You’ve had your golf swing analyzed. You’ve taken lessons. You’ve invested in good golf clubs. You try to get out on the course regularly. But, no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to figure out how to win a golf match.

First, there’s a greater difference between match play competitions and regular stroke play than many golfers realize. But, fortunately or not, like everything else relating to golf, the differences are largely in your mental approach to the game and the strategies you use on each hole.

5 Tips for Winning a Golf Match

The following tips should help you make the adjustment to match play tournaments and improve your chances of actually winning them.

1. Practice Properly – Match play is more about consistency and winning each hole. On the driving range, work on the accuracy of your drives. On the practice green, take mostly long or short putts, they are the ones that can make you lose, or gain, the most strokes. While conceded putts might be part of match play, always assume you’ll have to hole out on every green.
   
2. Don’t Try to Impress on the First Hole – Even if you’re a low-handicap golfer, save the intimidation factor for later. The risk of going for the jugular off the first tee is that, if you at all misplay it, it could affect your game for many holes to come.
   
3. Be Ready to Change Your Strategy Quickly – The more aggressively you play, the higher the chance of misplaying a shot. If your opponent is playing well, you’ll have to stay aggressive. But, even if you start a hole in aggressive mode, be ready switch gears if your opponent gets into trouble. Continuing to be aggressive when you don’t have to can backfire.
   
4. Treat it Like It’s a Normal Round – While you play the course with your match-play strategies in mind, over-thinking it and getting too involved in the ‘match’ thing can destabilize your game.
   
5. Get to Know the Golf Course – If you’ve never played the course on which your match will take place, try to get in a round before the match. And if you’re looking for an excellent Durham Region golf course to set up a match-play tournament, look no further than Royal Ashburn.

If you liked this post, check out our recent article on how to swing a golf club: the stance.

If the overall mission in golf is to get the ball into the hole using a club, then the only thing between you and that club are your hands on the grip. So learning more about how to hold a golf club is crucial, even for seasoned golfers.

The Basic Grip

There are a number of ways to grip the club, including the baseball grip and interlocking grip. But mastering the basic golf grip first gives you a ‘baseline’ from where you can learn other grips and determine which one helps your golf swing the most.

How to Do a Basic Club Grip

You can try this at home, but its best to be in a space where you can swing the club to get a better feel for the grip.

1. Place the Club Head on the Ground in Front of You – The face of the head should be perpendicular to the path of the ball or a line to the target. Rest the club grip on your forward leg.
2. Grab the Club Shaft with Your Non-Dominant Hand – That’s your left-hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa if your swing is left-handed. Raise up the shaft so that it is at a 45% angle to the ground. With your palm facing up, lay the top of the grip across your dominant hand along the joints between your palm and fingers. The top of the grip should extend a few centimetres past the knuckle on your little finger.
3. Grip the Club – Curl your fingers around the club while simultaneously bringing your thumb across the top of the grip to the other side of the grip. In its final position, your thumb should not be over your index finger, and it should be pointing slightly behind the club.
4. Grab the Grip With Your Dominant Hand – Place it just below the upper hand with the grip going across the joints between your palm and fingers. The padding on your palm below your thumb should fit in the space between your forefinger and thumb of your upper hand. Your little finger should lie in the space between the index and middle fingers of the upper hand.

Want to find a local Whitby golf club to try out your new grip? Get in touch with us here Royal Ashburn Golf Club. And if you liked this post, make sure to check out our last article on 5 steps to great bunker raking.

One of the great pleasures of golf is that it isn’t easy. That can make it a challenge for beginners and experts alike. But the more you learn about the game, the better you will be able to meet that challenge, regardless of your level of play. The most basic skill of all? How to swing a golf club!

The Importance of Learning How to Swing a Golf Club

The basic challenge in golf is learning how to swing to hit the ball consistently well. Without a good swing, no other part of the game, from club selection to the equipment you choose, will really matter.

The Basic Stance

Every golfer develops their own stances as their experience and knowledge expand. The following cover some of the basic starting points for developing a stance that works for you.

1. The Placement of Your Feet – Keep your feet a little more than shoulder width apart, with your front foot slightly ahead of the ball. The ball should be at or close to the mid-point between your feet.
   
2. The positioning of the Club and Ball – Align the ball with the middle of the club head. For the club to be in the right position, arms should be straight out, but elbows shouldn’t be locked. Your upper body should be bent slightly forward at the waist.
   
3. Knees Slightly Bent – For a better understanding of the importance of bending your knees, and how much they should be bent, try a swing with your knees straight. Keep your weight balanced somewhat towards the balls of your feet and evenly distributed between your feet.
   
4. Alignment to the Target – Your feet and shoulders should be aligned with the target for your shot, whether that’s a point on the fairway or the hole. For proper alignment, an imaginary line between your shoulders, and the toes of your shoes should point to your target. That way you’ll achieve ultimate precision when swinging the club.

To learn more about how to swing a golf club from a professional instructor at a premier Whitby golf club, get in touch with us here at Royal Ashburn Golf Club. If you liked this post, check out our last blog post on improving your confidence on the golf course.

Whether you’re a beginner or you golf every week, when you have a difficult round, the thought of taking golf lessons can pop into your mind. But that’s usually all it does. Pop into your mind and right back out.

One of the reasons many golfers don’t take lessons, even if they’ve benefited from them before, is the idea that the lessons are all about improving your swing.

Of course, developing a great swing is one of the main benefits of golf lessons. But it is just one of many that golfers of all abilities can enjoy.

How Golf Lessons Can Help Every Golfer

Needless to say, lessons are especially helpful for beginners. That’s because they have more to learn. But every golfer can learn something by taking lessons from a golf pro.

1. Reveals The Nuances of the Game

To think that golf lessons are just about a better swing is really cheating yourself out of learning so much more about the game. And getting the added enjoyment that comes from it. From the different approaches to the long and short games, to learning how to get back on track after a bad swing, hole or round, all will help lower your scores.

2. Immerses You in a Golf Conversation

Yes, you can visit the driving range and practice green to work on your swing on your own. But when you take lessons from a professional instructor, you engage in a conversation about golf. One that’s centered on your game. And one that can reveal parts of your game you might never think about on your own.

3. Reinvigorates Your Love of the Golf

Regardless of if you’ve ever had a lesson or ever will, you love golf. But imagine what happens if, after just one lesson, you learn something new. Something that injects a new level of enthusiasm for your game. And imagine if that happened after every lesson. Just the boost to your activity in and enthusiasm for the sport and how you play it can improve your game immensely.

The Royal Ashburn Golf Club offers private and semi-private lessons from CPGA professionals Dave Castellan and Justin Hawe. Contact us today to find out more about how golf lessons can improve your game.