Ben Griffins keys to a single digit handicap

You might think getting down to a single-digit handicap depends largely on making more birdies. Not so, says three-time PGA Tour winner Ben Griffin. When he plays with amateurs, his advice is to do whatever you can to avoid unnecessary strokes on your scorecard. 
 
“Birdies are great. Who doesn’t love birdies? However, posting a good score often comes from not making silly mistakes and really having more control of your golf ball,” Griffin says.  
 
Griffin covers a simple formula for breaking through a scoring barrier in three separate 2-Minute Clinics for Golf Digest.  
 
In the first clinic - How To Drive It Effortlessly - he walks you through a step-by-step guide that makes tee shots easier. Griffin says he’s longer than ever off the tee, averaging 305 yards on the PGA Tour in 2026, but that’s not a product of swinging harder. 

“The thing I’ve learned is that when you go at it harder, you tend to get your hands and arms too involved in the swing and not use your big muscles as much for power. That can get you out of sync. Instead, I like to feel like Cam Young or Sam Burns. When they get to the top of the swing, it looks like they just rotate their bodies and the club simply falls into the ball.” 
 
Griffin says that amateurs should focus more on solid contact with the driver, which not only helps with distance, but the modern design also reduces sidespin, which means you’re playing from the fairway all day—a big stroke saver. 
 
Building on the idea that solid contact matters most, Griffin also offers his advice on how to hit crisp short-game shots, the kind that take a couple of hops and stop dead. It looks like a magic trick or something only highly skilled golfers can do, but Griffin has a few secrets that he shares in this 2-Minute Clinic - How To Hop and Stop a Wedge Shot - which allows even a 20-handicapper to execute it.  

“Two of the easiest things you can do to get that spin is clean the grooves on your wedge and play the ball in the right spot for really good contact,” he says. “I’ll walk you through the rest.” 
 
Finally, in the clinic - How To Lag Putt Like a Pro - on how to get your first putt close enough for a tap in, Griffin shares the green-reading skills and mechanics that lead to tap-in pars. Oh, and it ends with this mind-set: 

“When you stand over a longer putt, what are you thinking about? I bet it’s something like, Pick a line and get it close. Me? I’m thinking about making them—and here’s why: If you’re thinking about getting the ball into a three-foot circle but then miss by two feet, now you’ve got to contend with a testy five-footer. But when you try to make it, you sharpen your focus and the miss usually ends up in that three-foot circle for an easier second putt.” 

With this series, Griffin joins a host of top golf instructors and players who have turned Golf Digest’s 2-Minute Clinics into a one-stop hub for fixing issues and learning how to hit every shot.