9 holes...Hmmm. I almost never used to just go play 9 holes, but then my girlfriend picked up the game. Everytime I venture out for a great round of golf (golfing is always great by the way) upon my return I almost always get asked the inevitable question....Did you play 9 holes? The inevitable answer is "No...I never play only 9 holes unless I'm playing with you". 18 holes for her right now would just be overwhelming... or should I say more tiring than anything else. She can't even imagine me playing 27 or even 36 holes, can't fathom that, yet it seems that when I'm able to play 36 it always ends up being such a great day.
Also, I usually play really well when I golf 36 holes. It's the practice, the continual swinging, developing the rhythym of the club, allowing me to play better and score well.
A good round of 18 is only 9 holes twice....yet we don't seem to be able to score as well as if we were to only play 9. And that's for many reasons; the course is shorter (yea, but you're still having to hit wedges and sink the putts), you never get to pull out your driver or 3 wood or long iron (yea, but you're still having to hit wedges and sink the putts), and it's not really golf if you're only playing 9 holes (yes it is, but you're still having to hit wedges and sink the putts).
So the way you need to look at playing only 9 holes is to take the approach and thought process this way; you've already hit your drive, you're sitting in the middle of the fairway, and now all you have left is to hit your wedges and sink the putts. How hard can that be? It's easy right? After all, from the middle of the fairway the rest of the hole is really only a par 3 so this should be no problem....or is it really that simple?
They say the longest distance to overcome is the distance between your two ears (or something to that effect). If you can go play 9 holes on a consistent basis and play to only 1 or 2 over par each round, then your full 18 hole course game should be just about the same, give or take 2-3 strokes. If you're playing an average 18 hole course, something that is within your abilities (very important) then even if you take the high end of both those estimates you're playing to about 7 maybe 8 over par and that puts you shooting 80 or less.
This is where the distance between your 2 ears comes in to play. "Ain't never gonna happen", you tell yourself, "It isn't that easy", you say. Well I'm here to tell you you're half right. It isn't that easy. BUT, it IS that easy to take the game from the 9 hole course and playing the last half of each full length hole from an 18 hole course, improve your play quite a bit.
Golf is not a game of exponential improvement in a short period of time. It's a game of practice, and little improvements, and a little better scoring, over a reasonable period of time, that eventually will show you great results....for you.
Remember, you need to keep this all in perspective to your game and find out what it is that YOU need to improve on, what part of your game has the ability to show the most profitable improvement to your game....and practice that first.
Patience - Practice - more Patience - and more Practice. That's what it takes.
And when your buddies (or your significant other ..male or female) wants to go play 9 holes...just pretend you've already played the first half of the first half of your favorite course, your drive is just sitting in the middle of the fairway.... and all you have to do is hit your wedges and sink your putts. It's that simple and what a great day you'll have too!