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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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00:04Hello 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.
00:13These 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 that you don't miss any of our videos, hit the like button if you like what you're
00:34watching and also tell us, have you seen the pros doing anything that you've tried that's
00:38really worked for you and your game? We would be interested to hear any ideas that you've
00:42got. But let's head out now onto the golf course here at the London Club and find out what
00:47the nine things the pros are doing that perhaps you're not.
00:55Okay, 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
01:07the
01:07range or you go to the practice ground? I expect the answer to that is not many. You often, me
01:13included, get to the driving range, do a few simple stretches like this, a little bit of that, and then
01:19start
01:19hitting shots and that can cause you problems. It can cause you problems because the first few shots
01:23that you hit, you might fat and that sets the tone for the practice session. What you'll find
01:27with the pros is that they will do their stretching before they get to the practice ground. They'll do
01:32it in the changing room or they'll do it in the physio truck so that by the time they get
01:35to the
01:36driving range or the practice ground, they are ready to hit balls. They are ready to sort of strike
01:41the ball cleanly and build up pace from their most lofted club up through the bag. So take a small
01:46leaf
01:47out of the book of the pros, do a little bit of stretching before you even arrive on the practice
01:51ground and that can make a big difference to your session as a whole. It can make sure that right
01:55from the first ball to the last you're warm, you're ready to go and your body is working exactly how
02:00you want it to.
02:15So the next one on my list relates to pitching and something the pros don't tend to do. The pros
02:20will very, very rarely hit a flat out pitch with their most lofted club in the bag. The reason for
02:26that
02:26is that if you're hitting and making a full swing at a short shot with your most lofted club, you're
02:31going to be creating a lot of speed down by the ball. Speed means backspin and backspin means more
02:36flight and for the pros that is something that takes control away from them. Remember this part
02:42of the game is all about precision and in order to be as precise as possible you need to be
02:47able to
02:47control the trajectory. Often when the pros talk about hitting a full pitch with their most lofted club
02:52in the bag, they're only ever really hitting the ball at 80 or 90 percent. They're never really going
02:57at it flat out 100 percent. By taking just a little bit of pace off the swing, they're able to
03:03create
03:03more control over the ball flight and ultimately that helps them hit the ball closer from inside 100 yards.
03:15Okay, so one thing the pros do brilliantly well is whenever they're building a strategy for a hole,
03:20they will have a very clear idea in their minds of where they absolutely cannot miss.
03:27Now to give you an idea of exactly that sort of thought process, this is the 11th hole here on
03:31the heritage course at the London club and the number one place you cannot hit it on this hole
03:38is in the trouble over the black back. There is all sorts of, so very long grass, flags right at
03:44the
03:45back of this green as well today and so your chances of getting up and down if you've gone over
03:49the back
03:49are virtually zero here and despite the fact that it looks as if all the big trouble is at the
03:55front,
03:55you're far better off being slightly short than you are being slightly long and that has a big impact
04:00on ultimately the strategy that you build, the club that you take and how you play the hole.
04:06So this hole is 175 yards and for me that's probably a soft six iron but it's slightly downhill,
04:12it's slightly downwind. If I absolutely flush it and I hit a six iron, I might just hit this over
04:17the back,
04:17in which case I'm doing very well to make a double bogey. So I'm going to put the six iron
04:23down,
04:23I'm going to choose the seven iron instead with the specific aim that I can hit this as hard as
04:28as I want, I won't go past that flag. A little bit right but it's on the green, it's short
04:45of the flag,
04:46shouldn't, definitely shouldn't be making more than a bogey at absolute worst.
04:54One thing the pros are often very meticulous about in practice is when it comes to their putting,
05:00are they starting the ball on exactly the right line? It's very easy when you hit putt after putt
05:07after putt in practice especially to start slightly pulling or slightly pushing your putts
05:11without really even realising. Suddenly that can affect everything in your stroke and the way in which
05:17you stand over the ball and suddenly you can lose your confidence very quickly on the greens.
05:21Now there's a whole host of training aids out there that the pros use that help them just perfect
05:27that start line, make sure they're starting, if it's a right lip putt, they are starting the ball on
05:32exactly the right line every single time. But you don't have to necessarily use a training aid,
05:37a simple gate drill like this where the gate is just slightly wider than the ball,
05:44hit a whole host of putts, just train yourself on getting the ball through that little gate.
05:48The more often you can do that the better your start lines will be and if your start lines are
05:52good then you should, should hold a few more putts.
06:01Okay so the next one on my list relates to understanding your game. Now the pros will have
06:05a very very clear idea about where their strengths and weaknesses in their game lies. They'll have a lot
06:11of detail as well, they'll know off the tee whether they're more likely to miss right or left,
06:15they'll have an idea about all the tendencies in all the different areas of the game. So that gives
06:21them a framework for what to work on in practice but more importantly when they're out on the golf
06:25course it helps them to build a strategy. So if they know they're more likely to miss right off the
06:29tee than they are to miss left and there's bunkers down the right hand side as there are on this
06:33hole,
06:33they'll know that perhaps a strategy, either a different golf club to lay up short of them or playing away
06:39from the
06:39trouble might just get them a sort of a better score. So the question is how well do you really
06:44understand your game and even if you do understand your game are you putting the lessons you've learnt
06:49into 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.
07:02Okay so number four on my list relates to the mental game and there's no two ways about it,
07:07the pros are definitely taking the mental side of the game very very seriously. Indeed they understand
07:12just how the mind when it works for you can have a huge impact on the quality of the performances
07:18you put in on the golf course and I suspect many of you watching this will also understand just the
07:22impact the mind can have on the way in which you play. The question is are you doing those little
07:28bits of work that really train your mind to think in the best way possible and the answer to that
07:33is
07:33well possibly not there are lots of different things you can do from the way in which you practice
07:37performance practice putting yourself under pressure in practice to the way in which you
07:42sort of process every round of golf that you play. One thing that I've done over the last few years
07:47that's really worked well for me is that after every round of golf I play I get a notepad and
07:51I 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
07:56just to sort of reflect on them just to get a log of some of the best shots that I've
08:00hit I'll then
08:01go over and I'll read them over again every now and again just to remind myself some of the shots
08:05I've hit and the thought process that I had going into those shots it has actually really made a big
08:10difference to my game and so the advice here is perhaps just taking that little bit of time to
08:16think about and work on the mental side of your golf game could make a big difference in the long
08:22run
08:28now the next one on my list relates to building a very very clear vision in your mind for exactly
08:33the shot that you want to play and you need to do it on every single shot you hit on
08:37the golf course
08:38I'm sure that you probably already know that you need to do that you need to have a vision for
08:41the
08:42start point and the ball flight you're looking to achieve but do you do it on every single shot you
08:47play the pros do the pros will have a very clear idea in their minds for instance when they're chipping
08:52they'll know the sort of flight they're looking for they'll know their landing spot and they'll
08:56know what to expect in terms of how much run they're getting so you need to build that picture
09:01on every single shot you hit now this is a par five here at the London club and this is
09:06a specific
09:06scenario which is really really important because it's quite open but unless you're focused it can be
09:11very easy to hit away with shot so in this scenario I'm picking my start point which is on the
09:17the just
09:17on the right hand edge of the green bush on the left hand side just beyond the fairway
09:21and I'm looking to just hit a small fade off that bush and I'll be focusing very hard on trying
09:27to do that I'll have a picture in my mind of exactly the sort of ball flight I'm expecting it's
09:31something
09:32that Jack Nicklaus spoke about years and years ago something that he did he ran a sort of a almost
09:36like a movie vision in his mind for the shot he was looking to produce and it has a big
09:41impact because
09:41it acts as a very positive sort of mental rehearsal before you hit the shot right let's give it a
09:47go
09:53a little bit necky but it goes to show I had a very clear idea of what I was trying
09:58to do it
09:58wasn't a great swing it wasn't a great shot but the ball's on the fairway
10:11the next one on my list relates to practice and practicing in particular with a very very clear
10:15purpose in mind how many times do you go to the range or do you go to the practice ground
10:20and just start hitting balls and before you know it you've hit 40 or 50 balls and you've not really
10:25had a very clear idea in mind of what you're looking to achieve the pros are very very good
10:30about being crystal clear about what they're looking to achieve now it might be on the driving
10:35range that you're looking to improve something technically in your golf swing in which case
10:39obviously advice from a PGA pro and then going away and working with some of the drills they've
10:44given you or exercises they've given you can make a big difference other than that don't forget
10:49performance practice putting yourself under pressure in practice to help you out on the golf course
10:54can really help you and then also don't forget the short game so this is a drill
10:58that I often use I'd love to practice my short game a bit more often than I do
11:02sadly I don't and I suspect it's the same for many of you out there
11:06having a drill like this this is a I put a towel down roughly where I would expect the ball
11:10to land
11:11it's a landing zone drill so it gets me thinking about where I want to ball the the ball to
11:15pitch
11:16and giving me an idea of how far it will run with each club in my bag that can help
11:20me out on
11:21golf course become very focused on the flight the landing spot and the role all good things when
11:26you're out on the golf course so have a very clear idea in your mind about what you're trying to
11:30achieve in practice because that can make a big 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 they have
11:46caddy to help them with that so usually the caddies job but you'll find that not only with their wedges
11:50but every club in the bag really the face of every club will be clean before they hit the ball
11:55doesn't
11:55matter whether you're talking about your irons your wedges or your putter anything that gets trapped
11:59between the face and the ball will affect the outcome ultimately that's what you need to remember
12:05now the face of my wedge here you might think looks pretty clean and might be good to go but
12:09actually
12:09i can tell you right now a tour player would want to give this a good scrub would want to
12:13get some
12:14sort of brush or t-peg out to get between each of the grooves you can see how much dirt
12:18is coming up
12:19between each of the grooves and actually this is going to affect the amount of spin you get this is
12:23going to affect your control when you're chipping and the ball flight and spin that you get when you're
12:28hitting pitch shots into the green so just take a little bit of time clean the face of your club
12:32before
12:32you hit it will give you a more reliable more consistent outcome so there you have it that was our
12:37list of the nine
12:38things the pros are doing that perhaps maybe you're not i hope you found that list interesting and
12:44useful and if you do have any comments anything that you've seen the pros doing that you think
12:48could help amateurs as well please do let us know leave comments below tell us what you've seen we'll
12:53get back to as many of you as we can hopefully we can share some of this information around also
12:57please
12:57do like the video if you've liked what you've seen and hit the subscribe button to make sure that you
13:01don't miss any of our videos but for now from the london club it's goodbye
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