Let's lower your handicap 📉

Watch pro golf and you might be struck by the number of different shots modern players can hit. But my question is more simple than that: What are the key shots you need to know how to hit if you want to become a better golfer?

That's the mission I've been on recently, and I've been using data to find the answers. ShotLink data from tour events, as well as amateur data from places like Arccos. It spat out some pretty interesting answers.

No this isn't a comprehensive list of every shot you need in golf. But consider these your kind of prerequisites. The really important ones. Shots that either solve a common problem, or unique problems that can lead to big swings in the outcome. The shots that will help you make a par instead of a double...

9 basic shots standing between you and a lower handicap

By Luke Kerr-Dineen

What You Need to Know

The Internet Invitational is still going, and nobody can still hit a bunker shot.

It's a common issue in golf—and the stats prove it. According to Shot Scope, an 8-handicap is more likely to miss the green from a greenside bunkers than the are to hit a shot inside 6 feet.

The problem that you can see in the picture below comes at setup. Golfers try to set up to it with a square clubface like a normal shot, which causes the club to dig too easily. 

Remember, there are two essentials for a good bunker shot:

• Open the clubface
• Hit the sand behind the ball

Swinging off slopes is a cheat code for working on your golf swing.

Coaches say so all the time, and for good reason. It forces you to make the change to your swing, without you having to think about it.

I witnessed it in person this week while at Hot List testing. My two testers, Jack Bingham and Alan Cooke, have different problems in their golf swing but used the same slope method to fix it.

Jack (left) tends to get steep, so he hit some balls with the ball above his feet to shallow him out.

Alan (right) tends to hang back, so he hit some balls off a downslope to improve his weight transfer.

A few balls doing this, and they were both back to striping it.

More From Golf Digest