There’s no doubt about it, if you can afford to take golf lessons, this is the fastest way to improve your game. Many golfers believe their clubs are the problem. Your clubs are not the problem. I’ll say that again: Your clubs are not the problem!
If you’re going to spend money on improving your golf game, spend it on a golf coach, not clubs. NOT CLUBS! But if you don’t have the money for golf lessons, read on! I’m here to help
The other problem I often see is players getting advice from their similarly handicapped buddies (sometimes unsolicited advice)
Asking your high handicap golf buddies for swing advice is like asking a veterinarian what’s wrong with your tooth. It is not helpful or productive and will cause more problems than it fixes.
If you can’t afford golf lessons, don’t worry. This guide is going to help you improve your golf game without the golf lessons! I’ve written the guide in a way to help beginners and more advance golfers alike improve their golf game.
Play Smart Golf
The very easiest way to get better at golf is to use your damn brain. Pay attention to the distance to hazards and where they are placed, and plan your shots accordingly.
Know how far you can hit each club, and pick a club that keeps the hazard out of range.
Play each hole from the green back. If you are confident hitting a 100 yard shot, then play the hole to set you up for a 100 yard shot.
For example, say you’re playing a 330 yard par 4, and you can drive it 280, but you’ve been struggling with your 50 yard shots. Tee off with a 3 wood to go 230 yards, and set yourself up for a full swing 100 yard wedge shot that you’re more confident with.
If you’ve been spraying your drives all over the place, put your driver in the bag. You can play a much better round of golf hitting your tee shot straight 200 yards on every hole than spraying a driver all over the place.
If you can put your pride away (along with your clubs that you’re not confident with), you’ll play better golf and you’ll have much more fun. I promise.
Practice Short Game
How much time do you spend on the driving range vs. the practice greens? If you’re not spending 3 hours on the practice green for every 1 hour on the driving range, you’re missing the low hanging fruit. Short game practice is the easiest way to get better at golf in a hurry.
YouTube can be a great resource for finding easy ways to improve your golf game. Golf Sidekick is one of my favorite channels for this. He does a great job of simplifying things for the amateurs.
This video he made on chipping makes a lot of sense and helps you get your hands doing the right thing for effective chips.
Golf Sidekick is all about playing smart golf and enjoying yourself. Learning how to enjoy yourself in and of itself will help you improve your golf game. When you take yourself to seriously and have unrealistic expectations, golf ceases to be fun, and your game suffers. Don’t be that guy.
Get it On The Green
This goes along with playing smart golf, but look at the example below:
Better golf scores usually come in the form of better decisions. In the picture above we see a pin located in a tight back left corner of the green. Not only is there limited green space around the pin, there’s also a bunker in front and water behind.
Take the hazard out of play by aiming at the big juicy fat part of the green. Then get a 2 putt par like you were destined to do. Don’t go chasing birdies until you find a more ideal scenario.
Par 3? Use a Tee
It makes no sense to me why so many golfers choose not to use a tee on par 3 holes. It’s legal to use a tee and using a tee makes it 1000 times easier to hit a solid shot. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?
This is yet another example of putting your ego aside for the sake of getting better at golf. Play the smart way, not the arrogant wanker way. If you’re asking yourself, “Should I use a tee on par 3’s?” The answer is a resounding yes. Always.
Don’t worry about what your buddies are doing. And if your buddies are making fun of you, you get to make fun of them when you score better. Play smart. No more ego golf.
Honest Scorekeeping
Alright players, if you’re not interested in getting better at golf, then feel free to ignore this advice. But if your goal is to get better at golf, this point is critical.
Take your penalties. Do not take gimmes. If there are rules that you aren’t sure of, read up and learn them. When the ball goes OB, you are re-hitting with 2 strokes added.
If you are not following these guidelines, then there’s no way to accurately measure where your game is. You’re just cheating yourself.
Now if your goal is just to get out there and have fun, that’s wonderful. Do what makes you happy. But if your goal is improving your handicap, you need to take this advice seriously and play by the rules.
Otherwise you won’t have any clue what your handicap actually is, making it extremely difficult to measure any improvement.
Keep it Fun
While it’s important to be honest in your scorekeeping if you’re looking to improve, it’s also important to have a good time and realize how lucky you are to be hanging out on a golf course.
If you’re stressed out of your mind and angry after every stroke, chill out. This isn’t the PGA tour. You’re just a weekend hack trying to get a little better. Enjoy that.
Track Your Stats
If you want to learn how to improve at golf without lessons, tracking your stats is critical! You need a baseline, and you need to see where the easiest points of improvement will be for your game.
There are thousands of apps out there with amazing capabilities to help you track your stats. My preference is 18birdies. But you can pick any app you like. You should be looking for an app that can track your scores, fairways hit, miss directions, greens in regulation, penalties, chips, and putts.
Something along those lines will help you track where you can make the biggest improvement.
The easiest way to get better at golf may be different for each golfer individually. Knowing where your weak points are will help you know where to focus to get better faster.
For example, if you’re missing every green short, you’ll know that you need to pick a longer club for your approach shots. That’s a very easy fix.
Actively Practice
When I say actively, I mean don’t just go smack 100 balls at the driving range. Decide on a distance you want to get better at, and focus on hitting the ball that distance for a pre-determined number of shots.
Create a practice routine that ensures you are working on the weaker parts of your game, and actively thinking about what’s going right and what’s going wrong with your practice shots.
Pay attention to how the shots feel. What are your feet doing? Legs? Arms? Torso? Hands? Feel the entire shot throughout your body and teach your body what the right shot feels like.
Pre-Shot Routine
This is another part of training your body to do the right thing. It’s an important part of every stroke. It doesn’t matter if it’s a drive, approach, pitch, chip, or putt, you should have a set routine you do before each stroke.
The routine should be designed to line your body up properly to the shot you are taking, and it should be automatic because you’ve done it so many times.
Once you decide on the shot. Stand behind the ball, find an aim point 3 feet in front of the ball, then set up your stance according to the shot you are hitting.
The details of your pre-shot routine are up to you, but they need to be consistent.
Take Video of Your Swing
This is the closest thing to getting a golf lesson without actually getting a golf lesson.
Have you watched your swing? This is an easy way to see if it looks right to you. You’ll be able to link what you’re feeling with what you look like, and have big potential for improving your stroke.
Full speed and slow-motion video can be very beneficial. You can take a look at what each body part is doing in your swing.
It’s a good idea to watch the video right after you record the swing. That way you can say, “That shot went left…it looks like in the video I turned my wrists over too hard, which caused the ball to hook.
Getting that feedback is critical in improving your swing and ball striking.
How to Improve at Golf Without Lessons
Ok, we chatted about a few things. Here are the key points if you want the easiest route to improving your golf score without lessons:
- Smart Golf
- Practice Short Game
- Get it on the Green
- Tees on Par 3’s
- Honest Scorekeeping
- Keep it Fun
- Track Stats
- Focused Practice
- Pre-Shot Routine
- Record Your Swing
Depending on your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll find points in this list that will lead to fast improvement in your golf swing and your golf score. And remember, if you can take lessons, just freakin’ do it.
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