15 Ways to Play Better Golf on a Budget
It’s funny how some wealthy members at country clubs (yes- we know there are exceptions) aren’t interested in improving their golf games, yet many golfers who play at different public courses would give an arm and a leg to shoot even par.
Although we’re not in the position to make an accurate assessment of causality, we can relate to those of you who just don’t have the funds to buy the best golf equipment, practice at the nicest practice facilities, and play at the nicest courses.
The bad news…
We can’t teach you how to make money.
The good news…
We CAN teach you how to play better golf on a budget and offer you the best (and original) Golf Membership Discount Club on the Grand Strand!
1. Sign up (or just take a FREE Test Drive) with MyGolf at www.MyGolfNUS.com
Quick Facts about MyGolf Members Club
o Member can bring up to 3 friends with all using the “members club price option.”
o Our Member’s Only Pages offer:
o Course E-Specials!
o Online Coupons: over $160 in FREE golf rounds plus 50% OFF restaurant discounts!
o Rewards Program! Play 5 rounds at participating courses and your 6th round is free!
o Play Pass Certificates. Unbelievable rates for a foursome!
o Referral program. Tell your friends and earn a FREE membership!
o Member Events
o Reciprocal Program
o Custom Travel Club Excursions
Not Interested in Membership. Be our Guest and Let Us Help You With Tee Times / Packages
www.mygolfnus.com/custom-package-quote
2. Save Your Golf Grips/Learn How to Re-Grip Your Golf Clubs
First, if you are prone to switching grips often, learn how to save them rather than cutting them off every time you want to change.
Also, learn how to re-grip your golf clubs in general. It will save you the $1 or $2 fee for re-gripping at the golf store, not to mention the gas price of driving to and from the store.
There are lots of sites and YouTube videos showing you how to re-grip clubs, as well as several other clubmaking and refinishing techniques. It comes at a small price, but will save you loads of money down the road. Lots tutorials can be found scattered across the internet and deep in golf forums, so choose what works for you.
3. Build Your Own Set of Golf Clubs
Going off the last point, if you have the clubmaking skills to do so, we would recommend building your own set of golf clubs. By “building,” we mean purchasing each of the components separately (grips, shafts, ferrules, tip weights, butt weights, clubheads, etc.) and then putting them together.
By purchasing separate components, you can save tons of money.
Don’t forget, sometimes, you can find some unbelievable deals on Ebay.
4. Learn How to Sell Your Unwanted Clubs on Ebay
This is a great way to recover some money from the clubs that you no longer use, and sure beats the cringe-worthy trade-in offers that you’ll get when reselling to a golf store.
5. Set up a Home Practice Area
One of the best ways to improve your golf game while saving money is by setting up a home practice area. Once set up, you will have a space for endless improvement that doesn’t require any additional expenses, or gas money.
6. Make Your Range Practice More Realistic
If you are looking to save money and improve your golf game, quit buying the extra large buckets of balls at your local range! You really don’t need that many golf balls to get better.
If you want to change your golf swing, practice the motions over and over in front of a mirror, or use a video camera/ smartphone to record your swing and then take what you’ve learned to the range. If you try to make changes at the range without someone watching you, chances are, you will make yourself worse, and walk away with an entirely different looking swing than you thought you were practicing.
7. Go to a Mini Tour Event
Something that 99.9% of golfers overlook is the opportunity to attend a Mini-Tour golf event. Watching professionals play is a great way to see what it takes to shoot a low score, but the majority of people think that attending a PGA Tour event is the only option.
The problem is, PGA Tour events cost hundreds of dollars to attend, and with the large galleries, it is often difficult to really see the action.
What if you could spend $10 and see guys who are on the verge of breaking through to the PGA Tour play? What if we told you that you would be able to follow any player you wanted for the entire round, and never have your view blocked by some 6’5″ guy in front of you? What if we told you that you might even get to speak to one of the professionals?
Well, you can!
The Web.com tour sells tickets for roughly $10, and you can see some of the best golfers in the world play!
Here is the Web.com Tour schedule.
Also check out this Wikipedia page, which lists the different mini-tours that you could follow.
8. Take Advantage of YouTube
If you need some words of advice, there are tons of awesome instructional videos on YouTube to learn from. That said, it is extremely important to be weary of bad advice, because thanks to YouTube’s low barrier to entry, just about anyone can create videos.
We personally enjoy watching PGA Tour clinics like so.
9. Visualize
One of the most beneficial things that you can do for your golf game is spend a few minutes in a chair or in bed at night visualizing the golfer that you would like to be.
The problem is, next to NOBODY actually has the discipline to do it.
If you want to separate yourself from the crowd, spend 10 minutes every few days visualizing the outcomes, the shots, and the thoughts that you want on the golf course. For more on this, We recommend purchasing the book Your 15th Club by Bob Rotella, and flipping to the section titled “affirmations.”
10. Write in a Golf Journal
Another great way to improve the game is to keep track of it in a golf journal.
By keeping a daily/weekly golf journal, you WILL start to notice trends in your game that you previously had a blind eye to.
11. Meditation
Meditation is always a great option for the busy mind.
On the golf course, it is extremely easy to let your thoughts get the best of you. Daily meditation allows you to treat your thoughts as separate entities from your mind, and allows you to separate emotionally from them when needed. This helps me handle my negative golf thoughts during a round much more effectively. If you want to get started with meditation, consider downloading a free app.
Not only will this improve your golf game, but your life in general!
12. Buy the Right Golf Clubs
There is nothing more frustrating than purchasing a set of golf clubs, and then finding out a week later that you don’t want them anymore.
Do your research!!!
13. Be Mindful of What Golf Advice you are Taking
Bad golf advice is costly.
So make sure that you’ve done your fair share of research before buying into a swing philosophy or teacher.
14. Use Himalayan Salt rather than Gatorade/Powerade
How much does a Gatorade cost at the golf course? $3? $5?
How many summer rounds of golf do you play where you purchase a Gatorade or Powerade?
A great alternative (cheaper) to Gatorade/Powerade is to use Himalayan salt. Just drop a pinch in your water on the course, and enjoy the electrolytes without the high cost and damaging sugars!
15. Bring Food for your Golf Rounds
Unless you happen to play at a golf course that serves good food at an extremely low price, one of the best ways to save money is bringing your own food. No sense in gobbling down a hot dog with chips for $5 if you could eat something 10x healthier for less than $2
Here are a few suggestions:
• Apple
• PB&J (on whole wheat)
• Cliff Bar
• Pretzels
• Trail Mix
• Beef Jerky
