“Want to know an easy way to take 5 strokes off your score, it’s called an eraser”
– Arnold Palmer
Now the above quote sometimes gets taken a bit too literally by some golfers.
True story:
Way back in the eighties, a couple of young bucks were playing in the tour school final.
Success here guaranteed golfing dreams came true and you were awarded you’re playing privileges for the big tour the following season.
Much on the line. Much to play for. The pressure was intense.
Coming down the stretch with about three holes to play, one of our young fellas suffered the stomach churning experience of making a double bogey, right when the pressure was at its highest.
Short story long.
When the players finished their rounds they both signed each other’s card and it was handed over to officials. Now this was before the days of all the fancy nancy scorers tents and officials areas you have at tournaments today.
Back then it was a quick tot up by the side of the 18th green, a signature and that was you done, ready to hand your card in.
Anyways as it turns out both players finished on the same score for the final round that day, both recording a level par 70. They also had started the day tied for the same total score over the tournament; they were in effect neck and neck going into the last round.
Unfortunately for both players they were on the “number” as they headed out to play the last round, hence the pressure being very high.
Come the end of the day and standing round the leader board one of our players noticed something peculiar.
He had started the day tied on the same number of strokes as his playing partner, they both shot the same score in the last round, yet the lad who recorded the double bogey with three holes to play was now one shot ahead of the guy who was scanning the leader board.
How can that be he thought, so he raised his concerns with officials.
Here’s what happened and this was only proved by forensic evidence.
In between signing his card and handing it in, the lad who recorded the double bogey decided to alter his card after it had been signed by his playing partner. He changed the 6 into a five and his score from a 70 to a 69.
And yes that one stroke would be the difference between qualifying for the tour or not.
Turns out the tour had to send the card to Scotland Yard to have it forensically scanned and it turned out that indeed the 6 had been rubbed out and replaced with a 5.
Needless to say, double bogey boy was never allowed to enter another professional tournament ever again.
But enough of all that.
Did you know you are being robbed of vital yardage off the tee?
How do I know this?
Because in fact almost everyone who plays the game suffers from the same thing and it’s something I go deep into in my free e-book “The #1 Distance Killer”.
You can get your little mitts on a copy by clicking this pristine link.
Bob James PGA