The Elements of Scoring: A Master's Guide to the Art of Scoring Your Best When You're Not Playing Your Best

by Raymond Floyd, Fred Couples, Arnold Palmer (Introduction)

Say Good-Bye to Doubles and Triples Forever
Every aspect of golf, from the swing to the follow-through, is a means to one deceptively simple to get the ball into the hole in the fewest strokes possible. The Elements of Scoring explains how paying attention to the way you play -- regardless of your level of skill -- will guarantee you fewer strokes, a better overall game, and at the end of the day, more fun.
With a practical and encouraging touch, Raymond Floyd shares his vision of what makes a scorer and shows how you can become this most dangerous of opponents.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 1998

Reviews

[Greg]

Started playing golf again earlier this month after a 70 month hiatus. I used to shoot from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. Started out the first couple of rounds in the mid-90s and then remembered to pick up this book. It reminded me of how to think about playing and after 3 weeks I'm back to the mid-80s and getting more confident even though I'm hitting two clubs more than I used to.

Original review

I purchased this book in 1999 and I have re-read all or parts of it annually. It is, without question, the best book about golf for golfers who take the game seriously. Whenever I hit a bad drought, something every golfer experiences, I always go back to this book to find hints about how to get out of it.

Rather than being a book on how to play the game, it is more of a guide about how to think about playing the game. Floyd reminds us that the bottom line about golf is scoring. And scoring depends on decision making as much as talent and technical ability.

My favorite part of the book is the contrast Floyd draws between the 10 mistakes most high handicappers make versus the 10 most made by professionals. Since golf is a game of minimizing mistakes and maximizing good mis-hits, you begin to realize that you get better when you start to tilt away from the mistakes high handicappers make and toward those that professionals make.

I've given copies to many friends over the years and all agree that this is the most important book in their golf libraries.

[Trevor Wickie]

Loved this book it was great advice and an easy read

[Daniel]

Great all-around insights for an amateur but not a very engaging book.

[Mattias]

This is the second time I am reading this book and I will read it a third time. Why is that? I believe Golf is a game that one will never master and since this book has so many knowledge bombs you can always learn something new from it. Some of the chapters might not help you today but they will do next time you read the book.

As an example, I got to know that the best shot out from a fairway bunker is a fade since it is easier to pick the ball clean with a slightly outside to in stroke. This will also eliminate the danger of hitting it fat in a bunker. Yesterday I was playing golf and hit my driver into the fairway bunker and was left with a bunker short of 160 Yards. I decided to take one extra club as Raymond is preaching and I set up for a fade. I nailed it to 6 feet from the flag.

Any serious golfer should consider reading this book if they want to improve.

[Walker]

I have been playing golf competitively for five years now, doing different tournaments and high school golf and really just playing in anything that can give me a better opportunity to play college golf. My father gave me this book to try and help get my scores under par. I'm close to being really, really good, just I'm missing something. This book really helped my understanding of how to be a player that minimizes mistakes and plays to their strengths to ultimately help lower their scores. I consider myself to be a pretty elite player and this book still helped me, so I would recommend that anyone who is getting into golf or just wants to try and shave some strokes off their scores give this book a read and it will definitely help you if you do what it says. Anyone who has played golf knows that it's a hard sport, and it's complicated. This book really helps to simplify the game and highlight the most efficient way to navigate the golf course. I really enjoyed the book, and I hope you will too.

[erik nerdalen]

Quick read. Raymond Floyd writes about the mental approach a golfer should take in order to improve their scoring. He also writes about some tactics to employ when your playing to avoid big numbers. Nothing in this book was mind blowing, but still worth the read. I love golf so I’ll read anything on this topic.

[Michael Lee]

Just the book that I needed. Sometimes you just need someone to remind you that golf is hard. But you can still enjoy the game. Ray Floyd does a nice job of talking about the game of golf, and how to reduce mistakes through intentional thinking and strategy. This is not a “how to” book. Rather it’s a discussion of how to play the game from tee to green. Very easy read.

[James Porteous]

1) Play good
2) Don't not play good

OK there's a bit more to this book than that, and I will go through and highlight some tips to remember, but somehow I don't think it's going to revolutionise my game

If I break 100 in the next 6 months, I'll come back and change this to 5 stars

[Jim]

Good book. Not a how to more of a mental approach to the game. Quick easy read. Topics followed by how he used them throughout his career.

[Pedro Demeneghi]

This is a great book for any golfer. It's an easy to read book and has plenty of good advise to improve your game. It covers from swing techniques to the mental aspects os the game.

[Liz Fothergill]

A must read for the golf enthusiast.

[Tariq Engineer]

An excellent book for getting better at golf between the ears. It's not an instruction book or a book about technique. It is a book about how to play to the best of your current ability.

[Douglas]

Excellent general advice for the improving golfer. Down to earth and comprehensive, if a touch lacking in prescriptive detail (though maybe it is better that way). Not much groundbreaking if you've read up on course management and have some understanding of sport psychology, but still helpful for all that.

[Daniel Kostka]

Decent information and has the potential of a 4 star but hard to test how effective the advice is since I haven’t played enough rounds this year.

[James Stout]

I've been working on my golf game a little this summer and this book really helped me improve psychologically. I had a 78 in June and several rounds in the low eighties since. I think there's tons of practical advice for all levels of player and it even spills over into life lessons. Raymond Floyd was a great golfer and either he has a phenomenal editor, or he's pretty eloquent, too.

[Jason Carter]

I probably shouldn't review this before testing it on the links. Nevertheless...

Floyd advocates scoring low by avoiding scoring high. Ie, by playing within one's abilities, taking what the course gives, and avoiding the big numbers the amateur too often finds on the scorecard after getting in trouble.

Full of sound advice and winsome anecdotes. Recommended.

[Jrottinghaus]

helpful in improving the mental approach to the game. good practical tips. floyd's condescension gets a little old, though.

[Kevin]

A marvelous book on strategy and scoring by Ray Floyd for golfers of all abilities. Highly recommended!

[Matt Moran]

Not about fundamentals - this is about the mental approach to the game. Very good.