Here's a mindset shift that can drop your scores immediately, before you change a single thing about your swing: stop trying to play par golf, and start playing bogey golf on purpose. For most amateurs, aiming for par is exactly what creates the big numbers. Aiming for bogey — and beating it sometimes — is how you actually score.
Par is a trap for most golfers
When you treat every hole as a par, you take on aggressive shots you don't need to: going for greens you can't reach, firing at tucked pins, taking on carries that bring disaster into play. Miss those and you're making doubles and triples. Bogey golf flips the logic: if bogey is your target, you have room to play the safe, smart shot — and pars start happening on their own as a bonus.
Play position, not perfection
Bogey golf is position golf. On a par 4, you don't need to reach the green in two — you need three good, comfortable shots and two putts. That completely changes your decisions:
- Off the tee: play the club that keeps you in the fairway, even if it's shorter.
- On the approach: if the green is out of comfortable reach, lay back to a full-swing wedge yardage you love instead of forcing a long iron you don't trust.
- Around the green: take your two putts and walk to the next tee with your bogey — and a smile.
Give away the hard holes
Every course has a couple of brutal holes — a long par 4 into the wind, a par 3 over water. Decide before you tee off that those are bogey holes. Take the trouble out of play, make your calm bogey, and refuse to let one hole wreck three. Save your aggression for the holes that actually give you a good chance.
Bogey golf isn't giving up — it's playing smart. Take the doubles off your card by aiming at a target you can actually hit, and you'll shoot lower without striking a single shot better.