No matter what activities you enjoy in your life it’s always important to form good habits. Good habits can help determine how successful you become in these activities and golf is no different.
If you’re new to the sport or even if you’re already years into playing it’s never too late to work on establishing a consistent set of habits that will help improve your game.
Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes in life or the game of golf, but if you implement these habits you’re sure to see a difference.
1. Practice
It’s true that practice makes perfect and with golf this is most certainly the case. The more time you spend on the course or at the driving range, the better off you’ll be.
However, just as important is HOW you practice. You want to practice very intentionally when you’re working on your golf game. That means that you should have specific skills in mind that you’re working on. Try to mimic how you would play on a hole and work on driving, putting, chipping in order to ensure you’re getting true value out of the work you’re putting in.
2. Work on Your Short Game
Anyone who has spent time playing the sport of golf will tell you that the short game is where a match can be won or lost. Once you’re on the green of a hole you want to be sure that your short game is a skilled one. From trajectory to speed you want to hit the ball just right.
While it might be more fun to practice the long, powerful drives it’s truly the short game that might win you the next round with your friends.
3. Have a Process
As part of your regular practice it can be helpful to implement a process that you take before each swing. Establishing this process can help make the swings you take during a round feel more routine and comfortable.
While it shouldn’t take you 3 minutes to prepare for a shot, having a quick 30 second repeatable process may help you calm your nerves and execute your shots more accurately.
4. Have Patience
It can be possible to become frustrated in your golf game during practice rounds or on the driving range and putting green. However, allowing yourself to become impatient or emotional is only going to have a more negative impact on your game.
Remember that staying calm and having patience with yourself is going to pay off in the long-run. As a reminder as well, be sure not to throw your clubs in an act of frustration. You can dent or bend the club which is likely to just add to your frustration.
5. Take Care of your Equipment
While it might not seem all that important after a round, ensuring that you take proper care of your clubs is an important habit. Cleaning out the dirt and grass from the grooves as well as putting on your golf club covers to protect the heads of your clubs from damage is important.
Having clean clubs will ensure the trajectory of the ball isn’t impacted by dirt or grime leftover from the last round or hole and the golf club covers will protect the heads and shafts from ships and dents from the clubs clanging around in your bag while in motion.
While it can be difficult to change old, engrained habits from years past these five tips are relatively easy to implement into your golf game and we’re confident that if you do so you’ll see positive improvements.
