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In this video, legendary Tour caddie, Billy Foster offers five crucial strategy decisions - every golfer needs to get right!
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00:00Welcome to Bingley St Ives for this video in partnership with Motorcaddy. We've got
00:10tour caddy Billy Foster. He's going to be calling on all of his experience from caddying for the
00:15likes of Seve by Esteros, Darren Clark, Lee Westwood and right now Matt Fitzpatrick. He's
00:21using the Motorcaddy M5 GPS electric trolley and he's going to share all of his best advice to help
00:27you strategize around the golf course. Okay Billy hit the fairway as always of course but still quite
00:38a long way to go so you come up to a shot like this first of all how far have we got? Well we've
00:44got 165 to the front 182 to the flag kit so you know normally 182 for a pro golfer would be a seven iron
00:52let's say for example. Today you've got to factor in and you probably play a couple downhill so 180
01:00the weather conditions the temperature it's going to go at least five yards less you know a little
01:05bit of breeze into us as well so it's going to be you know probably 10 so i'll be looking at least 190
01:11which all of a sudden changed it from a seven iron to a really good six iron so that's what you'll be
01:16looking at looking at your landing areas obviously the green is pretty soft today so you would be
01:22looking to land it two or three yards short of the hole so then you'll be going 187 is my landing
01:27number which still is just a nice six iron so you get different scenarios you know if the pin was on
01:33the front let's say there was water short and this is where a lot of guys still make mistakes
01:37they were going right well i've 180 you know it's a seven iron because i want to land it 180 but actually
01:43you don't because the pin's on six you're going over water so you'd be looking to land it at least
01:47five yards past the hole so you'd be you know you'd be adding it 185 which would probably change it from
01:52a seven iron to a six iron because if you hit a good seven iron lands on the front spins a bit you're in
01:57the water so you're protecting yourself in it a little bit past to the fatter part of the green and
02:01taking the hazard out of play but right now for you it's a good solid six iron mate cool so often though
02:08amateurs come up short on a shot like this probably for two reasons ego we think we hit the ball
02:12a lot further than we do and also just general quality of the strike would you err on the long
02:18side and really get to know your yardages essentially all day long i mean i've carried in
02:23probably 3 000 programs over 40 years you know and you know like i said the two mistakes you
02:28always see is the alignment's always shocking it's always 20 or 30 yards right so always try and pick
02:33something online with whether you're hitting it and get the club pointing at your target that's on
02:38the ground might be a divot or a t-peg or something and then just step in square to your club first so
02:43you will automatically align yourself a lot better but yeah definitely the strike of the shot
02:49is key you know it's um amateurs don't really know how far they fly every club but i mean if you
02:55went on the practice ground and it a load of seven nines and said well i fly my seven iron 150 you know
03:01and you might have 155 here well guess what i'm gonna hit a good seven iron but you miss strike it a lot so i'd
03:06always recommend it in one club more than swinging it smooth instead of trying to smash the lights
03:11out of it and hoping you hit it out the sweet spot which you might do one in ten but as amateurs we
03:16don't so i would always say use an extra club swing it smoother and then you know if you if you pin
03:23eye you're obviously going to be a lot closer even if you're left or right you're going to be a lot
03:25closer to the hole than if you're 15 yards short so it's simple maths really in most instances is it
03:32better just to aim for the middle of the green almost forget about the flag if you're an amateur you
03:36aim for the middle of the green every time you're going to give yourself a lot more pots for birdie
03:40aren't you that's not just amateurs mate i'm a carry for matt fitzpatrick and he has a chart that he's
03:44religious you know if the pit the pins cut four from the left he'll never hit out the flag because
03:49he knows his dispersion with say a seven iron might be nine yards so we'd always aim five yards right of
03:55the hole so even if he tugs it but it's still going to be on the left side of the green you know so
04:00yes always in the middle of the green the best players nick falder always talked about
04:05the cheese wedge he called it so he would say where the pin is and have a wedge
04:09around the flag and he would try and hit in the cheese wedge right or left of the hole depending
04:14on which side of the green the flag is cut so the best players in the world again limit the mistakes
04:20and keep it in the fat side of the green okay i'm certainly not one of the best players in the world
04:23but i'm going to limit my mistakes so is it six iron six iron it is yeah okay there you go all the best
04:29good luck son i need it thank you so there you go if you are in a situation like this it's a mid
04:36iron long iron in make sure you know your numbers aim for the middle of the green and whatever you do
04:41if there's water a big bunker do not go flirting with it hit the center and give yourself a putt
04:51okay billy this is an absolute classic we're over
04:55in the trees a little bit of a window here we can come out sideways plenty of options
05:01but what's the right one yeah well as you can see i'm in my usual spot here on the ninth hole at
05:07bengley another pullock off the tee um yeah i mean you do have a few options here uh i think i learned a
05:15lot of different options off the great seve balasteros but um obviously you've got four options
05:21the easiest one is to just chip outside woods you could actually go between this bush and the first
05:28tree here and just that would be the the safe shot just pop something out short of the bunker and you
05:34can still get home in three on this par five you do have an option up here to the left where you could
05:42hit a high cut if you so desired but i don't really see that reaching the green so
05:47my personal shot would be between the two trees you can see in front the way i go about i'd always
05:55try and plumb bob or you'd always see justin rose doing something like this where he he holds the club
06:01up and he tries to pick the dead center between the trees and it just so happens that i'd always try
06:07and choose something online in the middle of the gap there like this leaf is in the perfect position
06:14right in the middle of them two trees so i would always try and align the club face to the leaf
06:23so now i know that club face is pointing perfectly in between the two trees obviously play off the
06:28back foot a little bit because you want a little low chaser and i would try and drive that low hard
06:36through the middle of the gap and chase it in there obviously with a bit of a draw because
06:41you need to shape it around there a bit but that personally that that would be the shot of my
06:45choice if you've got you know any sort of low handicap or pro would would normally go for this shot
06:51right here and chase something up just short the green or if you get it perfect you could knock it
06:56on the green i'm sure the grand senor would be he'd have a birdie put from here no problem yeah we know
07:01he'd have a bogey put from the middle of the fairway but he'd have a birdie put from here
07:05i'm most heavy but i'm tempted i've got to take this on you've got the right club there right yeah
07:09that should be good yeah okay so we've got that leaf bizarre alignment nice low punch under there
07:14right i'm handling my inner justin rose here with this okay
07:18careful as it might bounce back and hit you
07:31always chip out sideways ladies and gentlemen i'm glad i could be here as the guinea pig
07:41to show you but it's not always the best thing to go chasing the tricky recovery shot chip out
07:47sideways get it back in play unless you're a good player like like i said good players
07:51would go for it you should have chipped it out
07:54okay billy how far have i got all right let's have a look kip
08:08okay we've got uh 85 yards to the flag okay so that's not a full wedge what you do in this kind
08:15of situation again you've got to you've got to know your landing numbers looking at that flag again it's
08:20it's tight left so i'd be recommending duck knock the flag out because if you pull it a little bit
08:25you're going to be in the deep bunker left so you'll be aiming two or three yards to the right of
08:29the hole i'm probably looking to land it pin eye the greens are pretty soft um again you need to know
08:36your yardages and the only way to do that is and i'll tell any juniors the best way to make your game
08:42much sharper don't spend so much time bashing drivers and long irons i would spend certainly
08:49half your time in wedges or in a lot of chips around the green so the more you practice your
08:55short game the better so you get the likes of phil mickelson he used to he'd just like put towels
09:01down on the range at 70 yards 80 yards 90 yards 100 yards 110 and he'd try and land it on the towels you
09:07know hundreds and hundreds of balls try to land it on that spot so you're dialing your wedges and you can
09:14you get to a stage where you can land it within two or three yards of that towel every time and that's what
09:19makes champions great by having a really sharp short game the likes of luke donnell got to number one in
09:24the world because immaculate wedge player zach johnson's got a green jacket and a claret jug
09:29unbelievable wedge player and even though you don't bomb it 320 yards it just goes to prove that
09:35great champions have great wedge play okay reasonably straightforward from the fairway there's a juicy
09:41bit of rough over here so i just want to see what you think about this lie all right billy this one
09:47well it's pretty juicy it's not great is it how does this change the shot that we're able to play
09:52uh let's say we've got so we've got 90 yards here you can see it's a wet lush thick grass lie so
10:01this is going to come out dead so you know if you were playing you would you probably say that might be
10:07even be playing 110 so you'd be really thrashing a big lob wedge or trying to dig out a sand wedge because
10:14it it's going to come out at least 10 or 15 yards dead but on the other hand you get you draw a lie
10:19that's maybe two or three feet to the right of that let's take that one for example so that is like
10:27burnt wispy grass you've got a little wispy tuft of grass behind it that is a potential exocet so
10:35that really could jump 20 yards at least 20 yards further than it normally would go so you'd be
10:43looking to really probably bring the flight down that and chip one in there and get it running out
10:47because you've got no control over that and that happens a lot you know you might get i've carried
10:53for i remember one with darren clark in in holland um really dry wispy grass and he'd like 190 yards
11:00well that's a six iron but it was such a dry wispy lie he actually a pitching wedge and it just comes
11:06out with no no spin on it whatsoever like a bullet and it literally went 50 yards further than a normal
11:12wedge would go because it was so fiery and wispy grass and you get the grass between the club first
11:17and the ball no spin on the ball and it just really it's like a bullet and he hit it on the green for 190
11:22yards with a wedge and that's the difference between a juicy wet thick grass lie or the wispy
11:30a little bit of grass behind it excess and it's reading the lies and only experience can tell you
11:35to read lies you know it's like the semi-ruff you might be just a normal semi-ruff lie well that's
11:41say if you've got 180 yards that's always going to come out
11:45five to ten yards soft because it's in the first quarter off um and it is reading lies and only
11:51experience can teach you that over the years good stuff so there you go make sure you do read the lie
11:55because as we've just heard whether you're in the fairway that nice little wispy one or in the
12:00cabbage here that completely changes the shot that you can play especially when it's a little pitch
12:05in from about 90 yards okay billy 250 yard par four slightly uphill it's drivable now normally i'd just
12:18reach for the big dog without even thinking about it but what should we be doing on a hole like this
12:24well you've got to know your limitations kit uh you know don't get me wrong if the best players in the
12:29world or even your your low handicappers would would easily knock it on the green here with a
12:34probably a three wood you know so uh but if you're an average club golfer to me personally you look at
12:39the the widest bit of the fairway which is short of the cross bunker which is probably 175 yards so
12:45why wouldn't you get a five iron or a four iron or whatever lay it short the bunker to the widest part of
12:50the fairway leave yourself a little 50 60 yard chip up the green birdie put worst case scenario par or
12:58if you put like edward scissor hands at least you're making a five but um but i know what the egos are
13:04like at 20 handicappers whether i can knock it on this green well of course you can but guess what
13:09you might not get on the green one in 50 the other 49 are going in the trees left and right you're losing
13:14your ball maybe finding a couple of chops you're making double triple bogey up from just being your
13:19ego getting the better so you've got to know your limitations of your own golf game what kind of
13:24ratio are we working on then say realistically you're going to knock it on or around the green here
13:30how many times out of 10 to make it worth your while taking it on uh you're going to be looking at
13:37seven or eight aren't you really you know you're going to even good golfers scratch players your two
13:41handicappers whatever they're going to they're going to make a couple of bogeys a couple of double
13:45bogeys by going for the green and they might make four or five birdies you know um but you've got to
13:51know play to your own strength and just eliminate the i always remember tom watson so you're winning
13:56open championships by limiting your mistakes not by in glory shots and making more birdies you win
14:03tournaments by eliminating your mistakes so the less mistakes obviously the better they score so just
14:09finally on this hole when it comes to the layup obviously we're focusing on the wider part of the
14:13fairway that's what you want to hit it to how much are you thinking about what second shot that leaves
14:17as well and making sure that's a number or a shot that you're most comfortable with yeah sure i mean
14:21when i'm walking golf courses working for fits exactly i'll i'll walk down i'll look at the zones of
14:27roughly where you want to hit off the tee it might be between 260 and 280 and that's the widest bit of
14:32the fairway which will leave you you know maybe 140 to the flag which would be a pitching wedge or maybe a
14:38nine iron into a little bit of breeze and you might want to get down the left half of the fairway if
14:42the pin's tucked behind the bunker on the right say for example so you know on this all i would say
14:46you know if the pin was back right you'd as a decent player you'd be looking up the left half of
14:50the fairway to leave you some a better angle in so you look at these certainly the zones off the tee
14:55the the yardage is between like i said 260 and 280 then it'd be a three wood for fits into that area and
15:01then you're looking at the pin position where the wind is etc to to leave yourself the best angle of attack so
15:07that goes without saying so brilliant so there you go when it comes to drivable par fours leave the ego
15:11at home aim for the fat bit of the fairway leave yourself a nice easy second shot onto the green
15:17you can always make birdie without going for it
15:25okay billy we're just off the edge of the green club selection and shot selection vitally important
15:30with these little finesse shots isn't it yeah i see it's it's changed a lot over the last 20 30 years
15:36the modern player the modern young players whatever they're misagreeing the first thing
15:41they do is reach for the lob wedge every time you know and um like i say you know i've had it for
15:46Seve for all those years and he never had a lob wedge his maximum loft was 56 and you know the
15:51players of that generation you're ian woosnams your faldos your bernard langers seves etc greg normans
15:57great chippers and that seems to have been been a bit lost with everybody just reaches for the
16:02lob wedge i'll have phil mickelson but as you see you've got a fairly straightforward chip here
16:07so why would you want to land a lob wedge halfway to the hole you know it might get a soft bounce
16:13it might scoot on it might have a bit of side spin on taking it away so
16:17how i was brought up from that generation was try and land it on the green as soon as you can with less
16:23loft so you've got to judge what you can land it say two yards on the green with a straighter face club
16:29i'd i'd see this as a pitching wedge so you just pop it on the green and then the ball will run
16:33end overhead and track like a putt instead of having too much spin and relying on the right
16:38bounce so i would say a pitching wedge for this particular shot landing it four feet on the green
16:43sir i'm gonna have to stick that lob wedge the lob wedge then get rid of that snap it in half okay
16:48never never need a lob wedge do you apparently no not really good let's try a pitching wedge see how you
16:52get on a pitching wedge so a little bit short get it just running a bit just land it three or four
16:58feet on the green there and just get it running towards the hole kit
17:07pretty good yeah spot on for distance really yeah just just just pulled it a little bit but
17:13landed in the perfect spot and you know it was online it had a chance to go in
17:17great stuff so anytime you are around the greens use as little loft as you can to get the ball running
17:23as quickly as you can and you're sure to get a more consistent outcome thanks for watching some
17:29fantastic advice and amazing insights from billy foster there that's all for this video in association
17:35with motor caddy make sure you use those tips next time you're on the golf course and i'm sure you'll
17:40you'll shoot loads under your handicap
17:51you
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