- 23 hours ago
In this video Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott to look at 10 tips to handle your first golf competition!
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00:00Playing competition golf is not easy and that's why we've come out here today to produce a
00:05video on the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition. This is all the things that
00:10you need to do from the strategy that you have on the golf course, good course management,
00:14to developing some of the stock shots that you need to be able to compete and get yourself in
00:19the best possible mindset to return a good score. Right, let's head out onto the golf course here at
00:24Fox Hills and look at the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition.
00:34Okay, so we're on the first tee here at the long course golf course at Fox Hills
00:37and Alex, you said to me that one of the best things that you can do if you're going to
00:42play
00:42in a competition is to have a stock shot. Definitely, now I think a lot of people when
00:46you say stock shot they associate like low handicappers, professionals, but that could
00:51literally be for anybody. Now, most commonly for players who are a high handicap that might be a
00:56lot of movement left to right or right to left depending on if you're a right or left hander,
01:01but just sticking with that, knowing what happens is very powerful.
01:05Okay, so if you were to advise somebody and just say this is a good stock shot to have,
01:10what would you suggest they use? Now, it can vary day to day. If you've got the opportunity to
01:16practice the day before or on the day before on a driving range, I would just see what comes out.
01:21Whether it be a fade, whether it be a draw, and I would stick with that on the golf course.
01:25Okay, fine. All right, well, I'm going to go for my stock shot here,
01:28which is my stock shot in this scenario would be a little fade, I think, Alex.
01:32Okay, so interesting, as you said before, sometimes it feels a draw,
01:35but if you have to hit a fairway, it becomes a fade. So that is your stock shot. So if
01:40you're
01:40one of those players that likes to hit a draw, but you have to hit a fairway swing and it
01:44comes out
01:44a fade, that becomes a stock shot. A safe shot is something we can all do with,
01:49right? Let's see if this one can work for me.
01:51All right.
01:56All right.
01:59Beauty. That is really nice.
02:15Now the next one on our list is a very simple one, but it's really important. Alex, what is it?
02:20Cleaning your clubs after every single shot. Yes. Do you know what? It's very,
02:25very wet underfoot at the moment in the UK. We've had so much rain and it's obvious to clean your
02:30clubs after every shot, but why is it so important? I think the main thing is when it doesn't look
02:35like it's got much on it, it could be a little bit of broken mud inside the grooves, you're more
02:39likely to get a flyer. Right. So that means when you're hitting from the rough, likely to end up hitting
02:45it too far. Exactly. But having dirty grooves, having grass in the grooves, you could have that
02:49same effect from the fairway. So a shot that could go 90 yards and it would go 100 yards,
02:54getting you in trouble. Because it's not spinning.
02:56Exactly. So when you get grass between the ball and the grooves or some sort of
03:01debris between the ball and the grooves, this causes the ball to spin less, the ball could potentially
03:06go further. So obviously carry a golf towel, give every club in the bag a quick wipe,
03:11once you've hit it and you'll be fine. Exactly.
03:20Okay. So the next one on the list relates to your scorecard and a little bit of prep you can
03:24do
03:25before you go out and tee it up for the first time in a competition. What is that prep, Alex?
03:30Firstly, we've got to have our name, date, competition and your handicap. So what I get people to do,
03:35especially if they're brand new to the game and find the scoring system potentially a little bit
03:39difficult on a stable foot, I get them to mark on everywhere they've got a single shot or off the
03:44handicap, say, for example, 20, where they get two shots.
03:47Fine. So you're just making that little note on the stroke indexes to say,
03:50yeah, you get two shots here and two shots here. And that's important because that can actually have
03:55a bearing on the way in which you play those holes. Right, Alex?
03:58Exactly. So say, for example, the stroke index one, we know we don't potentially have to get it on in
04:02three. We can actually get it on in one more than that.
04:04Yeah. And if you can just get away with making even a double bogey, you might find yourself
04:09picking up shots on the field and just that little bit of prep before you can go out to play
04:14can make a big difference.
04:21Right. So as you can see, we've made our way up to the green. And if you're about to play
04:24in your first
04:24golf competition, you're going to face long putts like this. And actually, as anyone who's played golf
04:30for a while, we'll know three putts really do kill a score. They kill your momentum and your mood.
04:37So Alex, what's your advice when putting from long range?
04:39Now, when we've got a putt of this length, we see on TV, we saw the highlights,
04:43them draining putts on this distance, 25, 30 feet, when really, we're not expected to.
04:49So if we watch that, we run the risk of trying to be too aggressive at this point. I mean,
04:53of course,
04:54we could hold a putt, but we run the risk of hitting it three or four foot past, got a
04:58knee knocker coming back.
04:58Yes. So what should we be aiming for then?
05:01I like to use the kind of bin lid method. So if we can get the ball around the bin
05:05lid,
05:06we keep it stress-free, we've got a better chance of maintaining that score, keeping that momentum,
05:10like you said. Yes. So just take a little bit of pressure off your own shoulders. Just try and
05:14get the ball, as Alex said, within that kind of bin lid around the hole. You'll be taking three putts
05:19out of the equation, won't you? Exactly. Exactly.
05:21Go on then, show us how it's done. No pressure.
05:35Okay. So for the next one on the list, you can probably guess what we're about to tell you.
05:44That is the importance of warming up. Alex, people know that it's important to warm up
05:49before they go and play, but what should they be doing?
05:52I would firstly research a few stretches that you can do online just to basically get mobility
05:58through back, through spine, and just get us generally warmed up, ready for exercise.
06:02Okay. Then I would make sure if you hit a few
06:04golf balls, don't treat it like a practice session.
06:07Don't treat it like a practice session. All right? We've all done it.
06:11Yeah. It's very, you hit one bad one,
06:13you pull one, then suddenly you're like, well, maybe I did this, maybe I did that.
06:16You start tinkering. So what do you do in that scenario? You hit a bad shot,
06:18how do you put that to your back in mind? I mean, you're always going to want to tinker a
06:21little bit.
06:21What I'd do is I would go back to either my last lesson, my rules of thumb,
06:25what I've been working on in general, and trust that that's going to come through.
06:29Okay, fine. Let's say you've done your stretches, you've hit how many balls?
06:3525, max. You've hit 25 balls. What's the routine,
06:39what's the timeline between arriving at the golf course and stepping onto the first tee?
06:43A lot of people finish on their putting as the last thing they do before they go on the first
06:47tee.
06:48Now, generally that probably is because of putting means near the first tee, but if we can,
06:52my absolute ideal scenario is stretching, putting, a few wedges, mid-irons, and lastly,
06:59finish on about five drives, straight to the first tee, we're ready to go.
07:03Off you go. Okay, so what happens if that last drive you hit, what happens if you carve it off
07:08to the right-hand side? It's not a great image to have as you step onto the first tee, is
07:11it?
07:11No, it's not, but you could argue if your first tee shot of the day was a bad one,
07:15then that could set the tone for the day. What I would say is, literally look at the warm-up
07:20as a way of just getting your body loose, body ready, and don't judge the last shot as what's
07:25going to happen on the first tee, because you're in a completely different environment.
07:28Yeah, the truth is, you can't really expect to play well if you haven't done some form of
07:33warming up before you step onto the first tee. If you haven't got the ability to hit balls before
07:37you go and play, because that's not always the case, then at least do the physical stretches
07:41that you can, do a little bit of putting, get to the first tee and some degree of readiness
07:46so that you can go and shoot a good score.
07:53Okay, so Alex, the next one on the list is a really simple one. It's got nothing to do
07:57with technique or even strategy, but it actually can make a difference to you on the course, and that's
08:01related to where you put your bag when you're putting on the green.
08:06Definitely, and just in terms of speed of play, I mean, I've got a prime example here. I just hit
08:10the front edge. Now, the flag is at the back of the green. The next tee is actually over the
08:15back
08:15of the green. Over there, yeah. Now, this would be an absolute killer for me to leave my bag here,
08:20put out, have to then walk back, collect my bag, off to the next tee. Your plane partners you're
08:25playing with are not going to like you, and especially the guys behind.
08:28Actually, it's one of those things that can create a sense of pressure on your own shoulders,
08:33because you can feel like you're actually holding people up. People are looking at you as to say,
08:37come on, get a move on, and actually, you're just trying to do your best, aren't you?
08:40Exactly, and especially if you're then first on the next tee, you're then running over,
08:43it could actually affect your next shot. Yeah, so actually, Alex, come over here,
08:47because in actual fact, your best bet, both of us in this scenario, is to pop both the bags over
08:55here
08:56and then walk back to your golf ball and then go on from there, isn't it?
08:59Exactly, so we're straight off to the next tee.
09:07Okay, so the next one is, Alex, a really important one, isn't it? It's course management. If you want
09:12your first competition to be a good one, if you want to shoot a good score, you need to think
09:16about this stuff really closely. What's your advice, generally speaking, on course management, Alex?
09:22Most golf courses either have a course guide, or people have a digital device,
09:26or even, in fact, on each hole, they have a visual of what you can see. My kind of rule
09:31of thumb is,
09:32one, look at the visual. Where's the trouble? Is the bunkers? Is the water? Is the trees like
09:36there is here at Pogs Hills? Yes, yeah.
09:38I would then think about, have I got a shot on this hole? Because having a shot on this hole
09:43might mean
09:44we can take a little bit less risk from the tee, and plan our way down the hole a little
09:47bit better.
09:47Okay, so are you identifying where the big trouble is? So you're just basically plotting your way
09:53through, saying, that's a kind of card wrecking area over there, I can't hit it. Exactly. And
09:58I think if we are a higher handicapper, if we avoid a card wrecker, and we, say, if we're off
10:0320,
10:03and we accumulate just a run of bogeys, we're going to be under our handicap. It's when we have those
10:08sevens, or we turn those sevens into nines, and that's when it can be really bad for our game.
10:13Okay, so a specific scenario we've got here. This is 170 yards, slightly downhill, wind off the left.
10:20You can see that the flag is sort of tucked a little bit behind that bunker on the right-hand
10:24side. What is your advice, I guess, to different golfers and different abilities from a place like
10:30this? So if we are a better player, so single figures potentially, and we have a bit more confidence
10:35in our game, I would like you to kind of base the flag on a colour code system. So green
10:40being one you can
10:41attack. That might be one in the middle of the green here. Amber being one, if we feel like it's
10:45a good win, it's a good shot shape, it's accessible for our game, that's when it comes into one that
10:50maybe go for. Yes. And a red would be potentially this scenario behind the bunker over water,
10:56where it could be, again, a card wrecking situation. Yeah. Okay. So for me, what's this one?
11:02I would think for you, because you said on the start of the video, stock shot was a fade,
11:07this one might be an amber for you. Okay. Yeah, fine. Amber to red,
11:10depending on how we feel and the stage of the game. Now, if you were a higher handicapper,
11:14my rule of thumb is, if we hit the green and the centre of the green every single time,
11:18we're not going to be far away. No. Okay, fine. And I guess,
11:22how much are you thinking about where to miss? Because a shot like this, if you miss this particular
11:27shot, short left, you're absolutely fine. Exactly. But if you miss it short right,
11:31you're in a bad position, aren't you? Are you thinking about that stuff? And if you are,
11:36how are you blocking out sort of bad thoughts from kind of causing you to make a bad swing?
11:40I think you're never going to block bad thoughts and potentially they will come in,
11:44but I always think you can't plan for a bad shot. You know the trouble's there,
11:49you use a colour code system almost as a way of weighing up the trouble, but not almost highlighting
11:54the trouble. Okay, fine. And then we plan to hit a good shot. Like for example, here,
11:58we'll be planning to hit a nice fade into the flag. I wouldn't want you thinking,
12:02well, I can miss it short left. I can miss it short right. Right, fine. Because that's just going to
12:06give you bad underlying thoughts. Okay, good. Well, I'm going to give this a go then, Alex.
12:10Right. I want to see the stock shop. Okay, fine. Yeah. Well,
12:12you've asked for it, so I'll have to do it. Okay.
12:28Go. Oh, no. Guess where it's gone, people. It's in that trap short right. I got a little bit
12:36greedy with it, didn't I? I thought it was going to be all right for a second,
12:39but the wind just held it up there. Ah. Okay, so the next one on our list relates
12:49to swing thoughts. Now, I guess most golfers have swing thoughts, things in their golf swing
12:54they're looking to achieve. Alex, a question for you, how many is a good number of swing thoughts
12:59to have, do you think? Before I give that answer, I want to know,
13:02how many do you have? One. One. Okay, so I'd say you're generally probably
13:06not the norm. Oh, really? Most people that come for lessons have
13:11sometimes upwards of five swing thoughts. Right, so like grip, posture, whatever.
13:15Exactly. Right, fine. So my tip for that is because we're always going to have,
13:18if we're new to the game of golf, it's our first competition, we're going to have something that
13:22we need a bit of a checklist. Yes. So I kind of like separate that into pre-swing, so grip,
13:26stance,
13:27all those aspects. Okay, yeah. So we can throw them away once we've done it.
13:30Fine, so you do all of the groundwork that you know you need to do to get yourself in a
13:34good
13:34position over the ball. Exactly. And then once you're there.
13:37I tend to have, hopefully, no more than one, potentially two, one backswing and one trigger
13:42thought. Okay, so what is it for you then? So I like to feel that the club goes wide on
13:46the way back. Okay. Because I get kind of a little bit narrow is my bad swing thought. On the
13:49way
13:50through, I'm an absolute bugger for keeping my head down. Okay, right. So it stops me rotate through,
13:55so I like to feel like, I call it anacrit, that's literally my only thought on the way through.
13:59Okay, right, yeah. So I try and work on like a role model that I can copy and almost create
14:05the
14:05same thing as what I visualise and see. Okay, that's good. Well, I have, as I say, I have one,
14:10and my one is because I tend to get a bit snatchy from the top. I just like to just
14:16feel as if I'm
14:17just not pausing, but just there's a bit of time at the top of the backswing. Just don't rush the
14:22start of the downswing. Your role model will maybe like Matsuyama to the top and then go.
14:26Exactly. It doesn't always look like that. I'm sure anyone who's seen any of our videos
14:29in the past will know it doesn't always look like that. But for me, I know it's a swing thought
14:33that's worked well for me. I guess, Alex, the point is that it's different for different people
14:38and different golf swings, isn't it? Exactly. But the one key thing is,
14:40between me and you, it's simple. It's not a specific position. Yes.
14:46It's a simple thought and a feeling to work to. Okay. Good. Shall I have a hit?
14:50Let's have a hit. Right, I've got to really try and pause at the top now, Alex.
14:55Yeah. A little bit over fade, but it's okay.
15:13So as you can see, the next tip we've got for you is about alignment. And we've chosen alignment
15:17because it's something that everyone can get right. It makes a big difference if you do get
15:22it right. But equally, it's something that we all get wrong from time to time. Certainly, Alex,
15:26I'm somebody that can often stand quite close to the ball at a dress. I'm the same.
15:29Why is it important to get your alignment rock solid? I think the main aspect is the fact that
15:34a lot of people's bad shots and bad swings just stems from poor alignment, like you were saying
15:40about yourself there. Okay. So having a routine to stick to on the first tee is absolutely key
15:44to assure you've got good alignment. Yeah. So, I mean, we're talking here about how to handle your first
15:49competition. And one of the big challenges of playing competition golf is that you can get a
15:54bit scrambled at times. And these are the sorts of things that can fall by the wayside. How do you
15:58make sure that doesn't happen? I would visualize exactly what we've got down here. We've got two
16:03alignment sticks, one down the ball to target line, and then a parallel one for our feet line.
16:08Okay, fine. So how are you building that stance then?
16:10So straight away, I'd do this and I'd make this as part of every single shot, whether it be the
16:16first tee shot, whether it be the last shot into the 18th green. And even if it's your first round,
16:20I would make sure you build this into a good thing, which happens every single round.
16:24Okay, good. So behind the golf ball,
16:26establish your ball to target line, and that'll be where we want the ball to finish.
16:31Yes. So I don't then tend to make it like a thin line. I like to feel like an alignment
16:35channel.
16:35So that's going to be our outside alignment stick. I would then, once I've got a strong visual of the
16:41outside one and highlighted it, I would bring in a second one, which feels like my feet line runs
16:46parallel to that. From that, I can build my stance around it, my hips, my shoulders, and then ready
16:51to go. Yes. So two parallel lines, that's the key. Obviously, you can't put shafts down like this
16:56in competition. Just remember to get those two parallel lines set, get yourself set properly over the
17:02ball. If you do, you are more than halfway to making a good swing.
17:10Okay. So the last one on the list relates to your scorecard. And actually, we're talking here,
17:15Alex, about what you do after a round, because you might think that you've finished your round of golf,
17:19nothing can go wrong. But actually, before you hand your card in, something can go wrong.
17:23What do people need to do? What do they need to look out for?
17:26So first point of call, we've got to have the gross scores correct.
17:29Okay. Yeah.
17:30So I know we talked about playing in a stable third, and we have a tally of a points that
17:33we get.
17:34Now, if they don't add up correctly, it doesn't matter. And if they're not the correct points,
17:37that doesn't matter. The main thing is, as long as your gross scores for each hole are correct.
17:41Yes. So I would go through my card, and I'd check what I'd put you down for, and against what
17:47you've
17:47got on your card, we just make sure that the scores on both cards tally up, right?
17:52Exactly.
17:52And then if they do-
17:53Two things you've got to do then. Okay.
17:55Number one, make sure you sign it. But the one I find a lot of people forget is the playing
17:59partner's got to sign it too.
18:01Yeah. Okay. So get that right, hand your card in, and you'll be good to go.
18:05So there you have it. That was our list of the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition.
18:11Guys, what did you think? What did you think of Alex's tips? Is there anything that you've done,
18:15playing under pressure, playing in competition, that's really helped you out? We'd be really
18:18interested to hear your thoughts. But for now, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
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