Top golf teachers share the best swing advice they’ve ever received

Welcome to GOLF’s Top 100 Teacher roundtable, where some of the best instructors in the business answer the game’s most pressing questions. The goal? To help your game and lower your scores ASAP.

Everyone can give golf swing advice, but not everyone can give good golf-swing advice. That’s why it’s always recommended that you only take swing tips from the professionals. You wouldn’t trust your friend to diagnose your medical ailments, would you? The same principle applies to the golf swing.

Instructors spend their days giving out tips and tricks to help their students improve, but today, we are turning the tables. In this edition of our Top 100 Teacher Roundtable, we are asking a few of our coaches for the best advice they ever received.

Check it out below.

1. Always play it down

When I was 16 years old, the PGA Professional I was taking lessons from told me to start playing the ball down all the time instead of “winter rules”. This helped elevate my ball striking immensely. When you learn to hit the ball well, even from a bad lie, you’ll become a much better player. —Mark Durland

2. Stick to your plan

My coach, and former PGA Tour player, George Knudson, once told me to “give up control to gain control.” He said once you make your plan, be brave and execute. You won’t hit solid shots if you have doubts in your mind. —Martin Chuck

3. Aim small, miss small

Aim small, miss small. Ben Hogan said that golf is a game of misses, and whoever misses it the least wins. Golf courses are big open spaces, so you need to narrow your focus on all shots and have tunnel vision much like the race horses use blinders so they don’t see anything but straight ahead. This is good advice for golf, too. —Mike Bender