3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Golf Game
Getting better and lowering scores is the goal of every single golfer I have ever encountered. However, most golfers get stuck in a range of scores and struggle to break through to the next level.
Getting better and lowering scores is the goal of every single golfer I have ever encountered. However, most golfers get stuck in a range of scores and struggle to break through to the next level.
Being stuck in a range of scores could be between 68 and 75 or 100 to 125. It doesn’t matter where you are on this scale. But you will probably find yourself on this scale somewhere.
I have found myself stuck at different levels at various points in my golf life. When I was in my teens I struggled to break 85 for the longest time. In my late 20s, I was struggling to break 80 consistently. Now, in my early 30s, I find myself stuck in the mid to low 70s and can’t quite seem to find a way to break par.
At each stage, I had to learn different strategies to improve my scores. These strategies included:
Being more relaxed mentally
Making better decisions on the course with shot selection and targets
Working to improve swing mechanics with a golf coach
In the world of golf, getting better is the result of an accumulation of knowledge, practice, and play. First, you must accumulate the knowledge, then practice it regularly, and finally put it all together on the course.
How you approach each of these strategic tools will help you go from being an ok golfer to a good golfer. (Sorry, I can’t promise this will make you a tour pro).
Being More Relaxed Mentally
The mental part of the game is one that you will never conquer. But keeping your cool when you hit a bad shot is important so that you don’t compound your mistakes. This is easier said than done, especially for young kids.
When I was in my teens I, like so many others, was a complete hothead. I would chuck clubs after a bad shot. One time after a bad tee shot, I hit my golf bag so hard that it snapped one of the structruly spines of the bag. I felt like a complete idiot.
After each outburst, I felt a momentary sigh of relief. But after this explosion, I knew I needed to get my mental game under control. None of these explosive outbursts helped me hit a better shot the next time. In fact, it made it more difficult most of the time because I was so heated.
I ended up finding this book called Zen Golf. This book changed the way I looked at golf and life in general. It brought this sense of calm to my game.
I read it in my junior year of high school golf. I remember how it helped me shoot my best-ever competitive round of 82 during the subsections meet. The crazy part is that the round started with me shanking an iron off the tee out of bounds in front of 25 people. I made a double bogey.
However, my mental game was stronger at this point than ever before. I laughed it off and got back into the zone.
None of this would have been possible without learning to be more relaxed mentally. If you want to break a plateau, focus on your mental game.
Better Decisions on the Course
When facing a scoring plateau, you need to spend some time reflecting on the rounds you have been playing. Perhaps you take some notes or journal about the struggles you face on the course. If you do some reflecting, you will often find yourself saying “If I would have made this decision instead of that decision I could have saved myself 1 or 2 strokes”.
If that sounds like you, you need to spend time making better decisions on the course. These decisions could be shot selection off the tee to avoid a penalty area or being more conservative with an approach shot and not attacking a pin location.
Understanding the appropriate shot selection and target on each hole is critical to lowering your golf scores. This was probably the biggest factor that helped me start to break 80 more frequently. Essentially, I asked myself “How can I make par on this hole?”
When you start a hole by figuring out the easiest way to make a par, you are almost guaranteed to lower your scores. Of course, you still need to execute. But the more you focus on better decision making the more frequently you will make par or at least avoid blow-up holes.
That said, you will hit some poor shots every now and again. Everyone does. When these shots happen it is important to focus on the mental game and not let it drive you insane.
When you are in these recovery scenarios, you still need to make sure you make the appropriate decision. This decision will vary based on your skill level. That’s ok. The main thing is to make sure you get the ball back in play and have a clear shot to the hole.
Now, of course, the better you become the fewer bad shots you will hit. Reducing these errant shots is where swing mechanics come into play.
Improve Swing Mechanics
Improving swing mechanics might be the last thing on this list but it might be the most important one. The reason for this is simple. Better swing mechanics will lead to better ball striking, which leads to fewer errant shots, which means fewer reasons to throw clubs and have a mental breakdown on the course.
This is what better swing mechanics is all about. You will be able to make better contact with the ball. Now, this will not completely get rid of errant shots (nothing will).
However, with better swing mechanics you will reduce the number of errant shots. Most importantly, those bad shots won’t be as bad as they could be. For example, if you often slice the ball, maybe you only slice 25 yards offline instead of 50 yards offline.
That’s a big deal.
Reducing the dispersion of your shot pattern is a major difference between ok/good/great/professional golfers. Each stage of improvement comes with a reduction in dispersion patterns.
The question remaining is how do you get better swing mechanics? Well, it is not coming from your 30-handicap-playing partner.
I am and always will be an advocate for hiring a qualified swing coach. This coach can give you feedback on what is wrong with your swing and drills to correct it. Then, assuming you practice what is taught, you will be able to drastically improve your swing mechanics, decrease your misses, and reduce your dispersion.
This final step was what I needed for my most recent breakthrough in scoring average. Since getting instruction I have been able to shoot in the mid to low 70s on a fairly regular basis.
This is what it takes to from an ok golfer to a good golfer. It is a constant accumulation of knowledge, practice, and play. Each stage of improvement will ultimately end in a plateau and then it is on to the next subject to help you reduce your scoring average by 1 or 2 more strokes.