Golf is a lifelong sport, and improving your scores and skills involves lifelong effort. Wondering what actions you can take now to bring your golf game to the next level? You’ve come to the right place.
The Basics of How to Get Good at Golf
As with any other sport you may attempt in your life, in golf, practice makes perfect. While there are external factors that determine your ability level in the sport—such as age, health, and overall athletic ability—the main building blocks of the game are within your control to improve.
Start with the following strategies.
Practice More Often
Maybe you’re a weekend golfer, or only play on vacation and are frustrated that your game has plateaued. But how can you expect to get better at golf when you don’t put enough time into it? If improving your game is your goal, try practicing more often.
Practicing frequently doesn’t just mean squeezing in more rounds throughout the week. Instead, dedicate a few hours to hitting the range. This gives you the chance to use clubs you may shy away from when on the course, or simply getting into a groove with your swing. If you’re short on time, try ending each round with a few minutes on the range, or taking some swings in your backyard after work each day.
Here are a few tips to incorporate into your golf practice in order to get results:
- Have a Strategy. It’s a good idea to go into practice with a strategy in mind. Maybe you start with your wedges to loosen up your swing before you get your irons out, or maybe you finish up with your most confident club to end on a good note.
- Focus on All Aspects of Your Game. As tempting as it may be to smash your driver over and over on the range, you’ll only get real benefits from practice if you focus on all aspects of your game. Spend a few hours on the putting green, find a practice bunker to perfect your sand shots, and work out the kinks with your woods.
- Mimic Realistic Conditions. Any golfer knows that you hardly ever get a perfect lie on the course, so don’t rely on a tee or flat surface during practice. Try hitting an iron from a divot on the range, or chip from the tall grass and not just the apron. When practicing, imagine you’re playing a hole and mentally feel the pressure of a real round. The closest you can get to real-world conditions during practice, the better you’ll do on the course.
- Make it Fun. Inject some fun into your practice by giving yourself specific chipping challenges, or competing against someone else. Set specific targets on the range or green and see how close you can get. This is also a great way of measuring the effects of your practice!
Work On Your Fitness Level
You may be surprised to learn that there really is a fitness component to golf. Not only do you need strong muscles behind your swing and a toned core to keep you balanced and rotating properly, but you also need endurance in order to get through a full 18 holes without letting fatigue slip into your swing.
If you struggle with fatigue on the back nine or generally feel out of shape, focusing on golf-related exercises in the gym may just be your ticket to a better game.
How to get good at golf is to work on stability exercises and improve your core strength. Throw in some arm exercises and lots of rotational practice, too. Then make sure to get regular cardio workouts in, and over time you’ll see the results in your game.
Improve Your Mental Game
All golfers know that your state of mind is intimately connected to your golf game. If you make one mistake and lose your cool, you’ll inevitably make more mistakes. Don’t ruin a great round with one bad swing!
If you’re wondering how to get better at golf and this sounds like you, try picking up a mindfulness practice to learn how to focus on the present moment. Recognize your reactions to your mistakes on the course, and work on letting them go before they get in the way of your next shots.
Try a Golf Swing Analyzer
Convinced that the root of your golf troubles is in your swing? You may want to pick up a golf swing analyzer. Many of these come with sensors that you attach to your clubs, which then transmit information to an app on your phone so you can learn about your swing plane, speed, and more. Then, the swing analyzer will provide you with tips based on the data.
Play With Good Golfers
When looking for a quick way to gain some insight on the game and improve your skills, play with a better golfer than you and observe their game. How do they line up before each shot or choose which club to hit? What is their course management strategy? Watch and learn.
Take Lessons
Of course, one of the best ways to improve your golf game is to take lessons with a pro. Without an outside opinion, it’s difficult to know where adjustments need to be made. A golf pro can take a look and instantly help you make changes, and then give you suggestions and exercises to practice on your own.
But what if you can’t find the right coach nearby? Easy…
Download Skillest
How do you get better at golf in the most convenient way? Download Skillest. Combine swing analyzers, lessons, and professional expertise all in one, with an app that provides access to professional coaches from all over, plus plenty of tips and tricks to get your game back on track. On top of all that, with Skillest you also get 24/7 swing support to access help whenever you need it.
You have the power to improve your golf game. So what are you waiting for? Try any of these suggestions, then download Skillest and get to work.