Having years of experience being a competitive golfer, having played golf with many different skill levels of players, experience building golf clubs and now working with golfer’s on improving their bodies, these are the best tips I have on shaving strokes and making golf more enjoyable. Note these tips are in order of importance. Feel free to contact me for any questions and I will be breaking down each of these tips further in future posts.

Resist that urge to buy that shiny new driver or iron set. As my dad says, all golf clubs have a 15 day rule. After 15 days they perform the same as your old ones and you can’t return them. He also says new clubs don’t cure a bad slice.

And, these tips are much cheaper than a new club. However, if you do get a shiny new driver, see number 3.

1. Spending a little time on your body is the easiest way to shave strokes off your game. I tell all golfers interested in shaving strokes and getting better, with only 15 minutes a few days a week and some exercises that are so basic, you do not need any equipment let alone getting a gym membership. Get screened for physical flaws in your body and then do golf specific exercises that are customized for you is the best way to put your body in golf shape. Contact me or visit mytpi.com and search for a TPI professional near you.
   1. Benefits of doing golf specific exercise
      1. Shoot better scores
      2. Hitting the ball longer
      3. More consistency through better golf mechanics
      4. More energy during and after the round
      5. Preventing a collapse on the back 9 by having endurance
      6. What I consider the most important is lowering your risk for injury
2. Spending 5-10 minutes warming up before a round on the weekend. Golf is a physical event whether you want to believe it or not. Most golfers, including practice swings take around 300 swings per round. Taking a few practice swings before the first tee or doing some static stretching does not work and studies have shown this can affect your golf game negatively.
3. Getting a proper club fitting. Whether purchasing new clubs or not, you can have alterations to your clubs to fit you. Clubs that come standard are one size fits none, because all golfers and golf swings are individual, like finger prints.
4. Take lessons from a PGA teaching professional. You can have all the flexibility and strength in the world but if you do not know how to properly swing a golf club, you still have to know how to swing the club. Professionals always have somebody looking at their swings, so why shouldn’t you.
5. Perfect practice. One of my favorites. Practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent. If you shoot 100 free throws with bad mechanics every day, you might get good with bad mechanics, but then its not perfect. It takes perfect practice to make perfect.
6. Nutrition and proper hydration. Mountain dew, energy and sports drinks, hot dogs and beer are not the best foods and drinks for your body when playing a good round of golf. Maybe these foods are the reason why you always fall apart on the back 9? Most Americans are chronically dehydrated anyways, golf and drinking alcohol adds to it. A lack of water can drastically affect your athletic performance.
7. Work on your mental game and course management. Besides nutrition for golf, these are the most overlooked aspects of the game. Professionals have mental coaches and other coaches where they work on skills which help you deal with bad shots and making a game plan for the course just like in football, basketball and practically every other sport.

After reading some of these tips you may think that you are not good enough or these tips are for good golfers, however these tips will make more of a difference in your games than they probably do for better golfers.

The most important tip that is not included in the list is seeing a Chiropractor specializing in golf, specifically a TPI certified Chiropractor. Golf Chiropractors understand golf mechanics and injuries that result from improper golf mechanics. We can properly screen golfers, which can lower the risk of injury, and give proper treatment if injuries do occur. It is estimated that 90% of all golfers will have back pain at some point in his/her life. Seeing a TPI Chiropractor regularly can help prevent some of these types of injuries from happening.

Additionally, Chiropractors can treat all kinds of musculoskeletal injuries in addition to back pain such as shoulder injuries, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, and even extremity injuries such as golfer’s elbow. Although in golf, tennis elbow is 5 or more times likely to occur than golfer’s elbow.

Honorable mention

• One of the King’s best quotes. “I have a tip that will take 5 strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser.”