Dates are not all that they are cracked up to be. With lack of conversations and awkward situations, more often than not, a date in 2017 is expected to be a flop. The problem lies in the fact that men think that the success rate of a date is based on what base you were able to to get to before the end of the night.

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the date is terrible, don't hold your breath on waiting for that home run.

Despite what you have probably been taught, girls are smarter than what the bimbos on MTV have made us out to seem. If you ended up with a kiss at the end of the night, it probably had nothing to do with your "charismatic" personality. A girl doesn't need too much for a date to feel successful.

If you want to end this night on a good note with a promise of a second date, please take my advice and use it. Here are five tips to make a date a rewarding one.

Tip 1: Be a gentleman.

It's true that we are living in a generation in which women know that they can do everything that a man can do. We know that we are a strong and independent species, but that doesn't mean we expect to fend for ourselves the entire moment. Open doors for the lady. Offer your jacket to her when she gets cold. Let her handle the aux chord on the drive to the date. It's the small stuff that counts. Even though it's 2017, a girl still likes to feel as if she is being courted sometimes.

Tip 2: Ask for her opinion.

Make sure that you include her in making decisions for the date. If you go to the movies, ask her which movie she wants to see. Make sure the dinner you chose is something that she is actually going to matter. When you include her in the decisions being made, it makes the date enjoyable for both people.

Tip 3: Tell jokes, even if they suck.

When all else fails, make the girl laugh. Your jokes don't even have to be funny. If you laugh hard enough, then your date has no option but to laugh as well.

Tip 4: Make food a priority.

Food fills up the emptiness when there is silence in conversations. You don't have to pay for a full price meal at the nicest Italian restaurant in town. More than likely, a girl will be happy with an ice cream cone and an orange soda.

Tip 5: Conversation, conversation, conversation.

Listen to all the little stories the girl is telling you. I promise she has a reason for telling them even if the story is completely useless to the task at hand. Don't just listen though. It's a date; therefore, make sure you have some stories to compete with hers. A date is for getting to know each other. A date is to see if you have potential to make dating a repeating occurrence.

The truth is — girls, even though they don't advertise it for the world, yearn for the old-fashioned feeling of a date. Therefore, the key to a perfect date is to make the date about more than physical contact. To make a date something that a girl looks forward to, you have to connect yourself with the girl mentally and physically. Dating is not a science; all you have to do is pay attention to the small stuff and make her feel like more than any other girl.