It's rare to come across a course that is all flat or all straight. Courses are laid out with turns and hills and hazards, which makes the game what it is. A key to solid play is to use that geography to your advantage while teeing off.

This tip begins even before you step up on the tee. As you're walking toward that tee, look ahead and get a sense of the layout of the hole. Is it straight, is it a dogleg? Once you determine how the hole is laid out, look for that far away spot that you realisitically feel your tee shot can travel. In other words, where do you want the ball to land?

When it's your turn to tee up, keep in mind that you do not have to place your tee in the center of the tee markers. You are allowed to use whatever room there is there and it's important that you do this.

If you watch the pros, you'll see they take the time to survey the hole and the teeing area. They will "see" where they want their ball to land on the fairway, and then they will tee up in an area that will help them reach that target using their natural swing and ball path.

Say, for example, that your natural golf shot is a fade. On most holes you should tee the ball up on the right side of the tee box, fairly close to the right side tee marker. If you then aim at the the left side of the fairway your fade will bring the ball to the middle of the fairway. If for some reason you hit the ball straight, you will finish on the left hand edge of the fairway. If, however, your fade turns into a slice you should still end up on the right edge of the fairway. Either way, you should still have a shot to the green.

Having that shot to the green, no matter how your ball flies, is crucial to lowering your score, hole by hole. In fact, this one little tip when used properly can shave as many a 8 or 9 strokes off the average player's score (on 18 holes).

As with everything in golf, this takes a little getting used to, but it's certainly worth the effort. It will also give you an enormous boost to your confidence when you play a new course for the first time as this tip works everywhere.