PGA Tour champion and trusted course journalist Smylie Kaufman said these are the two most common areas for amateurs to struggle with.
Ralph Lauren
If you want to lower your score, learn from people who have been there, which may be different. Think of it as getting instructions – you want guidance from someone who knows the road and has driven before.
A guy like Smylie Kaufman, who is a PGA Tour champion and gained trust among course journalists at NBC Sports. With Kaufman’s first-hand experience and expert insight, he qualifies to provide golf advice to amateurs who want to enhance their game – he shares some wisdom when we met him in the 2025 PGA Show .
In the video above, Kaufman reveals two areas of the game that amateurs overlook the most: bunker shooting and putting. These blind spots may cost you the course, but with Kaufman’s advice, you can change the way you practice and eventually break the scoring barriers.
According to Kaufman, most amateurs who play in Pro-Ams struggle in short plays, especially with their bunker shots. He said spending more time focusing on your fundamentals might be the difference between three-digit shooting and breaking 90.
“My teeth grind when I saw a square club in a bunker,” Kaufman said. “Just realizing how to play with sand and have good speeds,” [with putting] – This is an easy way to get to the 90s if you are 100 shooters. If your greens are on good speed and know how to get rid of the sand, I would feel like this will reduce some strokes. ”
Development speed is the fastest way to reduce tees. Not only will your first putt be closer to the hole, but you have greater confidence in the second putt, which is key to those 4-foot posts.
While it’s no surprise that amateurs struggled in short matches, knowing exactly where the key is the key. By spending more time honing the speed of green and mastering bunker techniques, you will get better gear (and more confident) when you encounter these shots in your course.
