The Four Foundations of Golf: How to Build a Game That Lasts a Lifetime

Product Information

At every handicap level, double-bogey avoidance is a more significant separator in scoring potential than birdies. One of the cornerstones of course management is making optimal decisions that will reduce double bogeys. Aggressive decision-making, particularly on approach shots and greenside wedges, is counterproductive. Often, it results in an increase in score rather than the desired outcome (birdie). When you’re looking to solve a problem in your golf game, having grit and the proper habits is usually a winning combination. I recommend the book Atomic Habits to just about everyone who follows Practical Golf. My initial take: about 80% of what is covered in this book is in Lowest Score Wins. And in many cases, LSW covers it more effectively by giving succinct actionable advice. There’s a theme and flow that both books use:

Greens in regulation also has a very close correlation to score across all handicaps. Increasing greens in reg is the key to lower scores. And being closer to the hole after your tee shot ties into this strongly. Understand how scoring truly occurs and use modern data analytics to lower your handicap efficiently Finally, you will no longer have to feel like you are lost and alone in your golf game. The Four Foundations will teach you how to be your own coach, and not waste time on methods that don’t work. Stop listening to your friend’s questionable tips and learn what all the greats have figured out. Recovery shots are one of the most misunderstood scoring situations. Golfers of all levels can separate themselves by making smart decisions. Instead of thinking about saving par, shift your mindset to saving bogey. After an errant tee shot, it’s very common to go “on tilt.” However, choosing the more aggressive strategy will likely compound your initial mistake and result in a double bogey (or worse). PGA Tour players make bogey 80% of the time in recovery situations. What you see on TV is not real; keep reminding yourself of that statistic! The correct strategy is to advance the ball as far as possible while making sure your next shot will have a clear path to the green. Sometimes, this means punching out sideways. Instead, grit is about having what some researchers call an “ultimate concern”–a goal you care about so much that it organizes and gives meaning to almost everything you do. And grit is holding steadfast to that goal. Even when you fall down. Even when you screw up. Even when progress toward that goal is halting or slow.With these earlier chapters in the mental game section, I’m ultimately building a process you can commit to on every shot. I will get into specifics on what I believe are productive elements of pre-shot and post-shot routines. Overall, grit is the commitment to going through these routines on as many shots as possible. Think of birdies as an occasional bonus. Overall, you should not pursue them; it will create more mistakes than it’s worth. A typical PGA Tour player averages about 3.5 birdies per round, and most of those occur on Par 5s. Recreational golfers seldom make birdies, even scratch golfers! Birdies are challenging because of a mixture of approach shot proximity and putting difficulty. It is much easier to prevent larger scores than to make birdies. That is the cornerstone of smart strategic play. My three sons will read this book, specifically Part One: Managing Expectations. While you can reference specific areas of Jon’s book directly without issue, I highly recommend you read Part 1 first. This section, along with the work of many of Jon’s references, showed data and educated or corrected me on defining: what is a good golf shot; what is a good round; and setting realistic performance expectations. Part 1 is applicable beyond golf (as is the Mental Game, Part 4). Since 2015, Practical Golf has been one of the top online game-improvement resources for golfers. Jon Sherman has written hundreds of articles, sharing his perspective as a “player-coach.” You can finally get all of the methods he’s used to become a scratch golfer and coach other golfers in one complete guide. Tell your friends: If you have friends who are golfers, please let them know about the book! I wrote it so that a player of any level can learn actionable ways to lower their scores. Since I am self-publishing, I am relying on the golf community to spread the word.

Along the way, I witnessed many of the same behaviors in others. What is most interesting is that having grit elsewhere in life does not necessarily mean it will translate to your golf game. I’ve played with successful business people, professional athletes, and plenty of other high achievers who undoubtedly have serious grit. But it was nowhere to be found once they teed it up. After a few bad swings, they would lose their composure and continue in a negative mindset for the rest of the day. Professional golfers are playing an entirely different game. Be careful assuming you have much to learn from them whenever you watch television broadcasts or read articles about their swing tips! TV is mostly a highlight reel of the best shots at any time. If they exclusively showed tour players at the bottom of the leaderboards missing cuts, you’d see a very different version of golf. A typical tour player will hit the ball about 20 feet from the hole with a full wedge shot in the fairway. This is an essential reference point for multiple reasons. A PGA Tour player will make bogey roughly 80% of the time in a recovery situation like being in the trees. Stop trying to be a hero! Putting is perhaps the most difficult and misunderstood part of golf. Golfers have their best chance of holing putts inside of 8 feet, and outside of those distances, it becomes more of a test of speed control and proximity. Birdies are very hard to come by, even for tour players. Lowering your scores is not about making more birdies; it’s more about mistake avoidance. Here's most of the highlights I took while reading through Jon Sherman's The Four Foundations of Golf. Honestly, I already forgot what the four foundations actually were, because there were so many good nuggets. Most golfers are way too hard on themselves and expect much higher performance than necessary to achieve their scoring goals. The ⅔ rule breaks the game into three phases: tee shots, approach shots and finesse shots. You should never expect to score 3/3; at minimum, one part of your game will not perform above average. Shooting your lowest scores can come with a ⅔ score and average scoring can occur with only ⅓. The main goal is to start avoiding rounds where you score a 0/3, and everything in this book will help you do that! Keep reminding yourself that you don’t need to be perfect to play your best golf; you need to be patient. At a minimum, one part of your game can feel like a struggle on any given day. I hope you can start building more consistent and positive habits on the golf course. In concept, this all sounds very simple. But to this day, despite what I consider a very high grit level, there are still rounds where I have to struggle to stay engaged. And I believe on those days, it’s where you have your best chance to grow your grit and solidify these habits. This is no different than someone trying to establish a fitness routine – the moments you feel tired and lazy are the actual test.

Exploring Grit

Jon does an amazing job at quantifying the specific areas of your game that you need to improve if you want to start scoring better. This isn't just some random book filled with fluff. It's about understanding how to be more efficient with your time to get the most out of your game on various topics. He leaves no stone unturned. I highly recommend it!" Whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced player, The Four Foundations of Golf will give you the blueprint to build a stronger, longer-lasting game. This is not your typical, fluffy golf guide that leaves all the important details out. Since 2015, Practical Golf has been one of the top online game-improvement resources for golfers. Jon Sherman has written hundreds of articles, sharing his perspective as a player-coach. You can finally get all of the methods he's used to become a scratch golfer and coach other golfers in one complete guide. Every golfer wants to know the secrets to golf. But they are always looking in the wrong places. There are four foundations to building a successful game—expectation management, strategy, practice, and a sharp mental game. In each of these sections, you will receive tangible and actionable advice. Finally, you will no longer have to feel like you are lost and alone in your golf game. Golfers tend to use their scores to measure how their day went. Because of the game’s inherent volatility, this can significantly alter enjoyment levels. Scoring ability is a relative concept in golf, but the scoring range is not. Whether you are a PGA Tour pro or a beginner, your scoring can fluctuate tremendously from one day to the next. It’s very normal! When most golfers improve, they typically can tighten their scoring windows and make their poor performances “not as bad.” A lot of golf is about mistake avoidance. Thinking about scoring potential as a bell curve can be helpful. Don’t expect low-probability events on the low side, and try to accept those that occur on the high side. In a way, I was shifting my mindset and identity. While I still have to work on these shots to maintain my skill, I believe I am an excellent intermediate wedge player. One of my favorite authors, James Clear, describes these as identity-based habits. Lower your scores, increase enjoyment. Are you struggling to take your golf game to the next level? Learn the philosophy that has helped thousands of players worldwide lower their scores and improve their relationship with golf. Swing tips come and go, but foundational golf skills last forever.

LSW does a better job IMO of helping steer the reader towards effective use of practice time by introducing the concept of “Separation Value”. I am writing today to ask for your help. For over seven years, I have shared free articles on Practical Golf. And now, I need your help to make this book a success.

What Grit Can Look Like Off the Course

How to practice efficiently. Get detailed, step-by-step instructions on methods that will increase your skills and finally transfer your practice range game to the course In my opinion, Jon’s book has three chapters that are worth the cost of the book alone. Much like the Buffett example above, these concepts shifted how I look at and approach the game of golf. They have nothing to do with swinging a golf club and are core ideas that apply to golf as a whole. There are many reasons why “golf grit” is harder to develop. It’s much easier for some to give up when you become embarrassed and your ego is damaged. I know that was the case for me. These themes are familiar to long-time readers of this newsletter. I won’t rehash the importance of each since I’ve written multiple pieces on each subject ( see at the bottom of this post ). Prioritize this question on any wedge shot, “what can I do to make sure I get the ball on the putting surface?” Everything else is secondary. Don’t bite off more than you can chew! It is not a reasonable expectation to land the ball within a five or ten foot circle every time. When you are short-sided, you must take your medicine. Trying to land the ball on the beginning of the green, or even before it will bring larger scores into play more often than you will save par. There is nothing wrong with landing the ball past the hole and making sure you will make bogey at worst. On more straightforward wedge shots where you have more green to work with, your goal should be to get the ball as close to the hole as possible. Trying to leave yourself an uphill putt versus a downhill one will result in longer putts overall. Your goal on any length putt should be to apply the proper speed so that the ball will come to rest somewhere between 12-24 inches past the cup. Applying more speed to putts, especially shorter ones, in an effort to make them only makes the cup smaller. You will miss more putts, and end up three-putting more often.

I see his book as a meta-analysis of sorts of works related to statistics based golf analytics. He references you, Marke Broadie and Scott Fawcett consistently through the book. Any point he makes he reinforces with data. I think it’s extremely sound. Similar content covered in LSW, perhaps more detailed on the mental game, a little less technical. An absolute must-read for any golfer of any level. I’m in my early 40s and wish a mentor, coach, or my dad had put a book like this in front of me when I was 9 years old (albeit the data Jon references was not available in the 1990s, but you get the point). the idea of becoming competent at using driver off the tee. Stats don't lie - proximity to the hole after your tee shot has a very marked correlation to score. Practicing getting good at driving the ball is likely to have the biggest impact on your game. Grit is a necessary component in your “mental toolbox” – it is defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Swing tips come and go, but foundational golf skills last forever. Whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced player, The Four Foundations of Golf will give you the blueprint to build a stronger, longer-lasting game. This is not your typical, fluffy golf guide that leaves all the important details out.Golfers tend to struggle with happiness on the course when their expectations and skill level are far apart. Everyone’s “happiness equation” looks different. To find the balance, you might need to make adjustments in how much time you can spend improving, or what you expect of yourself.