There’s no singular path to shooting lower scores.
Padraig Harrington says if you spend “20 minutes” on chipping, “you’ll be a better scorer.” Rory McIlroy suggests amateurs not try to pull off shots they don’t have the skill to properly execute. The reigning Masters champion believes that for young golfers, improvement starts with fostering a burning love for the sport that will keep them coming back to practice day after day. Lee Trevino warns against making changes to your swing. Change your hands or your ball placement, but “own your swing.”
Everyone pro has their own idea of what can help the average hacker improve.
For Nelly Korda, the idea is simple. Golf, at its heart, is an artist’s sport. If you keep your brain engaged, thinking and having fun while you’re practicing, you’ll get better.
“I had an amazing coach growing up and we would hit fun flop shots, work on the more creative side of the game of golf versus the technique side,” Korda said at the CME Group Tour Championship. “I think she would sneak it in here and there, but golf is a game of creativity, and from a young age, if you work on that, then it’s just going to continue growing.”
Korda would ask ams to get off the range and go out and play. See the shots you want to hit. Learn how to play in different conditions. You don’t play 18 holes on the range.
“I see a lot of people stand on the range and just drilling golf balls or just practicing a lot instead of going out and visualizing,” Korda said. “At the end of the day, golf is a game of creativity, and you’re never going to have your A-game. One day the wind will be off the left and one day off the right. The hole will play completely differently. It’s all about creativity.”
But if you want to do more technical work, Korda has one thing that she believes most amateurs can benefit from on the range — understanding where they are aiming.
“A lot of the people that I see that are ams never have a stick down on the range,” Korda said. “If you don’t know where you’re aiming, there is a high chance you don’t know where you’re aiming on the golf course.”
So, want to shoot lower scores? Understand where you’re aiming and spend more time playing golf the way it was meant to be played, instead of mindlessly blasting balls at the range. And thank Nelly Korda when your scorecard looks better in 2026.
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