The game of golf has two distinct aspects, both clearly connected;
The physical aspect relates to hitting the golf ball and entails the setup, position and essentially swing motion. The mental aspects involve your psyche and strategy for a game that includes the way you think about every shot you take. When it comes to managing the golf course, we refer to this mental component of a game as course management.
What is golf course management and why is it so important?
Golf course management makes you a better golfer. Proper course management enables golfers to learn their game, focusing on the golf swing and making better decisions on the course to help them play golf better and get lower scores. You have to choose the right clubs, choose the right shot and plan the best strategy for the course you're playing. It is important to take a defensive approach if it works out, play conservatively if it works and knows when a certain moment comes.
10 Tips to Lower Your Score
#1 Play safe, not aggressively
Watching tour players hit miraculous shots is good, but you must think about what it will mean in your case. Playing safely does not necessarily mean playing dull, it just means you must play shots which you know can take on practically every time and that is saving you a lot of shots over the round. If golf was about who could hit the furthest, the longest players would win every time, however, golf is much more than distance. Approach shots are incredibly important
#2 Know your yardages
Do you know how far each club can hit the ball? If you don't then you're basically going into every shot blind having a guess which club you think will get you to the hole. Some golfers now have yardage watches or laser guns to calculate the distance to the hole but if you still don't know how far your 8 iron goes, it makes it harder to be more precise and accurate, which is especially important around the green. To identify how far each club can hit, either you need to identify the gaps between each club.
#3 Aim for the middle of the green
Always aim for the centre of the green. By aiming for the middle, you give yourself a greater chance of hitting the green. When aiming directly at the pin position this makes things harder as you're aiming at a smaller target area. The golfer should always try to aim for the middle green and it is his position. The pin position is a good way to force the user out of harm and the middle green will prevent this. Make a small mark on the surface towards the flag so you get safer chances for the birds.
#4 You Don't Have to Hit Drivers
The driver is perhaps the most difficult club in the bag for most golfers. It's kind of taken as standard that when you're on a par 4 or a par 5, then it's time to get the driver out. Yes, using a driver gives you the most distance however it's not always about whacking the ball the furthest, it's about taking a first shot that will put you in a better position for the second shot. Let's say you've got a par 4 that is 320 yards, you could look at this in a variety of ways
- 1 x 200-yard drive, one 120-yard shot
- 1 x 160 drive, one 160-yard shot
- 1 x 180 drive, one 140-yard shot
You see, there's so many different calculations, but it's vital to understand the distances that can be hit with each club.
#5 Play away from trouble
Trouble is never far away on the golf course. There are boundaries, lakes and bunkers which have all got to be considered when taking shots. The most common error is likely playing the balls into the bunkers around the green, they are strategically placed so if you fail to hit the green, then it's likely your ball will find it's way into the bunker. When you're playing longer shots, there are always more things that can go wrong, for example hitting your ball into a deep fairway bunker, don't always try and hit as far as you can, it might be better to run the ball up to the green rather than aiming for the green the slicing it into the hazard
#6 Recovery Shots – Play it simple
Everyone hits bad shots, golf isn't perfect but when we've hit a bad shot, we can be tempted to try and recover that by playing an epic shot next. However, it's likely your ball is going to be in the rough which means it's much more difficult to connect with the ball, especially in long grass. The best thing to do in this situation is to focus on the shot after the recovery. The further away you are from the hole, the more it makes sense rather than trying to get as far as possible to just chip the ball into the centre of the fairway about 20 to 30 yards ahead rather than messing up that shot too and putting you in more trouble for the next shot.
#7 Get lessons to focus on weaknesses
If you've been playing golf for a while and developed a swing you're happy with but you're finding that you're struggling with certain aspects, get a golf lesson to see if there are any quick fixes that can help you improve. Going to a good golf teacher can help analyse your swing, looking at its strengths and weaknesses which can help you to get more distance and more control over the golf ball.
#8 Identify the clubs you play the best with
There are always going to be a few clubs that you feel are more natural and suited to your game. If you're amazing with the 5 iron and you know you can hit it 140 yards, take advantage of it. Like we were saying before about hitting the driver, if you're on a par 4 and it's 250 yards, then if you know you're rocking the 5 iron, hit the ball to around 140 yards from the hole, that means you only need to hit it about 100 - 110 yards from the tee, a 7 iron and a 5 iron can work out much better than a driver and a wedge shot.
9# Don't comment on playing partners' ball till they've stopped moving
Have you ever heard someone say "great shot" and then the ball rolls off the green into a hazard? Yeah, this is quite frequent, it's always best not to say too much at all on the golf course, obviously, if someone gets a hole-in-one or plays a great shot, you can be like wow that's great, well done.
