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