Not being a Golf Pro, it would be silly for me to offer any words of wisdom about swing mechanics, the putting stroke, where to position the ball relative to the feet in the bunker, how to play a downhill lie versus an uphill lie, the take away, the grip, or how to fasten your bag to the golf cart. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about lie angle, groove depth, bounce, shaft flex, kick points, or face angle. But I do know this, mostly from personal experience, unless you’re actually trying to play golf for a living, you might be taking the game too serious and miss all the fun! So, I have a few ideas towards playing more enjoyable, maybe not better, but more enjoyable golf in 2014.

First, is it really necessary to talk about every bad shot you hit? Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of humor in duck hooking a shot through Mrs. Smith’s thousand dollar picture window, but shy of an epic blunder let the bad shots go. And yes, keep the boasting of the great shots short and sweet, after all the guy hitting the bad shots isn’t really that impressed with your great shots. Personally, I’m an Anchorman fan and would sooner talk about Ron Burgundy’s love of Scotch than moan about my buried lie in the bunker. Oh yeah, don’t talk about politics that just gets everybody riled up!

Next, your instructor will tell you that practice makes perfect and he/she is probably right if the practice is done with some oversight and a plan in mind. Without putting a practice plan together and sticking to it you might end up with “practice makes permanent” which is probably not what you’re looking for. When the practice bug hits you next, rather than dragging all your stuff to the range to hit only your driver, grab a good friend or maybe your kids, strap the clubs to the golf car and go out and play a few holes. Even if you end up playing just 4 or 5 holes, it will be time spent hitting more than driver and you’ll be forced to hit to a defined target. More importantly, you will be having fun because there’s no pressure when you’re just practicing.

Finally, Byron Nelson said something that we all should think about when we throw the clubs over our shoulder. From John Bradley’s, Quotable Byron, “The best way to swing is the simplest. Most players try to make the golf swing more difficult than it really is”. So…go play golf with people you enjoy, take time to appreciate the outdoors and most of all, have fun!