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Are you hitting the right shots at the wrong time or making some silly mental errors that are costing you shots? Well some of the scenarios in this video, presented by Golf Monthly Deputy Editor Joel Tadman, may well be familiar! He runs through the seven biggest strategy mistakes golfers make and suggest ways in which you can make better decisions to ensure your good swings are rewarded with good results!
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00:00Now golfers can save a surprising amount of shots
00:02by eliminating some basic strategic mistakes
00:05which we are going to highlight in this video.
00:07We've come to the amazing Peter Vermilton Golf Club
00:10and teamed up with GolfShot,
00:12makers of one of the leading golf GPS apps
00:14that has tracked over 57 million shots last year
00:17from thousands of golfers to provide you
00:20with the crucial data insights
00:22that should help frame a golfer's decision making
00:24in order to shoot lower scores.
00:26So let's head on to the course
00:28and explain exactly what they are.
00:33Looking at the GolfShot data,
00:34it tells us that three out of the four ability levels
00:37in terms of categories of handicap
00:39miss more to the right than they do the left.
00:41So that's an important distinction.
00:43What's also interesting is that higher handicappers
00:45miss more to the right than any other ability level.
00:47So if you are a higher handicapper,
00:49you're probably going to be missing more to the right.
00:50And also when you factor in that scratch golfers
00:52are only hitting around 50% of fairways,
00:55I think what we can deduce from this data
00:57is that as amateur golfers,
00:59we're going to miss fairways, right?
01:00So it's important that we allow for that
01:02with our strategy and our aim
01:04to make sure we're going to miss it
01:06in the right spot accordingly.
01:08So on this particular hole,
01:09it's clear that the 13th hole at Peter and Milton,
01:12there is a little bit more room down the right
01:14than there is down the left.
01:15So it's important to allow for that in terms of your aim.
01:18Aim a little bit further to the right
01:20to give you a wider margin for error.
01:23And then the other thing you can do
01:24when it comes to strategy on your tee shots
01:27is make sure you're teeing the ball
01:29in the right part of the tee.
01:30So this hole in particular,
01:31you can see there's a lot of trouble
01:32down the left-hand side.
01:33And if you are someone who moves it from left to right,
01:36you need to give yourself the most amount of room possible.
01:38So this is a great example where teeing it up
01:40right on the right-hand side of the tee
01:42is going to really open up the hole,
01:44especially if you hit a left to right shot.
01:46It's going to give you a lot more room to play with
01:48and hopefully you can execute the shot more successfully.
01:51So I'm going to aim just on the right edge
01:54of those left-hand bunkers and allow for my slight fade.
01:57It's going to really open up the hole
01:59and give me a bit more room.
02:05Perfect.
02:06So follow those tee-shot tips
02:10and hopefully you'll find more fairways,
02:12but more importantly, miss it in the right spot.
02:19So as you can see, I've hit a cracking drive
02:21down this par five,
02:22left myself in a perfect position.
02:23And most golfers would view par fives
02:26as a scoring opportunity,
02:27but the big strategic mistake golfers make
02:29is not thinking about the importance
02:31of the second shot on a par five.
02:33It's the crucial shot to get right
02:35to set you up for making a par or maybe even a birdie.
02:38If you look at the stats from golf shots,
02:39it's really interesting to see that
02:41the three ability levels of categories of golfer,
02:43they all average over par on par fives.
02:46And high handicappers in particular,
02:48average over six and a half on a par five.
02:51So clearly you could deduce that those,
02:53every golfer isn't really making the most
02:55of the opportunities that par fives present them.
02:57And especially on the second shot,
02:58it's a crucial thing to get right.
03:00And the kind of consensus among teaching pros
03:02and the data would suggest that the thing
03:05that you need to do is try and get as close
03:06to the green as you can on your approach shot.
03:09There's some golfers out there that might think,
03:11oh, actually I'd rather be a hundred yards out
03:13and have a full shot in with my sandwich
03:15than I would be say 40 or 50 yards.
03:17Oh, I'm not really comfortable in those particular shots.
03:19But actually for the vast majority of golfers,
03:21trying to get as close to the green as possible
03:23is the best thing to do.
03:24Obviously you want to avoid hazards
03:26or any scenario where you're going to get penalty shots.
03:29So if there's out of bounds or penalty areas,
03:32you need to make sure you choose a club that avoids those.
03:35And on particular holes, obviously,
03:36you're better off leaving yourself
03:38with a 40 yard pitch from the fairway
03:40than you are a 40 yard bunker shot.
03:41Cause that's when you can really rack up a big score.
03:43So in this particular situation,
03:45I can see there's a bunker short left on this par five.
03:48So I want to make sure I avoid that with my second shot.
03:51I've got the three wood, it's the perfect club for me.
03:53I'm okay with hitting this on the fairway.
03:55Let's see if we can get down there
03:56and maybe even on the green
03:57to give myself a chance at an eagle.
04:14So I'm pretty happy with that one.
04:15So don't underestimate the importance
04:17of the second shot on the par five.
04:19Leave yourself as close to the green as possible
04:21in a favorable lie,
04:22and you should help your scores come down.
04:25Now, one of the big things that separates good golfers
04:30from average ones is the ability to keep those big numbers
04:33off the scorecard.
04:34Double bogeys, triple bogeys are worse.
04:36Those are the scores that you don't want to have
04:38on your scorecard.
04:39If you look at tour pros, elite pros,
04:40rarely do they follow a bad shot up with another.
04:44And if you look at the stats from golf shot,
04:45you can see that actually high handicappers
04:48are making double bogeys 59% of the time,
04:51and mid-handicappers are making double bogeys,
04:53or worse, 35% of the time,
04:55which I think is quite high.
04:56And with a few strategic tweaks
04:58in terms of how you approach certain shots,
05:00I think we can see those numbers come down significantly.
05:03So the really crucial point here
05:05is to not follow up one bad shot with another.
05:08In this particular hole, you can see,
05:09I've pushed my drive down the right-hand side,
05:12and there's trees in my way,
05:13there's a bunker in the way.
05:14Yes, I do have a gap,
05:16but there's overhanging branches.
05:18There's a lot of stuff in the way that could go wrong.
05:19So it's important to make the sensible decision.
05:22As I said, don't follow one mistake up with another.
05:24Take your medicine,
05:25give yourself the best chance
05:27of keeping off those double bogeys off your card.
05:30And if you're chipping out sideways,
05:31like I'm going to do here,
05:33you should be able to make worse the bogey,
05:35move on, take your medicine,
05:36and it's not going to ruin your round.
05:38So rather than going for this hero shot through the trees,
05:41there's too much danger there.
05:42I'm going to adjust my aim to the left.
05:44You can see I've got a lovely clear shot here
05:46to the left of the tree.
05:48Get it back in play.
05:49Give yourself a chance to get on the green
05:51for your next shot.
05:56And that's in perfect position.
05:58Just stop short of the heavy rough there.
06:00Open up the hole,
06:01I can hit the green,
06:02and hopefully make a bogey and move on.
06:08Now the next strategic machete comes down to approach shots,
06:10and specifically missing greens or chasing tight flags.
06:14I think most golfers have unrealistic expectations
06:17about how close they should be hitting their irons
06:20and their wedge shots.
06:21If you look at the data,
06:22it's really interesting.
06:23You'll see that every ability of golfer
06:26is missing more greens than they're hitting,
06:28even those single digit golfers as well,
06:31which then feeds into the scramble percentage.
06:33So you look at those numbers,
06:34which I'll flash up on the screen here,
06:35you can see even the best ability of golfer
06:38are only getting up and down from around the green
06:40when they miss the green up to 33% of the time.
06:43So clearly missing greens is a problem
06:45if you want to shoot lower scores.
06:47And there are a few things you could do
06:49with your strategic decision-making
06:51to help put the odds into your favor.
06:54I think the first thing on an approach shot
06:56is really just to aim at the middle of the green.
06:59So ignore where the flag is.
07:01If it's on the left, on the right,
07:02don't go chasing those flags.
07:03It's going to give you more chance of missing the green,
07:05not getting up and down leading to a bogey.
07:08I actually think most golfers,
07:10regardless of your ability,
07:11would probably score better
07:12if there were no flags on the green
07:13and you just had to hit to the middle of the green.
07:16So that would be my kind of one option.
07:18My second option would be
07:19to think about where the trouble is
07:21on that particular green.
07:23And if you are going to miss it,
07:24make sure you're missing it on the appropriate side
07:26or the side that's going to give you
07:27the best chance of getting up and down.
07:29So for example,
07:30if there was a flag at the back
07:31and there was a big runoff behind the green,
07:33obviously going long is an absolute no-go.
07:35So make sure you're choosing a club
07:38that's going to leave you short of that pin
07:39and therefore it's going to eliminate that trouble
07:41and give you the best chance of making a pard,
07:43hopefully keeping those bogeys off your card.
07:45So those are the two ways you can approach it.
07:48I'm going to, you can see here on this particular hole,
07:49there's tree on the right, bunker on the right.
07:51So I'm going to favour the left-hand side here.
07:53That's clearly a much easier up and down
07:55if I am going to miss the green.
07:57So really be specific with your aim
07:59and zone in on that spot just left with the pin.
08:03The safer side should give you the better chance
08:07of making a good score.
08:08Oh, I'm happy with that one.
08:13It's just left with the pin, cutting back nicely.
08:16Oh, I'm happy with that one.
08:19I've got a makeable birdie chance there.
08:20One thing to also think about
08:22with the Golf Shot GPS app in particular
08:24is it does offer club recommendations
08:26based on your real-time data.
08:27So what shots you've actually been hitting on the course.
08:30It knows how far you hit each club
08:31and that should help you hit the right shot,
08:34the right club, at the right time
08:36and make sure you don't miss those greens.
08:41Now we've all done this, haven't we?
08:42We make a bogey and the red miss sets in.
08:44We storm to the next tee, pull driver
08:47and hit your ball in trouble.
08:48You're compounding one error with another
08:50and it's really important in terms of not making
08:52that strategic mistake of ignoring what lies ahead
08:55on a particular hole after you've made a bad score.
08:58You look at the stats from world number one,
09:00Scotty Scheffler, he's one of the best in the world
09:02because he doesn't follow up a bogey
09:05with another bogey or worse.
09:06And if you look at the data from Golf Shot,
09:07it's interesting that high handicappers,
09:10they're making around 12 bogeys around,
09:11but more importantly, they're making consecutive bogeys
09:1470% of the time, which is quite a lot, I would say.
09:16And actually high handicappers are making consecutive bogeys
09:1959% of the time.
09:20So clearly there is a problem with amateur golfers
09:23compounding one error with another.
09:25And that's why it's important to not make
09:27that strategic mistake and really try and reset your mindset
09:29when it comes to arriving on a tee.
09:31If you have made a bad score,
09:32trying to start again in your head.
09:34And you can see it here now.
09:35This is a classic example of a golfer.
09:37He's clearly annoyed about what's gone on the previous hole.
09:40He's not looking and assessing what lies ahead
09:42in this particular hole, he's got his head down.
09:44He's reaching for the driver straight away.
09:46He wants to release that pent up frustration and anger
09:49of what's gone on previously.
09:51But that's going to cost him on this particular hole
09:53because there's some bunkers in play for him
09:55off the tee with driver.
09:56And lo and behold, hits the driver
10:00and he's found those bunkers.
10:01So I think what the strategic advice
10:03in this particular situation is,
10:05try and start again when you get to a tee.
10:08Obviously, accept that bogey can be a good score
10:11on certain holes if they're difficult holes
10:13and you get a shot.
10:14Accept that bogey can be an okay score.
10:17Don't compound a bad score with another strategic error
10:20off the tee in terms of club selection.
10:22And hopefully, you should see your scores
10:25get a little bit lower.
10:29Now the next strategic mistake golfers make
10:31is ignoring the skill of lag putting
10:33and how that directly correlates
10:35to the number of three putts you have
10:37during a round of golf.
10:38You look at the stats from golf shot,
10:40it's clear that every ability of golf
10:41is three putting at least some point during the round.
10:44It's especially prolific with high handicap golfers.
10:47And those three putts can really kill
10:48the momentum of a round.
10:49They're incredibly frustrating.
10:51And obviously, they're going to hurt your score.
10:52So it would be really important,
10:54especially in your practice,
10:55to come up with some sort of system
10:57where you can judge the pace
10:59and control the speed of your putts from long distance.
11:02We know that the stats say that actually,
11:04golfers are not hitting it that close
11:06in their approach shot.
11:07And as the ability level or handicap goes up,
11:10your proximity to the hole
11:11is really going to get quite wide.
11:12And you're going to be left with a lot of long putts
11:14from 40, 50 feet.
11:16So it's important to have some sort of system
11:18that kind of is able to judge the distance
11:20that you're hitting those putts.
11:21So for example, you could have some sort of system
11:24where you're looking at the backswing length,
11:27kind of where the club goes back to your toes,
11:30just outside your toes.
11:31And that's going to help you work out
11:33how far the putts are rolling
11:35at those different backswing lengths.
11:37That's a good starting point, I think,
11:38to be able to judge the distance
11:40and change the distance
11:41based on the distance you have to the hole.
11:43So for example, on this particular putt,
11:45this is about a 35 footer.
11:49I know I need to swing it just outside by toe
11:52to get it to the hole.
11:53And when you look at that, oh, it nearly went in.
12:01Just slipped out.
12:02But it's gone about two foot past, perfect pace.
12:04So incorporate some sort of system into your practice
12:08to get a better control of distance
12:10and judge the pace a little bit better.
12:12And that should help reduce the number of three putts.
12:18Now the final strategic mistake golfers make
12:21is not tracking their shots using technology
12:23or benchmarking their performance
12:26against golfers of a similar ability.
12:28There's an awful lot of technology out there
12:30that allows golfers to gain really crucial insights
12:33into their play,
12:34especially ones that utilize strokes gain.
12:36Strokes gain is the metric
12:38that all the leading tour players really use
12:40to understand exactly where their strengths
12:43and weaknesses lie.
12:43And that allows them to dedicate practice time
12:46to the right areas of the game
12:47to ensure they're proving on their weaknesses
12:49and making progress on their performance.
12:51And Golf Shot is an example of an app
12:53that offers auto shot recognition
12:56and auto strokes gained.
12:57So you can seamlessly track your shots,
13:00get some really crucial insights into your plays,
13:02broken down into different areas of the game,
13:04and you can see how you compare with golfers
13:06of a similar ability to you
13:08to really understand where you need to improve.
13:11So if you go through that process,
13:12invest in some technology like Golf Shot,
13:15it should really give you a much clearer window
13:17into where you need to improve.
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