Three easy improvements to make to your game in 2026

There is plenty of reason to keep playing when the weather has turned and the course isn’t at its best.

You might not put in your best scores, you might get some rubbish lies and the greens might not be rolling as true as they do in July but, aside from the mental and physical benefits, you can still work away at your game.

PGA professional Ged Walters explains how you can keep making some simple gains in the coming months.

1 Ball striking

When people get out on the course in the winter, there’s a lot of frustration. We all try to pick the ball cleanly off the surface and we then spend all winter ingraining a bad habit. It doesn’t matter whether the ground’s wet or whether it’s dry; the bottom needs to be the bottom and the ball needs to be struck before the ground.

We don’t pick it clean off the surface. It’s one of those where you just need to make sure that you’re practising striking the ball and then the turf afterwards so, whether you are on the course or at the range, keep working on that ball-first contact rather than getting into some poor habits.

2 A half set

We hear about this a lot but how often do we do it? Play with your even-numbered irons for three rounds and then switch to your odds. Don’t just turn up to your home course and hit the same shot on the same hole all the time.

Don’t play the 4th hole the same as you do every other month, with a driver and a wedge. Take your driver out of the bag for a few rounds and see what your home course looks like from 30 yards further back. Yes, it makes it a lot harder but it will improve your all-round game and get you hitting some woods and long irons in.

Use your imagination to come up with a solution. The course plays so much longer so don’t just hit your 6-iron from 170 yards as that’s what happens in June. Get your hybrid or 5-wood out and see if you can manufacture something in.

Make yourself chip every time you’re off the green rather than take the easy option. Test yourself this winter, stop taking the easy way out and it will help you to improve.

3 The 100-yard shot

This is one for the range – learn how to hit the golf ball 100 yards with every golf club in the bag. So can you hit your 8-iron 100 yards? And not just when you mishit it unintentionally. What do we have to do to hit the ball 100 yards with each club?

So we’ve got to control the spin, the flight and the length of swing will be different. Go all the way down to your fairway woods and practise all these different shots.

The golf course will ask you so many different questions and, to have a mental back catalogue of shots, is so useful.

So get this yardage nailed down and this will give you confidence off the tee and with your lay-ups.

About Ged Walters

Ged is a Golf Monthly Top 50 coach and one of the leading teachers in the North West. For more tips follow Ged on Instagram – gedwaltersgolf