The second thing I would say is to know your club yardage and the effects of upslope and downslope. What I mean by club yardage is to know how far you hit each club. The only way you'll know this, is if you practice and take note. I think this is easiest while out on the course using a golf app with a distance measurer. I use Golfshot. It's free, and it gives me the distance to the hole. It helps me easily determine what my yardage for each club is as I cycle through them. For a fee, you can even access golf tips.
Knowing the effects of upslope and downslope are crucial on the approach. As a general rule, if the fairway is sloping upward to the green at a slow, steady rate, I will add 10 additional yards to my shot. This varies per person due to swing speed. I do the same in reverse for a downward sloping fairway, subtract 10 yards from my shot. Usually, this will mean going with the next club up or down, but not always. If it's a steeper up or downslope, I'll increase/decrease the yardage to the hole. This will help you not fly over or land it short of the green as often, thus saving a stroke. Over the course of a full round of golf, that's 18 shots.
The third thing I would say is to cut the hole up into sections. Don't try to hammer it to the green at 240 yards out if you can only hit it 200 unless you are very accurate with that club. The further a club can hit, the more accurate you have to be. It's like an airplane being 1 degree off of its flight path. If it's off by 1 degree over a short distance, it will find itself relatively close to its intended destination. If it is flying across the nation, 1 degree will put it off by hundreds of miles.
Instead of powering it to the green, predetermine what clubs you're going to use. You will need to consider how far you hit each club as well as the hole layout. Are there any doglegs, creeks, or lakes that you need to plan for? Let's look at an example of Hole 1 at my home course, Cedar Ridge Golf Course.
There are two routes that you can take on this hole. One takes 3 shots and the other takes only 2, if done correctly, to get to the green. The obvious choice may be the 2 stroke play for a chance at Eagle, but there are some things to know about that route. All of the brown is out of bounds. So if you don't make it to the fairway, you get penalized for OB. There is also a 30-40 foot hill the length of that shot with thick grass. Even if you ignore OB, if you don't make it, you can't find your ball. So if you can't carry the ball over 200 yards with a decent arc on the shot, you should use the other route.
Even using the 3 stroke route has its risks. The fairway slopes to the left, so you have to make sure that you stay on the right side or it will roll onto a cartpath and carry you back many, many yards. There are also some seriously bad trees off to the left that have thick grass below that you will not find your ball in. Lesson here is to choose the route that suits your game.
If you can take those three steps to heart, I know that your game will improve. Please leave comments below with any other suggestions you have to lower your score!
