6 Skills Every Golfer Needs To Shoot Lower Scores

Shooting lower golf scores is a skill in itself and often it comes down to more than just your talent with a golf club in your hand. The best players in the world separate themselves with their decision making and golf IQ - when under pressure, they’re able to think with complete clarity and choose the right shot at the right time to keep the big numbers off the card. Of course, they’re able to execute essential shot types successfully most of the time too. This article by top 50 coach Ged Walters features six key skills that cover both the physical and mental side of golf to help you get the most out of your game. If you want to find more fairways, keep double bogeys at bay, escape fairway bunkers and hole out from short range - be sure to read on and watch the video below!

1. Use the teeing ground to your advantage

So many times I see amateur golfers walk almost aimlessly to the tee, tee the ball up in the middle of the markers and aim down the center of the fairway knowing they hit a 30-yard slice. They’re then surprised when their ball sails into the right-hand trees! You need to be smarter about where you tee the ball based on your typical shot shape. For example, if you slice the ball to the right (for a right handed player) teeing your ball up on the extreme right hand side of the tee gives you a much better angle and essentially makes the fairway play a little wider. Vice versa if your stock shot is a draw, tee the ball up on the extreme left. Remember it’s only your ball that needs to be positioned between the markers, not your feet as well.

2. Fairway bunker shot

The skill of getting your ball out of a fairway bunker is a crucial one as it can lead to disastrous scores if not. The first thing to consider is how your ball is lying - not just in terms of how cleanly it is sitting but also how far is it from the lip of the bunker and how high is the lip? This will dictate your club selection - it’s always best to choose one less club (more loft) to guarantee avoiding contact with the lip. In terms of technique, gently build a base with a light wiggle of your feet, grip down the club and just like a shot from the fairway, your intention is to strike the ball first before the sand and trust the loft on the club to get the ball out.

3. Taking your medicine

Amateur golfers often think they can hit their ball through a three-foot wide gap in the trees despite having missed a 30-yard wide fairway with the biggest club in their bag! When you find trouble off the tee, getting the ball back in play should be your priority. Going for the gap and getting it wrong could lead to dire consequences, so take your medicine and play a chip-and-run style shot back to the fairway. The worst you’ll make is a bogey and who knows, you may even get up and down to save your par.

4. Have a go-to shot off the tee

We all need a shot we can rely on off the tee when the hole is particularly tight or when the pressure is really on. For most golfers, this should be a cut-style shot with the ball teed down a little bit but it could be switching club to a hybrid or a long iron. Think about adopting a controlled tempo (swing within yourself) and aim down the safer side of the hole where appropriate. Practicing this shot on the range and trusting it on the course be a real help when your typical driver shot is misbehaving.

5. Putting pace control

So many golfers don’t get a feel for the pace of the green before they tee off and then wonder why they three-putt the first two holes. A great drill to do before you play is to putt some balls to the fringe. This takes away any consideration of the line, you’re simply trying to get the ball to rest up against the line of where the green meets the fringe or just on to the fringe. Try it from different distances and different angles to assess how the slopes affect the speed and then take what you’ve learned to the course - you’ll be surprised at how effective this is.

6. Holing out from short range

PGA Tour players average a make percentage of nearly 97% from inside five feet, but I’m sure you miss nearly as many as you make from the longer section of this range. A good drill to improve your short putting, which is crucial to maintain the momentum of a round, is the round the world drill. 

Position four tees around a hole and work your way around trying to hole as many as you can in a row and keep a tally of your best total - this creates an element of pressure. The drill is great because it covers holing out from different angles, different breaks, different speeds and matching everything up will help you become prolific from inside that crucial five feet distance.