Stats are a great way for you to understand what your expectations should be on the golf course. And believe it or not, many Golfers expectations of what the range of scores that they should be scoring is far off. For example: once a Golfer scores a 95 for the first time, they usually expect to score from 95 to 100 in their next 10 rounds. And when this doesn’t happen, there’s a sense of that you’re not improving and possibly getting worse.

This can’t be farther from the truth.

I’m sure you’d agree that the most consistent Golfers in the world are the Men and Women that play professionally on the PGA and LPGA Tours. And if we look at their consistency – you’ll actually see more inconsistency than you’d expect. Now, when I say this – let’s take Tiger and Annika out of the picture. They’re freaks from a different planet as far as how good they are.

But let’s go to the rank and file of the best Players in the world.

One of the best young Players that really made a name for himself at the Masters just a month ago is Brett Wetterich. And just as I do as college football season starts here in the states – I adopt one team besides my beloved Scarlet Knight of Rutgers to follow for the season. Maybe you do the same. And this year, based on not just how well he played during the Masters, but also the poise and confidence he showed while basically being the leader in a Golf Tournament that every Golfer dreams of playing in – I chose Brett Wetterich.

I wonder if Brett knows how lucky he is?

There’s a lot you can learn by watching Brett. He’s not the quintessential natural. He’s had to work extremely hard to get where he is! He’s just about 34 years old and has been a Pro for 13 years (he turned Pro in 1994!) – Yet, we’re just starting to hear about him – and maybe you never heard of him before this Golf Improvement Weekly.

So basically, based upon how long it’s taken him to get where he is today (yet he still has his up-n-downs), Brett has had to go through more struggles on the golf course than you would go through if you lived 5 lifetimes (maybe more). I mean his life depends on how well he plays golf. Literally, he needs to play well to eat! You play a bad round of golf – you’re still in the grill room after your round crunching on a plate of Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad. Brett plays enough bad rounds in a row and he’s sitting on the side of the road holding a sign that says “Will Golf for Food.”

Seriously, if you used the same line of thinking that you use for yourself as far as improving – you’d probably call this guy very inconsistent. Because after he had a break-through at the Masters (the leader after two rounds going into Saturday) – he faltered.

See, if you scored 95 one Saturday and 99 the following Saturday and then 101 the next Saturday – you’d be telling everybody within earshot how – “I’m so inconsistent. I don’t know what’s wrong with my game.” Yet Brett went from the “top of the world” to missing the cut the next week in Hilton Head. Actually, he came 12 places from last place and missed the cut by about 7 strokes, which might not seem too bad until you understand that he ended up 20 strokes behind the leader after just 2 rounds!

He then skips a week and puts in a brilliant Tournament at the Byron Nelson last week coming in 10th place – scoring 66 in the First Round and 68 in the Second Round. This is the mark of a great Player – being able to accept that he’s going to have bad rounds and disappointments – then come back and play brilliantly!

But then he came back Saturday during the Third Round of the Byron Nelson and had a set-back by not playing very well to score 72 (2 over par).

Now, many Golfers are probably saying “Ohhhh, 72. I feel soooo bad for him. I wish I could shoot 72.” Well, it is a big deal because he shot 66 in his First Round and 72 is six shots worse in just a 3 day time span. And to put this in perspective – if you shot 95 on a Saturday and a 101 the next day, you be complaining how inconsistent you are.

If one of the Top 100 Players in the World can have a 6 shot difference between rounds and still come in 10th place against the other members of the Top 100 Players in the World Club – someone, like you, who scores 95 shouldn’t worry if the next round you score 110! Because a 15 stroke difference for a mere mortal Golfer is still less of a difference than 6 strokes for a PGA Tour Player!!!!

Though, the major difference is that Brett came back after his 72 (the 13th worst score on that day) and scored one of the best scores – 67 the last day to finish in 10th place. What would the regular Golfer have done after having a bad round? They probably would go home and scour the Golf Magazines to find out what they did wrong. Then go to the driving range the next morning before their round to try every tip they read the night before. And on the golf course they would’ve played like ……. I’ll let you fill in the rest of the sentence.

The Monkey gets upset with a 6 stroke difference between rounds because it’s “so inconsistent”

The Player watches Brett Wetterich and learns

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon