Ask any golfer with even a decent amount of skill how to get better at the game and they'll likely all give you the same first answer: take lessons. There's no denying the benefits of being shown how to do something the right way. But unless your a mainstay on the professional circuit, odds are you don't have the financial means or time to have someone monitoring your every swing.
Just imagine if the person who trained you at your job hovered over your shoulder every day, or your driving instructor every time you got behind the wheel. At a certain point, you're going to have to rely on yourself or other methods to continue to make improvements. You can't have someone hold your hand every time you're on the course, but you can tap into different resources to help you along the way.
Research
No golf instructor was born with all their knowledge and wisdom. They had to learn sometime just like you. Luckily for you, nowadays you have the power of the internet at your fingertips. If you have a question about something, the answer is often a quick search away.
There are thousands of articles and videos that will show you how to fix any problem that you might have. There's no excuse why you can't figure out things for yourself.
Full disclaimer: there's no certification for giving advice online. If you're going to take golf tips from people on YouTube, make sure you confirm they actually know what they're talking about.
If you're looking for a reliable place to start, the SCGA has hundreds of Swing Tips videos from PGA professionals available on YouTube.
Practice
This one is obvious, right? Get out there and use everything you just learned from your research and apply it to your game. You don't need someone standing over your shoulder for every putt. Everyone gets better from trial and error.
You don't even need to be on a course to practice. Practice your putting in your house or your backyard. I liken this back to basketball. How often do you see basketball players shooting by themselves on the court? There's no reason why golfers can't work on different parts of the game wherever possible.
Watch Your Own Game
Ever watch a video of yourself and realize the way that you looked or sounded was completely different than what you pictured in your head? Of course you have.
You don't really know what your golf swing looks like until you take a look for yourself. Just like a pro athlete watches game tape to identify their strengths and weaknesses, you need to get a visual of your own swing to see how it measures up with the fundamentals you're trying to apply. Better yet, put your swing side-by-side with a one you want to emulate and compare the two.
Golf With Players Better Than You
Nothing helps elevate your game quite like playing with better players. You'll never get much better if you aren't challenging yourself and always playing down to your competition. That's why you need to golf with the best to be the best.
Yes this almost guarantees that you'll lose, but in the long run it's more than worth it. Just don't get too frustrated with yourself if you do lose. Even the best golfers in the world don't always win.
Golfing with more polished players can also help you learn by watching them play. Instructors and lessons can be helpful, but there's no substitute for actually getting out on the course and actually playing in the heat of competition.
Track Your Progress
How do you know you're actually getting better? It's one thing to get dialed in when you're ripping a hundred balls on the range, but does that actually translate to the course when you have to make every shot count?
There's the simple answer of seeing how your scores improve, but that doesn't always paint the full picture. Unless you are only playing the same course over and over, comparing scores across different tracks isn't always as simple as looking at the final number. On the other hand, if you keep a Handicap Index, you'll have a more accurate representation of how your game is improving (or not).
Your Handicap Index provides a number based on your best 8 scores of the last 20 rounds, adjusted for the difficulty of each course as determined by professional course raters, to give you an idea of your true potential. Furthermore, if you keep your handicap through the USGA, you'll get access to the GHIN app where you can track scores hole-by-hole and monitor stats like fairways hit, greens in regulation, and total putts to get a better idea of what's clicking and what needs work.
You can get yours here and start tracking your progress today.