How far do you hit your clubs? Knowing club yardage is critical to breaking 80. That’s especially true when it comes to your wedges.

Knowing your wedge yardage is often the difference between putting for birdie and lagging one up there for a bogey. But learning how far you hit your clubs takes work.

Here is a proven golf drill that teaches you to dial in your wedges:

Start by measuring out 10-yard intervals from 30 to 100 yards. Drop small towels or range buckets at each increment. Then start hitting wedges with your most-lofted wedge. Hit 10 balls using a half-swing. Measure the average of all the shots and record the carry distance. Move to a three-quarter swing, repeat, and then finish with a full swing. Replicate this exercise with all your wedges.

(If you can’t measure the distance out with range buckets or towels, then just aim for different spots in the range and hit them.

This golf drill helps you develop three go-to swing lengths with each wedge. That, in turn, provides you with 12 reliable yardages inside the scoring area.

That, in turn, will boost your chances of breaking 80 dramatically.

5 Course Management Tips That Save Strokes

Having good technique is great. It cuts strokes from your scores and makes you more competitive. If you’re serious about breaking 80 consistently, you’ll work as hard on your technique.

But good technique alone isn’t enough. It also takes good course management skills to help you go low. Managing a course also can help you shave as many strokes off your scores as good technique—maybe more.

Below are five proven course management tips that can help you shave strokes off your scores. To do that, you need to know:

How far you hit your clubs
When to take something off your swing
When to attack a pin
Where trouble is on the course
When to use your go-to swing

Managing your way smartly around a course pays off. When your technique goes south, you can still go low if you manage a course well.

Keep the following course management tips in mind next time out:

Knowing how far you hit your clubs is critical to going low. That includes roll distance. If you don’t know how far you hit your clubs, go to the range and find out. It will save you a ton of strokes in the long haul.
You also need to know when to take a full swing and when to throttle back. Choking down on a club makes it easier to control ball flight. So be open to opportunities to make this change
Knowing when to attack a pin and when not to is critical. It keeps you out of trouble and saves strokes. If you’re not sure about attacking the pin, aim for the middle of the green. That seldom hurts you.
Players with low golf handicaps always know where the trouble is on the course. When on the tee box, always aim away from trouble. So, tee up on the side of trouble and aim away from it when teeing off.
Everyone should have a go-to swing. It’s a lifesaver. It can save you strokes when your regular swing lets you down. If you lack a go-to swing, work on one. You’ll be glad you did.

Good technique alone isn’t enough to help your break 80 consistently. You also need to have good course management skills. Following the tips above can help you go low as much as mastering techniques can.

These 5 Golf Tips Cut Scores Without Changing Swing

Want to up your game to the next level? Sure, you do. One strategy to doing that is to determine the yardages to key targets before you play a hole. While this golf tip can help you cut scores, it won’t boost your game by itself.

To do that, you need to do more. You need to game plan the whole course. Once you have a plan, you need to follow your plan as closely as you can. Following the plan can be a challenge, but it sure cuts strokes from your scores.

Benefits of Game Planning

Creating a game plan has multiple benefits. It boosts confidence in your club selection and your targets. Plus, it erases any doubts about the shot before swinging. Anytime you do that, you position yourself well.

There are plenty of digital tools to help you game plan. Google Earth Pro, for example, measures distance using satellite images. All you have to do is download the app. Range finders are also helpful.

If you don’t have one of these tools, think about getting one. It can make a difference. They’re a big plus when game planning.

Below five golf tips on how to study a course. They’ll help you beat even the most challenging courses you play:

1. Default to a conservative strategy

Default to a conservative strategy when game planning. Sure, it’s fun to go for wild shots you have little hope of making—at least for a while. But when you fail to make them, you’re adding unnecessary strokes to your scores.

That’s when you’ll regret going for these shots if you just miss breaking 90 or 80. Instead, employ a conservative strategy. If things change when playing the course, you can still take advantage of the opportunity.

2. Use all of the tee box

Plan to use all of a tee box when playing. Moving from one side to the other may change your mind about where you want to hit. Moving to the other side of the box may also open up an angle to the fairway that you never considered before.

The key is finding the path of least resistance to the fairway. So be open to the idea of using the whole tee box.

3. Review all fairways closely

Knowing where to hit the ball t on the fairways is critical. Look out for parts of the fairway where you get squeezed. Golf course designers often create “thin spots” on the fairway that tempt a golfer to go them. Miss the fairway in that area, and you could be in a whole lot of trouble.

You can quickly check the widths of fairways with Google Earth when you are game planning. Be especially aware of any hazards in that particular area. Hitting into one of them could mean big trouble.

4. Study the hazards

Study the course’s hazards—especially the water hazards. Determining the yardages for key shots to the hazards and out-of-bounds stakes are vital. Your goal is to find a distance that easily lets you easily clear the threat.

If you know that you only need 30 yards to clear a water hazard, for example, you can hit your shot to a specific distance to the hazard knowing you can easily clear it.

If you know that, you also know where to hit your approach shot if you can’t make the green. This step removes doubt from your shot.

5. Examine the bunkers

Hitting into a fairway bunker is deadly—no way around it. Hitting into a fairway bunker, in fact, is among the most penal mistakes in the game. Just ask a stats expert if you don’t believe it.

Avoiding fairway bunkers helps you cut dozens of strokes from your scores over time. Here’s a couple of examples of how doing that helps lower scores.

Your range finder tells you that it’s 65-yards to the green’s center. The hazard itself is about 20 yards long. If you’re laying up, you want to place yourself safely before the bunker to where you can easily clear it. The last thing you want to do is leave yourself with an awkward bunker shot from 50 to 60 yards out.
Another challenging shot comes when you have out of bounds on the left and a fairway bunker on the right. If you know your distance to the bunker, you can select a club that you know you can’t reach the bunker or one that will definitely carry you over the bunker. That saves a ton of strokes over the long haul.

Keep these five golf tips in mind when game planning a course. Some players like to start at the green and work their way back when planning. Others like to do the opposite. Try both ways. Find what works for you and go with it.

Game planning is the best way to slash strokes from your scores without changing your swing. Smart game-planning sets you up for more birdies and pars. If you’re serious about breaking 80, you’ll work hard on developing your game planning skills.

Dial in Yardage with this Golf Drill