- 3 hours ago
We know when we play golf, there are things we should do that will help us play better golf, however, it doesn't take much to forget everything you told yourself you would or wouldn't do. In this video, Dan Parker goes over 11 things all golfers forget to do whilst out on the course. Making sure you don't forget to do these things each time you play, will definitely help you improve your scores!
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00:00Hello everyone and welcome to this Golf Monthly video where I'm going to be talking about 11
00:03things that all golfers forget to do out on course. Now I'm not talking about forgetting
00:08your 5-iron or leaving your trolley battery at home, I'm talking about tactical things
00:12that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist
00:17before every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out
00:22of your game. I'm at the very blustery West Hill today, let's get started.
00:30Do you warm up properly before each round of golf? I think this is a massive thing that
00:35loads of golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will
00:39suffer for it. Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but
00:43even if it's 10 minutes of putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind
00:48of warm up will really help your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and
00:52play better golf for it. So another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in
00:56the middle of a round is use a little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great
01:00example in front of me here on the 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although
01:04I'm close to the green there's too much water on the ground but there's also nothing for
01:08me to go over so why would I need to take my lob wedge or my sand wedge a much
01:13higher tariff
01:13shot in this situation. You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree
01:21I'm more likely to shank it or thin it because it's a high tariff shot. What I think a lot
01:25of golfers need to do is use a little bit less loft, take your time around these chips,
01:30I've got an eight iron here and hit a lower tariff shot, almost just put a putting stroke
01:35on this and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort, I need to practice it a little bit more
01:44but I think taking less loft around the green is a much better idea.
01:47Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the course
01:52is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind,
01:57I've got to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case, you're not going to hit the ball
02:01that far anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often. Great example
02:06here today, the second at West Hill we're into wind, I've got the big dog out, I'd normally want to
02:10hit
02:11this as hard as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going to swing a little
02:13bit
02:14slower, just try and get a bit of strike on it, get myself down the fairway so I'm going to
02:18swing
02:18this as easy as I can. And away it goes, not my finest hit, a bit cutty but into wind
02:30on a day like
02:30today not too disappointed with that so remember into wind swing a little bit slower. Right so another
02:35thing I think golfers forget all too much when they're out on the golf course is not going every
02:40single pin. There are loads of sucker pins out there and if you find yourself short sided of these
02:45you're going to really struggle to make up and down. Start going for the center of the green more often
02:50and there'll be other pins you can go at later in the round. I've got a good example here at
02:54the first
02:55at West Hill where the pin is in the middle but it's really far to the left so the last
02:59thing I want
03:00to do is aim at it, go left of it and find myself in that in that trap or left
03:04of that trap where I'm
03:05never going to make up and down. So on this hole I'm going to almost take my medicine, aim at
03:09the
03:09center of the green, hopefully get my two putt, walk onto the next one. Let's see how I do. Make
03:14sure I aim nice and central. I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this is a good
03:19pin for me but I'm going to
03:20stay nice and central. I did hit the little fade and I got away with one. It wasn't my greatest
03:31strike a little bit thin but because I aim middle, knowing my shot shape, I knew I couldn't go too
03:35far wrong. So don't get suckered into those pins, play for the center of the green, two putt and
03:41attack those pins later in the round. Ah right that brings me on to my next thing that golfers forget
03:53when they're out on the course and it's to take every shot as seriously as the last. Now I got
03:58a
03:58little bit angry myself there leaving that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the
04:02next putt and I've missed it. I've cost myself another shot. Now it's easy to do this when the
04:08red mist descends. I've done it loads of times myself. I'm sure you have at home but it's really
04:12important that throughout the round you remind yourself not to get too angry, that every single
04:17shot matters. We'll do this on the fairway every now and again as well. If you duff one straight in
04:22front of you, you'll just take the same club, hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and
04:26the
04:26same thing might happen. So after a bad shot take your time, remind yourself that every shot matters
04:32and hopefully that will save a few shots on the course. Right so another mistake I think lots of
04:37golfers make is taking their driver off the tee when they don't need to. Now across this video you
04:42might think I'm a bit overly defensive on the golf course. Feel free to let me know in the comments
04:46if I am and if I'm horribly wrong on this. But I think on a hole like this we've got
04:49the 12th through at
04:50West Hill, 273 it's playing today, a little bit downwind. I probably could hit the green with my driver
04:55if I really liked it, but there's all sorts in the way. There's bunkers, there's trees, it's times
05:00like this that I think a lot of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play
05:03something like
05:04this. A hybrid, a driving iron, a long iron, anything just to pop yourself in play. Leave yourself
05:08a nice number in. So I'm going to leave that driver to one side there. I've got my trusty
05:12four hybrid here and it should just be the easiest swing to put myself in position.
05:21A bit like that on the first take as well might I add. So I think a lot of golfers
05:26need to think
05:27a lot more carefully on the course about when they're using their driver, use it in the right
05:30situations and on shorter par fours play for position. Okay so you joined me here on the 12th
05:35and after I was just telling you about playing for position, not taking your driver too often,
05:39I found myself out of position on a very short par four. So I'm not best pleased and that brings
05:44on to the
05:44next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course and that is to stay calm. I think
05:50if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save at least I think two shots a round
05:54especially if you're a bit of an angry golfer. You know you won't hit the angry chip or the angry
05:58putt
05:59when your head's not in the right space. Now I know there's nothing worse than someone else
06:02telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse effect but I think if you can check
06:06yourself out on course, remind yourself to stay calm, it's a really important thing to remember
06:11throughout the entire round. While I'm here another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey is your
06:16friend and it is more often than not it's not a card killer and while it's not a great score
06:20it's not going to ruin your entire round. Now obviously I'm hoping to make a par from here
06:24and I'm not going to say I'm not you know I still want to try and make up and down
06:27but I'm going to
06:28remind myself that if I don't come off here with a par a bogey is is okay and I'm not
06:32going to get too
06:33angry and the bogey is my friend. It's not a double, it's not something worse. So stay calm, bogey is
06:38my friend
06:39and whatever I hit here I'm not going to get too wound up about it.
06:45And I hit a good shot so I've got a look at par, if I get a bogey it's okay.
06:48So two things, stay calm,
06:50bogey is your friend. Okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make is not playing for
06:54position on par fives. Now I know we've already spoken about not taking driver all the time, I don't
07:00want to come over as overly defensive on the golf course but I think every now and again we need
07:04to look
07:04at a par five for what it is. Take a bit less club and score a little bit better for
07:09it I think
07:09in the majority. Example here 17th at West Hill, I hit my Sunday best drive here, pretty pleasing
07:14myself. But it's into wind, we've got trouble left, there's trouble right. Should I really be trying to
07:19hit a three-wood to get to this green that's barely in reach? Probably not. So take the situation
07:24to account on par fives but I think a seven iron is the play here. So away with the three
07:30-woods. I'm
07:33something like that with just an easy seven iron. Not my best but not my worst. Should just be a
07:43little wedge in from there and I'm not going to make anything worse than a par there whereas if
07:47my three went left or right anything could have happened. So I think playing for position on par
07:51fives when the situation warrants it is really important. So one major thing I think loads of
07:56golfers forget to do is take a little bit more club when the conditions warrant it. So I'm talking
08:01about heavy wind like it is today, colder temperatures and even consider when you're not
08:06striking the ball that well. I don't think enough of us adapt to that mid-round. So really think,
08:10you know, on the ninth hole halfway through your round, what's the wind like today? How am I
08:14striking it? Should I attack the back nine with a little bit more club? Now I'm criminal for this
08:19as well. I'm going to flash up some data from one of my recent rounds, my Arcos data which shows
08:23I
08:23missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round, not my not my finest round, and they were all
08:28short,
08:29all 10 were short and that's because it was a windy day, it was a little bit cold and as
08:33you can see
08:33I wasn't hitting the ball that well. What I didn't do was take into account the temperature, the way
08:37I was striking the ball that day which wasn't very good and the fact it was really really windy. So
08:42I
08:42was ending up short a lot of the time, missing all my greens and regulation and my scoring suffered for
08:46it. So when you're out on course think about all those conditions, re-evaluate midway through a round
08:51and don't forget to take more club. Right the final thing that golfers forget to do when they're out on
08:55course and you've probably heard it before and you're going to hear it again from me is to take
08:59your medicine. Playing partners would have said it, coaches would have said it to you, you've probably
09:04told this yourself when you've hit a bad shot but it's something we forget every now and again as
09:08we're trying to chase that score out on course. I've got a great example of it here at the second
09:12at
09:12West Hill. That gap in that tree is quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn into
09:16Tiger
09:17Woods for this shot but I've got to carry it over the heather, I've got to go below this tree,
09:22through that gap, it's a very high tariff shot and for not that much gain, a chip out would make
09:27a lot
09:27more sense. So I'm going to show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine, when you try
09:32and take one on. Class, bonks it into the tree, there it goes in the heather. What I should have
09:40done
09:40and I'll show you with this ball, it's come way out to the left, all that fairway over there, take
09:46your
09:46medicine and I'm going to go and try and make a par now. So let me say it one more
09:51time, take your
09:53medicine, help your score out, don't think you're Tiger Woods. So there you have it, those are the 11
09:58things that I think all golfers forget to do out on course. As I said at the top of this
10:02video, consider
10:03this your checklist to remind yourself before every round of golf and I'm thinking you'll save at least
10:08a couple of shots per round if you follow those rules. Are there any I've forgotten, are there any mistakes
10:12that you commonly make out on course that you know you do but you forget halfway through a round?
10:16Let me know down in the comments, I'd love to hear what you have to say. But for now,
10:20thank you very much for joining me, I'll see you next time.
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