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Make sure you don't fall into these beginner swing traps with the help of Top 50 coach Alex Elliott.
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00:00Now the golf swing is a confusing movement at the best of times especially if you're new to the game
00:06and a beginner golfer. Now in this video I'm going to be joined by Golf Monthly Top 50 coach Alex
00:11Elliott to talk about some swing traps that new golfers need to avoid. We're going to head out on
00:16the range and the golf course here at Kettleston Park to give you some top tips if you're just
00:20starting out on the game. Right let's get going. Right Alex hello we're going to chat swing traps
00:26here for new golfers on the range here at Kettleston Park Golf Club and this is number one for me from
00:31what I see for new golfers and it's leaning up lifting up thinking that's how you get the ball
00:36in the air with the irons that's not the case is it? No I think a lot of golfers just got to take comfort
00:40from the fact that the gold ball is designed with dimples the dimples are like the aeroplane wings
00:45they give it lift what gives it the spin is your grooves on your club face you've got to allow
00:50yourself to maximize using those grooves and with an iron we want to sort of picture a descending blow
00:57to get the middle part of these grooves to allow it to ride up as much as we can rather than the sort
01:02of scoopy we're sort of down towards this bottom edge. So could you give us a drill for new golfers
01:07watching now who might be a bit leany and not striking quite low to help them not do that hit down
01:13on it and compress that ball a little bit more? I'll say two things here Dan first thing the drill I
01:17would just place a t-peg one fingertip in front it doesn't have to be too precise what it all is
01:22is just a bit of a focus point yeah now if you think about this logically for me to get that t-peg
01:26if you look at this in player cam if I don't transfer my weight it'll be so far behind the ball
01:31exactly and that's what we see like your most common bad shot will probably either the thin
01:36or a slot or a bit of a top possibly the longer irons and we don't want that thin fat or top no so
01:42what I want you to be aware of a couple of things trying to hit the ball and through to the t-peg
01:46but also try and feel the impact I've got sort of 70-30 weight distribution onto the left side
01:53that's going to take our bottom of the arc ahead yeah help it down
01:59there we go brilliant brilliant tip there from Alex and it is a swing trap I think we see lots
02:03of new golfers fall into so understand how the golf ball and the face work together understand where
02:07that weight needs to be and strike the ball better okay a swing trap I see loads of beginner golfers
02:12get into is getting their aim wrong Alex so can you show us firstly what people are getting wrong
02:16when they start out with their aim and how they should be going about it I think firstly it's just
02:20the concept of aiming because the golf ball is on that side of us we all associate aiming our body
02:27first and that's where we fall into that trap so let me explain this time so it would make sense in
02:31any other logical sport this would happen and we stand to the golf ball and we sort of aim our shoulders
02:37first straight towards let's take the flag because it's sure yeah yeah now this really impacts our
02:44ball to target line right and that's what I want people to become a little bit more obsessed with
02:48so have a look at this here this really other straight sit my shoulders and feet are aiming
02:53pretty much at the flag okay now if you just place that down parallel to this one here now way around
02:58and come have a look at this look how far right that is let's have a look at that you can see now
03:03actually aiming at that tree going way right there yeah but it didn't feel like it did it no no and
03:07you stand over it and you you look through your shoulder and you maybe see that from player cam now
03:11and just see actually yeah you know what i feel like i'm aiming yeah you hit a good shot it finishes
03:15right and then you associate actually what could have been a good swing as a bad one but just with
03:20poor alignment interesting so the routine i want golfers to think about here is standing behind that golf ball
03:27and firstly being fixated over the ball of the target line okay so i'm going to put my club up
03:32and sort of pick an intermediate target only about two or three feet in front yeah let's just take
03:36that mark sure i walk in and i build from the ball to the club head my hands to my body not body down
03:43to the ball right so i'm placing my club down thinking about that line that i had and sort of
03:48making a 90 degree angle between my club head and that line i'm sort of picturing and then build my
03:54stance to that so now when you look up you'll feel like potentially aiming a little bit left interesting
03:59but now if we place these down i mean my alignment's not my best thing but it's a little bit better
04:06isn't it exactly it's closer and it's interesting because it is all about that feel so you felt that
04:11you're potentially going a little bit left but actually doing that routine building that routine
04:17gets you aiming a bit better now that's something i think all new golfers need to build into their game
04:21early forms that habit right go on then show us it and let's hit the shot shall we i'll do it properly
04:26we'll go through the full routine okay we're in picture that line it doesn't have to be a long
04:32process walk it in and have a little look up and then give it a hit a little left to target
04:45and the wrong club bit of a pull but i'd say you're aiming straight you just pulled it there so hey you
04:49can't you can't be great every time but importantly the aiming routine build it into your swing early
04:54and you won't fall into that trap right alex another swing trap i think a lot of new golfers
04:59watching now will fall into is watching loads of swings on instagram watching the tour pros do it
05:03and thinking right i've got to have the perfect swing to get out on the golf course that's not
05:06the case is it let's simplify it a little bit definitely i mean you've only got to go to the
05:10open this year stand on the range and you're going to see a host of different swings the only place
05:15they are very similar is those six inches down at the ball how we deliver the club so most people slice
05:22it right and don't just take this advice from me wyndham clark recent us open champion i read one
05:26of his uh posts and the talk with his coach one week if he's hooking it you'll try and slice it on
05:31the range yeah basically try and create opposites to find the middle ground and that's as easy as
05:36it has to be so a lot of people at home with respect you're probably slicing it a little bit i
05:40reckon new golfers especially so you're thinking maybe let's bring a let's bring a hook feeling on the
05:44range and see where we go from there 100 and that hook feeling will probably just be a straight shot for
05:48most golfers yes so what i would suggest here dan is really nice and simple first things first
05:52what's our only point of contact with the golf club the grip so hold the club up and look at this in
05:57player cam all i want you to do is rotate your hands both left and right to the right side of the golf
06:02club for a right-handed player to the left side of the golf club for a left-handed player now ball
06:08position with driver inside left heel making sure our shoulder alignment is not too left these are little
06:13good habits that i always promote but what i want you to feel in the shot which is going to change our
06:18release which is then how that club comes into the ball is i want instead of feeling like we're
06:24hitting it like this which it might not feel like that but if you're slicing it i want you to feel
06:30that you're going to make more of that motion now if you just watch my forearm there and my wrist i'm
06:34sort of making that action a lot of tennis players will feel it's a bit more like a topspin forehand
06:40right exactly so that's going to really stronger grip change a release that's going to change
06:45the action the direction and how my club face comes into the ball hopefully a little bit more
06:51into out and a little bit closed rather than out to in and a little bit open well i think i think one
06:55great tip there on doing the opposite of what you're doing get that feel and more importantly don't fall
07:00into that trap of trying to perfect your swing swing your swing and see how you get on right Alex
07:05spoke about hitting down on irons to get the ball up we're now going to pretty much completely
07:09contradict ourselves but it's a trap that a lot of new golfers fall into and it's not hitting up on the
07:14drive it's getting a little bit too steep isn't it exactly i mean you look at your your driver face
07:18there's not many groups or not any at all and and also there's very little loft so it needs to be
07:24launched a little bit more now this can be a really simple concept you can do a lot of this with
07:29yourself so let's just talk through setup first yeah when you get the ball position two back in your
07:33stance so if you look at me from player cam here even having it sort of a club head back in our stance
07:38could just be a little bit too much okay in the sense of we're gonna hit down it's gonna become down to
07:43really move it up for sure and then also if it's too back you might end up trying to manipulate your
07:48swing in other words yeah so little routine that i say for every golfer first things first line it
07:52up right in the middle of your stance now i like to fly my left toe so i move that out slightly and
07:57just move my right foot away like that straight away now i know my ball position is up in my stance yeah
08:03further up later in the arc more likely to do just what's that flaring of the toe interesting for
08:07people at home um essentially just to help me open the hips yeah i've got a bit of a dodgy knee um which
08:12helps me sort of protect that a little bit as well but essentially it just opens my hips a little
08:16bit easier interesting now why have i got a towel in my hand so this is a really good one just as a
08:21focus point because it will feel a strange feeling when people first do this especially if they've got
08:26a habit of hitting hundreds of balls down as soon as we get this we need a little bit of focus we need
08:30a little bit of feedback so if i take the towel absolutely so nice and simple this is how you set this
08:34drill up from player cam i'm going to place my club head down one in front then two in front and simply just
08:41roll your towel up just here have a few practice swings just inside it getting that feeling of
08:46just being more up and over the towel yeah rather than through the towel and it is as simple as that
08:54the ball position will help you do it the setup will help you do it and here you go so i'll talk
08:58you through my full routine i'm right foot away another little aid is i feel as though i my right
09:04shoulder is a little bit lower than my left again if i go like this look at that would be really up
09:10this way somewhere in the middle of those two exactly don't don't be too complicated with it
09:14so here we go let's take this one away dan got my setup got my towel my focus here is up and over the
09:19towel beauty look at that great strike and it is it is tricky for new golfers to almost get their head
09:29around that i think especially when we've spoken about irons already take this drill to the range view
09:33though practice hitting up on that ball and don't fall into that trap and getting too steep with your
09:37driver okay another swing trap a lot of beginner golfers fall into alex is and i do this myself
09:43still after playing for a long time is using too much loft around the green in situations like this
09:47what would you say to people like that yeah i mean a lot of us see the guys on tv don't we and
09:52we see the likes of phil mickelson john ram messing around in the short game area playing it high
09:57i would just default away from any of your lofted clubs yeah so for example most people will grab 58
10:02i'm gonna hand you that let's get it away from you yeah i mean it looks great if you pull it off
10:06doesn't it it's brilliant but we want percentage game on consistency everybody that comes to a
10:10lesson for me they go oh i want consistency well i think default to pitching wedge you still got a
10:16little bit of loft but it's going to get the ball rolling a little bit so nice and easy all i want
10:22people to do is have the ball slightly towards the back of the stance have a look at this from player camp
10:26my stance is roughly two club edwards apart weight on my left and simply just feel as though you just
10:32rock that triangle back and through keeping that weight left it's as easy as that don't go complicated
10:38really see i'm a big i see i'm a big fan of that and it does look good but when you've got nothing to
10:42go over and the pins nice and close to you keep the ball low get it rolling as soon as possible
10:46exactly so i'm just going to pick a landing zone maybe a yard two yards on go on then fall back
10:50let's get it rolling rolling quickly nearly went in there so yeah next time you're in a situation
10:58like this nothing to go over deal off those wedges make life easy for yourself right alex uh this isn't
11:04so much a swing trap as a grip trap i can call it that but new golfers might not know how to grip the
11:09club properly they might think it wants to go in their palm or wherever it initially feels comfortable
11:13can you talk us through where it should be going basically yeah and first thing i'd say is just make
11:16sure your grip thickness is right for you is that on the actual club itself yeah because that'll play
11:21like a big part and being able to get the club in the right position and a little tip for that is
11:25just your longest finger should just be able to just touch it like digging in or shouldn't be too
11:30much of a gap that's what i recommend good little tip that yeah so palmy grip that will be when the
11:35club is sort of sat through here as you said right a nice simple way of getting that we all go to the
11:40range we all improve our golf use your basket not just to carry your balls but think about it if you're
11:44picking up that basket i wouldn't grab it in the park no no you wouldn't it wouldn't make sense
11:49it would look a bit weird yeah you would grab it in the fingers yeah so grab your basket have your
11:55club in your hand just place them on top of each other and then just remove the basket easy that's
12:00where i want the club to be and you'll notice the club feels lighter your wrists can move much more
12:05and that's going to help with speed it's going to help with club face control and as you go to those
12:09longer clubs that's where you'll see even more of an effect with this brilliant and a super easy tip
12:13there from alex i think to get that right and if you're a new golfer just getting into the game
12:17make sure these habits are right put that club in the right part of your hand right finally then
12:22alex i think a trap people fall into new golfers probably even current golfers getting a bit too
12:27excited about club head speed how fast they're swinging it how hard they're hitting it how far it
12:31may or may not be going we don't really want to fall into that trap do we no i actually often find
12:35with club golfers the faster they swing it but often the shorter it goes yes because their quality of
12:40strike goes so their ball speed drops so i want people to be more bothered about ball speed than
12:45clubber speed correct so if we think about tempo because when you make a good tempo swing down like
12:50you're probably more likely going to find the center and this is the bit we want to be hitting it i know
12:54it sounds basic a lot of us just forget that i think i do as well mate even as a golfer who's played
12:59for how many years now i get a bit excited let's say i do i've got to tell myself not to stop it so like a
13:04little mantra i use and you can make it whatever you want dan but i go sergio for the backswing
13:10and aguero on the way through other footballers are available yeah i mean it goes back to when
13:15i was a kid i remember playing one of my best rounds where i had like a song in my head yeah i'm not
13:20going to tell you what song but i had a song in my head and i had great rhythm all day i found the
13:24middle i drove the ball great i hit my irons great yeah and it's so basic but we forget it yeah so i'd even
13:30hit a few on the range maybe even say it out loud so here we go go on give us a sergio so i'd go a bit like
13:35this sergio aguero and it just gives you something to work to because you can't touch tempo no and
13:43that's the hard thing about it but having a mantra really does help i love that i'm gonna pick a
13:46footballer i can't work out who yeah i'll come back to you on that but as a new golfer even as an
13:51experienced golfer don't fall into that trap of chasing club head speed chase that strike and that
13:56ball speed instead right so there you have it some swing traps that beginner golfers need to avoid as
14:02they start out in the game massive thanks to alex elliot for joining us for that i thought you
14:06give some brilliant bits of advice there that you can take out into your practice sessions and onto
14:11the golf course hopefully to play some better golf now if there's something of yourself you've recognized
14:15in these videos or something we've missed out let me know down in the comments because i'd love
14:19to hear from you but for now from caddleson park golf club thank you for joining me i'll see you next time
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