5 Ways To Improve Without Changing Swing

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In this video Neil Tappin, Digital Editor of Golf Monthly explains:
How can you play better golf without changing your swing with guest Nick Dougherty.

In association with Taylor Made.
Transcript
00:00 How can you play better golf without changing your golf swing?
00:03 That's what we're going to find out in this video and to help us,
00:07 we have a special guest.
00:08 Now most of you watching this will know Nick Doherty from Fronting Up The Sky
00:12 Sports golf coverage,
00:13 but also from his Tea Time Tips videos that he releases on Instagram that have
00:17 been so popular with so many golfers. If you haven't already seen them,
00:20 please do head over and check them out. But by the end of this video,
00:23 we want to give you some inspiration.
00:25 So five simple action points that will help you improve your scores
00:30 without you needing to head to the range and make major swing changes.
00:34 Now the way in which this video is going to work is that Nick is going to play
00:37 three holes here at Wentworth on the West Coast with an amateur golfer.
00:41 This is somebody who's played golf for the last 30 years.
00:44 He's struggling with his game, but he doesn't really have the time,
00:48 or frankly the inclination to head to the range and go through that sort of
00:51 swing rebuilding process. So effectively,
00:55 we're challenging Nick to come up with the easiest and simplest ways to help our
00:59 golfer improve.
01:00 Now the last thing to say is that this video is coming to you in association
01:03 with TaylorMade. They sponsor Nick, and they've also kitted out our amateur golfer.
01:08 Speaking of which, I think it's time to meet the man in question, Mike Harris.
01:12 Okay. So Mike Harris, our amateur golfer for the day, 10 handicapper, right?
01:16 You've been playing golf for 30 years. Is that right?
01:20 And tell us what is it that's going ultimately going wrong with your golf game at
01:25 the moment that you think Nick might be able to help you with?
01:27 I think it's a really interesting one. So like everyone,
01:30 I want to play better golf,
01:31 but I think as I've got older and I realized where golf fits into my life,
01:36 I actually just want to play well in the important rounds when it matters,
01:40 whether it's a medal or a club championships or a trip away with friends.
01:44 And I've also realized that I don't have the time to really invest to get a lot
01:48 better technically. So I suppose I want to limit the mistakes.
01:52 I know my better rounds when I look at my R-cost data would tend to be the
01:56 rounds where I'm not having doubles and trebles in there.
02:00 It's not so much about making loads of birdies.
02:02 It's about I guess playing to my strengths and not making those silly
02:07 mistakes.
02:08 I'm hoping that Nick can offer me some advice on how to make the most of my
02:13 game. How do I guess enjoy golf more?
02:16 And you enjoy golf more by playing I think fewer bad shots.
02:21 So specifically, where do you think is the biggest area?
02:23 Let's call it an opportunity.
02:25 Biggest opportunity probably to be less bad would be in my iron play.
02:30 I'm very inconsistent on my iron play and my short game as well.
02:34 Used to feel like I had a really good short game, completely deserted me.
02:37 It's coming back a little bit,
02:38 but I still don't get up and down anywhere near often enough.
02:43 So let's set Nick the challenge.
02:45 Can Nick help Mike play better golf without swinging the golf club any better?
02:49 Let's go find out.
02:51 [Music]
02:56 [Music]
03:01 Okay. So Nick, you've played three holes with Mike.
03:25 And it's been an interesting experience watching the various different bits of
03:28 advice that you've given Mike along the way.
03:30 And we're going to divide this part of the video up into five different sections.
03:34 And Nick, I wanted to talk to you about in this first section about managing
03:37 stress and nerves,
03:39 because I think part of Mike's issue is that he wants to play well,
03:42 but he's not fussed really about playing well all the time,
03:45 but he wants to play well when it matters.
03:46 So what advice would you give people about managing their nerves around the
03:50 course?
03:51 I think it's an overall mentality.
03:54 And sure, we all want to play well, you know,
03:56 when we go away for that trip or when we play in that club championship or
03:59 whatever it may be. But unfortunately, it's like a wet bar of soap.
04:02 The more we want it, the more it tries to get away from us.
04:04 So I think a lot of it comes down to acceptance. First of all,
04:06 you can only do what you can do.
04:07 You can only be the best that you can be with the game that you have.
04:10 And accepting that golf is a hard game, first of all, and it's going to go wrong.
04:13 You're going to hit shots that don't work out.
04:15 You're going to do lots of things right that don't get the results that you
04:18 expect they're going to do.
04:19 There are a few little things that you can do on the golf course that can
04:21 assist. So for instance, you know,
04:23 one of the things with Mike there was with the putter.
04:25 And he said to me on the 10th hole here at Wentworth that the,
04:28 I have the birdie pots and I sort of think, yeah,
04:31 I really want these ones because I know I need it because it will get me going.
04:34 But the fact of the matter is you need to again,
04:36 accept that every single putt is worth exactly the same.
04:39 If it's for a two or a seven,
04:40 we still want it because it's still worth the whole shot. So that first of all,
04:44 just a little bit of logic can put that to bed. But then after that,
04:47 getting out of your own way. And so for Mike,
04:49 it was all about trying to have something to think about that takes him away from
04:52 thinking about the meaning of making or missing that putt.
04:56 So we use something really simple for him, which one help is stroke.
04:59 So physiologically, it's a nice thing to do as well.
05:01 And it was the simple act of saying back roll as he hit it.
05:05 So you say back in the backswing roll as you go through,
05:07 because if you're thinking about saying those words, you're then also.
05:11 Are you saying that out loud?
05:12 You can't, I would do, but you know, granted, you know,
05:15 you someone's going to give you a bit of grief in your foreball,
05:18 maybe if you start talking to yourself and you're playing, but the,
05:20 but it absolutely stay inside. Don't take something else.
05:23 You start to focus on it as you're doing it, saying back and roll.
05:25 And it takes your mind away from thinking about the outcome and puts you into the
05:29 process of doing what you're doing.
05:30 So you're not worried about if it goes in because you're just thinking about
05:33 this.
05:33 The great thing about this is you can be a top, top golfer,
05:36 or you can be somebody who's just starting out the game. Managing nerves,
05:40 managing your stress is a really important part of the game that should really
05:44 help.
05:48 Okay. So the next one is about figuring out your yardages and picking the right
05:52 club. And Nick, as a, as a pro,
05:54 as somebody who's done this so many times in the past,
05:57 there's an awful lot more to this. As I discovered,
06:00 as we were working our way around the golf course today, then the kind of,
06:03 I guess most amateurs would maybe give it credit for.
06:05 So what are the things that amateurs should be doing more often than they don't
06:09 currently do to find the right yardage, find the right club.
06:12 Well, find the right yardage would be the first one, right?
06:15 Because a lot of the time, if you use some sort of a range finder,
06:18 or use a smartwatch or whatever you use to get your distance,
06:21 you can get a yardage to a flag, but that's not really it.
06:24 So if the flag for instance, here on 18,
06:26 you're hitting a wedge shot and it's 135 to go to the flag.
06:29 But 135 is not your yardage.
06:31 Most of your yardages need to be your carry distances because you can't say,
06:34 oh, with roll it goes this, because every course you play,
06:36 if it's in the middle of winter and it goes blup,
06:38 or in the middle of summer on a link score,
06:40 so it's going to bounce 15 yards further on, your yardages will always change.
06:43 And hitting a five iron into a green is going to be different to hitting a sand
06:46 iron into a green. So, you know, just having the exact number,
06:49 you need to calculate what that is.
06:50 So if we're hitting a five iron into the last green,
06:52 I'd need to take 10 yards off at least my landing point.
06:56 So if the yardage was 205 to the flag,
07:00 actually my carry yardage is 195 because that's where I need to land it.
07:03 And then you've got to take into account as well, wind direction, slope as well.
07:07 And one of the things I noticed when Mike was on the 11th hole, he had 113,
07:11 I think he had, and I said, well, go on, what else are we working out here?
07:14 And he said, well, it's uphill. And I said, yeah, what's that?
07:18 And you could tell he was like, uh, it's playing further.
07:22 But we need more, right?
07:26 We do need more because the difference between success and failure can be quite
07:29 a fine margin in this game. And I know from having used range finders,
07:33 but also all the years of playing the game within a yard or two, what a slope is.
07:37 But a lot of the range finders now you can find that, or, you know,
07:40 you can find devices that will give you that sort of information.
07:42 So it was five uphill. So it's not 112 or 113.
07:46 I think it was 113. It's 118. It was into the wind there as well.
07:50 And so when we play in the wind, most people,
07:52 any sort of breeze will say it's 10 yards or it's a clever wind.
07:56 You saying the wind's the same strength every time you've played,
07:59 there's been wind at the same strength. No, it's always different,
08:01 but a nice thing you can do,
08:02 you can always use your phone now to find out what the speed of the wind is
08:04 going to be across the day. And let's say for instance,
08:06 it is 10 miles per hour, the wind. If it's downwind,
08:09 this is a generalization, but it's really close to the truth.
08:12 It's about a yard per miles per hour. So if it's 10 mile an hour downwind,
08:16 it's going to play about 10 yards less. Okay. Into the wind though, it's double.
08:20 So when, if you're playing it into a 10 miles per an hour wind,
08:23 it's two yards per mile per hour. So it's 20 into.
08:26 Yet most people I'd hazard a guess would say, well, if it's a club down,
08:31 it's a club into, and it's not, it's double the difference. And again,
08:34 it's a generalization,
08:35 but it's remarkably close to being factual in terms of the way that a wind will
08:39 affect the balls. So it's really important to calculate those things,
08:42 pick your landing point as well. Know where you want to land it,
08:44 take the slope into all that as well. And that gives you a number.
08:47 And only when you've done all that work before you even take the club back,
08:50 can you honestly say, I know what the distance is.
08:52 And regardless of who you are, if you're, if you're John Rahm or you and I,
08:58 we all have the same ability as John Rahm before we move the club.
09:01 So we can do this. This is not really, it's not rocket science,
09:05 but it does take a bit of learning and remembering to do the right processes.
09:09 So for Mike there, we just said, well, make it easier,
09:11 have more control because actually as much as the total number we've got now is
09:15 correct for how it's playing,
09:16 we need to hit a shot that we can make get there without having to swing out of
09:19 our shoes, especially into the wind.
09:21 So, I mean,
09:22 there are some mistakes in there that I know that I make and I'm sure many of
09:25 you do too. Picking the right club,
09:27 there is more to it than just saying, ah, that's a one club wind.
09:30 Use some of Nick's tips there, which should really help.
09:37 Okay. So the next one, Nick is kind of, it feels a bit more technical,
09:40 but it's something that everyone needs to get right and can do probably better.
09:46 Talk us through the, first you can talk us through the importance of posture.
09:49 If you've got poor posture and for most of us, especially me,
09:52 I'm terrible for it because I do it when I'm sat in a chair as well.
09:54 I'm this way. I just switch off. I come in this way. And when I'm tired,
09:58 I naturally go like this. And then that goes to the golf course.
10:00 Then when I'm on the course next minute, I'm stood like, you know,
10:03 85 years of age and everything's constricted. When,
10:06 when we get into this position,
10:07 nothing wants to turn properly so we end up with lots of armsy swings.
10:11 So I really like this because if nothing else,
10:13 it means that you can turn up and feel the same every time.
10:16 It's like a reset button and it's a super simple one.
10:19 I like it because one it's easy to do,
10:21 but also it's super easy to visualize is the goalkeeper posture.
10:25 I really, really like it. So if you were, you know,
10:28 Mo Salah is about to step up and take a penalty and you're on the goal line,
10:31 how would you stand to take that, you know, receive that penalty?
10:34 You'd have the weight naturally in the balls of the feet.
10:37 We're on a little bit of a slope here, so it's more challenging,
10:38 but you'd have the weight naturally towards the balls of the feet.
10:41 So you'd be athletic. There will be a little bit of bend in the knees.
10:43 There'd be a nice little angle,
10:44 the correct angle in the lower part of the spine there through the bum.
10:47 And then when the chest would be nicely up,
10:50 the chin would be slightly off the chest, but you wouldn't think of any of that.
10:52 Whereas you go for lessons sometimes and you might get a pro and you'll be like
10:56 a bit of that, a bit of that, a bit of that, get that knee twisted in it.
10:58 And next week you're like, okay, how's that? And oh my God, is this all I've got?
11:02 And of course you're rigid because you're trying, you're trying, aren't you?
11:05 But what about those people who feel like physically
11:07 there's something restricting them?
11:08 If you think, well, you know, I can't get into that position, you are there.
11:11 We don't have to get there.
11:13 We can just do our best to get into a position that allows us to move
11:15 as well as we can.
11:16 You have to play around what you have in the locker.
11:19 And a great coach will do that for you. Yeah.
11:21 But we can, you know, you still have to make the effort to be the best
11:25 that you can be, you can still have it.
11:26 If it's causing pain, it's no good.
11:27 Yeah. So, I mean, finding the right posture, vitally important, as Nick says,
11:32 hopefully that's simple and effective. Give it a go.
11:34 OK, so for this part, we're going to talk about short game.
11:41 What did you think of Mike's short game firstly?
11:45 I thought, you know what I really liked about it was there was the shot in the 12
11:48 where the pro shot, so the right shot,
11:52 which is a dangerous way to label it, was landing it on the green.
11:57 Bit of check, roll it down to the hole, because otherwise you had to play a deal
12:00 with this upslope to judge, then onto the flat, then onto the downslope.
12:03 Seemed harder.
12:04 But actually, Mike was just like, I look at it and think,
12:07 oh, I don't really fancy it.
12:09 There's the tip in itself.
12:10 Like, if you don't like it, then it's probably not going to work
12:13 because you're going to start to go down that hole.
12:15 Yeah. And almost to the degree where you before you've hit it, thinking,
12:18 I know I'm going to be annoyed at myself because this isn't the right shot
12:20 because I don't fit, I don't like this.
12:22 I knew I'd do that.
12:23 You know, if that's what comes out of your mouth, I knew I'd do that.
12:26 That's on you because you had a choice.
12:28 If you knew you'd do it, why'd you do it?
12:30 No one said you have to play this game a certain way.
12:32 That's your choice.
12:34 And there's a great satisfaction from doing it your own way.
12:36 All the guys on tour do it that way.
12:37 Yeah. You know, they've all got a different strategy.
12:39 And he played this lovely and beautiful shot as well,
12:42 you know, with a low iron and just scamp it up the bank because he was comfortable.
12:46 And something that's a bad decision with commitment will always do better
12:49 than something that's a good decision without commitment. Right.
12:51 I'd always try and land it a yard on the green.
12:53 You can do it two yards, can be anything you want.
12:55 But I always try and think I'll land a yard on the green,
12:57 you know, like I did on the 10th hole.
13:00 That was the shot sort of gets me there.
13:02 Yeah, I didn't execute perfectly, but I was all in with the commitment to it.
13:05 Then where the flag is tells me what club to play.
13:08 Now, if it's right there and it's only sort of three or four on the green,
13:10 it's that 60 degree.
13:11 Definitely, because I've got any room.
13:13 If it's another 10 feet on, it might be a 56 or 52 degree.
13:17 It's across the other side of the green.
13:18 It might even be a five iron or something like that.
13:20 If you've got a nice lie to do it. OK.
13:22 But what I'm always doing is land it in the same place.
13:24 So then all I need to do is have done enough practice and hit enough shots,
13:27 which most of us have.
13:28 So now roughly how far would a seven iron run if I landed it there?
13:31 Roughly how far would my sand iron run or my 60 degree run if I landed it there?
13:35 Which doesn't take a lot of work.
13:36 But what it does, it takes away all that indecision of where do I land it?
13:40 What sort of shot? How high should I hit it?
13:42 You just think, well, I've got to land it there and it's got to roll to there.
13:45 So that would be a 52. Nice.
13:48 So often people reach for too much loft.
13:50 Actually, it's a higher tariff shot with that sort of club.
13:53 Yeah, for me, it's the simplicity and the commitment.
13:56 And if you can do both of those things, no doubt about it,
13:59 you'll get up and down more often.
14:00 So Nick, the final area to talk to you about then is a bit of strategy
14:08 and a bit of course management,
14:09 something that you covered quite a bit with Mike during that that three whole period.
14:13 What was the sort of general advice that you're giving Mike?
14:16 I think taking medicine is the is the best one, you know, in terms of scoring.
14:20 So often the big numbers come because we won't accept that we've made an error
14:24 and we try to get it all back straight away when you do hit it in trouble.
14:27 Looking at the lie, damage limitation.
14:30 OK, horrible lie, like Mike's ball there in the in the heather.
14:33 Awful lie. Tree in front of us.
14:37 Well, yeah, yeah, the shots, the low one under the tree.
14:39 But you can't physically come out of that.
14:41 You can't lift it out of that, which needs loft.
14:44 Yeah, you need to keep it under that.
14:45 So just because you want it, Mike, fortunately, bud, you can't have it.
14:49 So the first job is get it out of that, which means we can't do that.
14:53 So now we have to make our decision.
14:55 You've made that strategy shift before you've ever gone to,
14:57 you know, pull the club out the bag. OK, that's the plan.
14:59 I have to take it on the chin. That's what's happened.
15:01 Chip it out. And then you build from there.
15:04 Whereas the eights and nines and, you know, whatever else it may be,
15:07 come from that we tried to do more.
15:08 And it's only worth a shot the same as the one you hit off the tee.
15:11 So, you know, I think that's really important.
15:13 The other shot we looked at when we were in there with Mike,
15:16 we had the opportunity, if the lie was clean, I think it's a nice little tip,
15:19 just a bonus one, if you're punching out through trees,
15:21 when you're punching out through trees and there's a gap, don't aim for the gap.
15:25 Picture a flag in the distance.
15:27 It might be in the middle of the gap,
15:28 assuming that's where we're going right in the middle of the gap.
15:30 It's amazing how often we miss it when we just try and steer it through the gap.
15:33 Right. Because we start to steer it like this towards it,
15:35 rather than if it was a flag, we wouldn't try and steer it down the line.
15:38 We'd make a swing towards the flag.
15:40 So be really precise when you're picking a spot
15:42 that's through a gap in the trees that you're aiming for and then let it all hang out.
15:46 Because if you aim small, miss small sort of mentality.
15:48 And I think it will help people to find their way through that gap more often.
15:51 So there you have it. Play smart, shoot lower scores. Simple.
15:55 So that's us finished, Mike.
15:57 You've played your three holes with Nick.
15:59 From what I could see, just so much really helpful information in there.
16:03 What did you find to be most useful, do you think, of the stuff that Nick was telling you?
16:08 So it's really interesting.
16:09 There was so much good stuff that I actually had to make some notes
16:12 on my phone and write it all down.
16:15 I guess the most technical thing that Nick said, two things were check my alignment
16:20 and I know I need to do that better.
16:22 I tend to stand a bit closed.
16:23 And then with my posture, he gave me the really cool tip of,
16:26 and I used to be a goalkeeper when I was a kid,
16:28 have that goalkeeper posture ready to try and save a penalty.
16:32 So those are two things that are really easy to remember.
16:35 Don't need to do anything, change my swing.
16:37 He talked as well about if I start to overthink, concentrate on your breathing.
16:42 He said if you are breathing and in as you're addressing the ball and out as you swing,
16:47 that's actually what you'll then think about.
16:49 You're not thinking about all the technical stuff.
16:50 He just said be in on every shot.
16:52 And I think what Nick was saying there is just really commit to it.
16:55 Have a line, have a target and then commit to the shot.
16:58 Don't don't poke it. Don't be nervous.
17:01 Last question then, Mike.
17:02 So ten handicapper.
17:04 Of all the advice that Nick has given to you then,
17:08 what does success look like for you?
17:11 I think success would be playing under my handicap,
17:16 whatever that handicap was at that given point, in a round that really mattered.
17:22 So there you have it.
17:23 That completes our look at how you might just be able to shoot lower scores
17:27 without changing your goal swing.
17:29 Some fantastic advice from Nick Doherty.
17:31 As I said at the beginning, if you haven't checked out Tee Time Tips,
17:34 do go over to Nick's Instagram, have a look.
17:37 You'll find loads of great information on how to do everything better
17:40 in the golf game, frankly.
17:42 But that's it for now from Wentworth.
17:44 Thank you very much for watching. We'll see you next time.
17:46 [Music]