00:10Are you someone who gets nervous before a big golf competition? Or do you suddenly become a
00:15professional with your warm-up and pre-game routine and then flunk it on the golf course?
00:20If you do then this video could be for you. I'm going to be joined by Alex Elliott,
00:24the Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach, where we're going to be breaking down the mistakes amateurs make
00:29before going out into a big golf competition. Some of these mistakes may sound familiar and if they do
00:35hopefully you can pick up some tips and tricks on how to perform better on the golf course.
00:40With that in mind, let's get to it. I'm a little hungry.
00:49Right, I'm stuffed now. It's important as golfers that we don't make the mistake of going out into
00:55a big competition on an empty stomach and it's also important to be properly hydrated. 18 holes
01:01is a long time and it's a big competition. You want to make sure you're properly fuelled before you go
01:05out.
01:05Yes, you can carry bottles of water out on the golf course, but let's start as we mean to go
01:09on.
01:09Properly fuelled, high energy and ready to score low. So Alex, a lot of mistakes golfers might be making
01:15prior to competition rounds is changing up their swing routine. That might be because of nerves.
01:20Do you have any advice for those golfers? I think you've got two kinds of golf there. So what are
01:25you working on in your golf game right now? Probably moving my left hip back, getting out
01:29of the way. Perfect. I would suggest to you Monty is do your first practice swing, a little mini one,
01:34feeling the left hip excessively out of the way. So that feeling's fresh. Okay. The next one,
01:40you're going to do a full-blooded practice swing where it's almost like you're picturing that shot.
01:45You're then going to walk into the shot and hit it. So you've got a little bit of structure of
01:49technique, a little bit of a flow of the shot. You've got a concise routine that keeps you flowed
01:54rather than I think in a big situation, golfers can just take one more, one more, one more, one more,
01:59and it gets longer and longer, right? That's it. So keeping it short and simple is key for those
02:03golfers. Now, there are some golfers out there who don't take practice swings at all. What would you
02:08suggest for those golfers? Stick with normal. Just keep to your DNA, but make it like a concise,
02:12informative routine where you're really bothered about your aim or you're bothered about the
02:17technicality if you're that kind of golfer. So just keeping it short and simple before
02:20your competition round, don't change anything too excessively. A common mistake often made by
02:28your amateur golfer might be introducing too many swing thoughts prior to your round of golf. How many
02:34swing thoughts would you suggest is an adequate amount to take out with you onto the golf course?
02:39Usually around five or six. I would always say one backswing and one downswing would be a good rule
02:46of thumb to use. Can you explain to us the backswing and downswing? For example, right? I think focusing
02:52on a backswing, which is slower and smoother is a good generic swing thought for most people. We tend
02:58to rush it. So my swing thought would be, okay, slow, smooth, takeaway. And then my downswing, which I
03:04call sort of call my trigger thought is I like to feel I get my belt buckle to target. Just
03:08helps me
03:09turn, not slide. So they'll be my two. And I'm guessing that that's personal to you. Other golfers
03:14may have different cues for them. For sure. I mean, I'd say the first one would probably work for most
03:18people, but yeah, downswing ones or just in general, they are quite personal. Work them out with your PJ Pro,
03:24work them out on the range yourself, and maybe even log them down on your phone. I really suggest like
03:28putting
03:28two little clear notes as a, as a good way to build good habits, because when we play well,
03:33we tend to forget why we played well, but having that little log is what I'd recommend. So there we
03:37go. Just a couple of swing thoughts is all you need. And that could be the difference for your competition
03:41round. Ooh. Whoa, what are we doing here? It's club champs, mate. Alex, I was just about to implement
03:50a new wedge into my set, take out these old things and put in this new one. Why? Well, it's
03:55supposed to make
03:55play better, no? Yeah, I get it, right? Your grooves might be a little bit shot on these,
04:00but it's new. New season, new looking wedge. It might look a bit different, a little bit shinier,
04:05your eyes aren't going to be used to it. Even though I know you might feel a bit better with
04:08spinning it, I wouldn't put it in. Not for a big competition like today? No, I want like,
04:12especially wedges or even drive, you've got to get used to that visual, have a few practice sessions,
04:17play on the course and some social golf, then bring it in. Okay, that's handy advice. I'll stick to what
04:22I
04:22know for now. Yeah, and I'll keep your percentage over your club champs win. Don't worry. Thanks,
04:27Alex. A mistake often made by golfers is coming out onto the golf course before a competition,
04:34not having cleaned their clubs. I'm guilty of this. I come out with very dirty clubs. How important is
04:40it to make sure those grooves are clean and particularly with the wedges? Probably more
04:44important than people give it credit for. Simply, you might hear on TV some golfers say, oh, I've got a
04:49flyer. And simply what that is, it's grass or dirt caught between the club face and the ball,
04:55reduces the spin and just causes the ball to go a little bit further. Equally, if you've got a lot
05:00of dirt on there, the ball might not fly anywhere near as much. So what I'd really recommend, and I
05:06say this for every single golfer, is just wet the corner of your towel. You might have a groove cleaner
05:11as
05:12well in your pocket with a little teeth in, but I just wet my towel and that wet corner just
05:16removes all
05:17that dirt. I do it after every shot. So cleaning the club face helps generate more spin, more control,
05:23especially with these shorter shots. Exactly. Are you able to demonstrate that for us? We will go. It's
05:27bob on a hundred yards here to the flag. I've got my 50 degree. Okay, here we go.
05:39So finally, warming up. Alex, how important is it to have a warm-up routine prior to a competition
05:44round of golf? Very. Like, we've got to think golf is quite a dynamic sport. So if you're not ready
05:51to
05:51go, I mean, you've heard the old analogy of you start playing golf on the fourth hole when you've
05:56not warmed up. This is a warm-up, not a practice session. So don't hit the panic button if they
06:01aren't great. But what you want to be doing is taking note on ball flight. Is it a little bit
06:06fadey? Is it a little bit hooky? What are my patterns? Because that's the knowledge,
06:10whilst you're warming up and the body's ready, that's the knowledge you can take to the course.
06:13Now, a lot of golfers might be watching and see Tiger Woods coming out onto the driving range
06:17and hitting wedge all the way through to driver. Is that something you would recommend?
06:21No, I would just pick evens or odds. Like, most of us don't have time, right? We probably have our
06:26four and a half hours, we want to have a pint afterwards. We want to spend 10 minutes max here.
06:30And for golfers who don't have access to a driving range like this, you mentioned there are some
06:34movements that we can do to get warmed up, to get loose, ready for that round of golf. Are you
06:38able to
06:39take us through those? Yeah, it's going to look like a bit of an 80s dance routine. But what I'd
06:44really recommend, Demonte, is just actually making a few dynamic moves. So the first one,
06:48I mean, if you'll do this one with me, is just get in golf posture and then you're going to
06:52sort of
06:53angle your club away from you. I'm just going to make some chops out and away and maybe just do
06:57eight
06:58in this direction. And once you feel like you're starting to loosen off, you're then going to change
07:02the angle and just chop in the other direction. You loosen up the back, you're in golf posture. A lot
07:06of people don't do many exercises in this space. A lot of people do a lot of stuff here. So
07:11it just
07:11gets our body ready. Other things you can do, I'd really suggest a bit of a lunge up and then
07:17maybe
07:17you can add a twist in as well and just do that with alternating legs. Alternating legs. I think one
07:23side is good enough for me. The thing I would say is there's not anything specific I would say you
07:28should do as those stretches, just something to get your body ready. So it's not getting the first
07:32tee and going, Oh, I feel a little bit shocked here.
07:39So there we have it. Common mistakes made by your everyday golfer for a competition round of golf,
07:45broken down for you by Alex Elliott. Now, if any of these scenarios sounded familiar,
07:51or if there's anything we didn't mention, please do let us know in the comments.
07:54Alex Elliott from Kettleston Park Golf Club. Thank you for watching. Bye bye.
08:04So there you have it. Sorry.
08:07I'm ready. I'm ready. Are you ready?
Comments