You’ve probably heard this advice before, but it’s worth repeating. Every shot you take in golf should have a goal behind it.

Your score can only improve by increasing your skills and having an understanding of just how to properly prepare and push yourself on every shot you take. You should be asking yourself: “What do I expect from this shot? What is a reasonable result?”

Reasonable Goals To Better Your Score

The key to becoming a better golfer and lowering your score is to totally avoid taking too many putts. Regardless of how well you blast the ball from your tee shot and landing it on the green within regulation, taking an unacceptable number of strokes to get the ball into the hole is a wasted opportunity. There is no excuse for this.

The Initial Goal

Do not confuse goals with expectations. An expectation is an action that is reasonable and one that should happen every time you decide on the outcome. A goal, on the other hand, is something in which you are reaching high for, but may take a little time to get there. Once reached, the goal can then become an expectation through repetition.

The initial goal you should have in golf is to send the ball into the hole within 36 putts or fewer, on an 18 hole course. This means that you must hit two putts or less on every green.

This goal obviously becomes easier to achieve the closer you can hit the ball to the green. But for those times when it lands 30 to 50 feet away from the hole, you’ve got yourself a major feat to accomplish. It’s going to take extreme focus to successfully make long putts.

Make Every Putt Count

By accepting the challenge to play every golf game with the goal of 36 or fewer putts, you’ve taken a big step towards improving yourself and your game skills. However, do not let this challenge get in the way of your confidence.

When facing a long putt, you may have the tendency to get lazy and lose confidence in knowing that you can make the shot. This may cause you to swing at the ball in a halfhearted manner and quit your goal before even trying.

Too Much Confidence Can Hurt

Even if the shot appears to be too easy, the same negative outcome can happen. You may have been very successful in getting the ball close to the hole, but feel overly confident. You may then attack the ball with too much aggressiveness. Instead of staying focused, your overconfidence and lack of concentration may cause an easy 2′ foot putt to completely miss the hole.

So, stay focused, stay confident and see your game improve.

For more tips for the new golfer check out the golf blog for beginner golfers, Sensible Golf Tips

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