Perhaps you've heard this not-so-funny golf joke before.

A golfer becomes frustrated over his game - shots he used to hit long, straight and flush now veer all over the place. Despite lessons, videos and anything else he thinks might work, nothing works. Golf has become not much fun anymore for him.

"What should I do?" he asks his golfing buddy.

"Take two weeks off, and quit," his buddy says.

NOW, THERE'S got to be more helpful advice than that. So we asked a few area pros - if they could give just one tip to an amateur to help them play better, what would that be?

"Swing relaxed and in balance," said Darrell Hull, course manager at Prairie Falls Golf Club. "Do what comes natural to you. Don't try to be a golfer. So many times we get caught up in the terminology ... we forget to just swing the golf club and relax."

Yep, usually we've got about 22 swing thoughts going - left arm straight, head down, knees bent, do I inhale or exhale ... followed by the proverbial drum roll as we take the club back.

"Improve your short game and get fitted for clubs, including your putter," suggests David Hobson, general manager at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club.

Take a trip to the driving range, and sneak a peek at the others hitting balls. Ideally, you want to warm up slowly, hitting some wedges, then some short irons, then long irons, then hybrids and/or fairway woods, and finally, the driver.

But some people go straight for the driver.

The short game isn't sexy, but it does save the most strokes. The Highlands, in particular, has a nice short-game area where golfers can practice hitting chip shots from 10, 20, 30 yards off the green.

"There are many different golf swing problems I see frequently," said Andy Mackimmie, head pro at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. "If I had to narrow it down to one, it might be grip pressure. I'd say one in four amateurs I work with could improve their consistency by lightening their grip pressure. Too much grip pressure tenses up forearm muscles and even upper arm and shoulder muscles to the point of restricting the natural movement of a smooth golf swing. Lightening grip pressure, especially with the bottom hand, is key to a relaxed, smooth tempo golf swing which improves timing and translates into more consistent ball striking."

That goes back to Hull's message about swinging relaxed. Because it's easy, as you stand over the ball and the swing thoughts mount, pretty soon you've got a death grip on the club.

"Don't be afraid to take a lesson from your local PGA golf professional," suggests Tony Cuchessi, head pro at Circling Raven Golf Club. "The best players in the world take lessons from their swing coaches and so should you. It's not always the amount and how long that you practice but more importantly, how and what you practice."

BACK TO the swing.

The best swing, Hull says, is usually a nice, easy practice swing without the ball. But, when you put a ball down there, everything can change.

"The focus becomes on the hit, rather than just swinging the golf club," he said.

So in his lessons, he focuses on swinging the golf club, not hitting the golf ball.

"I'll say, we're going to step away from golf here for a second. I'll bring out a tennis racket, or a softball bat, and I'll say, swing this a few times," Hull said. "And they'll look at me like I'm nuts. And they'll take that softball bat and they make three, four, five nice passes with it. And I'll say, 'OK, forget about golf, I want you to swing the golf club the same way.' And they'll look at me like I'm nuts and then they'll hit one and go, 'Wow, that felt pretty good.' And I'll say 'Yeah, because you're just swinging, you're not thinking.' My philosophy is get 'em relaxed, let 'em be natural, and let 'em swing the golf club, and if they swing natural, the golf ball will go."

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.