Some lessons in golf (and life) you just have to learn through painful first-hand experience.
Because no matter how many times someone warns you not to leave your approach short or tells you to play safe instead of attempting to thread the needle through trees and over water, most of us never listen.
And that’s fine, but you better be ready and willing to accept the consequences of your actions.
If you’re familiar with my writing by now, you’ll almost certainly be aware that I’ve fallen foul to so many of the pitfalls which trip up amateur golfers around the world every single day.
From using a brand new putter in an important round to setting excessive expectations ahead of the first tee – something I’ve been working to avoid in 2026.
(Image credit: Future)
While I’ve made plenty of strides in fixing up my golf game already this year, I recently suffered a lapse in judgement which cost me the chance to card my lowest-ever score.
And it’s a mistake which I know for a fact an untold number of amateur golfers like myself are making with unerring regularity.
The error arrived before the final hole of my most recent round. I was on a press trip in Austria, hosted by the lovely people at SalzburgerLand, and I’d been playing extremely well (by my low standards) at Golfclub Nationalpark Hohe Tauern in Mittersill – not far from Salzburg.
As we made our way to the par-3 18th at GNHT, a 147-yard par-3 with an island green surrounded by water, I asked my playing partner what score I was on. Big mistake. Huge.
He told me I was on 74 and proceeded to let me know I was only one-over for the back nine, so even a double-bogey would see me break 80. I’d only broken 80 once in my life and it happened a couple of months ago, with it being a huge surprise at the time.
As someone with a handicap measuring 16.4 at present, the fact I had only made 74 strokes through 17 holes – which also included my first-ever experience of consecutive birdies, by the way – felt like something of a minor miracle.
But knowing exactly what I needed on the final hole to do this or that only served to fill me with nerves and adrenaline. Why on the earth did I ask?!
In a surprise to absolutely no one…
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