7 Easy Golf Course Management Tips For Lower Scores
Wicked smart golfers think better from tee to green, which directly leads to lower scores. My bet is that I could take a mid-handicap golfer to single digits by simply learning how to think their way around the course better.
Because here's the thing, your swing won't show up some days. And you’ll need to rely more on your mental game + short game + course management skills to score well.
I’ve had countless numbers of rounds where I slapped it around but still broke 80, shot in the mid-70s or even broke par. Learning to think your way around the golf course (aka course management) is an art form. There’s something special about not having your swing but still scoring well.
7 Proven Golf Course Management Tips to Score Low
As a mental golf coach, I preach the importance of course management - which I feel is an extension of the mental game. Use these seven proven tips to play well, even if your golf swing decides to take a day off.
1. Focus on What You Want
Imagine you’re on a tough par 4 with water running down the entire length on the right side of the hole. Are you golfer A or golfer B?
- Golfer A: “Don’t hit it right in the water.”
- Golfer B: “There is water right and I do play a fade, so I will center my shot pattern further down the left side of the fairway and commit to my target.”
As you can guess, most players are like golfer A… constantly thinking what you don’t want on the course.
Here’s the thing; when golfers see a deep bunker, out of bounds or water like the hole I just mentioned, they usually think, Don’t hit it there. The problem is that the subconscious mind doesn’t understand negative statements.
For example, when you say to yourself, Don’t hit out of bounds, your mind processes that thought as Don’t Hit it out of bounds.
Plus, the word “Don’t” is a negative word to begin with and brings up bad memories. As a kid you probably heard things like “Don't yell, don’t run, don’t talk back, etc.” All of these are negative memories, not positive ones.
Instead, you need to focus on what you want from the shot, not what you don’t want.
It’s okay to call out trouble, but always zone back in to focus on what you want, not what you don't want on every shot.
2. Play One Shot Shape
If you want to make golf easier and avoid big misses/double crosses, don’t think like most golfers.
Here’s what I mean, most golfers try to work the ball both ways on the golf course. On some holes, they try to hit a draw off the tee when the hole doglegs left. Or, if the pin is in the back right of the green, you try to hit a high fade with your approach shot.
It makes sense… right? Wrong.
The truth is, most pros hit one shot shape on repeat during competition. Can they hit it both ways? No question, but one shot is much more reliable than the others.
Unless you have a tree or some other obstacle in your way, try to play the same shot every single time (regardless of if the hole or pins calls for a specific type of shot). If the best players in the world struggle in competition to hit it both ways, you probably will too.
Not to mention, when you try to work the golf ball both ways, you invite the dreaded double cross, which can lead to some big misses. Which usually leads to more balls in penalty areas and higher scores.
On the range, develop your shot - whatever that might look like for you.
When the pressure is on during the round, having a go-to shot will make it easier to pick your target and commit to every shot. Play your shot more often than not (even if the fairway or pin position calls for the opposite type of shot) to score your best.
3. Learn How to Pick Targets Correctly
One of the oldest pieces of golf advice is “aim small, miss small” when it comes to picking targets. It’s touted by sports psychologists as one of the best tried and true pieces of advice ever. I remember many coaches over the years telling me the same thing.
For a long time, I took their word for it. That is, until I learned about Mental Golf Type by John Weir.
This is when I discovered that not all mental golf game tips are the same. In fact, how you’re mentally hardwired impacts how you should pick targets and visualize them.
Aim small, miss small (picking a small target like the branch on a tree or a small window on a house) works well for 75% of the population - known as sensors. However, the other 25% of the population - known as intuitives - do better with target zones.
As an intuitive (ENTJ is my personality type) I do better with target zones vs. small targets. Now, I always pick a zone for my full shots. For example, instead of picking one tree in the distance, I’ll pick two trees and use it as a target zone.
Learn your Mental Golf Type to figure out more about picking and visualizing targets based on your personality type.
4. Aim for the Middle of the Green More Often
Stop flag hunting so often.
Most golfers try to attack pins all the time, thinking that’s the only way to make birdies. However, don’t forget about shot dispersion - no matter how good you get, you will always miss some shots left and right of your intended target. The longer the club, the wider the dispersion.
So if you aim for tucked pins with mid or long iron, you’re setting yourself up to be short sided way too often. This will lead to touch up/downs and a lot more doubles than if you simply aimed for the middle of the green.
The key to playing better, more consistent golf is to avoid bogeys more than it is to make more birdies. And one of the main reasons most golfers card more bogeys and doubles is from playing too aggressively on approach shots.
Tiger Woods illustrated this perfectly when he won his fifth Masters in 2019. And really all of his career, Tiger didn’t short side himself nearly as much as other golfers. As he once said in a post-round interview, “I swing aggressively to my targets, which happen to be on the conservative side.”
If you're a mid to high handicap golfer, aim for the widest part of the green, especially outside 120 yards. If you’re a mid to low handicap golfer, I suggest enrolling in Decade Golf to learn when to aim for the flag and when not too, alongside other amazing course management strategies.
5. Develop a Pre-Shot Routine
The easiest mental game hack + golf course management tip is to develop and use a pre-shot routine on the course.
A pre-shot routine is something you need to first create and then practice on the range. Don’t just hope it shows up on the course for you if you haven’t spent time honing it at the practice tee.
Helen Alfredsson described the importance of a pre-shot routine in the book A Good Swing Is Hard to Find. She stated, “A pre-shot routine helps you build a cocoon around yourself. This is the mysterious zone that athletes refer to longingly. But there's nothing mysterious about it.”
A pre-shot routine is one of the few constants in golf and something that you can control. A pre-shot routine will also help you:
- Stay calm and focused
- Improve your pace of play
- Block out negative thoughts
- Find your target and commit to a shot
- Take your range game to the golf course
Learn how to develop your routine using my proven system inside, Pre-Shot Like a Pro.
6. Avoid Double Bogeys
Double bogeys (or worse) are absolute round killers.
It’s easy to think doubles are only one shot worse than a bogey, but they’re actually 6X worse. Scott Fawcett, the creator of Decade Golf, discussed this in our two-part podcast episode (episode 245/246 of Wicked Smart Golf).
Needless to say, you want to avoid doubles at all costs.
Doubles kill momentum and take several holes to make up for it. Meanwhile, a bogey can be replaced quickly with a birdie and doesn’t derail your round like a double (or worse).
If I hit a bad shot and find myself in the desert, behind trees, or some other obstacle, I ask myself, How can I make bogey at worst?
Asking yourself this question instantly shifts your mindset and removes an aggressive mindset that too many of us have during the round. If you’re in trouble, do everything you can to give yourself a putt at par, don’t try to force a birdie and end up walking away with a double bogey.
Quit trying to play hero golf.
Sometimes you have to take your medicine (aka a bogey) and move on to the next hole. But other times you need to stay mentally engaged when you find yourself in a tough spot too.
As Arnold Palmer said in My Game and Yours, “Most amateurs give up too quickly when they get into trouble. Every golfer should keep their eyes and mind open, looking for opportunities to do the unconventional.”
When you hit a bad tee shot or poor approach shot, hit the shot you know you can play, not the one you think you can hit. Figure out how you can give yourself a putt for par and accept that a bogey won’t kill you.
Minimize the damage so you can save some momentum.
7. Play Conservatively When Your Swing Is Off
The final course management tip is to play more conservatively, not more aggressively, when things aren’t going your way.
Off days are part of the game and something you need to learn how to deal with. When most golfers are swinging poorly, they usually try to play more aggressively after a bad hole. But this is the wrong approach and usually leads to bigger misses and higher scores.
At times, you need to get conservative and play the shot you know that you can hit … not the one you hope you can pull off. After a few bad shots or a bad hole, you want to hit one good shot again to get your confidence back. This will positively snowball into more good shots and swings, but it all starts with one.
Closing Thoughts on Golf Course Management
These seven course management techniques will help you play better every single round. But don’t forget to put in the work in practice so you can develop more confidence in your game.
As Jack Nicklaus said, “Confidence is the most important single factor in this game and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to abstain and sustain it: work.”
Put in the work, improve your mental game, and stay consistent to lower your handicap. If you’d like help with the mental side of things, make sure to learn more about mental golf coaching next. Or, watch the YouTube version for more golf coure management tips.
