I have mentioned this before but I don't know whether it registered with many.  Sometimes I think that casual golfers talk about getting better but don't want to make the effort.  They would rather stick with their self manufactured failure than to actually make some simple adjustments to actually get better. 

Go get a video camera for the weekend and go hit balls and have Mary film your entire swing.  That will do wonders for your game because even you will see many of your weeknesses.  Too often we have an image in our minds of what we are doing and the plane we are swinging on and the finish we are making and to be honest, in most cases it is nowhere near reality.  And if you don't have a video camera, have Mary take photographs.  On virtually all cameras today there is a feature that allows you to take a series of shots in quick succession.   That way she can push down on the buttom and hold it to capture most all of the key positions of the swing.  And again, you will clearly see where you are losing power, falling off balance, causing the ball to hook or slice, etc. 

Then, you have a benchmark for improvement.  Then go buy yourself a Golf magazine with a proper swing succession and compare.  That is where it all starts.

The second thing is to pay attention to the flexibility of your body.  There are some excellent conditioning programs out there to get your body in better shape to improve your torque which will help you to get more distance.  We endorse the Ultimate Performance program since it is an all inclusive program that addresses all aspects of the golf swing but there are others and they all have their good points.

Then we come in.  Golf strategy among amateurs is seriously overlooked.  And yet every professional out there knows that it is the strategy that separates the victor from the spoils.  A good golf strategy is what puts you in position to consistently play your best golf.  It is what keeps the better golfers  putting for birdies as opposed to saving par. 

Yes, it matters how far the pin is from your position on the course.  But it even matters more where you are on the course at that distance.  There is a big difference between being 150 yards out with only 10 feet between the edge of the bunker and the pin with a down hill lie and being 150 yards out with nothing between you and pin but green grass with a 30 feet of roll up the hill.  And the more you can put yourself in the position so that you have plenty of green to work with, the more consistent you will be.

Finally, it matters where you intend to land the ball if you want to truly improve your game.  And the more often that you work on that skill, the better you will get at it.  To be continued...