If you’ve ever picked up a golf club then you already know. Golf is an addiction. And we’re all chasing something. For a lot of use muni mules that addiction comes by way of trying to lower our handicap.
I’m just as guilty as anyone for trying to sit on YouTube and fix my swing through 34 video tutorials all telling me different things. Unfortunately, most of them don’t work. Some are even comical that I ever thought they might.
However, there are ways to actually lower your handicap and get better at golf. After years of struggle to break 100, break 90, break 80, and finally achieve a single-digit handicap, here are the 5 best things I’ve found to help you lower your handicap.
1. Stop Losing Balls
In broader terms, this should really say, “Stop Taking Penalty Strokes.” I don’t care who you are, what your handicap is, or how well you can putt for dough, every time you take a penalty stroke it is destroying your score. Remember the first time you broke 80? (Or 90? Or 100?) I’m willing to bet a penalty stroke probably would’ve been the difference in not accomplishing the feat.
Why is Not Losing Golf Balls Important?
The goal of golf is getting the ball in the goal. The closer you can get to the hole with each shot, the better chance you’ll have of shooting the lowest score possible. Now imagine a world where you have to add a shot to your score with even taking a swing… You don’t get any closer to the hole and you might of even had to go backwards. It’s the ultimate double whammy.
How to Lose Less Golf Balls?
As the great Tiger Woods famously said while standing on a driving range once, “Just pound balls.”
Admittedly, there can be a little more to it, but you get the general idea. Practice hitting shots you will need on the golf course. Go to the driving range and tell yourself there’s water on the left and track how many balls you can keep away from that area. Then do the same on the right. And see how much better you can get over time.
Combine this practice with better decision-making on the course. If there’s water at the end of a fairway that’s 270 yards away and you hit your driver 265, then don’t hit a driver. It’s not worth the chance that you hit the shot of your life and are now swimming for your ball. Making smarter decisions will instantly lower your handicap in situations like this.
>> Related: Golf Balls Brands of 2024
2. Just Hit the Green
You’re a better putter than a chipper. I promise. That means you want to be on the putting green as early and often as possible. The obvious goal here is hitting as many greens in regulation as humanly possible, but it also means not getting cute with your recovery chip shots.
You’re going to miss greens. You’re human! One of my favorite PGA Tour stats is that hitting 18 greens is rarer than a hole-in-one. So for us mere mortals, how do we respond after our misses?
Simple. Don’t get cute with your recovery shots.
Why is hitting more greens important?
You will always have the same lie if you are on the green. Relatively speaking, of course. I can’t say the same for the rough, or even the fairway. Some rough is thick, sometimes downhill, sometimes uphill, sometimes side hill. The point is it’s always different and unpredictable.
On the other hand, the green is just a matter of reading break. Give yourself a 30-foot putt from the green and you will always outperform a chip from the same distance.
How to Hit More Greens
The best advice I have ever been given for this is to hit approach shots as if there is no flag. Playing partner just whipped out his rangefinder and pinged the flag at 123? Cool… what’s the distance to the middle? That’s where you should be aiming. Trouble on the left side of the green? Aim to the middle left and worry about your putt once you get up there.
Obviously, practice helps with this one too. But I simple mindset shift can save you a few strokes per round as well. I guarantee it.
3. Putt From Everywhere
File this one under not getting cute with recovery shots.
Easier said than done. Especially when it comes to the ego. But this one has never been truer.
If you have a clear path to the putting surface and you are on short-ish grass, you should have a putter in your hand. You might think you’re a better chipper than a putter, but your worst putt is still never as bad as your worst putt. I, for one, have never bladed a putt over a green into a lake… I have done it with a wedge.
The goal here is not to make the hero chip shot. You’ve already missed the green, don’t make it worse. Give yourself the best chance at recovering for par, accept the occasional bogey, and keep the doubles and triples off your scorecard.
Why is putting so important important?
We are amateurs for a reason. Golf is a game of misses and we miss a lot. You might be a good chipper, hell you might be a great chipper. But your worst chips are always going to be worse than your worst putts.
Take those out of the equation, and your scores will be better for it.
How to Putt Everywhere
You have a putter in your bag right? Use it. Often.
>> Related: How can wedge bounce help you hit better chips?
4. Increase the Distance of Your “50/50” Putt
This putting skill will take the most consistent hard work compared to anything else on this list. Though you could argue the same of the last one too.
For it, you’ll need to increase the distance of your putts that have a 50% chance of going in. It’s probably obvious that we make more putts the closer we are to the whole. But do you know what distance you start making more than you miss?
For reference, most amateurs have an 50/50 chance of making putts starting somewhere around 5. Juxtapose that to tour pros who usually hover around 8. I say this only to manage expectations and tell you that it’s unrealistic to get your 50/50 distance to 10 feet.
Why is this important?
Honestly, it’s probably not what you’re thinking. The point of increasing this distance is not about making more birdies. Though it helps. The real mission here is to make more pars after a lag putt.
The chances you make a 20-footer are not that different than a 25-footer. Or even a 30-footer. But after you miss that first putt, you want to be as close to the hole as possible with the best chance of actually making the putt to save par.
5. Add More Distance
There’s no sugar coating it. Distance makes the game easier. How much easier? On average, every 10 yards you can gain with a driver is a stroke off your handicap. There’s enough data out there now that shows accuracy is needed to a point. It’s not necessary that you can hit the centerline of a fairway. Hell, you don’t even have to hit the fairway. You just need to not be behind a tree or in a lake.
That means you need to be as long as you possible can while just being straight enough.
Just like improving your putting, however, this is not an easy fix. While changes might come quicker for you than others, the effort has to be there. Luckily there are plenty of tools out there to help with this, though. Things like Super Speed and The Stack System just to name a few.
Why is this important?
Adding distance means shorter approach shots. Shorter approach shots means shorter putts. Shorter putts means more birdies and less bogeys.
It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.
How to Add More Distance
As I mentioned, two of the more popular methods out there right now are Super Speed and The Stack System. Both of which different players and coaches swear by. The one thing they both have in common though is they get you to swing as hard as you possibly can. If you don’t practice swinging faster, you’ll never be able to swing faster during an actual round.
Best Way to Lower Your Handicap: Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you noticed a few common themes at play here. The first of which is simply practicing. Yes, sad as it may be, our parents were right all those years ago. If you want to get better at something, you need to practice. Ask anybody who’s a scratch golfer and they’ll tell you they practice. A lot.
The second is mastering the short game. That is everything from short iron approaches to putting prowess. The worst PGA Tour putter from 3 feet away is better than the best putter from 4 feet. Knock your approaches closer to the hole, be a master at saving those close putts, and watch your scores plummet.
Last, but not least, distance. We tend to think of this as driver distance, but driver distance generally leads to more distance with every club. And that will inevitably lead to much easier approaches with shorter clubs in your hand.
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