00:00Hello everyone and welcome to this Golf Monthly video where I'm going to be talking about 11
00:03things that all golfers forget to do out on course. Now I'm not talking about forgetting
00:08your 5-iron or leaving your trolley battery at home, I'm talking about tactical things
00:12that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist
00:17before every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out
00:22of your game. I'm at the very blustery West Hill today, let's get started.
00:30Do you warm up properly before each round of golf? I think this is a massive thing that
00:35loads of golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will
00:39suffer for it. Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but
00:43even if it's 10 minutes of putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind
00:48of warm up will really help your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and
00:52play better golf for it. So another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in
00:56the middle of a round is use a little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great
01:00example in front of me here on the 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although
01:04I'm close to the green there's too much water on the ground but there's also nothing for
01:08me to go over so why would I need to take my lob wedge or my sand wedge a much
01:13higher tariff
01:13shot in this situation. You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree
01:21I'm more likely to shank it or thin it because it's a high tariff shot. What I think a lot
01:25of golfers need to do is use a little bit less loft, take your time around these chips,
01:30I've got an eight iron here and hit a lower tariff shot, almost just put a putting stroke
01:35on this and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort, I need to practice it a little bit more
01:44but I think taking less loft around the green is a much better idea.
01:47Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the course
01:52is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind,
01:57I've got to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case, you're not going to hit the ball
02:01that far anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often. Great example
02:06here today, the second at West Hill we're into wind, I've got the big dog out, I'd normally want to
02:10hit
02:11this as hard as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going to swing a little
02:13bit
02:14slower, just try and get a bit of strike on it, get myself down the fairway so I'm going to
02:18swing
02:18this as easy as I can. And away it goes, not my finest hit, a bit cutty but into wind
02:30on a day like
02:30today not too disappointed with that so remember into wind swing a little bit slower. Right so another
02:35thing I think golfers forget all too much when they're out on the golf course is not going every
02:40single pin. There are loads of sucker pins out there and if you find yourself short sided of these
02:45you're going to really struggle to make up and down. Start going for the center of the green more often
02:50and there'll be other pins you can go at later in the round. I've got a good example here at
02:54the first
02:55at West Hill where the pin is in the middle but it's really far to the left so the last
02:59thing I want
03:00to do is aim at it, go left of it and find myself in that in that trap or left
03:04of that trap where I'm
03:05never going to make up and down. So on this hole I'm going to almost take my medicine, aim at
03:09the
03:09center of the green, hopefully get my two putt, walk onto the next one. Let's see how I do. Make
03:14sure I aim nice and central. I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this is a good
03:19pin for me but I'm going to
03:20stay nice and central. I did hit the little fade and I got away with one. It wasn't my greatest
03:31strike a little bit thin but because I aim middle, knowing my shot shape, I knew I couldn't go too
03:35far wrong. So don't get suckered into those pins, play for the center of the green, two putt and
03:41attack those pins later in the round. Ah right that brings me on to my next thing that golfers forget
03:53when they're out on the course and it's to take every shot as seriously as the last. Now I got
03:58a
03:58little bit angry myself there leaving that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the
04:02next putt and I've missed it. I've cost myself another shot. Now it's easy to do this when the
04:08red mist descends. I've done it loads of times myself. I'm sure you have at home but it's really
04:12important that throughout the round you remind yourself not to get too angry, that every single
04:17shot matters. We'll do this on the fairway every now and again as well. If you duff one straight in
04:22front of you, you'll just take the same club, hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and
04:26the
04:26same thing might happen. So after a bad shot take your time, remind yourself that every shot matters
04:32and hopefully that will save a few shots on the course. Right so another mistake I think lots of
04:37golfers make is taking their driver off the tee when they don't need to. Now across this video you
04:42might think I'm a bit overly defensive on the golf course. Feel free to let me know in the comments
04:46if I am and if I'm horribly wrong on this. But I think on a hole like this we've got
04:49the 12th through at
04:50West Hill, 273 it's playing today, a little bit downwind. I probably could hit the green with my driver
04:55if I really liked it, but there's all sorts in the way. There's bunkers, there's trees, it's times
05:00like this that I think a lot of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play
05:03something like
05:04this. A hybrid, a driving iron, a long iron, anything just to pop yourself in play. Leave yourself
05:08a nice number in. So I'm going to leave that driver to one side there. I've got my trusty
05:12four hybrid here and it should just be the easiest swing to put myself in position.
05:21A bit like that on the first take as well might I add. So I think a lot of golfers
05:26need to think
05:27a lot more carefully on the course about when they're using their driver, use it in the right
05:30situations and on shorter par fours play for position. Okay so you joined me here on the 12th
05:35and after I was just telling you about playing for position, not taking your driver too often,
05:39I found myself out of position on a very short par four. So I'm not best pleased and that brings
05:44on to the
05:44next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course and that is to stay calm. I think
05:50if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save at least I think two shots a round
05:54especially if you're a bit of an angry golfer. You know you won't hit the angry chip or the angry
05:58putt
05:59when your head's not in the right space. Now I know there's nothing worse than someone else
06:02telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse effect but I think if you can check
06:06yourself out on course, remind yourself to stay calm, it's a really important thing to remember
06:11throughout the entire round. While I'm here another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey is your
06:16friend and it is more often than not it's not a card killer and while it's not a great score
06:20it's not going to ruin your entire round. Now obviously I'm hoping to make a par from here
06:24and I'm not going to say I'm not you know I still want to try and make up and down
06:27but I'm going to
06:28remind myself that if I don't come off here with a par a bogey is is okay and I'm not
06:32going to get too
06:33angry and the bogey is my friend. It's not a double, it's not something worse. So stay calm, bogey is
06:38my friend
06:39and whatever I hit here I'm not going to get too wound up about it.
06:45And I hit a good shot so I've got a look at par, if I get a bogey it's okay.
06:48So two things, stay calm,
06:50bogey is your friend. Okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make is not playing for
06:54position on par fives. Now I know we've already spoken about not taking driver all the time, I don't
07:00want to come over as overly defensive on the golf course but I think every now and again we need
07:04to look
07:04at a par five for what it is. Take a bit less club and score a little bit better for
07:09it I think
07:09in the majority. Example here 17th at West Hill, I hit my Sunday best drive here, pretty pleasing
07:14myself. But it's into wind, we've got trouble left, there's trouble right. Should I really be trying to
07:19hit a three-wood to get to this green that's barely in reach? Probably not. So take the situation
07:24to account on par fives but I think a seven iron is the play here. So away with the three
07:30-woods. I'm
07:33something like that with just an easy seven iron. Not my best but not my worst. Should just be a
07:43little wedge in from there and I'm not going to make anything worse than a par there whereas if
07:47my three went left or right anything could have happened. So I think playing for position on par
07:51fives when the situation warrants it is really important. So one major thing I think loads of
07:56golfers forget to do is take a little bit more club when the conditions warrant it. So I'm talking
08:01about heavy wind like it is today, colder temperatures and even consider when you're not
08:06striking the ball that well. I don't think enough of us adapt to that mid-round. So really think,
08:10you know, on the ninth hole halfway through your round, what's the wind like today? How am I
08:14striking it? Should I attack the back nine with a little bit more club? Now I'm criminal for this
08:19as well. I'm going to flash up some data from one of my recent rounds, my Arcos data which shows
08:23I
08:23missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round, not my not my finest round, and they were all
08:28short,
08:29all 10 were short and that's because it was a windy day, it was a little bit cold and as
08:33you can see
08:33I wasn't hitting the ball that well. What I didn't do was take into account the temperature, the way
08:37I was striking the ball that day which wasn't very good and the fact it was really really windy. So
08:42I
08:42was ending up short a lot of the time, missing all my greens and regulation and my scoring suffered for
08:46it. So when you're out on course think about all those conditions, re-evaluate midway through a round
08:51and don't forget to take more club. Right the final thing that golfers forget to do when they're out on
08:55course and you've probably heard it before and you're going to hear it again from me is to take
08:59your medicine. Playing partners would have said it, coaches would have said it to you, you've probably
09:04told this yourself when you've hit a bad shot but it's something we forget every now and again as
09:08we're trying to chase that score out on course. I've got a great example of it here at the second
09:12at
09:12West Hill. That gap in that tree is quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn into
09:16Tiger
09:17Woods for this shot but I've got to carry it over the heather, I've got to go below this tree,
09:22through that gap, it's a very high tariff shot and for not that much gain, a chip out would make
09:27a lot
09:27more sense. So I'm going to show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine, when you try
09:32and take one on. Class, bonks it into the tree, there it goes in the heather. What I should have
09:40done
09:40and I'll show you with this ball, it's come way out to the left, all that fairway over there, take
09:46your
09:46medicine and I'm going to go and try and make a par now. So let me say it one more
09:51time, take your
09:53medicine, help your score out, don't think you're Tiger Woods. So there you have it, those are the 11
09:58things that I think all golfers forget to do out on course. As I said at the top of this
10:02video, consider
10:03this your checklist to remind yourself before every round of golf and I'm thinking you'll save at least
10:08a couple of shots per round if you follow those rules. Are there any I've forgotten, are there any mistakes
10:12that you commonly make out on course that you know you do but you forget halfway through a round?
10:16Let me know down in the comments, I'd love to hear what you have to say. But for now,
10:20thank you very much for joining me, I'll see you next time.
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