Day three of looking at Jon Rahm's impressive win at Augusta National and what you can take away from it. We've already looked at how you can adopt his mentality and adapt your approach on par 3 holes. Today we take a look at how he got to the -12 number and what it means for lowering your own scores.
Wednesday: Scoring
Jon Rahm won this year's Masters Tournament at -12, besting Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka by four shots. How did he get there vs. those two and the rest of the field?
JON RAHM
PHIL MICKELSON
BROOKS KOEPKA
As you take a look at the numbers what jump out to you? Would you have thought that Rahm was made more birdies over four rounds than Mickelson or Koepka? The field average for birdies was 18% of the time and Rahm only made birdie 8% more often than the field. Mickelson 11% more and Koepka 4% more. The biggest difference between the three players - and what allowed Rahm such a comfortable victory in my opinion - is the amount of bogeys made by each player.
The field made bogey on 19% of the holes played. Koepka checks in at 14%, Mickelson at 13% - both considerable better than the field. That's to be expected considering they finished tied for second and beat 85 of the 88 players in this year's field. This is where Rahm stands out and takes his advantage. He made bogey only 10% of the time. He did what Tiger Woods was seemingly always able to do and that's turn certain bogeys into a mildly miraculous par. Take for example the 72nd hole. Rahm pull hooked his drive into the left trees and it bounced back into the rough short of the fairway! His drive went a total of 193 yards which for most recreational golfers is a relatively well struck 5 iron (if you ask them). He had 236 yards into the green, he layed up to 68 yards (so close to #nice yards) and then hit a fantastic wedge shot to 4 feet and made par.
So what can you learn and apply to your game to lower your scores and handicap?
You likely don't need to make more birdies to lower your scores
Find a way to turn your double bogeys into bogeys and your bogeys into pars
Don't give up on a hole based on a bad drive. There are no "par 1" holes in golf. You've got three, four, or five shots to make a par. Chances are you're bound to mess one of those up
Work to make your short game and putting as sharp as possible - you're going to need them to drop your scores/handicap
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