The object of golf is to get the ball in the hole with as few strokes as possible. Every recreational golfer would get an ‘A’ if golf was a written test, but might not do so well on he practical exam. These ten rules will help you.

Rule One: Get the ball in the fairway. Use the longest club that you can put in the fairway three times out of four. That means most of the time you WON’T be using your driver. Two hundred yards into the fairway beats two-fifty into the weeds/water/out-of-bounds every time.

Rule Two: Get your approach shot up to the green, not necessarily on it, and away from trouble. Playing short and chipping on from a good lie is often a better choice than hitting into challenges that can cost you strokes.

Rule Three: Chip so you can start putting. Just getting a chip shot on the green is much more important than getting the ball close to the hole when getting the ball close calls for a shot you don’t have.

Rule Four: Think about where you want to leave your approach putt and hit it there. If you think about hitting the ball to the vicinity of the hole, you’ll have a much easier second putt, and occasionally the first one will go in!

Rule Five: Hit only reliable shots that you know will work. If the little voice inside your head says, “I’m not too sure about this,” listen! Get a different club, choose a different shot, or both.

Rule Six: Figure out what score you expect to make on the hole you’re playing, given your skills, and play to get that score. Playing for par on a hole that is too much for you leads to high scores.

Rule Seven: Identify the one error that’s hurting you most and fix it. Golf is a unified game. The same thing that’s hurting our swing could be the same thing that’s hurting your pitching and chipping, too. Maybe even your putting.

Rule Eight: Get lessons. A pro can tell you things it might take years to figure out on your own, or never figure out — little things that make a world of difference. Lessons cost about as much as a round of golf. They’re marvelous investments.

Rule Nine: Be happy. We get upset with ourselves when we don’t play as well as we want to. Sometimes you play well, sometimes you don’t, but you can always have fun if you want to.

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