Golf
A course-management and scoring playbook — decisions by phase of play, with the numbers on their own pages.
Everything worth knowing about playing smarter golf — distilled from tour-data breakdowns and pro coaching into decisions you can scan on the tee. Favors decisions over swing mechanics: this is about scoring, not your takeaway. The decisions live here; the numbers behind them live on their own pages.
If you remember one thing
Pick a specific target inside a wide zone, make your stock swing, and aim so both edges of your miss are playable. Decision first, swing second — that's where the strokes are.
Pre-shot routine — every swing, no exceptions
Behind the ball, pick a target + intermediate point. One purposeful practice swing. Step in, set the clubface first, feet second. One look, pull the trigger — no third look. Target ~15–20 seconds from behind-the-ball to swing.
By phase of play
PRE-ROUND
- Arrive 30–45 min early — a rushed warm-up is worse than none
- Warm up wedges → irons → driver → wedges (feel, power, rhythm)
- Circle tucked pins; pre-commit a plan on your 2–3 trouble holes
- Greens: a few long lags for speed, then short putts for confidence
TEE
- Specific target in the widest part of the landing zone
- Stock swing at 75–80% — no steering, no speed manipulation
- Tee low (Bullet) for wind/tight, high (Bomb) for carry
- 65-yd window: ≥ 65 swing free; < 65 club down or pick a side
- Aim away from penalty hazards; play the visible fairway
APPROACH
- Fat of the green, not the pin; confirm the safe miss side
- Never short-side (red zone) — aim at safe "yellow" zones
- Front pins club up / land long · back pins land short
- Tucked pin → aim 12 ft to the safe side
- Use a runout number (slope + descent), not static carry
WEDGES
- Distance by backswing length, never by swinging harder/softer
- Vertical miss runs ~1.7× the horizontal — guard long/short
- Low flight: ball back, steep strike, launch ~50% of loft
- Know your carry numbers across swing lengths
SHORT GAME
- Lowest-risk option that works
- Putt → hybrid-chip → bump-and-run → pitch → flop
- Keep it low and slow; stand close, choke down, quiet wrists
- Aim for ≥ 50% rollout; land on the green, never the fringe
BUNKERS
- Greenside: open face/stance, weight forward, hit 2" behind, accelerate
- Fairway: extra club for the lip, grip down, ball-first — stability first
- Plugged: close the face, steep attack, expect runout (no spin)
PUTTING
- First putt is a lag to a 3-ft circle, not the cup
- Read more break — bias high (amateurs under-read)
- Read with your feet; pick the apex and aim there
- Inside 5 ft: forget the read, start it on the line — target 0 three-putts
BAD LIES
- Uphill: higher/shorter — club up, swing with the slope
- Downhill: lower/hotter — club down, stay down
- Ball above feet: pulls left → aim right, grip down
- Below feet: pushes right → aim left, more knee flex
- Flyer rough: +1–2 clubs, no spin, expect release
RECOVERY
- Boring golf: take your medicine, kill the double bogey
- Back in play with a 90%+ shot — no miracle shapes
- Needs two miracles? It's a sideways punch-out, every time
- Never recover within 3 clubs of fresh trouble
CONDITIONS
- Into: club up, smooth tempo, ball back · down: club down only if runout's safe
- Cross: aim into it and let it bring the ball back
- Cold < 50°F club up · altitude +2% / 1,000 ft
- Links: run it, low flight · wind up top is 1.5–2× the ground
PAR 5s
- Plan back from a layup you love (full wedge beats an awkward 40)
- Go in 2 only if: clean lie, nothing short, 8/10 execution, no green-side hazard
- Never lay up to an awkward number
- Target zero bogeys on par 5s
RISK / REWARD
- 80% rule: can't do it 4 of 5 times → EV is negative
- Compare expected strokes, not best-case outcomes
- Play for the number that keeps the next shot comfortable
HEAD GAME
- Commit before the trigger — uncertain? back off and re-commit
- One shot at a time; grade on process, not score
- Pressure: breathe 4 in / 6 out, conservative target, no card math until 18
- Self-talk in nouns — "good lie," never "don't chunk it"
CLUB CHOICE
- Driver if the fairway's > 30 yd wide and it won't run through; else fairway wood
- Hybrid for height/forgiveness; long iron for low / into-wind / shaping
- Gap your wedges tight — that's your scoring zone
- Default to forgiveness over shot-shaping
TRACK & PRACTICE
- One line per hole: tee / fairway / approach / short / putts
- Rolling 10-round averages — ignore single rounds
- Practice 60 / 25 / 15: short game · wedge distance · full swing
- Fix one leak at a time; strokes hide in approach & around the green
The numbers behind it
Five of the cards above are really lookups — what club the conditions cost you, how far a three-quarter wedge carries, whether the go is worth it, what your stats say to practice, and what to do when the swing leaves mid-round. Those live on their own pages so they stay scannable on the course:
Yardage Adjustments
1 mo agoWhat wind, cold, altitude, slope, and rough do to your carry number — and how to stack the corrections before you pull a club.
Wedge and Chip Distances
1 mo agoDistance control by backswing length across the wedges, plus carry-to-rollout ratios for chips on a firm green.
Risk in Strokes
1 mo agoExpected strokes to hole out from common positions — the math behind every go-versus-lay-up call.
Know Your Numbers
1 mo agoStat targets for a 10- and a 5-handicap, the order to fix leaks in, and how to split practice hours.
Mid-Round Fixes
1 mo agoSymptom-to-fix table for when a miss pattern shows up mid-round — simplest fix first, one swing thought at a time.
The pros' four zeros — protect these and good scores take care of themselves
0 double bogeys · 0 bogeys from inside 150 yards · 0 three-putts · 0 bogeys on par 5s. Aggressive swing, conservative target — pin-high beats pin-accurate.
Agents, Robots, and Us
A cheatsheet on MGI's methodology for assessing skill partnerships in the age of AI — covering automation potential, adoption modeling, occupation archetypes, and the Skill Change Index.
Yardage
What wind, cold, altitude, slope, and rough do to your carry number — and how to stack the corrections before you pull a club.