6 tips for lowering your handicap

When you've got your Green Card you'll receive a starting handicap of 54 or lower (the exact starting hcp depends on your playing test result). The vast majority of clubs/courses allow anyone with a Green Card to play on their course, but some clubs may have an hcp requirement for playing on their particular course. This can for example apply during times when a lot of people are playing at the same time. That's why many have the ambition to lower their hcp to 36 or below, since that opens up the possibility of playing on even more courses. Below we'll give some tips on how to lower your hcp.

1. Practise smart and have fun!

It's of course true for most people that the more you practise, the better you get. It's also important that you have fun while practising and that there's quality in your training. Naturally it can be an advantage to get in touch with a coach who helps you along the way, but of course not everyone has the budget for lessons.

Whether you get help from a coach or not, you still need your own practice. Going out to the golf club and practising for 30–40 minutes gives more than many people think. Make it a social activity with friends/family, with the focus on having fun. I hear far too often the argument that people don't have time to practise golf, which I believe is often because they associate golf with playing 18 holes and therefore taking 4–4.5 hours to complete.

If you don't have the time or opportunity to visit a golf club — take the chance to practise putting on a mat at home, or why not chip on a patch of grass near you. Practice areas at a golf facility are also usually open to everyone, including people who don't have a Green Card or aren't members of a golf club. So why not challenge your friends (who don't play golf yet) to a putting contest? 🙂

2. Practise putting

Although aiming on the green is of course an important part to practise, it's good to know that the most important thing by far is to practise distance feel. This is to avoid "three-putts" as much as possible. Through all the lessons I've given over the years, my main observation from putting lessons is that virtually all average golfers/beginners have far too high expectations of their putting, which creates problems.

As an example, there are lots of students I've met with hcp 36–54 who think they should "make" at least 50% from, say, 2.5 metres, which is completely unrealistic since not even the pros (who are probably both better and practise more) manage that. I believe this leads to two negative mental situations:

• You become too aggressive in your putting, which means you often putt 1–2 m past the hole, increasing the risk of a "three-putt" or even a "four-putt".
• You're rarely satisfied with your putting over a round of 9 or 18 holes because you have the "wrong" expectations and therefore rarely (or almost never) meet your own expectations.

3. Use the clubs you're comfortable with and actually need

As an average golfer/beginner you usually don't need more than 8–10 clubs. It's of course important that you have different types of clubs that serve different purposes. But having 14 clubs (which is the maximum allowed under the rules) often makes it harder to decide which club to use, and perhaps you even use clubs on the course that you never practise with.

Which clubs are best to rely on — and therefore worth practising a lot with — can vary quite a bit between individuals. For example, I think the driver is very important for you if you need to create length in your shots. If on the other hand you're a player who hits long without much effort, the driver should perhaps be used more selectively.

4. Try to raise your "lowest level"

Quite a lot of people can hit very nice shots from time to time. And sure, it can be fun to strive for that "perfect shot". But in the end it's almost always about raising your "lowest level" to become a better golfer.

What I mean by this is that it's often much more important to become consistent at hitting shots that are perfectly OK, rather than a few occasional "perfect" shots. Set goals that are realistic and try, for example, to land seven out of ten balls in a certain area rather than hitting balls at a tiny target that you maybe only manage to hit once in ten attempts.

5. Don't compare yourself too much with others

We're all different with different conditions. If you've played golf for a year and have hcp 45, for instance, it can often be unfair to yourself to compare yourself to a friend who's been playing for ten years and has a lower hcp. This can lead to you being dissatisfied most of the time and focusing more on what you can/must do better rather than actually appreciating your good shots.

In short, it's about constantly comparing yourself with yourself and your own development. It's easy, for example, to get fixated on someone hitting great shots on a driving range, but that can be completely unrealistic for you as a relative newcomer to golf to replicate.

6. Practise from grass

There are often grass areas available at a golf facility that you can practise from. Golf is normally played from grass, so try to do as much of your practice from grass instead of, for example, a driving range mat. This will give you a better understanding of how to strike the ball in the best way and also help you practise from different lies with varying conditions such as grass height, slope and so on.

Good luck!