Getting help from a qualified instructor is always
a good idea.

Don't let anybody tell you different. That being said, changing your golf swing isn't the same as changing your golf game. How you approach your game each and every day you play has as much to do with the scores you shoot as your actual golf swing does. In fact, I'd say more! Each of us can look back over a round and identify where we let needless shots slip away. I think we're all guilty of that. When I say needless shots, I am identifying shots we can and should handle given our basic skill set. We miss a couple three footers! Chunk a bunker shot and leave it in the sand! Lay it up right in front of that short par 5 in 2 shots and write a 6 on the card, arggggggg!!!

But does that take care of everything I just talked about? The simple answer is "No". We need to improve our mental approach to the game of golf. How do we do this? It's called game management and course management. Those two aspects have as much to do with good golf as a good golf swing does. As Teachers we would always look at a golf student and identify that players strengths and weaknesses and build from there. You as the individual player should also be doing this while on the course. Simple things like teeing up on the proper side of the tee box to best suit your ball flight. Often players tee their ball up on every hole in a totally different position without thinking about why. What's your strategy for the hole? Do you fade or draw the ball? Does the hole dogleg or is the pin tucked in a corner of the green that will make it tough to get at from a particular spot in the fairway? Nothing about that thought process is difficult nor does it take much time. Start right here on each hole and your scores will go down. It's called a pre shot routine. That pre shot routine isn't just a waggle of the club or a hitch of the pants! Its brain in gear time, then waggle, then hitch your pants, then let it fly!!

Have you ever played a hole and looked back and said, "I could par that darn hole with a 5 iron and a putter", but instead I hit driver, 7 iron, wedge, bunker shot, then "3 wiggle" it from 15 feet and mark 7 on the card!! Ouch!! What you fail to realize is that the subtle little thought about the 5 iron and the putter is actually course and game management creeping into your thought process. If you allow those thoughts to fully take hold, you'll hit the correct shot more often than not. It doesn't mean you won't play poorly again some time or make bad swings! You will! We all do. But what it does mean is we'll be better prepared to recover from those bad shots. We'll also be better prepared to avoid the bad shots in the first place. Notice I didn't say bad swings? We all make bad swings. We all hit poor shots. What we do after that is what makes us the player we are, for better or worse!