Scratch

For that, we asked a couple of our former college golfers and resident low handicaps on staff, Associate Editor Drew Powell (+2.6 handicap) and Senior Game ...

This could come in the form of a golf swing drill, or as Drew said earlier, and alignment stick that will show you how your ball is flying in relation to your target. Look for the middle ground: The smaller tweaks (like, as Drew says, your fundamentals!) that you can make to your swing slowly, with the limited time you do have, that will improve you along the way. But if your ball starts to the right and curves to the right, that means your clubface is open but you may be swinging from in-to-out. The work you do on your golf swing is a process that never fully ends; it’s not all-or-nothing. You rarely see tour pros (or scratch handicaps, for that matter) hit balls on the range without a stick or club on the ground. That way you’ll be able to accurately describe your problems to a coach, and even do some DIY patchwork when you’re in the middle of the round, and everything is going wrong. The nature of my role means people tend to solicit me for free golf swing advice from time to time. Take a few looks at the target to train your eyes to see correct alignment. Make sure your feet, knees, hips and shoulders are all parallel to the stick, ensuring you’re properly aligned. A lot of the 80s-shooters I play with are trying all sorts of shots that are better reserved for scratch handicaps or pros. In a nutshell: Pay attention to where the ball starts, and where it ends in relation to where you're aiming (we’ll get to how important that is).. Shooting in the 70s is more attainable than you may think.