Every golfer wants to improve, but lowering your scores isn’t just about making swing changes.
Better golf comes from improving the areas of your game that have the biggest impact on scoring, from practising with purpose and striking your irons more consistently to sharpening your short game and making smarter decisions on the course.
To help you focus on what really matters, Golfshake has teamed up with Advanced PGA Professional Aaron Holtom to produce a series of coaching articles and videos covering five key areas that can help golfers of every ability play better golf.
1. Build Better Scoring Habits
Before you think about changing your swing, it’s worth thinking about how you play the game.
Aaron explains why better scoring starts with smarter expectations, avoiding costly mistakes and understanding how to manage your way around the course. While the lesson uses breaking 100 as an example, the same principles apply to golfers of every handicap.
Read: How to Break 100 in Golf
2. Practise With Purpose
Standing on the driving range hitting bucket after bucket of seven irons might feel productive.
It often isn’t.
Aaron explains why the best practice sessions focus on your weaknesses rather than your favourite clubs.
He also demonstrates how splitting practice between technical work, creativity and performance drills helps your improvement transfer onto the golf course.
Read next: How to Practise Golf More Effectively and Lower Your Scores
3. Improve Your Ball Striking
One of the quickest ways to become a more consistent golfer is improving your strike with the irons.
Aaron explains why golfers should stop trying to help the ball into the air and instead focus on creating ball-first contact, forward shaft lean and proper turf interaction.
Understanding these simple concepts leads to cleaner strikes, more predictable distances and greater confidence with your irons.
Read next: Improve Your Iron Strike: Simple Tips for Better Ball Striking
4. Save Shots Around the Green
The short game is where rounds are often won and lost.
Aaron shares three straightforward tips covering chipping, pitching and putting, helping golfers improve consistency without overcomplicating their technique.
Sometimes a simple chip-and-run, a controlled pitch or better distance control on the greens can save several shots during a single round.
Read next: 3 Simple Short Game Tips That Will Help You Save Shots Around the Green
5. Make Better Decisions on the Course
Even golfers with good swings can waste shots through poor decision-making.
The final lesson in the series focuses on course management, showing why recovering intelligently, choosing the percentage shot and using the putter whenever possible are habits shared by better players.
Learning to make smarter decisions often lowers scores faster than chasing technical perfection.
Read next: Play Smarter Golf: Course Management Tips to Lower Your Scores
Start Improving Your Golf Today
Every golfer has strengths and weaknesses, but the biggest improvements often come from focusing on the fundamentals that influence every round.
Whether you want to hit better iron shots, sharpen your short game, practise more effectively or simply make smarter decisions on the course, Aaron Holtom’s coaching series provides practical advice that golfers of all abilities can put into action straight away.
About the Author
Aaron Holtom is an Advanced PGA Professional with an MSc in Sports Coaching and has been a full-time teaching professional at Morley Hayes Golf Club for more than 17 years. Working with golfers of all ages and abilities, Aaron combines expert coaching with industry-leading technology, including Trackman, BodiTrak pressure mats and 3D motion capture, to help players improve faster. Alongside individual coaching, he also runs his popular ‘Golf Not Golf Swing‘ group coaching programme, focusing on practical skills, course management and lowering scores.
Find out more at www.golf-not-golf-swing.com.