Golf Tips to Improve Your Game from Tee to Green

Some of the most interesting emails we receive at Golf for Beginners are tips which are begging to be shared with our readers! In addition, we are always scouring the internet for interesting and relevant ways to improve your game.

Compiled below are a few game improvement tips - we hope that the journey to lower your score this season is an educational and joyous one.

Golf Tips to Improve Your Game from Tee to Green

1. How Many Ways Can You Play a Par-4 hole?

It's short enough to be a driveable hole but that par-4 may have bunkers or water in areas which are reachable if you don't hit perfect shots. Do you play it aggressively or conservatively? The choice in shot, and score, are up to you. Steve Elkington provides you with two different thoughts in strategy in his video, "How To Play A Short Par-4."

2. The 40-Yard Chip Shot - Awkward Distance

Use More Body, less arms says instructor Stan Utley. "When your clubhead speed is generated by turning your body, instead of by throwing your hands, you make a much more consistent swing and will have better contact." More tips: GolfDigest.com

3. Putting - Focus on the Mental Game

"The fastest and easiest way to improve your putting is to adopt a routine that gets your eyes up on your target and allows you to feel the length of stroke needed to get the ball to roll the right distance," says instructor Craig Jones of FaceFirstGolf.com.

Improving distance control will help you eliminate three putts that can drive up your scores quickly.

Read Putting tips that are Elementary for Mr. Watson.

Finally, don't have a golf course meltdown when you find that things are not going your way. Take a step back, a deep breath and refocus on each shot. Remember, a successful journey in golf usually takes you through a winding path.

Do you have golf tips to share with our readers? Place your tips in our golf blog below and follow us on Twitter @Golf4Beginners.

photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Are You Guilty of a #Golf Course Meltdown?

Fans and professional players alike have gawked incredulously at golf course meltdowns from the top levels of sports right down - playing partners throwing clubs into the lake, ranting and raving and basically swearing off the sport have most folks shaking their heads! Many golfers can manage their emotions in the face of adversity but, in this blog we look at the those who cannot keep their sensitivity in check.

Have you ever had a meltdown?

This week at Golf for Beginners, we look at some of these issues and wonder what our readers can do to avoid the dreaded meltdown before a more offensive nature appears to your golf buddies.

First, lets take a look at some of the biggest meltdowns in golf history, from the crunching of the putter against the knee (bad idea because what are you going to use to finish your round) to one of the funniest tantrums by Sergio Garcia:

Are You Guilty of Any of the Following on the Golf Course?

1. For every fist-pump birdie high, do you also have a tantrum low in front of your golf buddies with every bogey? J.B. Glossinger, a contributing writer for The Business Journals says, instead of throwing your clubs, "aim for a conservative target with an aggressive approach." You will still be "attacking" the course, but mentally, not in a belligerent manner.

2. Play the Blame Game - Do you blame the golf course or playing partners for your mistakes?
My ball landed in a divot, the course is set up poorly for my eye, he was rattling change in my backswing, etc?

Practical-Golf.com offers this advice before you feel blame coming on:
a. You alone are responsible for your score
b. Golf is not a fair game

3. Is Golf the New Bad Boy Sport? Do you feel you have the right to express anger on the golf course, that it is part of the game?

Cybergolf.com states that anger is a choice you make. Below are several tips for handling anger on the spot from PGA Class A member Bill Bondaruk:

a. Create realistic expectations; you really shouldn't be going for the green if it's further than your natural distance or if there is trouble nearby - use a sensible approach!
b. Learn the different types of stress that brings on anger and look to nip it before it begins. Bondaruk states that everything from perfectionism to certain types of competition are anger in disguise.
c. Separate yourself from the outcome - it is just a game and you are playing it!
d. Breathe deeply, look at the larger picture and offer yourself some positive self talk - yes, you DO hit great shots!

These golf tips may not solve your anger problems on the course but may put them into better perspective. Follow the great Arnold Palmer's advice from "Ten Rules for Good Golf Etiquette":

"Throwing clubs, sulking and barking profanity make everyone uneasy. We all have our moments of frustration, but the trick is to vent in an inoffensive way. For example, I often follow a bad hole by hitting the next tee shot a little harder -- for better or worse."

Follow @Golf4Beginners on Twitter and feel free to add your non-spam comments to this golf blog!

Five Tips to Increase Your Lead When Playing With Your #Golf Buddies

Have you ever been in the lead of a golf tournament only to have it slowly slip away before your eyes with you scratching your head and wondering what happened? What about the times where golfers backed up to meet you and give YOU the chance at a win?

The leaders at the Valero Texas Open on Sunday were missing opportunities and backed up to meet Charley Hoffman but, is that just the game of golf (taking good shots with the bad) or are there mental errors stopping the win?

Patrick Reed had this to say after going up against Hoffman, "I put the pressure as much as I could on Charley. It shows he was ready to win a golf tournament, and I had way too many mistakes to close one out." Did concentrating on Charley's game and knowingly increasing pressure cause Reed's failure?

When you are in the lead do you change your game plan and become defensive to maintain your lead or do you keep playing same game that got you into the lead? Which do you think works better?

A frustrated Rory McIlroy had two leads slip away in back-to-back tournaments, at Riviera and at the WGC Cadillac Championship, going into Sunday at the later event with a three-stroke lead.

"I was leading the golf tournament with sixteen holes to play in Riviera. To not get the job done in either two of those instances is very frustrating."

Golf tournaments, at any level, are pressure cooker situations and, when you are in the lead, the pressure always increases. Many golfers may start to play safer and more defensively when they glance up at the leaderboard which, IMO, often gets them into trouble and ultimately loses the match.

Remember the former number one golfer in the world during his prime? Tiger Woods mostly maintained the same game that got him in the lead in the first place - he kept attacking the course. I believe that physical ailments and mental changes in his original plan has stopped him from greatness; the physical problems have caused Woods to swing the club differently and the mental issues, well, we know where that got him...

Golf Tips to Help Keep Your Lead When the Pressure Increases:

1. Stay in the present moment. What is being in the moment? Wade Pearse contends, "The only thing you EVER have is RIGHT NOW. There is no such thing as the past or the future."

2. Tune out distractions and don't fall prey to mental tricks or excuses. At the WGC Cadillac Championship, Justin Rose used excuses to describe why he bogeyed the eighteenth hole...the roar of the crowd for Luke Donald, it felt "tricky coming in", etc.

3. Look, Don't Look, at the Leaderboard...? Golf is a game played alone - it's just you against the golf course. Please see number 2!

4. Don't second guess your shots ... Confidence Rules, from stepping up to the tee knowing you are going to hit a good shot to picking the right golf driver to hit that great shot.

Speaking of that next great shot, if you are holding the lead, consider playing the next shot safe instead of sorry if there are possible pitfalls.

5. Engage in positive self talk. Charley Hoffman finally said to himself at the 18th hole, "Let's finish this here. Let's not play anymore."

"Everyone knows that it is not technical ability which separates the winners from the losers in tournament golf.  It is your mind which makes the difference," states avid golfer and specialist in golf hypnosis, Roseanna Leaton.

Are you ready to win?

Join the conversation on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and feel free to comment on our Golf for Beginners blog.


photo credit: Texas Enterprise