The five best tips to help golfers get to scratch as quickly as possible from someone who’s done it

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Golf is an incredibly hard sport to master. In fact, it’s fair to argue that nobody has ever perfected the game.

The dream for the vast majority of amateur golfers out there is to one day say that they are a scratch handicap.

Now we’ve compiled the perfect five-point plan to help you get there.

Amateurs often spend their time scouring the internet for golf tips which will help them improve as players.

Will Zalatoris once outlined the key to becoming a scratch golfer, and his advice centered around minimizing mistakes.

There is a lot of truth to that, but now let’s examine the five most important changes you need to make if you are to reach your own version of golfing immortality by becoming a scratch handicap.

According to the USGA, only 1.99% of amateur golfers hold a handicap of scratch or less, and while it may be difficult to lower your index to zero, it’s certainly not impossible.

*Antony Martin is a former professional golfer, who played professionally on the Moonlight Golf Tour and the Grey Goose Gateway Tour in the United States in the early 2000s, winning three times. He competed against numerous big name players including Graeme McDowell in US Open qualifying and 2018 Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Ted Potter Junior. Before turning pro, he held a career-low handicap of +4 and represented the county of Essex and England schoolboys. He now writes about the sport for a living.

Five best tips to help golfers get to scratch as quickly as possible

Getting down to a scratch handicap is arguably one of the toughest achievements in golf, if not the toughest.

However, if you’re a single-digit golfer, reaching the promised land of scratch or below is unquestionably attainable, as long as you focus on the correct areas of improvement.

Here are five key areas to really focus on, when attempting to make the final push to reach a scratch handicap.

1. Get custom fitted

This is arguably the most important thing that amateur golfers need to do in order to reach a scratch handicap. If you are to reach your full potential, every single club in your bag should be fitted to suit your swing. That includes the lofts on your driver and irons, the flex in your shafts, the thickness of your grips, the lies, lofts and bounces on all of your wedges and even the loft on your putter. Another thing which is often overlooked is finding a golf ball which suits your swing speed. If you swing the club around 100 miles per hour, perhaps you require a lower compression ball, and the complete opposite is true if your swing is 110mph or more. If you really want to get down to scratch, go and see your local pro and get a customized fitting before anything else. Like the old saying goes: ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’.

2. Practice harder but more importantly, smarter

Too many amateur golfers practice without purpose. Smashing golf balls on the driving range without working on a particular feel or move throughout the swing is a futile exercise but let’s face it, we’ve all done it before. The way forward is shorter, more intense, goal-oriented practice sessions. If you want to get down to scratch, book some lessons with your local PGA professional, tell them your aims and ambitions but more importantly, your weaknesses and where you want to improve. You don’t want your teaching pro to completely change your swing, or the fundamentals of how you play the game. Less is more when making the leap up from single-digits to a scratch handicap. It’s a process which cannot be rushed, with small, incremental improvements the key to success. Find one or two key swing thoughts which resonate with you and put them into practice on the driving range. If possible, film yourself so you can forge a better understanding of your golf swing. While practicing, nail down exactly how far you carry every single one of your clubs. Find a driving range with Top Tracer technology, learn your average carry distance for each club and then purchase a laser measuring device or a yardage book at the course you play. Practice your distance control with your irons until it becomes almost second nature to you.

3. Chipping – practice, practice, practice

‘Drive for show, putt for dough’ is a saying we are all familiar with. While driving is a huge factor in the modern game, a solid short game can make up for the poor shots you will undoubtedly hit every single time you play. Grab yourself 20 balls or so and head out to the chipping green at your local club. Practice a straightforward chip from a nice lie onto a flat section of the green. Chip with your highest lofted wedge all the way through to a seven iron and learn where you need to pitch the ball in order to roll it out to the flag. A great drill for this once you have a rough idea of the roll-out distance is to place a towel down on the landing point for each club you use. Then try and hit each three-foot square mark every single time with each individual club. Your judgement of distance should improve almost instantly and then all that is left is being able to perfect the required technique to produce under pressure consistently.

Becoming a scratch golfer is possible if you put the work in

4. Avoid silly mistakes, especially three-putts

The reality of the matter is that no matter how good you think you are, you just don’t hit your approach shots as close to the hole as you think. World number one Scottie Scheffler was ranked first in proximity to the hole on the PGA Tour in 2025. The average distance he hits his approach shots to? 33 feet and four inches. So if you’re a low handicap golfer, you will face plenty of 30+ footers throughout your rounds. It is absolutely crucial to improve your lag putting in order to avoid three-putts at all costs, if you are to get down to scratch. Correctly navigating the combination of the pace and line is vital, and the best drill possible is to set up around 40-50 feet from the hole on the practice green. Place a tee two feet past the hole and one two feet short of the cup. The aim is to roll your putts inside that four-foot area, so to speak. As they say, practice makes perfect, and the better accustomed you become with your feel on long putts, the fewer needless strokes you will give away.

Stats via PGA Tour website.

5. Identify what your bad shot is, or your ‘miss’

Even the best players in the world have a bad shot that rears its ugly head from time to time. Scheffler has the over the top pull off the tee in his locker while Rory McIlroy has been known to fire his hips through way too quickly at times, causing a big block out to the right. While Scheffler and McIlroy are at a level where they can overcome those issues with practice, low single-digit handicap players may never be able to completely eradicate their problem. The trick? Learning not to fight your bad shot and work with it. For example, if you occasionally come over the top with your driver and produce a left to right ball flight, use that to your advantage on holes which suit a fade off the tee. However, if you are faced with a dog leg left, why not hit a three-wood off the tee? If your ‘miss’ is to the left, and there are hazards adorning that side of the hole, give yourself some room to play with by aiming for the ‘fat’ side of the fairway or the greens. This tip is a microcosm of course management as a whole. Identifying what your bad shot actually is and learning how to manage it can actually help you lower your handicap in the long run.

If you’re a nine handicap or below, and you are able to invest the time into working hard on your game, becoming a scratch golfer is possible.

Remember, though, you won’t become a scratch handicap overnight. Golf is a game of patience, and you will need that in abundance on your quest to reaching the category of the top two percentile of amateur golfers.