Today I am going to share with you some tips that can improve your golf game that don’t involve swing a golf club.  How can you improve your golf game without swinging a golf club?

Great question.  The answer is course management.  Course management is the art of limiting the damage of your golf shots.

One of the greatest models of course management was Jack Nicklaus.  Jack would rarely hit a wrong shot at the wrong time.  Nor did he gamble and hit low percentage shots.  You might can tell, by being one of the greatest golfers to date, that his apporach worked.  So lets do what successful golfers do.

Jacks philosophy can be summed up this way: 1) find the easiset way and 2) avoid danger.  Yes, that’s it.  It sound so simple doesn’t it?

Lets look at each of these two ideas and build a foundation for you to follow to help lower your scores.

Finding the Way

A golf course can sometime look like an obstacle course in which there are easier ways to get to the greean and there are more difficult ways to get to the green.  One key point of scoring well , even on days when you are not playing your best, is finding the easiest way around the course.  By determining the easiest way around the course you will generally take fewer shots.   This method will not help you shoot in the 80′s if you are playing bad but it will limit those higher scores that can raise your handicap and shatter your confidence.

Avoiding Danger

Learn to avoid potential disasters and your can lower your scores.  Every round you play has critical shots ans those critical shots, if hit poorly can radically affect your scores.  Critical shots can include your drives, approach shots, chip shots and putts.   Whichever they are, you can be assured that they will cost you strokes when misplayed.

How you assess these shots and deal with them makes the difference between good scores and bad scores.

Basic Course Management Strategies

Let’s now look at four basic management strategies that can help guide you around the course to achieve better scores.

1. Carrying Over Water
If you’re not certain you can carry over water with anything but your career best shot, don’t try it. It’s not worth the risk. Play it safe and lay up instead. Then try for a pitch and putt. You have a chance at pulling it off, and even if you don’t, the worst that could happen is dropping a stroke. Failure to carry the water is doubly damaging. It can affect both your score and your confidence.

2. Playing Long Holes
When playing long par 4s where you know you can’t hit the green in two, decide from where ideally you’d like to play your third shot to give you the best chance of making par. Don’t force your drive and don’t force your second shot. Keep the ball in play. Remember while a par is better than a bogie, a bogie is better than a seven. Every shot counts.

3. Approaching the Green
You don’t always have to attack the hole with your approach shot. It’s sometimes much easier to hole out with two putts from the center of the green, no matter where the hole is, rather than have to get up and down from a green side bunker because your approach shot was just a fraction or so off line or a foot or so short.

4. Safety First
Sooner or later we’re all going to get into trouble. You may find yourself in deep rough or up against an obstacle. Whatever the problem, the golden rule is safety first. Concentrate solely on getting back into the fairway in a good position to hit the next shot, and you will minimize the damage down by your original miscue.

Base your course management strategy on these two key principals,  find the easiest way around the course and avoid danger, and you’ll see your scores and golf handicap quickly improve.

If you would like an excellent resource for handling any trouble you might meet on a round of golf and hit solid shots from even the most Godawful situations, you should check out the Trouble Shots DVD. 

Good luck and have fun.

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I was reading an interesting blog post this weekend and it made me think about golfers I have seen on the golf course.

The blog post was titled Golf is fun. For some people golf is no longer fun and those people should stop playing. Golf for most of us is a recreational game. We are supposed to have fun playing recreational games.

To me it is hard to beat playing with my buddies, enjoying ourselves and not think about the problems of everyday life. The golf courses are beautiful, the weather is great and the company is the best.

Every time you are on the golf course and see those players cursing or throwing clubs, it really makes you think what is going on in their heads. It makes you think how did they get so mad playing a game that they break a $300 club. My wife would be sooo upset with me if I broke one of my golf clubs.

Checkout the blog post at…
Golf is fun

Share your stories about people getting mad at the golf course by posting a comment below.

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I was catching up on my reading of some other golf blogs when I came across this one post that made me stop and fall out of my chair.  There was a post with a video interview with PGA pro John Daly.  This video interview brought tears to my eyes.  The great thing about this video is this is typical John Daly.

This video made my day and I still giggle when I think about it.

Check it out…

http://progolferdigest.com/golf-news/shirtless-shoeless-interview-with-john-daly/trackback/

I hope you enjoy it as much as me.  As a matter of fact post a comment to let me know what you thought about the video.

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Golf has always been considered a gentleman’s game.  Due to this fact, their are certain expected rules of etiquette that all golfers must follow.  As a beginner the last thing you want to do is embarrass yourself by not knowing some of the more important rules of etiquette.

Here are some general rules of etiquette:

Quiet

• You should keep quiet as someone steps up to play their ball. This allows the player to concentrate on their swing.
• Do not run on the golf course. You do not want to distract other golfers as they are trying to play.

Pace of Play

• You may not be the only player or group on the golf course. You should play at a pace that keeps up with the group in front of you in order to avoid holding up any groups behind you.
• It is very rude to hit into the group playing in front of you. If it is unintentional, you have failed to observe safety etiquette. If it is intentional because they are playing slow, you are just plain rude.
• When you need to play through a group you should again observe common courtesy by first asking permission. However, before asking you should ensure the next hole is vacant otherwise you will be waiting again.
• If a group allows you to play through, take the least amount of time possible to finish the hole and move on to the next hole quickly as to not hold them up any further.

Safety

• Before swinging your golf club make sure no one is standing close to you and no one is standing in the general area where you plan to hit the ball.
• Do not take practice swings in another golfers direction.
• Do not swing your club when someone is walking around and do not walk around when another golfer is about to take their swing.

Here are some specific etiquette rules:

When on the teeing area…
…try to stay out of the players line of sight as well as their peripheral vision. The best place to stand is behind them. Also remember to be quiet before and during their swing.

When on the fairway…
…hitting divots is okay but try to limit them. Also, if you create a divot try to put the divot back in the original spot or pour some sand in the divot.

…do not take too much time looking for a lost golf ball. I used to always look for my stray golf balls and would spend a lot of time looking until one day a group came up behind me and played their golf balls because they could not see me in the woods. Just replace the ball and continue your play.

When in the bunker…
…use the provided rake when you are finished playing your shot and rake out the marks you left. After you are finished raking, place the rake outside the bunker and parallel to the fairway.

When on the green…
…avoid stepping on the ball paths of other golfers as this can affect their putt. Walk behind their golf balls and step over any imaginary lines if necessary.

…repair ball marks made by the ball landing on the green.

…place you ball back on the green before picking up your ball marker. This is done to avoid any possible contention between you and another golfer as to whether you properly positioned you ball or not.

By following these rules of etiquette you will have a more enjoyable time on the golf course.

Let me know if you have any other good rules of etiquette that beginner golfers should know.

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