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How I used my Golf Pad stats to reduce my handicap by 4 over the summer

Male golfer teeing off on a wooded golf course

I’ve been playing golf since I was 35 and now I am 72; I never took it seriously but now I’m retired and want to do better. I found practicing is great but I can only go so far at my age and 5'-6" and 190 lbs.

However, I found being smarter can seriously improve your score.

By tracking my game on Golf Pad GPS and checking stats like Strokes Gained  , it clearly shows me [and my coach} where my strengths and weaknesses are so I know where to work to improve my game. Like most, I fantasized how far I could hit a club if I hit it pure.

With distance tracking I found I was actually hitting about 10-15 years shorter on average. Because of Golf Pad GPS I now pick a club to the back side or over the green. At 35, I was a 23-25 HC best at 40 at 17 HC now at 72 carry about 14-15 HC peak of season and got below 80 twice last summer for the first time ever.

I only hit my drives about 195 [now out to 220] so practice was driver, driver, driver. I see most folks on the range are making the same mistake. Driver, driver, driver.

My coach looked at my stats on Golf Pad and noted since he cleaned up my terrible slice, I hit fairways 65% of time and with par 3s actually better. I often hit 14-16 fairways so my coach explained short and in the middle is OK [especially for seniors]. I needed to concentrate on second shots.

This, and proper club selection dropped, my HC by 3-4 last summer. My coach says I will be 12-13 by summer's end if I concentrate on curable weaknesses which is not trying to hit drives 250+ yards.

— Wayne Foley, Golf Pad user