22 Golf Tips for Beginners

Below you’ll find 22 of the best golf tips for beginners to use at the golf course. Everything from short game tips to mental game tips to golf swing tips and more.

To download the list of golf tips in PDF format, click the link below.

22 Best Golf Tips for Beginners PDF Download


Tip #1: When to Leave the Flag in the Hole

Unless the flag is leaning towards you, when you are on the fringe, I’d advise you to putt or chip with the flag in the hole. Dave Pelz has done testing in regards to this and has determined that statistically more shots will end up going in with the flag in the hole.

Tip #2: What to Look at When Hitting the Golf Ball

Sometimes people ask me what I look at when I’m hitting the ball. I’ve looked at the back of the ball to focus in on where I want to hit it, the inside rear part of the ball to help me swing from the inside, and the ground on the target side of the ball to help me drive through the ball to the point where I want my club to hit the ground.

I’ve also maintained a soft general focus on the ball area (such that I could use my peripheral vision) and instead sensed my swing path away and back in to the ball and where I want my ball to end up. In the end, though, I found it’s best to have my eyes looking towards the ball but have my mind’s eye on the target.

Tip #3: Par 4 Club Selection

Many people come up to a par-4 and automatically grab the driver. Before doing that, consider the layout of the hole and whether it’s actually necessary, because it may not be the smartest choice. In fact by automatically grabbing driver, you may be bringing the trouble in to play. In some cases it might be better to hit 5-iron of the tee and then 5-iron to the green.

I’ve played par golf only using my irons before, and Tiger has won the British Open only hitting a few drivers during the whole tournament. Key message: think before you drive.

Tip #4: Don’t Force the Wrong Club Choice

I once saw a guy only take the one club he thought he’d need. After getting to his shot, he realized he needed the next longer club. Instead of going back to the bag, he went and ahead and tried to muscle the shorter iron to the green. As expected the ball ended up short and, worse yet, in a horrible position. As a result he made double bogey. Had he brought the whole bag or at least taken a few extra clubs to have more options, he would’ve likely landed on the green and made par.

Tip #5: Hit Drives with Higher Loft If Your Accuracy is Struggling

More loft on your driver means more accuracy. The extra loft puts more direct backspin on the ball making it more difficult to put sidespin on the ball.

Tip #6: Focus Only on Where You Want the Ball to Go

When you are about to hit a shot, your brain doesn’t know what ‘don’t’ or ‘not’ means. If you think, ‘don’t’ go in the bunker or ‘don’t’ go in the water, guess what? Your ball will often end up in the bunker or water even if it’s only a small percentage of the possible physical space you could hit your ball. Instead, do your best to focus solely on where you want the ball to go.

Tip #7: Play a Round of Golf with 3 Clubs

Sometime try and play a round of golf with only a mid-iron, wedge, and putter. You might actually surprise yourself with how well you score. Doing so helped me become a smarter player and realize that distance isn’t always as important as it might seem for scoring.

Tip #8: Set Bigger Goals that Push You Out of Your Comfort Zone

Stretch yourself and live a little bit by setting goals that make you feel a little nervous when you state them or think about achieving them. Sometimes its good to venture outside of your comfort zone.

Tip #9: Start a Round Off by Playing Conservative Initially

When you first begin the round, especially when you are starting off without any warm-up, play safe and conservative shots. Once you get the feel of the round and have some confidence that you can hit the ball where you want that day, you can start picking your opportunities to be more aggressive.

Tip #10: Use Extra Club on Colder Days

For those morning rounds when it’s a bit colder and/or you aren’t loosened up, don’t try to muscle a club the distance you normally hit when you are loose. Take an extra club and use your same normal tempo until your body wakes up and/or it warms up.

golf swing tips

Tip #11: Play with Strategy, Don’t Gamble

Golf is like playing blackjack at the casino. You can take emotional risks and gambles and occasionally win one or two big ones, but in the long run you’ll probably lose money.
For overall scoring, you’re likely better off understanding the strategy, managing yourself, and simply playing to the numbers.

Tip #12: Adjust the Length of Your Golf Swing

For any shots that are less than full swings (including pitches, chips, and putts) vary the distance of your shots by changing the length of your swing rather than trying to ‘hit’ harder and/or jerking at the ball. Tension and rigidity in your swing make good contact more difficult and you can cause you to lose control and direction. Working with a smooth gravity based pendulum type swing generally works much better for consistent distance control.

Tip #13: Adjust to the Course Conditions

Over the course of the day, the grass conditions on the green can change. The grass grows; the dew dries and/or ground firms up, etc. Pay attention to the changing conditions during the round so you can continue to get your putts close.

Tip #14: Practice with Instinct for a Change

Try playing a few rounds of golf without getting the distances. This can be useful to get more in touch with your instinct and what feels right rather than trying to force a club to go a certain distance.

Tip #15: Clean Your Grooves on the Golf Club’s Face

Padraig Harrington has his caddie clean the grooves on his irons after every practice shot on the driving range.
It takes longer to hit each ball, but this is a good idea if you are looking to build consistency in your game because the club will look and respond more similar for each shot. Plus, with the bit of extra time between practice shots, it will better mimic what happens on the course.

Tip #16: Control the Ego

The ego can really get you in trouble on the golf course. Swinging too hard, hitting a risky shot, etc can kill your shots and scores. Get control of your ego and you’ll probably have a better golf game.

Tip #17: Play the Most Confident Shot Selection

If a shot makes you nervous about pulling it off, go with a different club or try a different shot. Confidence is very important when hitting shots and it’s difficult to hit good shots if you have even the slightest bit of doubt in your system.

Tip #18: Don’t Over-Train and Risk Injury

Use common sense when it comes to your training and practice. A little muscle soreness is fine, but I’d advise you to take a day or two off if you experience joint pain. Missing a day to rest and recover is much better than missing weeks or even months because you over-trained and caused a chronic injury. Be smart. Rest is important too.

Tip #19: Commit to the Golf Shot with 150%

Be decisive and commit to confidently hitting the shot you pick. If you aren’t sure, the hesitation in your body will likely prevent you from hitting your best shot.

Tip #20: Stay Down on Shots Below Your Feet

If the ball is sitting below your feet, remember to stay down through the shot. I’ve topped or hit thin more than one or two of these shots by forgetting this simple point.

Tip #21: Pay Attention to Pin Locations of Upcoming Holes

As you are playing the course and going from hole-to-hole, take a look at the upcoming greens as you pass them to check where the pin position is located. Different pin positions could mean making different choices from the tee and on your approach shot.

Tip #22: Be Selective of Tee Location

Avoid getting into the habit of walking up to the tee area and randomly placing your ball on the tee. Rather, think about which side of the tee box will be best suited for the shot you are about to hit. You are allowed to tee the ball up to two club lengths back from the tee markers. Use that space wisely.

Golf Tips 101: Playing golf on Bermuda vs. Bent greens

Jordan Spieth’s 30-under-par effort last week on the PGA Tour made Kapalua look easy. But for many not accustomed to warm-climate courses, the strong, durable blades of bermudagrass can create short-game havoc and confusion in your golf game.

As a native Michigander most at home on bentgrass courses, I’ve always understood this first-hand and worked hard through years of competitive golf in bermuda-dominated areas to get comfortable. So, if you’re like me and could use some ‘Golf Tips 101’ in this area, here are three keys to know the next time you tee it somewhere like Kapalua (wouldn’t we all be so lucky!):

1.  The direction of grain between your ball and the hole.

If the grass appears shiny or light, it means the grain is with or growing away from you, and if the grass appears dull or dark, it means it’s against or growing toward you. If it’s hard to detect at first sight, peek into the cup or at the edge of the green or fringe, which should more easily give this away.

2.  How grain affects the ball.

Long story short, hit the ball MUCH harder than you think is needed on into-the-grain putts and chips, and MUCH easier than you think is needed on down-grain putts and chips. As opposed to most northern courses with bent or poa annua grasses, the strong bermuda blade has a greater influence on the ball. This means green speeds can vary immensely with grain direction, and can likewise influence break more or less than expected with cross-grain putts and chips.

3.  Adjust to the grain when chipping or pitching.

You may have read our article on when to ditch your high-lofted wedges around the green, but that strategy may differ between bermuda and bent golf courses. Shots you may normally bump and run through the apron, fringe or fairway can get stopped in their tracks or take unexpected bounces, and the ball can stop quicker or roll out longer than expected with higher-lofted shots. With into-the-grain chips and pitches, specifically, your club can also get caught up – or stuck– in the strong grass much easier, so focus on good acceleration through the shot. The main idea is to combine Nos. 1 and 2 and adjust accordingly. This means a 56-degree wedge with more airtime could be the play instead of a lower-lofted bump through the apron, and that you may need to adjust where you’d normally think to land your shots in general.

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DISCLAIMER:  The effect of grain at higher-end courses (like Kapalua and Waialae) is often much less than at lower-end courses, because of better maintenance practices and more advanced, genetically-enhanced grounds. So, while these tips still do apply in most cases on bermuda, the thicker, more sideways-laying grass often prevalent on lower-end courses is really where you’ll see the difference. The bottom line is that, no matter where you are, it’s wise to spend a few extra minutes putting and chipping before you play to assess this and adapt.

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DO YOUR HOMEWORK!  Watch players around the greens at the Sony Open this weekend and see if you can notice the grain’s effect on roll and bounce, as well as differing grass colors. And, as always, talk to your local Certified Personal Coach who can help you understand these tips in detail for a fantastic golf season in 2016!

Beginners Guide to Putting

As you can imagine, one of the most important things that you can do to improve your golf game is improve your putting skills. While it may seem impossible, simply practicing and working to improve a few minor things will greatly improve your skills. Once you have learned what you need to do, practice the skills until you have them mastered. Remember, a good putting skill will ultimately translate into a much improved long shot as well so taking the time to practice your putting is very important.

You are of course going to need to practice to improve, but the exact skills that you need to practice tend to vary from player to player. As a general rule of thumb, there are three things that you need to specifically focus on in order to get the best golf game possible. The first skill is ensuring that your swing is proper so that you will contact the ball exactly in the middle of the club head. If you are not dead on the center you will never be able to master putting. You simply cannot hit the ball from the side of the club head and expect it to go straight. No matter how long you practice, this is not possible and will result in plenty of frustration over what you are doing wrong.

Once you have worked to improve hitting the ball from the very center of the club head you need to move onto tonsuring that you always hit the ball in a straight line to the target. This means if the ball needs to go 2 feet away from you towards the lake, you would not want to aim the ball towards the tree beside it. You may think this sounds a bit strange, but many people do not squarely approach the ball to the target. They then stand around and wonder why they are missing their shot. Even if you are off by just a fraction, this can seriously alter your putting skills because the ball is not going to go where you want it to go.

You will likely need to practice this point a lot, most people do not realize when they are just slightly off center from the target. Yet even the slightest difference away from the target will result in a missed shot and an increased handicap. Work on this by ensuring that you take plenty of time to practice. This is even a skill that you could practice in your office, or bedroom at home using a small home putting kit. However, going to the driving range is not going to help you here so avoid them if possible while you are working on this skill.

Your last skill that you need to work on to improve your putting skills is working to ensure that you are accelerating the club head when you are actually coming into contact with the ball. Many players make the mistake of slowing the club down right before they actually hit the ball. This will cause you to lose the momentum that you need in order for the ball to make it to your target. Working to make a conscious effort not to slow the club down will usually be sufficient in order to improve this skill and give you some improved results.

Improving Your Handicap

Learning how to improve your handicap can go a long way towards improving your overall golf game. However, one of the first things that you need to remember is your handicap is not actually the score of a single game. For example, if you play a single game of a 10 over par, then it is virtually impossible to determine your handicap. However, once you have played several games it is possible to start determining your handicap. Another important note about handicaps is the average score that you have is still generally not your handicap. For a good example, a player who typically has an average of 10 over par will usually have a handicap of a 7 to 9 range. The exact score of the handicap will vary based upon the actual courses that are played and the ratings that accompany those courses.

Most professionals consider the absolute best way to lower a handicap to be the method of simply improving your putting as well as wedge skills. If you are able to drive the ball appropriately but fall dramatically short on the putting then you are going to be looking at a very high handicap for the rest of your life. Simply taking the time to focus heavily upon a good putting strategy can really help you shave a few points off of your handicap and improve your game. Between an emphasis on the wedge or putting you should generally focus more on your putting since virtually all holes are going to need to be putted while not all will need a wedge shot.

Most players also typically tend to find that by improving their putting and wedge skills that their long drive skills tend to improve as well. While this is not always possible, the general idea is that improving your shorter shots will gradually work to improve your long shots as well. As long as you are using proper form for your short shots, you should start to see a dramatic improvement in your score, which will ultimate help to improve those long shots as well. This can overall make a huge impact on your handicap since you can see a huge difference in your rating.

Another consideration that you should keep in mind is your confidence. Have you ever noticed that someone who is not very confident tends to make more mistakes no matter what they are doing? They may be an expert in their field, but without confidence, they usually make small mistakes just because they are nervous, if you discover that you are nervous on the field and are making these small mistakes you may need to work on boosting your own self-confidence before you can really improve your overall handicap.

You should focus on what you are good at and improve your concentration and you are sure to improve your confidence. While you know that you are going to make mistakes, you should always strive to accept it is a learning process. This will allow you to slowly and carefully learn exactly what you can do to improve while still keeping a high confidence level. This combined with the other tips outlined above will work together beautifully to allow you to streamline your golf handicap and improve your whole game. These strategies can be used no matter how long you have been playing golf, even those players who have played for years can always use a bit of improvement.

Best Exercise Tips for Golfers

Best Exercise Tips for Golfers

If you are starting to play golf after leading a primarily sedentary lifestyle then you are going to notice that it is going to be rather difficult for you to just run out and play and entire 18 hole round of golf. However, if you have been playing for a while you are probably in much better physical shape, but overall your golf game will be greatly determined by your level of physical fitness. If you are in great shape physically, in terms of flexibility, strength and endurance you will be able to play a much better game than someone who is in lesser physical shape.

You are going to need to improve flexibility at the same time that you work to improve strength in order to have the best overall physical condition possible in order to play. This means that you want to work to build lean muscle, rather than bulky muscles. The primary differences is the amount of flexibility that the muscles provide. Bulky muscles tend to be stronger, yet at the same time they are not as flexible which will greatly restrict your ability to twist appropriately while you are swinging the ball. However, building lean muscle is not impossible, but will take a conscious effort.

The majority of people who are working to build muscle strength tend to build muscle mass automatically. This is typically because they are lifting large amounts of weights. Rather to build lean muscles you need to work to build repetitions of lower weight weights. This will allow you to improve your muscle strength, while allowing you to work towards building the lean and slender muscles that are better for your overall golf game. Resist the urge to lift weights that are heavier than 10 pounds because this will result in bulky muscles rather than lean muscles.

You should also work to keep your body as flexible as possible. This means you need to ensure that you are stretching both before and after playing golf to ensure that you are taking proper care of your body. If you do not stretch then you may find yourself very sore after a game and regretting playing. Just stretching for as little as 5 minutes before and after a round of golf will ensure that you are able to continuously play without any problems and without feeling as if you are spending more time stretching than playing golf.

As you are playing golf, it is very important to remember that you are often out in the very hot sun. For this reason, you need to always ensure that you take some water with you to ensure that you stay well hydrated during the game. If you become overheated or dehydrated, it will start to hinder your game as well as cause you problem in having the necessary endurance to play. Always drink plenty of water to ensure that you are able to continue playing. This is important no matter what type of exercise you are doing to ensure that you are as healthy as possible.

Your last major tip should be ensuring that you walk as much as possible. Golf may be a rather slow moving sport, but it does typically involve great amounts of walking. You need to be able to walk great distances without losing your breath, or experiencing back or leg pain. These problems can really reduce the amount of time that you can play and could potentially cause you to have to quit playing a game in the middle of a course. This is never something that is enjoyable so ensuring that you get plenty of walking exercise is essential. If you have problems with finding somewhere to walk then consider looking into a treadmill that will allow you to still get plenty of walking exercise even off the green.

A bit of careful planning and a tiny bit of carefully planned and executed exercise can go a very long way towards helping you improve your golf game dramatically. If you want to play golf as more than just messing around on a green, you will need to improve your physical fitness levels and you will be rather amazed at the benefits that it provides to your health as well as your overall golf swing.

The Correct Golf Attire

Just as most sports tend to have a specific dress code that is required; golf has its own specific dress code as well. This means that it is very important to ensure that you are selecting the best possible apparel when you are trying to decide what to wear. Of course, each individual golf course tends to have their own specific rules but by knowing what the typically acceptable standards are it will help you to ensure that you have the best experience possible. Remember, many golf courses will refuse to allow you to play if you are not dressed appropriately, this can be highly frustrating and leave you quite upset at the end of the day if you are hindered from playing golf simply because of a misunderstanding on appropriate clothing.

For men and boys there are several things that are immediately unacceptable on the golf course. The first is the use of shirts with no collar and the next is the use of shirts with no sleeves. Neither of these are considered appropriate at any time. Other faux pas can include running or jogging pants, and shoes with metal spikes. You should take care to avoid wearing clothing with obnoxious logos or anything offensive on them as well. In addition, jeans as well as sandals are generally not permitted either.

Appropriate dress for men on the golf course tends to be either fitted pants or shorts, golf or athletic shoes and a shirt with a collar. If you are wearing golf shoes, ensure that they are soft spikes and are not metal spikes. Most courses will not permit metal spikes on the green due to the damage that they can cause. Shirts can be either long sleeve or short sleeve and can also include having a turtleneck or pull over sweater. The socks that are worn must be at least ankle length and should be a solid color with only minimal and tasteful logos.

For women you can wear such things as fitted shorts, properly fitting skirts and even Capri’s. Generally, women are barred from wearing pants of any type including jean shorts. One of the considerations that you should take into account is the length of the shorts and skirt; they must generally be no shorter than 5 inches above the knee. However, specific golf courses have their own rules regarding this. For shirts, women are also required to have collars, unless they are wearing an appropriately styled pull over in a v-neck style.

Women are also permitted to wear a sleeveless shirt as long as it has a collar, and short sleeve as well as long sleeve shirts are also permitted. Other types of clothing that is allowed is socks that are at least ankle length, appropriate athletic or golf shoes and a visor or hat. Just as with men, jeans, jogging pants and other similar apparel is not permitted. Socks must be a solid color, with minimal logos and tasteful designs.

It is also important to understand that anyone you take with you to a golf course must also have appropriate attire. As stated above the exact dress code for the golf course where you play may vary, a quick check of their website, or a fast phone call should clear up any questions you have in regards to what is appropriate and what is not if you have any questions.