For most of my adult life, I’ve been a decent player, but not really good enough to seriously challenge par. Even as I’ve improved in the last few years, my best rounds would typically end up in the mid-to-high seventies after a big mistake or two.
There’s an old urban legend about Jack Nicklaus. Apparently he wouldn’t let his kids move back to the further tees until they could break par from the forward tees.
So, I figured: why not try playing from the red tees at my local course (Riverside in Austin, TX)? The reds there are even shorter than most courses — only 4900 yards. I figured I'd make lots of birdies, shoot three or four under, and get comfortable with the idea of breaking par. Plus, it would give me a nice boost of confidence.
I shot a four-over 76.
It wasn’t so much a wake-up call as a wake-up slap to the face — I hadn’t even come close. Sure, I made a few birdies, but I lost just as many strokes as usual by spraying it around off the tee. I made double bogey on a 181-yard par 4 (no, that’s not a typo). It was embarrassing — I’d shot a 74 from the blues the first time I ever played this course!
I drove home depressed, wondering how I'd ever be able to break par from further back if I couldn't even do it from under 5000 yards.
2/ A More Patient Approach
A few months later, I was reflecting on the experience and wanted to give it another try. I had an idea: instead of getting aggressive and pumping tee shots into the woods on repeat, I wanted to focus on two things:
- Guaranteeing I hit the fairway on every hole
- Aiming at the center of greens
Since I tend to lose a lot of shots to penalty strokes, I figured this would help me go lower, even if it felt counterintuitive. To put it to the test, I decided to play two balls:
- With one ball, I’d play how I normally would from the back tees, taking driver on most holes and aiming at accessible pins. For nominative reasons, I chose a Vice ball for this strategy.
- With the other ball, I’d play it safe by leaving driver and 3-wood in the bag. I'd take as little club as needed off the tee to make sure I hit the fairway, and aim for the center of greens. I'll call that the Safe ball. (I played this one first off the tee.)
3/ The Round
I came out smoking hot with the Safe ball, birdieing 3 of the first 6 holes despite having longer approaches into the green. At the turn, I was -2 with the Safe ball and +2 with the Vice. I had only taken one penalty stroke with the Vice ball, but I had three other holes where I had to punch out from the trees.
It seemed like the Safe approach was the clear winner. As I made the turn, I figured I’d finally solved golf, daydreaming of the strokes that would soon be dropping off my handicap.
Then, I made a bogey on 11 and missed a 3-footer for birdie on 12 with the Safe ball, and all of a sudden I was only 1 under with 6 to play. After three straight pars, I cold-topped a hybrid off the tee on 16 and then banana-hooked my approach about 40 yards off-line. Nervously, I pitched the ball back onto the fringe, leaving myself about a 20-foot putt. If I missed, I’d be back to even par on the day.
I could feel it all slipping away. The calm, patient approach that had been my mental bedrock all day was swallowed up, engulfed by self-doubt. I remembered how I felt after the 76 I shot last time. How much dumber would I feel this time, having come up with a whole intricate little punny system only to fail once again?
Reader, I drained that par putt. Somehow, I managed to convert that anxiety into anger and will the ball into the hole. After a two-putt par on the 17th and a solid drive on the par-5 18th (just 380 from the reds), I finally started to exhale. Another comfy par on 18 confirmed a 1-under round of 71! (For anyone curious, I ended up shooting a 75 with the Vice ball.)
4/ What I Learned
After a huge flood of relief, I reflected a bit on what I had learned from this whole shenanigan:
- I’m better from 140–160 yards than I thought. In my head, having a 7- or 8-iron in my hand isn’t really a scoring opportunity. But the reality is that I’m not so much worse with an 8-iron than I am with a wedge. And especially if I aim for the center of the green, I will rarely end up in real trouble and should almost always have a good chance at par.
- Putting is crucial for a good round from any tees. I only missed one short putt with the Safe ball, and made several from outside 5 feet. A bad day with the flat stick could have wiped out any of my smart decisions off the tee or good ball-striking.
- At a certain point, consistency beats distance off the tee. The biggest difference between the two balls was the tee shots I sprayed into the woods with the Vice ball. I think this says more about my specific weaknesses than the overall approach. Analytics are pretty clear that driver is usually better for scoring average, but they’re even more clear that it’s hard to make par from the bottom of a pond.
- Breaking par from the reds is not easy! If you’re a ~5–10 handicap and you don’t believe me, go try it yourself. Par is a major mental obstacle. The pressure got to me and I almost blew it down the stretch. Even on an extremely short course, I had to make some clutch shots to break par. Battling that adversity made breaking par feel like a real accomplishment, even from the forward tees. I was really proud of myself that day.
Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I Quixotically try to apply these insights to break par from the whites.
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