Playing better golf does not need to frustrate you, make you feel a bit mental or take hours and hours of practice on the range. top tips to play greatWe’re going to lighten things up a bit here and I’ll just rattle off a bunch of tips one after another for your use on the course YOUR NEXT ROUND that don’t require any practicing!

Simple ways to play better golf that do not take hours on the range, killer workouts or expensive equipment. Just some common sense, but easily forgotten golf tips that will make a huge difference to your golf game no matter if you are play of 33, 13, or plus 3!

Here are 15 Simple Golf Tips To Score Better That Don’t Require Practice

They only require you to remember at least a couple of them next time you play. I promise that your scores will be better!

1. Whenever you are waiting to tee up, you should be chipping.
It’s perfectly within the rules. Chip to specific distances you have paced off. Pay attention to the lie you have and the reaction off the club for that lie. Get your 10 yard chip down COLD because you will use it this round and it WILL save you strokes.

2. Forget your score.
Don’t even look at the scorecard. Have a partner do all the scoring from now on unless of course you are in a tournament and you need to know for strategic reasons. But even then, you can turn that over to your caddy. All you’re going to think about from now on is THIS NEXT SHOT!

3. Always always warm up by hitting some balls on the range
before you start. Don’t go through the usually-taught routine of starting with your wedges and working your way up to the driver. That’s practicing. Just do some stretches and get a swing weight or use 2 clubs together to get your muscles going. Then, hit shots on the range like you will be playing on the course. Pretend you just got to the course with no time for warmup and have to go straight to the first tee. Get rid of those first few bad holes before you get to the first tee.

Start right off with the club you will use off the first tee, probably driver. Hit your next shot based on how well you hit your first shot and what the hole demands. SIMULATE ACTUAL PLAYING CONDITIONS on the range. This is what you would do if you showed up late right?

And it takes a few holes before you get to scoring well right? Doing the old standard warmup routine of hitting 5 shots of each club is nothing like you will be doing on the course. But this will mentally prepare you to play!

4. Did you ever notice that you play better when you are on vacation?
Or right after hearing some good news? This isn’t a coincidence and you can put yourself back in that place at any time and get the same benefit. Just spend some moments during the round remembering some great events in your life. Force yourself to smile more often. You cannot have negative thoughts while honestly smiling.

5. From here on out, once you decide on a club or a specific shot.
Don’t look back. Commit to it. Confidence is far more important  and according to all the golf psychologists than making the “correct choice.” Brad Faxon said: it’s more important to be decisive than correct. As far as I’m concerned if you’re decisive, you are correct. The closer to the hole, the more valuable that philosophy becomes

6. When in doubt, use more club.
If you feel you are in between clubs, take the higher one and grip down a half inch. Keep the same swing and tempo, don’t slow the swing down to adjust.

7. For putting, you can solve most of your problems with this one tip:
Always hold your finish. Hold your putter in the air, pointing at the target after you stroke the ball. If you do this, it is necessary that you had to have had smooth, controlled stroke and didn’t jab at it. This is big and it works for every putting style. Do it!

8. Putting Practice
Whenever nobody is behind you and you finish up a green, you should be putting a few more times to get the feel, speed and read of the greens of that round. Again, within the rules.

9. From here on out, you are done berating yourself for bad shots.
If you were playing a best ball or scramble with partners, and they hit a bad shot, would you tell them: “that shot was sorry, boy you stink at this game”? NO you wouldn’t because you know it would only hurt their confidence and their game and you need them to play well. So why in the world do we do that to ourselves when the same results come from talking bad to ourself?

10. Spend some time learning the rules!
I guarantee you that you have left strokes out on the course because you didn’t know about a rule that would have helped you.

11. Drink more water!
Yep, there is no easier way to reduce your score on any given round. Lack of water will simply make you tired and lethargic. You will lose focus. One moment of low concentration can equal one bad swing that can easily turn into a double, triple or worse bogey.

12. Forget that old school teaching that says you have to “identify your weaknesses.”
You know darn well what holds you back in your game. Start focusing this round, for every shot on what you do well. ON WHAT WENT RIGHT! Build a storage of good things you are capable of to come back to time and time again. When you do something bad, quickly analyze it for what can be learned AND THEN FORGET IT! FOREVER!

13. Control anger and frustration. Turn it into FOCUSED ENERGY! 
Sam Snead talked of playing “Cool Mad”. When something gets to you at work, you usually can’t cuss and yell and so you are able to control it at work. Use that same skill you developed there on the course. Playing angry is like adding a stroke to every hole, and I know you’ve experienced that!

14. Understand that you CAN hit the ball well while nervous.
Those first tee jitters happen to even the best pros. Use some loosening movements, like shoulder shrugs, and then just tell yourself that you are going to accept your nervousness and still hit the ball well. Tommy Bolt said: stomach butterflies are ok as long as they are flying in formation.

15. Putt Again
When you finish a hole, have another putt.. But the key here is that most people make a bad mistake and take the same putt hey just had. You need a new putt. You only get 1 chance in competition, do you need to practice your feel and estimation not technique. So try a new putt on every green.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you apply them!

This is Golf Simplified.

Your Friend and Coach,

Alex Fortey