How to Improve your Score
1) First, get the right attitude:
To improve your score, you have to learn how to play the game and not how to swing or how to hit the ball farther. "Too many people tend to forget that the real object of the game, once the round is under way, is not to make pretty swings or hit pretty shots, but to find the wisest, most efficient way to get the ball into the hole in the fewest strokes possible……………….And everything starts from having the right attitude: play for what you know you can instead of what you hope you can do…..Play comfortable. I think this is the best advice I can give anyone about actually
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playing the game. It's the road to consistency. It's so simple but it makes a huge difference ! (Raymond Floyd - excerpt from the book: the elements of scoring).
2) Putting, Putting, Putting:
If you want to be a scorer, you have to be a good putter. Either you are a beginner or a seasoned player, you have already noticed (or you will soon do it…) that putting has more effect on score than any other area of the game. Additionally putting is the final "call", if you miss one putt, there is no recovery rather than adding one stroke more to your scorecard. While if you miss a swing or an approach, you can always try to recover with your next shot. This is why putting has an immediate effect on scoring and on moral. Good putters gain confidence and go to the next tee shot full of positive energy, bad putters go depressed or angry and that will affect their swing too. Hence, like we said at the beginning, if you want to be a scorer, you have to be a good putter! To learn how to improve it, see our section dedicated to putting.
3) Study the course upfront:
the ability to play the right shot at the right time and plot his way round the course is what made Jack Nicklaus the most successful golfer ever. Many other players had better swing and more stylish short game but nobody could beat Jack strategic approach to the course….So, performing a good course management analysis upfront is a key to lower the score. How to do it? Follow these key principles:
3.1) check the yardage/distance chart to plot your shot strategy till the green.
3.2) always play away from trouble (it seems obvious, it isn’t if you don’t plan it carefully).
3.3) choose the set of golf clubs according to the corse design.
3.4) always play to leave yourself an uphill putt
Lastly, we suggest you to read the following book where Butch Harmon performs detailed, hands-on, explanation on course management and how to put it in practice. "I now want take the
improvement process literally to the grass-roots level. In the course of this book, I take three virtual players and I teach them how to play strategically smart golf that’s right for their games…"(Butch Harmon - excerpt from the book: Playing Lessons
4) Patience and Perseverance:
golf is considered to be one of the hardest game to be played at very high standard. Surely, it is but the key to improve and to continuously score better and better is simple: "Golf requires patience and perseverance. There are no shortcuts……….When Butch Harmon and I overhauled my swing during the 1998 season, Butch would have me repeat one movement for 30 minutes. I
would get so tired it felt like my arms were going to fall off. But I kept it until the move became ingrained in my muscle memory (Tiger Woods - excerpt from the book: How I play golf).
5) Devote more than 50% of your practice to the short game:
A fundamental key is to be able to hit as many different shots from around the green as possible. The more you practice, the better you will understand how slope, lie, ground and other external factors (wind and rain) affect the ball fly. "When most amateur golfers go to the driving range to practice, they take with them a driver and a selection of irons…….Surprisingly, no thought whatsoever is given to pitch shots, chip shots and bunker play. And yet it is the short game, the shots played from around the
green, which can, potentially have the most profound effect on their score and, consequently, their handicap (Tony Dear - excerpt from the book: Good Golf - made easy).
The Elements of Scoring
by Raymond Floyd
Learn what mistakes you can afford to make, how to play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses, and discover the ten mistakes amateurs make that pros never do.
Butch Harmon's Playing Lessons
by Butch Harmon
How I Play Golf
by Tiger Woods
Good Golf Made Easy
by Tony Dear, Bob Atkins
A complete instruction books for beginners with interesting pages about Course Management and the Mental Side of Golf
More information:
Break 100 Now :
From Hacker to Golfer in Just 90 Days
by Mike Adams
More information:
How to Break 90 :
An Easy, Step-by-Step Approach for Breaking Golf''s Toughest Scoring Barrier
by T.J. Tomasi, Mike Adams, Mike Corcoran
More information:
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