Old Man Par, Nine Holes
Why this drill
Play a match against the only opponent who never misses: Old Man Par, who makes 4-4-3 forever and is never rattled. Nine holes of match play against the card teaches patient, one-shot-at-a-time golf better than any medal round — a bad hole loses one point, not the whole day.
Setup
Nine holes at a quiet hour, one ball, your normal bag. Decide your handicap strokes for the nine and mark the holes where Old Man Par concedes you one.
The drill
Match play against par: win the hole with a net birdie, halve it with a net par, lose it to anything worse — then the hole is over and the match resets to the next tee. No pressing, no revenge golf: a triple bogey and a bogey lose the same single point, which is the lesson. Play every shot to the target a patient opponent would force you to pick. Record the match result — say, 2 down through nine — and play the same match next week. Beating Old Man Par over nine, net, is a genuinely strong day at any handicap.
One thought to take with you
Old Man Par never gets angry and never gets greedy — play him at his own game.