Are you looking to take control of your golf game and shave strokes off your round? Then you are in the right place! Because in today’s blog we will be taking a look at 10 different ways to shave strokes from your game.
Now I know what you are thinking “I’ve already read articles about shaving strokes off my golf game, nothing works!”. The difference between what you are going to read in this article and what you may have read in other articles is the simplicity of the changes. All our tips are simple changes and drills that you can do to immediately improve your game.
To make sure that we cover absolutely everything, we will also be offering tips and information on how to assess your game and equipment. This is a vital area of golf that usually flies under the radar with most other guides. Just these couple tips alone can instantly cut strokes and result in a more consistent golf game.
10 Best Golf Tips
One thing to remember before we get started is that practice makes perfect! All these tips work on their own, but most need to be practiced together to achieve the best results possible. But after a while of practicing, all these tips and ideas will become second nature and integrated into your swing and game.
1. Invest in a Coach and hit the Range
Perhaps one of the best things you can do for your game is to get a lesson from a PGA certified swing instructor or golf coach. Not only can a lesson help you identify problem areas in your swing but can also allow for direct correction from a professional. Another major benefit is that both you and a third party can assess your game to find your strengths and weaknesses.
So when’s the best time to seek out a lesson with a swing coach? The answer: right now! No matter if you are an experienced golfer or just a beginner, a swing coach can get you on the right track to cut strokes off your game.
One slight downside with this idea is that having a PGA pro or swing instructor give you a lesson will cost a bit of money. While rates vary depending on the area and course, most golf pros offer lessons for around $60 an hour. Of course, just a 30-minute lesson is enough to assess your game and get some personalized instruction. So think of the money and time spent on a lesson as an investment in improving your game and reducing stress in your future rounds of golf.
2. Assess & Re-Assess your Equipment
Are your golf clubs a bit, well, outdated? Maybe your wedges are heavier than an anvil and have shallow grooves? Perhaps your putter head is bent? No matter the reason, playing with damaged or old clubs can really hurt your game.
Golf clubs have really improved in feel, distance, and forgiveness in the last decade. So if your clubs are from an earlier time, it might be time to upgrade. This upgrade on its own can save you ten strokes!
Assessing your equipment is also important as it can help you understand what type of performance you should expect from your clubs. An example of this is to say that you have an older, and somewhat cheap, driver. In this case, you shouldn’t expect to hit it as far as a newer driver. So instead of chasing distance, you should instead focus on hitting strategic drives that set up for an easy second shot.
The final reason for an equipment assessment is to make sure you are using the right clubs. Muscle back and blade irons should only be used by low to mid handicappers, while cavity back irons should be used by higher handicap players. Drivers are pretty universal, but make sure that the shaft flex matches your swing speed or you’ll notice some wayward shots!
3. Set up – Grip, Swing, and Stance
No matter what sport is played, the participant needs to have a good mental game as well as physical. Golf is by far one of the sports where your mental game can directly contribute to your success or demise on the course. So where does this mental gameplay play the largest part? During your setup and swing.
For most amateur golfers, lots of mistakes come from the golf grip and stance. So it’s extra important to mentally check your grip and stance before each shot. A simple way to do this is to develop a routine. An example would be to first take your club and apply the correct grip, lineup with your target, then take your stance. This routine alone would make sure that your grip, stance, and alignment are the same each time.
But the mental game of golf doesn’t stop at just setting a routine for your grip and stance. Your pre-swing and post-swing also need a routine. A simple way to do this is to think about how your swing will look and feel before starting your swing. This will keep you from making simple mistakes like overswinging or bringing the club on an inside-to-out swing path. After seeing your shot, you should then assess how your swing went and what tweaks might be needed.
4. Health, Strength & Flexibility
So this tip is probably one that most golfers tend to gloss over. But since golf is an active sport, your overall health and flexibility play a big part in how well you perform on the course. Just some simple lifestyle tweaks and flexibility training can be the difference between a great round with everything going right and a bad round that falls apart from the start.
Flexibility is arguably the most important factor of the two in shaving strokes off your game. Having more flexibility allows for a more natural and faster swing. This makes for a more consistent impact that results in better launch and distance. A simple way to increase flexibility is to practice daily stretching that targets muscles in your chest, core, and legs. If you want to take it a bit further, you can even try low-intensity yoga workouts.
Working on your overall health can be a bit harder than working on flexibility. But if you look to simple changes such as eating healthier, cutting out unneeded sugar, or increased exercise the changes can be relatively hassle-free. The rewards of having better overall health is the ability to maintain greater energy and focus throughout an entire round of golf.
5. Fix your Drive
Driving is perhaps one of the most important parts of golf, since a bad drive can set you up for a big number on the scorecard. But when it comes to hitting drives, golfers, especially amateur golfers, focus on hitting towering drives that split the fairway. While this tactic might make for a couple of easy holes, it also has a higher chance of getting you into trouble (slicing/hooking).
So to help set you up for a better second shot and shave a couple of strokes from your game, here’s a drill that will help you both straighten and increase the distance of your drive. First, take two alignments sticks (or golf clubs) and lay them parallel to each other and in line with your target. Next, move the two alignment sticks far enough apart to allow for your driver’s head to move between them. Finally, tee up a ball and take your stance. When you take your swing the alignment sticks will make sure you are inline with your target and give you an idea if your swing path was between the two sticks.
Remember that while doing this drill to keep a smooth and unrushed swing. Before long you will see longer and more accurate drives that consistently end up in the fairway. This alone will result in better second shot opportunities and a chance to cut several strokes off your game.
6. Get Comfortable with your Wedges
Loving your wedges are a key part of carding a good round. Wedges have the ability to get you out of some pretty scary lies and set you up for an easy putt. But most golfers tend to have a bit of a “love-hate” relationship with their wedges. So we’re going to show you how to love your wedges in all situations.
The first thing that needs to be said is that there are a wide variety of viable wedge shots. Because of this, we won’t be able to go over how to hit each type of shot in this section. Instead, we will focus on a tried and true method to consistently hit different lofted shots.
First, the shot we are going to hit is a regular wedge shot. No opening or closing to face, just a standard face and standard swing. To start the drill, place a ball in the center of your stance. Then take a regular swing at the ball remembering to not slow down at impact. This ball flight is the default launch height of your wedge. Next, move the ball back in your stance, somewhere between the center of your stance and back foot. Take the same swing as the first shot and you should notice the ball had a lower flight. Do this again with the ball forward in your stance and you should notice a higher ball flight.
As you should be able to see pretty immediately; ball positioning determines the launch angle. With some practice, this drill will have you hitting better wedge shots by just moving the ball in your stance.
7. Work on your short game
Your short game encompasses more than just chipping and putting. Due to all the hazards around greens including bunkers, hills, long grass, and trees, your short game can include lots of shot types. 
Learning to be creative to get out of this trouble can certainly save you a significant amount of strokes.
So the next time you are in a tight spot near the green, keep the wedges in the bag! Instead, opt for a hybrid or lower lofted iron. Because of this low loft, they are perfect for small controlled bump and runs. They can also be used to keep a ball lower to the ground as a way to avoid tree branches or high-lipped bunkers.
A great drill to practice these types of bump and runs is simply going to the practice green and taking a hybrid or iron and trying from various distances and lies. We recommend practicing shots out of longer grass, to get a feel for how a hybrid will react. Another great area for training is on awkward lies where a wedge can’t be used.
8. Work on your Putting
Unless you one putt every hole, there’s probably work to be done with your putting. And if you think about it, cutting just five putts out of your round can lead to consistently lower scores! But fixing putting issues can be a long process. So to speed up that process, here’s a quick guide to identifying common putting problems!
First, determine how you miss most putts. Do you leave it wide or pull it inside the cup? What about speed? Too fast or too slow? Maybe it just seems like everything is going wrong on the green. Here are some drills to help you fix some of these problems.
For those pushing or pulling putts, the Gate Drill is a very fast remedy. To do this drill just place four tees in the green in a box pattern that is just a bit larger in width than your putter head. Then place a ball in the middle of the box and take your stroke. If you hit any of the tees, it means that you are pushing or pulling your putt. But a “straight back straight through” stroke will miss all the tees.
Speed related issues can be solved by a simple ladder drill. Just create a line of three or four golf balls extending farther away from the hole and start close and work yourself away. Continue to do this at varying slopes to get the best practice possible.
9. Invest in a swing analyzer or launch monitor
Think a swing analyzer or launch monitor is only for the pros? Think again! 
With the advancement of Doppler radar technology, launch monitors have gotten so small that they can fit in the palm of your hand. Plus, many launch monitors also have data tracking and analysis to help you identify problem areas in your golf game.
Most quality swing analyzers and launch monitors cost somewhere in the area of about $150-$250. While this is a bit of an upfront cost, these units will last for years and can truly transform your range session into a full golf lesson. Another benefit of some launch monitors is that they can even be used indoors with a practice net.
Overall, launch monitors help you understand your vital swing numbers. This in turn can help you cut strokes from your game. Most golfers will need to focus on improving both their swing and contact to improve their ball flight. Thankfully, most launch monitor platforms will have suggestions as to what drills can help fix your swing.
10. Practice!
While all the tips offered in this article have the potential to shave strokes off your game in a short amount of time, the only way to completely remove strokes from your game is to practice. But don’t think that practice is just doing drill after drill at the putting green or range.
Practicing can be anything from hitting chips in the backyard to putting across the living room carpet.
Heck, even playing a couple of holes after work counts as practice! As long as you are hitting some shots and getting more familiar with your clubs, you will see a benefit. Also, be sure to bring along some golf friends for a more lively and competitive practice session.
Another potential way to practice is simply by staying at home. Investing in and using a golf simulator, like the Optishot 2.0, lets you practice in the comfort of your own home. It even makes it possible to practice golf when the weather is too cold or rainy. This is perfect for those who live in colder climates.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how you practice but whether you do. Because just a bit of practice can really make the difference between breaking 100 or 90.
Bottom Line
Now that you have made it to the end of our 10 best golf tips it should be pretty clear how easy it is to revamp your golf game! The best part is that some of these tips can have an instant impact on your game. Others might take a bit longer to work, but the results will be worth it!
We also understand that some of these tips just might not be possible with everyone’s budget. Not everyone has the ability to buy newer clubs, custom launch monitors, or lessons. But we think that these are great goals to work towards if you really are committed to lowering your golf score. Of course, there is always the option of finding a friend or fellow golfer that might be able to get you a deal on some used equipment.
Another take away with these tips is that they are best added to your game over time. If you try to fix everything at once you might end up in more trouble than you started with! So only take one area of your game at a time and work on it. For example, if you are really having trouble with your wedges try our drill for learning to love your wedges. Focus your practice only on your wedges until you feel comfortable, then move on to another drill.
In the end, we are certain that these ten tips will shave lots of strokes off your game! Just remember to stick with them and always look to improve. Thanks for reading! Now get out on the course and set a new personal record! Visit the Golf Accessories Reviews homepage for more informative blogs and product reviews.
