If you want to improve, you need to keep records of the shots you make. Golfers I know keep complicated records as they play, but a simpler set describes the important things about your game and doesn’t distract you from what you’re really trying to do - play golf.

As you play, write down these three things on your scorecard for each hole: the number of full swings, the number of short shots, and the number of putts. Make a note of penalty strokes and recovery shots, but don’t include them into your counts. They show up as the difference between your score for the hole and the sum of the three shot categories you wrote down.

Ideally, the number of full swings would total 36, and the number of short shots plus putts would also total 36. If either of these totals is 40 or less, that part of the game is going well for you by recreational standards. A total of 45 or more shows that you need work.

You can analyze these three numbers more deeply by looking at each hole. The number of full shots on a hole should equal par minus two. If you’re taking more than that, is it because you’re missing fairways or hitting bad shots from the fairway?

There should be no more than one short shot per hole. If there are several, that shows your short shots aren’t even hitting the green. Short shots plus putts shouldn’t total more than three, and a few twos would be nice to see. You don’t want to see more than one three-putt green per side.

Once you get home, write down every stroke, including those recovery shots and penalty strokes. Here is where you can put in all the detail you want. Don’t worry, you’ll remember.

Does the ball tend to the right or left on your full shots? Maybe it does with only your longer clubs. When you miss a green, where does the ball usually end up? Right, left, short?

Look at your list and note the easy shots you just plain missed. Most often, these will be short shots. That happens because you haven’t practiced them enough for your best to come out when there’s only one chance to get it right. If you find a particular shot that’s weak, make it your top priority the next time you go to the range.

Note bad decisions. Either you hit the wrong shot, or hit the right shot, but with the wrong club. These mistakes come from a lack of experience. Write down what you did, what you should have done, and remember it, to avoid making that mistake again. I’ll bet you can find at least three shots per side you didn’t need to lose that had little to do with shotmaking skills. You can improve that much just by becoming a better thinker.

Finally, note the shots that didn’t come out well because your concentration wasn’t sharp. Notice where in the round they occurred. After a few rounds you might find there is a pattern of your concentration faltering around holes 6-8, for example, or after you’ve had a few bad holes. Do what you have to to fix that, but you might find that just going through this analysis will help you concentrate better the next time you play.

Putting? To get a detailed record, during the round record the length in feet of every putt you hit. With a little practice you’ll learn to do this without slowing down play for the rest of the group.

Divide the total length of all the putts you hit in the round by the length of all putts hit after the first putt on each green. A quotient of 10 or higher is good putting.

Example: On the first three greens, you had putts of 23 and 2 feet, 8 feet, and 47, 6, and 1 foot – a two-putt green, a one-putt green, and a three-putt green. The total length of all putts is 87 feet. The total length of all putts after a first putt is 9 feet (2+0+6+1). The ratio is 87 divided by 9, or 9.67. If you had made that 6-footer, the ratio would have been 10.75. Darn those three-putt greens!

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