9 tips to easily shoot low scores without stress

Ours is a frustrating, depressing game. As the old joke goes: It’s called “golf” because every other four-letter word is taken. But, #$%!, it doesn’t have to be like that, at least not often. Maybe the smooth ones are born that way. We can all be productive at our best – free flowing – at the best of times by following a few simple tips.

Here are nine tips you can use to shoot weak low scores.

1. Make smart decisions

A stress-free cycle is not a stress-free cycle. You will never hit every fairway and green. It’s not the bogeys that raise your blood pressure; the frustration of trying (and often failing) to pull off difficult recovery shots. Shot selection greatly affects our agita levels: Taking your medicine by taking out a con or stopping at a miracle attempt keeps golf a walk in the park and doubles and triples off the card.

2. Have reliable warmth

Does working on your own lather sound like the road to dating? The secret may be in the dirt, as Hogan says, but hitting more balls is practice, not planting the seeds for a stress-free round. Keep your warmth in one bucket, maybe a small one, and focus on being guided. It may also help to do some tossing with your eyes closed to feel your movements and get into a comfortable position.

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3. Take care of the grip

Everything in golf, including putts, starts with a good grip. Squeezing the club to death is obviously not the way to start a butter movement – but neither is a soft overhand grip. To get passive oomph, you need to grip the club more with the fingers, which activates the wrists, an important source of power. Added bonus: Doing so will help all of your cutters square the clubface and clear the banana ball. Think of it as a simple double play.

4. Create a waggle

Athletes burst from the blocks, but free swinging isn’t jogging – it’s more like jogging, where you shake your arms and legs before you go. Build custom motion as part of your pre-shot routine so you don’t get jostled in a static position. Whether it’s three wrists or simulating the first 18 inches of your ride, find something that relaxes you and gets you active.

5. Repent fully

Think of all the short and fast swings… Okay, wait, because you won’t come up with one. (Tony Finau is the exception that proves this rule.) A big, full, complete, impressive, and heroic backswing is necessary to maintain the power that will make it seem like you are rolling over a log. This may involve some hip exercise and upper body flexibility; meanwhile, consider lifting your front heel off the floor to help create that necessary coil.

6. Remove from the top

At the top is where most of the useless swing jumps from the bridge. After taking sugary food, suddenly the mind cries, “Now kill!” Hands slam into the ball, speed is lost at the start of the swing and smooth synchronization is disintegrated. To maintain a good flow and slow acceleration that gives you easy power, think about pushing into the ground with your legs to start the descent. Don’t worry about your hands; they will do what they need on their own.

7. Glue the end

Not to be a Zen master, but it can be difficult to make a simple swing if you think about doing a useless swing. One way to overcome the dreaded “paralysis by analysis” is to think about getting to a specific point of pursuit. On the range, hold that follow-through position for a few seconds after each swing. You’ll be surprised at how well your body reverse engineer the hard movement to get to that position.

8. Understand the sand

For many golfers, greenside sand is like quicksand – the harder you hit, the faster you get swallowed up. To promote a quick hand hinge and a straight swing that makes home runs a breeze, do this drill: Attach the tee to the butt end of your grip and, during the swing, tighten your wrists so the tee points directly at the ball. On your downswing, all you need to do is loosen that angle and allow the clubhead to bounce under the ball to blast the ball out of the bunker.

9. Roll like a Crenshaw

Placing effective strokes is the repetition of placing. If the jab-and-hit pop stroke works for you, fine. But a hard hit, Ben Crenshaw, well, it looks like a Ben Crenshaw hit: There’s a long backhand and a short follow through. This ratio promotes tight contact that produces less reactive power and fewer yippy shorts. Practice a slow backswing motion immediately after impact, which helps shorten the through-stroke and promotes pure impact as well.