We all read and accept a lot of swing advice, but there are some very simple ways to lower your score.
We make the same mistakes over and over again. Following these simple tips and spending some time on the short game will help see your handicap drop.
1 Thinking you hit the ball farther than you actually hit it
This is obvious, but things rarely change. We measure our best shots, so for example, our 7-iron might travel 165 yards one day but 140 yards the next. On day 165, it probably carried 130 and rolled the rest, and that’s where we get the data.
The only thing that’s interesting is how far you go with the ball. Know what your hitting distance is, the purpose of the drill is to understand the hitting distance of each club so that you can better understand your shot options on the golf course.
There is more data available today. See where the ball lands for each club. Chances are that most of your shots will end up short and right, so consider this when you choose your clubs and where you’re aiming.
We know this, but it bears repeating again and again, we don’t always flush it. If you choose a club that needs to be flush to reach the middle of the green, choose a club that will allow you to reach the back of the green, as you are more likely to not hit a perfect shot, but you will still be able to find the middle of the green.
2 Put it back into the game
When you miss the fairway, don’t think you can hit the ball in the four-foot gap between the trees when you just missed the fairway by 50 yards. Use a nice lofted club to get the ball back in the short distance through the biggest gap possible.
The reality is that you should be taking more lateral actions and taking your medicine. Even really good players will give themselves more of a chance to save their par than try something stupid. Don’t hit a double or triple bogey when you don’t have to, a bogey never really kills anyone’s score and most of us will have enough shots.
You’d be surprised how good it is for your mentality to hit the ball from the fairway, rather than getting into trouble and then looking to recover and getting yourself into more and more trouble. Throw it out and get yourself back into the hole.
3 Short practice
It’s better to practice chipping than to practice hitting the ball. The quickest way to lower your score is to not use what I call two chips. So if you have a chip shot, whether it’s from a bunker or greenside, make sure your next shot is a putt.
Take chipping lessons with a PGA professional. This is probably something that’s easy to improve quickly and shouldn’t be too much to remember. What we want is to have an effective bunt game and then we can build confidence.
A lot of times it’s the subtleties that cause problems because it’s a commitment to such a small movement. Higher handicap guys often think it won’t move the ball far enough, so they keep adding speed with their hands and really firing at the ball to help it.
And practice and don’t give up the first time you don’t get it right. Usually not, but if you work on the right things, you can turn things around.
4 Don’t listen to your friends!
This leads us to listen to the friendly people you play golf with. My question when someone always offers advice is to give them the keys to my car and ask them to change my oil, sort the spark plugs and they can also do the gaskets while they are there.
They look at me like I have five heads and tell me they are not mechanics? I responded that they weren’t golf professionals either, but they were happy to fix their partner’s golf swing even though they were actually breaking more.
We are surrounded by helpful people offering information about old wives’ tales like keeping your eye on the ball or your head up – my advice is don’t listen to anything other than the information you paid for.
There is so much information out there in this day and age, but your golf will rarely improve by listening to a lot of it, it will only hinder you in the long run.
5 Change your ball
Finally, we don’t hear this said often, but if you hit it that far, change your golf balls every nine holes.
Because of the ballistics of the ball coming off the clubface at high speeds, it won’t be a perfect circle after nine holes. If you were to put it through one of those round things, it wouldn’t actually go through because it would usually be a little out of shape. So you might hit a putt and it might wobble, and that’s because the ball is no longer round.
So if your ball has gone nine holes, get a new ball on the 10th tee.
Although a high-handicapper may hit the ball with a driver at 90 mph, the ball actually deforms during those 12 shots before returning to its original shape. Then think about all those fairway woods and irons. That’s a lot of weight for a ball, and although it may be minimal, it will help your game.
About Ged Walters
Ged is a Golf Monthly Top 50 instructor and one of the top instructors in the Northwest. For more tips follow Ged on Instagram – gedwaltersgolf
