Golf is a game of ups and downs – one minute you are playing the game of your life and the next you can’t do a thing right. So how do you get consistency into your game of golf? The obvious answer is through practice, because most of us if we are being honest do not practice our golf game anywhere near enough.

OK I will help you out a little here; we all lead busy lives and find it difficult to spare the time for practice right? So if you can’t find the time to get to the golf range or practice ground at your local golf club, then you need to be better prepared when you do go to play your weekly game of golf.

I see it all the time, screeching tires into the car park grab the clubs and dash to the first tee and before you know where you are your handicap has been used after 6 holes. Ask yourself how many times you have played the back nine better than the front nine. The majority of golfers will say the back nine, and the simple reason being, they have warmed up by then and are playing at their normal pace and in control.

Here are a few tips to help your golf, without having to spend hours at the range.

1. Get to the golf course earlier than you would normally; give yourself an extra 20 minutes before you tee off. This will allow you to relax and organize yourself for the game ahead.

2. Use the extra time to stretch those golf muscles, use 2 clubs together and gently practice the movements in your golf swing, slowly building up to a full swing.

3. The few minutes you then have left should be spent on the practice putting green getting used to the speed of the greens for the day. If you can hit a few practice chips around the putting green all the better although a lot if not all golf clubs don’t allow it.

4. Make sure you arrive at the first tee 5 minutes before you are due to tee off, this will give you time to exchange cards with your partners, arrange terms of your game for the day etc and it will allow you to organize yourself and prepare for the first shot of the day.

Giving yourself the extra time to do this will get your round off to a good start and not the usual frantic dash to the first tee with stiff muscles trying to make a decent swing, then finding yourself off to the usual bad tee shot and resulting poor golf until you warm up and start to relax.

DON’T DO IT!

Do yourself and your golf game a huge favor by following this simple guide, giving yourself the best chance to enjoy those precious few hours on the golf course. You owe it to yourself to get the best out of your game of golf.