In this video, Neil Tappin looks at the 9 things tour players do... that you don't!! These are the small things, the tips and tricks that add up to help them shoot great scores. Perhaps adding some of these things to your game could make a difference to your scoring!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to this video
00:07 in which we are looking at the nine things that pros are doing that maybe,
00:11 just maybe, you're not. These are all things that pros are doing either in
00:15 practice, on the golf course or away from the golf course that are really helping
00:19 them to perform week in and week out. Those little tips and tricks that could
00:24 make a big difference to your game if you start doing them too. If you're new
00:28 to the Golf Monthly channel please do hit the subscribe button to make sure
00:30 that you don't miss any of our videos. Hit the like button if you like what
00:33 you're watching and also tell us have you seen the pros doing anything that
00:37 you've tried that's really worked for you and your game. We would be
00:40 interested to hear any ideas that you've got. But let's head out now onto the golf
00:44 course here at the London Club and find out what the nine things the pros are
00:48 doing that perhaps you're not.
00:54 Okay so the first one on my list relates to warming up. Now I appreciate this isn't
00:59 the most exciting topic in the world and I'm sure that everyone out there knows
01:02 it's important to warm up before they play golf but how many of you out there
01:05 warm up before you go to the range or you go to the practice ground? I expect
01:10 the answer to that is not many. You know, often me included, we get to the
01:14 driving range, do a few simple stretches like this, a little bit of that and then
01:18 start hitting shots and that can cause you problems. It can cause you problems
01:21 because the first few shots that you hit you might fat and that sets the tone for
01:26 the practice session. What you'll find with the pros is that they will do their
01:29 stretching before they get to the practice ground. They'll do it in the
01:32 changing room or they'll do it in the physio truck so that by the time they
01:35 get to the the driving range or the practice ground they are ready to hit
01:39 balls. They are ready to sort of strike the ball cleanly and build up pace from
01:43 their most lofted club up through the bag. So take a small leaf out of the book
01:47 of the pros, do a little bit of stretching before you even arrive on the
01:50 practice ground and that can make a big difference to your session as a
01:54 whole. It can make sure that right from the first ball to the last you're warm,
01:58 you're ready to go and your body is working exactly how you want it to.
02:03 So the next one on my list relates to pitching and something the pros don't
02:18 tend to do. The pros will very very rarely hit a flat out pitch with their
02:23 most lofted club in the bag. The reason for that is that if you're hitting a
02:27 making a full swing at a short shot with your most lofted club you're going to be
02:31 creating a lot of speed down by the ball. Speed means backspin and backspin means
02:36 more flight and for the pros that is something that takes control away from
02:41 them. Remember this part of the game is all about precision and in order to be
02:45 as precise as possible you need to be able to control the trajectory. Often
02:49 when the pros talk about hitting a full pitch with their most lofted club in the
02:52 bag they're only ever really hitting the ball at sort of 80 or 90 percent, they're
02:56 never really going at it flat out 100 percent. By taking just a little bit of
03:00 pace off the swing they're able to create more control over the ball flight
03:05 and ultimately that helps them hit the ball closer from inside 100 yards.
03:14 Okay so one thing the pros do brilliantly well is whenever they're
03:18 building a strategy for a hole they will have a very clear idea in their
03:22 minds of where they absolutely cannot miss. Now to give you an idea of exactly
03:28 that sort of thought process this is the 11th hole here on the Heritage course at
03:32 the London Club and the number one place you cannot hit it on this hole is in the
03:39 trouble over the back. There is all sorts of very long grass, flags right
03:44 at the back of this green as well today and so your chance of getting up and
03:47 down if you've gone over the back are virtually zero here and despite the fact
03:52 that it looks as if all the big trouble is at the front you're far better off
03:56 being slightly short than you are being slightly long and that has a big impact
04:00 on ultimately the strategy that you build, the club that you take and how you
04:04 play the hole. So this hole is 175 yards and for me that's probably a soft six
04:10 iron but it's slightly downhill it's slightly downwind if I absolutely flush
04:14 it and I hit a six iron I might just hit this over the back in which case I'm
04:18 doing very well to make a double bogey. So I'm gonna put the six iron down I'm
04:23 gonna choose the seven iron instead with the specific aim that I shouldn't, I can
04:27 hit this as hard as I want I won't go past that flag.
04:32 A little bit right but it's on the green it's short of the flag,
04:46 definitely shouldn't be making more than a bogey at absolute worst.
04:51 One thing the pros are often very meticulous about in practice is when it
04:59 comes to their putting are they starting the ball on exactly the right line. It's
05:04 very easy when you hit putt after putt after putt in practice especially to
05:08 start slightly pulling or slightly pushing your putts without really even
05:12 realizing. Suddenly that can affect everything in your stroke and the way in
05:16 which you stand over the ball and suddenly you can lose your confidence
05:19 very quickly on the greens. Now there's a whole host of training aids out there
05:23 that the pros use that help them just perfect that start line make sure
05:28 they're starting with if it's a right lip putt they are starting the ball on
05:32 exactly the right line every single time. But you don't have to necessarily use a
05:36 training aid a simple gate drill like this where the gate is just slightly
05:40 wider than the than the ball. Hit a whole host of putts just train yourself and
05:46 getting the ball through that little gate the more often you can do that the
05:49 better your start lines will be and if your start lines are good then you
05:53 should should hold a few more putts.
05:59 Okay so the next one on my list relates to understanding your game. Now the pros
06:05 will have a very very clear idea about where their strengths and weaknesses in
06:08 their game lies. They'll have a lot of detail as well they'll know off the tee
06:12 whether they're more likely to miss right or left. They'll have an idea about
06:16 all the tendencies in all the different areas of the game. So that gives them a
06:21 framework for what to work on in practice but more importantly when
06:24 they're out on the golf course it helps them to build a strategy. So if they know
06:27 they're more likely to miss right off the tee than they are to miss left and
06:30 there's bunkers down the right-hand side as there are on this hole they'll know
06:34 that perhaps a strategy either a different golf club to lay up short of
06:37 them or playing away from the trouble might just get them sort of a better
06:41 score. So the question is how well do you really understand your game and even if
06:46 you do understand your game are you putting the lessons you've learned into
06:50 play in practice and out on the golf course. Take those bits of advice with
06:54 you it could make a big difference to your game.
06:59 Okay so number four on my list relates to the mental game and there's no two
07:06 ways about it the pros are definitely taking the mental side of the game very
07:10 very seriously indeed they understand just how the mind when it works for you
07:15 can have a huge impact on the quality of the performances you put in on the golf
07:19 course and I suspect many of you watching this will also understand just
07:22 the impact the mind can have on the way in which you play. The question is are
07:27 you doing those little bits of work that really train your mind to think in the
07:31 best way possible and the answer that is well possibly not. There are lots of
07:35 different things you can do from the way in which you practice performance
07:38 practice putting yourself under pressure in practice to the way in which you sort
07:42 of process every round of golf that you play. One thing that I've done over the
07:46 last few years it's really worked well for me is that after every round of golf
07:49 I play I get a notepad and I write down the sort of five best shots that I've
07:54 hit I sort of write them down in quite a bit of detail just to sort of reflect on
07:57 them just to get a log of some of the best shots that I've hit I'll then go
08:01 over and I'll read them over again every now and again just to remind myself some
08:04 of the shots I've hit and the thought process that I had going into those
08:08 shots it has actually really made a big difference to my game and so the advice
08:13 here is perhaps just taking that little bit of time to think about and work on
08:18 the mental side of your golf game could make a big difference in the long run
08:24 now the next one on my list relates to building a very very clear vision in
08:31 your mind for exactly the shot that you want to play and you need to do it on
08:36 every single shot you hit on the golf course I'm sure that you probably
08:39 already know that you need to do that you need to have a vision for the start
08:42 point and the ball flight you're looking to achieve but do you do it on every
08:46 single shot you play the pros do the pros will have a very clear idea in
08:50 their minds for instance when they're chipping they'll know the sort of flight
08:53 they're looking for they'll know their landing spot and they'll know what to
08:56 expect in terms of how much run they're getting so you need to build that
09:00 picture on every single shot you hit now this is a par 5 here at the London Club
09:05 and this is a specific scenario which is really really important because it's
09:09 quite open but unless you're focused it can be very easy to hit away with shot
09:13 so in this scenario I'm picking my start point which is on the just on the right
09:18 hand edge of the green bush on the left hand side just beyond the fairway and
09:21 I'm looking just hit a small fade off that bush and I'll be focusing very hard
09:26 on trying to do that I'll have a picture in my mind of exactly the sort of ball
09:30 flight I'm expecting it's something that Jack Nicklaus spoke about years and
09:33 years ago something that he did he ran a sort of a almost like a movie vision in
09:37 his mind for the shot he was looking to produce it has a big impact because it
09:41 acts as a very positive sort of mental rehearsal before you hit the shot right
09:46 let's give it a go
09:49 a little bit necky but it goes to show I had a very clear idea of what I was
09:57 trying to do it wasn't a great swing it wasn't a great shot but the balls on the
10:02 fairway
10:10 the next one on my list relates to practice and practicing in particular
10:14 with a very very clear purpose in mind how many times do you go to the range or
10:19 do you go to the practice ground and just start hitting balls and before you
10:22 know it you've hit 40 or 50 balls and you've not really had a very clear in
10:25 idea in mind of what you're looking to achieve the pros are very very good
10:30 about being crystal clear about what they're looking to achieve now it might
10:34 be on the driving range that you're looking to improve something technically
10:37 in your golf swing in which case obviously advice from a PGA pro and
10:41 then going away and working with some of the drills they've given you or
10:44 exercises they've given you can make a big difference other than that don't
10:49 forget performance practice putting yourself under pressure in practice to
10:52 help you out on the golf course can really help you and then also don't
10:56 forget the short game so this is a drill that I often use I'd love to practice my
11:00 short game a bit more often than I do sadly I don't and I suspect it's the
11:04 same for many of you out there having a drill like this this is a put a towel
11:08 down roughly where I would expect the ball to land it's a landing zone drill
11:12 so it gets me thinking about where I want to pull the ball to pitch and
11:16 giving me an idea of how far it will run with each club in my bag that can help
11:20 me out on the golf course become very focused on the flight the landing spot
11:24 and the roll all good things when you're out on the golf course so have a very
11:27 clear idea in your mind about what you're trying to achieve in practice
11:31 because that can make a big difference to you when you're competing for real
11:38 one thing that all pros do is they clean their clubs after every single shot now
11:45 obviously they have a caddy to help them with that so usually the caddies job but
11:48 you'll find that not only with their wedges but every club in the bag really
11:52 the face of every club will be clean before they hit the ball doesn't matter
11:55 whether you're talking about your irons your wedges or your putter anything that
11:58 gets trapped between the face and the ball will affect the outcome ultimately
12:04 that's what you need to remember now the face of my wedge here you might think
12:06 looks pretty clean and might be good to go but actually I can tell you right now
12:10 a tour player would want to give this a good scrub we want to get some sort of
12:14 brush or tea peg out to get between each of the grooves you can see how much dirt
12:17 is coming up between each of the grooves and actually this is going to affect the
12:22 amount of spin you get this is going to affect your control when you're chipping
12:24 and the ball flight and spin that you get when you're hitting pitch shots into
12:28 the green so just take a little bit of time clean the face of your club before
12:32 you hit it will give you a more reliable more consistent outcome so there you
12:36 have it that was our list of the nine things the pros are doing that perhaps
12:40 maybe you're not I hope you found that list interesting and useful and if you
12:44 do have any comments anything that you've seen the pros doing that you
12:47 think could help amateurs as well please do let us know leave comments below tell
12:51 us what you've seen we'll get back to as many of you as we can hopefully we can
12:54 share some of this information around also please do like the video if you
12:58 like what you've seen and hit the subscribe button to make sure that you
13:01 don't miss any of our videos but for now from the London Club it's goodbye
13:08 you
13:10 (electronic music)