Your misses in golf hurt you more than your good shots gain you!

Golf is about controlling your golf ball so that you can maneuver it around the golf course avoiding the various penal areas on the course to be able to shoot the lowest score possible. It is not about who makes the most birdies!

A ball that misses the target to the right or left can be either a good shot or a bad shot depending on the trouble areas on that particular shot. Too many times you will hear a player say “ I hit it really good and it just found the trouble”. If it finds the trouble it’s a poor shot! A good shot is solidly struck between any penal areas. depending on the hole you could be ten feet away from the flag and in a penalty area or 40 feet away and in an easy area to get down in two more shots.

A ball that has force applied to the left side of it will miss right and a ball that has force applied to the right side of it will miss left.

That means that if you are playing a hole that has trouble to the right there are two parts of the ball you can apply force to and one part you can’t. You can apply force to the back of the ball or to the right side of the ball.

Likewise if you are playing a hole that you can’t miss left you can apply force to two parts of the ball and one place you can’t. You can apply force to the back of the ball or to the left side of the ball.

If you understand that and have tested yourself in being able to do that you have a huge advantage over most players you will play against! Most golfers aim away from trouble instinctively trying to apply force to the side of the ball that the trouble is on but through poor mechanics then often apply force to the one part side of the ball they can’t and thus results in the ball finding trouble.

If you understand how to apply force to a golf ball you should be able to aim to the side of the hole where the trouble is and at worst hit a ball on your aim because you applied force to the back of the ball or give yourself a bigger area to miss left because you applied force to the nightside of the ball.

Additionally balls that miss right tend to miss short and balls that miss left go longer or the same distance as a good one but if it’s a solid hit will not miss short. For more of an explanation on why that is please go to the Mechanics section of On The Course.