Golf Tips That Will Improve Your Game

Golf is a fantastic game which thousands of people play all around the world whenever they want. Golf can be a very challenging and frustrating game so here I have listed a few golf tips that will help you improve your game. Here is a list of the tips that I will look into on this page.
  1. Selecting the right equipment
  2. practising properly
  3. what you should be practising
  4. practise drills
  5. course management
  6. Iron play
  7. Woods
  8. Putting
  9. Chipping
  10. setup

Hitting irons, woods, wedges

Every club has a purpose and a different trajectory. With 14 clubs you will be able to hit any shot possible. Here is my advice on hitting the different type of clubs.

Woods
  1. When hitting woods you want to have your ball positioned further forward than normal.
  2. Tee the ball so it is half a ball width above your wood. This promotes hitting it on the upslope.
  3. Swing normally the club will do the work. You dont want to force it to go far this is one of the best golf tips you can give for a driver as a lot of people try to hit it harder.
  4. Have a nice low wide takeaway to promote a better swing.
Irons
  1. When hitting irons you should be aiming to hit down on the ball. This will create spin.
  2. For mid irons you want to have the ball in the middle of your stance. For long irons you want it slightly further forward.
Wedges
  1. When hitting a wedge you want a slightly narrower stance and the ball should be in the middle of your stance.
  2. Your aim is to get the ball close to the flag so swing smoothly and in control.
  3. You want to hit down on the ball to promote good contact and spin.

The short game

The short game is the most important part of your golf game if you want to shoot low scores. About 75% of golf shots are within 100 yards. Here are some key golf tips to help improve your short game.

  1. Practise it more. Practise your short game as often as you can and your scores will plummet. Feel is a very important part of short game and can be developed through practice.
  2. Learn more chipping shots. There are many different chip shots. The pitch, chip and run, the flop shot, the one hop and stop shop. You should learn them all to give you a wider variety of choices.
  3. Play percentages. Always aim to get the ball running on the ground as soon as possible because it often easier to play and often gets a higher percentage of your chips closer to the hole.
  4. Putting feel. You can develop putting feel by putting from one edge of the green to the other trying to make it stop right on the edge of the green.

Course management

Good course management is often overlooked. A sound course management will mean maximising opportunity and lowering risk. Here are my tips on course management.

  1. Safety first. When playing every shot sometimes its best to go for a safety first attitude. For example why play a driver off the tee on a tight short par 4 when a 3 iron or 3 wood will get you on the fairway with a chance of birdie. You should consider hitting clubs of the tee that will get you on the fairway not OB or in the woods.
  2. Take enough club.This is probably one of the best golf tips for course management as a lot of amateurs come up short. When playing a round of golf you should know your exact average yardages and use them. If the flag is 150 yards away and you hit your 8 iron 150 on a perfect strike you should still use a 7 iron. That will get you pin high much more often.
  3. Don't go for sucker pins. If the flag is dangerously close to water or a bunker aim for a safer part of the green. You will hit more greens this way and still have a chance for birdie.
  4. Hit away from dangers. When playing a round of golf you should never aim at a hazard or danger because of the chances of hitting it. Instead aim away from it. For example there is OB all up the right of the fairway. Here you should aim up the left edge and hit it straight. Experienced players will aim up the left and fade it to the middle of the fairway. If they over fade it it will be on the right side of the fairway and if they pull it it will still be up the left side of the fairway.
  5. Lay up to your scoring shot. When playing long par5s or 4s instead of going for the green in to lay up to your best shot yardage. I.e. 100 yards. If you are good at nailing 100 yard shots aim to lay up there rather than hitting a harder club to a further harder to hit target.

Practice makes permanent

Practising golf is not like any other sport in golf the more you practice the more you make something permanent. This means that if you are practising wrong you will actually get worse. Here I have listed some golf tips that will help you in all areas of practice.

  1. Practice with a purpose. Don't just batter balls all day. Instead work on something in your swing or your fundamentals. This can be anything like making sure your stance is wide enough.
  2. Always have a target. You should always have a target to hit to. Whether that be whilst putting, chipping or driving. This will help you to focus.
  3. Use an aid. Golf aids can be a great way to keep you practising correctly. You don't want to get into any bad habits. One thing that I do is put down two golf clubs parallel to each other at my target. This means my alignment is always perfect.
  4. Spend at least 75% of your practice on short game. This is by far one of the best golf tips on practising you can give. Did you know that about 75% of golf shots are from 100 yards and in. These are scoring shots and you need to have a good short game if you want to be able to score well. Practise putting and chipping regularly and your scores will plummet.

Selecting the right equipment

Selecting the right equipment is a major factor if you want to be able to hit the ball well. Having the correct golf equipment can mean the difference between perfect shots and nasty hooks or slices. Below I have outlined golf tips on selecting the right equipment.
  1. Demo clubs. There are loads of different types of clubs aimed to do different things. If you are unsure if which ones you would like demo them. The worst thing that you could is buy clubs without trying them. Once you have demod them you will know if you like them or not.
  2. Whats your skill level. If you are a beginner you should stick to oversized cavities as they are the most forgiving. If you are a single digit player you may want to look at blades for more workability if you like that kind of thing.
  3. Get custom fitted. Once you have pick the right category of clubs and have demoed them and found a couple that you like you should look to get custom fitted for them. A lot of golf shops have computers which can analyse in detail every shot you hit with each club. This will narrow down the perfect club for you. The next thing they will do is custom make the club to your exact specifications. They will take into consideration your height and swing speed etc giving you the perfect club.

The setup and fundamentals

The golf set up is more than half the battle to hitting a good shot. Nearly all faults in a golf swing come from a bad setup. Here are my pointers on perfecting setup.

  1. Stance should be about shoulder width for every club. Slightly narrower for smaller irons.
  2. To make sure that you are not standing too far away your hands should be inline with your chin.
  3. For your golf grip, your fore finger and thumb should make a V which points in between your shoulder and head. This is so your grip is not too strong or weak.
  4. You should maintain a good spine angle. Feel as though you are sitting on a stool.
  5. To make sure your hands are ahead of the ball at setup put them ahead of the buttons on your shirt.
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