It's immensely pleasurable to beat your friends on the golf course, but there is nothing better than beating the course itself or your personal best round. Golf can be frustrating at times, but with the right goals, it can become a challenge so fun that will make you thirsty to practice. Follow along to learn some key tips on how to break 80.
Understand Where Your Golf Game Is At
Know what your strengths and weaknesses are to know what practice. Dominate your strengths with confidence but don't be lazy about practicing your weaknesses. Don't avoid them because they bore you or because you aren't great at that specific aspect of the game. We all know its fun to go to the driving range and hit drives as hard as we can. However, you have to be more thoughtful about your practice and disciplined and go work on specific weaknesses such as lag-putting. One important tip is to practice with more advanced players than yourself and try and beat them in putting contests or short game contests. This will create a tournament environment and will help to pay off in high pressure situations in real tournaments or high-stake matches with your friends.
Short Game Practice
Golf is a game of mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes in a round of golf but those who recover, suffer the least. The legendary Seve Ballesteros used to say he only needed one good shot a hole to make par and it would usually be a great up and down. You can hit it to the forest from the tee, chip out to the fairway, miss the green and land in a bunker, but then hit it to one foot to save a great par on a par 4. So spend a few days a week chipping onto the green instead of smacking balls in the range.
Putting Practice
The driver gives you the glory... but the putter gives you the victory! The biggest difference from a decent amateur golfer and a professional golfer is putting. Putting is an easy way to save strokes. Players like Tiger Woods, who hit zero fairways on the front nine on in the final round at the 2018 PGA Championship, still managed to shoot 32 (-3). This was thanks to amazing putting and recovery. You see Tiger "roar" when he is putting, not when he is hitting it over 350 yards down the middle of the fairway. Aim to be the best putter amongst your group of friends and you will end up being a better golfer.
Tiger Woods Celebrating A Great Putt
Owning the Right Golf Equipment
Having the proper equipment that suits your swing, size and strength is an important way to save strokes. Having the proper shaft stiffness on your irons and woods is extremely important because a shaft that is too stiff will make you lose distance. On the other hand, a shaft that is too soft will make the ball spin too much can become very difficult to control. Buy clubs that will have high forgiveness to improve your confidence and reduce your spraying span. Make sure you get the right advice for your own set of clubs. Last but not least, it is important to have the right eyewear. Sunglasses have become more than just protection from the sun, they have become performance-enhancing tools that will elevate your game to the next level. To learn more about sunglasses check out our blog on The Best Sunglasses of 2018!
