It happens to many players, even those who take golf lessons or practice for hours at a time. Their swings improve dramatically but their scores don't. They hit the ball straighter, farther, and with more consistency and accuracy, but they still can't break 90 or 80. They buy expensive equipment featuring the latest technological advances, like drivers with big heads, and they still can't drop their golf handicaps to a respectable level. What's up with this, they ask?

Grooving your mechanics is critical to playing well. Good mechanics help you hit the ball farther and with more accuracy and consistency. They also help you pitch, chip, and putt better. That's why you need to work on your mechanics whenever your can. But if you're hitting the ball better and your scores aren't dropping, it can only mean one thing: You're not using your head. You're not employing the right mental strategies—the ones that can help lower your scores and slash your golf handicap.

Strategy is Key
Strategy is a major part of golf, regardless of skill level. Strategy influences your scores every time you play, whether you know it or not. Improving how you think on the course, then, is the easiest way to improve your scores. For example, playing conservatively in the right circumstances is better than playing bold when there's no need to. This strategy isn't aggressive enough for some, but it's smart golf for most, if we do it at the right time. And smart golf is what reduces scores.

Laying up is a classic case of when playing conservatively is being smart. Knowing when to layup in front of a pond or hazard and when to go for it depends on the risk/reward situation. If a match or tournament is at stake, then you need to go for the shot, regardless of its difficulty. In those instances, the reward far outweighs the risk. But those occasions are rare. Going for it when the reward doesn't out weigh the risk will cost you strokes more often than not—strokes than can boost that golf handicap significantly.

Use More Loft
Another example of how to cut strokes off you scores without swing a club is by using a driver with more loft. Poorer drivers lack consistency and accuracy off the tee, which can cost them strokes, especially on courses with tight fairways and/or deep roughs. Instead of hitting from the fairway for your second shot, you're hitting from the rough—a more difficult shot. Because backspin fights off sidespin, poorer drivers may find solace in a club that features more loft. The more loft in the club, the less your shot will curve right and left, allowing you to hit more fairways.

Play the Percentages
Playing the percentages can also cut strokes off your score before you hit the ball. Here's how. Many weekend golfers address the ball without really giving any consideration to the line of play. Often they take what some teaching pros call an "optimistic" line of play. In other words, if they hit a perfect shot they can avoid trouble. No one hits the ball perfectly every time, so you're bound to run into trouble sooner or later, costing you strokes. Instead, play the percentages. Allow for a margin of error and take a smart line of play off the tee.

Let's say, for example, you're a right-handed golfer and you're teeing off on a hole with water on the left. You're a good player, but not great. If you hit a perfect drive, you can avoid the water left and cut-off some distance. But if you pull the drive at all you bring the water hazard into play, costing you strokes. However, by taking a smarter line of play you can, avoid the water altogether. Making decisions on the course that require perfect execution is rarely the recipe for lower scores or golf handicaps.

Play the Low Risk Shot
When faced with the decision of making either a low-risk or a high-risk shot, you really need to think about what you're doing. Be honest with yourself about your skills. Do you really have the skills to play the high-risk shot and make it? More often than not, you don't. When the percentages don't seem to be in your favor, opt for the safer play. Taking the low-risk shot will save you strokes more often than not.

Here's a case in point. You're on the fairway about 100 yards from a pin located to the left of the green and guarded by two bunkers in front. You can go for the section of the green where the pin is and have a short putt for a birdie, but you risk hitting into the bunkers—a difficult shot. Or, you can aim for the center of the green, and take the bunkers out of play altogether, giving yourself more room for error. Unless you have the skills to get over the two bunkers with consistency, you're better off going for the center of the green.

Taking golf instruction sessions won't help you lower your golf handicap, if you don't use your head on the course. Neither will memorizing golf tips you read in magazines or practicing or playing for hours at a time. It's up to you to decide what your ultimate goal in golf is. If it's saving strokes and lowering your golf handicap, then you have only one choice: use your head when on the course.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.