As we prepare for the 2008 golf season coming up shortly, I thought that I would take a minute and pass along a few simple golf tips that I use at the beginning of every golf season to start out the new year smoothly and to keep working to improve my golf game year after year.

One of the first things that I remind golfers of, especially early in each new golf season is to remember to focus on counting each stroke. A lot of amateur golfers, and I include myself in this, sometimes will start out the new golf season with "do-overs" while getting our golf game in shape. The reality of this is not that it's a big "cheating" issue. Most of the time it's when we are in a friendly game with golfing buddies who do it also and don't mind.

But the issue is that we aren't really improving our game if we don't count all the strokes. I am not trying to be the golf handicap "police" here, but I have found myself in a golf tournament early in the season on more than one occasion and I wasn't as ready as I should have been because I had been practicing with too many "do-overs". So force yourself to count 'em all and get your golf game in shape as quickly as possible.

The second thing that I focus on early in the season is using fewer clubs until I get my golf swing grooved. I revert to those golf clubs that I am really comfortable with in my first several rounds. For me those are, in particular, the 3 wood, the 7 and 9 iron, and my gap wedge. I just always seem to hit these well. Then as my golf swing settles down and I progress further into the season, my frustration level is lower and I generally am more comfortable as I start using the more difficult clubs for my game, i.e. the long irons and the driver and my lob wedge.

The last thing is one of those things that we all know to do but keep forgetting, is to slow down the tempo of your golf swing. Tempo, tempo, tempo. I have found that the more that I focus on this at the beginning of each golf season, the better chance I have of staying with a slower, smoother tempo for more of that season. This is, of course, one of the big things that I struggle with, speeding up my tempo as the season, or even an individual round of golf, goes on. So an early season focus really helps me.

I hope that you are looking forward to the new golf season as much as I am. And I hope that these simple golf tips help you start on the right track.

And for more help getting ready, here are some additional golf swing tips for your game. Hit 'em long and straight this year all you golf nuts!