Recreational golfers will shoot lower scores by not taking extra strokes, more than by hitting better shots. There is a big difference.
Extra strokes are one ones you take because you didn’t think things through clearly, and as a result, play a shot that doesn’t get you anywhere. You’re no better off than before, but you’ve rung up one more stroke on your score.
Play shots you know you can hit. You might have seen something on TV that you would like to try, and here is a great place to do it. Or you have tried this shot once or twice in practice so you think, “I’ll try it here.” Then you hit it, and it doesn’t work, and now you get to try something else.
Hit a shot you know you can hit, even if it’s not the ideal shot. That way you’ll get something out of it, instead of nothing. Remember what that set-up was, so you can practice after the round to learn what you should have done, preparing yourself for the next time.
But don’t hit shots that are complete strangers.
Respect your lie. Which brings up this point. A subtle difference in your lie can mean you have to hit a different shot. Maybe around the green you have a chip shot that is pure gold, but if the lie isn’t conducive, don’t hit it. The result could be worse than a compromise shot.
I have this chip that sends the ball right at the pin, bounces twice, and stops. But I have to take the club back very low and keep it low coming into the ball. If the lie is any bit cuppy, so the ball is sitting down, this shot will blade the ball over the green.
So I have to pick another shot, as you should if you don’t think you can get the club on the ball the way you would like to.
Uneven lies crop up all the time, but they’re easy to master.
Don’t get greedy. Take what the course gives you and no more. Say the tees are up one day, and you can bend your drive around the dogleg for once. But there’s a wind in your face which will cancel out the distance advantage. If you try anyway, your ball will likely go into whatever is in the corner and you’ll have to spend a stroke getting out to the spot you would have driven to if you hadn’t been greedy.
What course designers want us to do is get greedy and not do the next item on the list.
Respect trouble. Play away from trouble. Play around trouble. Don’t play over it or nearby it. The course designer will give you an out. You just have to find it.
With water, especially, be careful. Never play over water unless you have to. If you have to, set up your shot so you have a wide berth if you miss. You can lay up so you don’t hit in, and still have plenty of room to clear the hazard with your next shot.
Forced carry off the tee that you can’t quite cover? Use your tee shot to chip down the tee box to a spot from where you can get over. Use up one stroke to save two. (And maybe consider you’re playing from the wrong set of tees.)
Much of the fun of golf is that it is a thinking man’s game. A thinking woman’s game, too. When you play it like that, you shoot lower scores without being one whit better at hitting the ball. Now how good is that?