Golf With Steven Dougan

It has already been established that I’m not much of a golfer. But lack of talent has never stopped me before. Last spring, Steve Archer, director of golf at the Quail Valley Golf Club, tried (with surprising success) to help me with my driving. So, as a new winter season rolls around, I thought I’d take another shot at improving my abominable game.

Like most golfers, when I practice I go to the driving range to smack the white off the balls, hoping to knock them 280 yards. But according to Steven Dougan, the new golf pro at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club, the best way to improve your score is to not skimp on the short game.

“Essentially the short game is the pitch, chip and bunker, and if people learn those shots, they’re going to drop their strokes,” says Steven with a slight burr that echoes his Scottish heritage. “The short game is something that people just don’t spend enough time on.”

 Read the entire article in the January 2007 issue