‘You’d be amazed at how quickly you become better’: A simple drill for fast improvement

If you’re a golfer, one thing’s for sure: You want to get better. It’s one of the most basic truths about the game! We all want to improve in some way, but actually achieving that improvement can be difficult.

The first step is pinpointing the area of your game that is most in need of help. For players looking to break 100 for the first time, that answer may be, well, everything! But if the idea of general improvement is overwhelming, GOLF Teacher to Watch Derek Swoboda has a simple way to make fast gains: play a worst-ball scramble.

What does that look like? Whether you’re on the course or the range, it involves hitting more than one shot and playing the worst one. It’s a technique that Swoboda says he employs during his own practice time.

“When you play a worst-ball scramble, that would be a time where you would kind of track your progress and keep score, maybe play nine holes that way,” Swoboda said. “But then from that point, you can take those categories that you’re not so successful in and refine them away from that setting.

“So let’s just say you’re having trouble off the tee, hitting drivers that are wayward to one side or another,” Swoboda continued. “You know that’s a glaring aspect that you need to go and work on, and then you can sort of structure your practice time around that a bit better.”

For worst-ball scramble beginners, Swoboda said improvement is as easy as heading to your local short-game practice area or putting green.

“If you were looking to break 100, I would start on the putting green with a worst-ball scramble,” he said. “Pick a 20-foot putt, for example. Hit two putts and pick the worst one to try and two-putt. It’s a great way reduce your three-putts as well because it puts a little pressure on yourself to make the next one, which is simulating a real-time, on-course situation.”

Once you’ve mastered the putting portion of worst-ball, Swoboda suggests going father and farther back.

“Move backwards from the green, 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, 40 yards, 50 yards, and you’d be amazed at how quickly you become better,” he said.

Give Swoboda’s advice a try during your next practice session, and kick-start your 2024 game-improvement journey.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.