- 4 minutes ago
Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott look at the keys to breaking one of golf's biggest milestones - 100. Alex offers some simple guidance on how think while you are out on the course, what to practice and he also offers some practical advice on the shots you'll need to develop. These tips are designed to be simple and achievable for any golfer looking to break 100.
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00:00Hello and welcome to The London Club. Now, in this video, we have 10 top tips that are going
00:06to help you break 100. We look at everything from what clubs you have in your bag, some mental tips
00:12and how to get out of trouble. Yes, let's head out onto the golf course here at The London Club
00:16and look at our first tip on our list. The first tip on our list, number 10,
00:25is about relaxing between shots. Now, golf is, for a lot of people, myself included, quite stressful
00:30at times. I can join that club. Yes, but it's crucial that you don't get kind of caught up
00:35at trying to focus for large periods, isn't it? Yes, I mean, golf is one of them sports. We
00:40perceive there's a lot to think about over the shot and for some time, there is. It's about
00:45concentrating at the right point. Okay, so how do you do it then? How do you switch off? Because
00:49that's the key, isn't it? We've seen a trend of all top players now. They have one of their best
00:53friends on the bag or a companion on the bag, so having someone that you can relate to and talk
00:58to is key. Now, for most of us, we don't have a caddy. I don't have a caddy. But we
01:01play with our
01:01friends on the weekend, right? Yes. So having a chat with them whilst walking around from the T
01:06to the green, and then when you get close to your ball, then switch on. You're not having to
01:10concentrate for four and a half hours. You're just doing 30 to 40 second stints. I guess it's important
01:15to remember this, particularly when these signs get nervous. You've got a good score going,
01:19maybe with a few holes to go. I can imagine this shot, one of the last few holes here in
01:22your round,
01:22you've missed the rear on a par three. It's a difficult chip. You want to be fully concentrated
01:26on it. Yeah, you could have been thinking about it for five minutes while you're walking here.
01:29It's maybe not a great preparation. No, definitely not.
01:32Yeah, so a really simple tip. Try and focus when you need to and relax when you don't need to
01:36be concentrating.
01:41So the next tip for golfers looking to break 100 is to avoid three putting. Okay, we all do it.
01:47It
01:47doesn't matter what handicap you are. Everyone does it. But Alex, what do you think the mistakes are
01:51that cost people in this scenario? I think when we get to a distance like we've got now, we just
01:57sort of go on to the green. Oh, yeah, it's about this. Hit the putt away. A bit of autopilot
02:02comes
02:02into play. Yes. So we've put up some alignment sticks around the flag. And what are you trying to
02:07do then from here? All I want you to focus on is getting it inside that bin lid, that three
02:12foot range,
02:13where actually we make our next putt as stress-free as possible. Okay, go on then. So
02:19so this is a little bit uphill, right to left. So now I'm aiming a little bit right of the
02:24hole.
02:24I'm trying to dye it into that space. I always picture that ball dying near the hole,
02:29not accelerating too far past. Yeah, okay.
02:37Perfect. And if you can, I mean, this just shows you that if you can get the pace right,
02:40the odd one will drop in the hole. But the crucial point is scenarios like this,
02:45make them stress-free, get it down in two, you'll keep the score ticking over.
02:53Tip number eight is so important, and it's about developing a fairway finder. So every golf course
02:59you'll ever play, there will be holes on that course that you don't fancy the look of off the
03:03tee. You're worried about losing the ball off the tee, or you're just worried about hitting a bad shot.
03:07So every golfer needs to find a fairway finder. Yeah. How do you do it, Alex?
03:11I think there's sort of two scenarios we can look at here. Doing it with a driver, preferably. Now,
03:16if you're not comfortable with driver, finding a club, like maybe a fairway would, that allows you
03:21to hit that fairway and you've got more confidence. But I guess the main thing is, is just going the
03:25range,
03:26finding a swing with some nice rhythm, with a club that gives you a repeatable shot.
03:31Okay. So what are you going to do?
03:32Well, I'm going down that route of, I think most golfers have a bit of a love-hate relationship
03:37with driver, but their fairway would, their five would, their three would, it's probably something
03:41that they get on with more often than not. Just because it's a bit shorter, a bit more loft.
03:45Okay. So what's the swing thought that you would have when you're on a fairway, like a hole like
03:49this, bunkers everywhere, tricky shot. What's the fairway finding swing for you?
03:53I just put my seven iron rhythm on it. Okay.
03:56So for me, getting good rhythm gives me a better chance of squaring that face. With driver,
04:02I'm more prone to giving it a bit of a welly. Yes.
04:05So rhythm is key and don't overcomplicate it too much. Most people, if you're balanced through the shot,
04:11you're going to hit a better shot than if you're unbalanced.
04:13Okay. Well, show us your seven iron rhythm then, would you?
04:15So I'll have two practice swings. One, two. Most people are comfortable with seven iron right.
04:25And we're in, account for the wind a little bit off the left today, and then put that rhythm on.
04:34Yeah, very good. I think, actually, it doesn't really matter what the club is or what the swing
04:39thought is, but the key thing is you need to practice it. You need to go to the range,
04:43you need to groove it so that when you are stood in a position like this, it's not alien,
04:48it's not new to you. You've done it before, you've repeated it,
04:51and then you might just produce a shot like that one.
04:57So this one is about bag setup and the clubs that you choose to carry. Alex,
05:01what's the advice here for people? I think really nice and simple. I prefer
05:05most golfers to carry a five wood over a three wood, a little bit more loft, a little bit shorter
05:09club,
05:10and then hybrids over long irons, just a little bit more forgiving.
05:14Yeah, I mean, it's that simple. If you can do those things, you should find a setup that's
05:18just that bit more forgiving, that's going to let you get away with the odd dodgy swing
05:22and not going to cost you too much while you're out on the course.
05:29Okay, so number six on our list is about pressure and how you handle pressure on the golf course.
05:34It's something that we all need to do. It might well be that the first tee shot's incredibly
05:38nerve-wracking, but then there's also going to be holes like this one. This is the ninth
05:43hole here at the Heritage Course at London Club, really tough par four.
05:46And you might want to go for your fairway finder, Alex, we've already discussed, but equally you might
05:50want to just hit driver because it's such a tough hole. In this scenario, when you need to do it
05:55most,
05:56what can we do to hit a good shot? That's the golden nugget, isn't it?
05:59Yeah. Well, I mean, if we're looking to break 100, right, this scenario here, we're probably going
06:03to have two shots, so that's going to hopefully calm us down a little bit. But the key thing here
06:08is,
06:08it's not just to pick your club rush and just get it over and done with because you don't feel
06:12comfortable. Yes, which I have definitely done in my past, for sure. Yeah, and if we actually look
06:17at golf, we want to be in scenarios where we're playing good golf and we're not feeling comfortable,
06:21because that means we're doing something different. We're playing well, right? Right, okay.
06:23So I want you to think about aiming really small. So if you aim really at a small target rather
06:28than
06:29just a general fairway, if you just miss a small target by a little bit, you're still going to be
06:33okay. So we're going to talk later in this video about how to aim, but in this particular scenario,
06:37what are you aiming at and what's your kind of miss, I guess? So for example here, trouble looks to
06:44be
06:44more left. So I'm going to take something that's a very small target to the right of the trouble.
06:48Okay. So I'm going to hone really in small. So if I take this tree straight down, I've got the
06:54one
06:54that sticks up a little bit more, I'm going to use that. I know if I miss just a little
06:57bit left,
06:58I'm okay, but equally if I miss just a little bit right, I'm still okay as well. Okay, so aim
07:02small,
07:03miss small, still end up on the fairway. Exactly, exactly. Let's see if it works, Alex. Here we go.
07:15Bingo, slight cut off that mark, middle of the fairway, no trouble. Aiming small,
07:19it really is very important and it could help you in a scenario like this.
07:27This one is all about club selection and I think, Alex, we've chosen this particular hole here at the
07:33London Club for a very good reason. So we've got water short of the green and most golfers would
07:38know in this scenario to do what? Take one club more, avoid going short. Yes, and the problem
07:43is that how often do you take the same approach on holes where there isn't water short, but there
07:47is other trouble like bunkers or other things that might be short of the green? Well, where do most
07:51club golfers finish even on a good strike? Short, right? Yes. So they don't take that advice. So
07:56like what we're saying here is think that you're always in a scenario like this, like there's water
08:00short or the trouble short, put the bunker in the same category, take one more club and make sure you're
08:08the front of the green, which is the kind of the big mistake I think a lot of players make.
08:12Exactly.
08:12So Alex, you've got 153 and you would usually hit? Seven iron usually. So I will look for your six
08:20iron.
08:20There you go. Thank you. Now, being a pro, I expect this to finish close to the flag. I feel
08:26a bit of
08:26pressure and even this is a tough one, the wind into as well, you might have to adjust that even
08:30further
08:30sometimes. Lovely contact. Very good shot. But has it made the green? Yes, pin high.
08:47So number four on our list is developing the punch shot, being able to hit a shot when you're in
08:52a
08:52scenario like this. Yeah. How do you play it? So essentially, if we want the ball to go lower,
08:57we need to lower the loft of our club. So use less loft, lower the loft of our club at
09:02impact and hit
09:03down on it more. That's going to lower the launch. Okay. So, okay. Set up to the ball then. Explain
09:08to me what you do. So how I would do with this is I would put the ball towards the
09:12back of my stance.
09:12That allows me to hit down it more. I'd grip down on it. Now with that ball going towards the
09:17back of
09:18my stance, that's going to encourage a bit more forward shuffling, taking some loft off the club. Now,
09:22all I want you to feel is you're going to keep your weight left throughout and just make a bit
09:26of a
09:27slower swing. And I always like to feel it's more of like a tailed follow through with my chest pointing
09:32to target rather than this nice full follow through on a full shot. Okay, go on then. Let's have a
09:38look at
09:38it. So this is a real toughy actually, because we're not too far from the green. So I've gone eight
09:42iron and I'm trying to picture that ball flying through this window here, down and running up.
09:47Yeah. So ball back, hands forward, grip down.
09:55Well, it clipped the tree, but as Alex said, it's a really tricky shot. And I think the key thing
10:00is
10:01often in a scenario like this, the punch shot is really important, but it's about getting
10:05yourself back into play. So not trying to do too much with it. Just get yourself back in the game
10:10and then take it from there. The punch shot is a really important shot for golfers, no matter what
10:15their handicap. Okay. So number three on our list, it's a simple one, but it's so important. It's
10:24knowing exactly how to aim the club. Alex, what's the advice here?
10:28I mean, what I think is, is always coming to the range and pressing the reset button occasionally,
10:33where you can get into bad habits that creep in a time off the time of aiming a little bit
10:38right
10:38or a little bit left. And there's nothing worse, is there, right? Ripping a swing, feeling an amazing
10:42swing out the middle and the ball is just sailing in the wrong direction. Yeah. And I guess the point
10:47here is that if you aim wrong, then suddenly your swing path is out and you can get other faults
10:51that creep into the game. So it really is important to get this right. Yeah. So how do you do
10:56it?
10:56So I always have a bit of a process. I always come to the range and I'll place one alignment
11:01stick
11:01down first. That's my ball to target line. So we've chosen this red flag down here. I would then put
11:06my feet line, which runs parallel to that. Now this is getting me to have two parallel lines on the
11:11golf
11:12course. If we're drawing or fading, we would slightly aim different to that, but use this
11:16as like a coming back to neutral reset button. So now I can stand over here. I've also used the
11:23line
11:23of a ball to extend that line, address the ball, make sure everything's neutral. And you know what?
11:30It might feel like you're aiming a bit left or it might feel like you're aiming now a bit right,
11:33but it's getting both target line, then shoulders, feet, hips, and knees running parallel.
11:38Yeah. Take pride in getting this part right. If you do, it will definitely pay off.
11:47Okay. So number two on our list is to have two different short game shots up your sleeve. Two
11:53that you feel really comfortable with. One, Alex is a chip and run. You'll be able to find advice
11:57on how to hit the chip and run on the Golf Monthly website. Alex, I'm sure you'll have some content
12:00on
12:01your YouTube channel about how to do it. But we're now going to look at how to hit a bunker
12:04shot,
12:05because this is so important. You're going to face it. Yeah. A lot of golfers struggle with it.
12:09So give us a tip, Alex. So first thing, choose your most lofted club. I tend to buy wedges that
12:15have a lot of bouts. This helps the club sort of glide through the sand. Also, I think it's all
12:20to do with setup, really. If we set up to this club correctly, we've got a better chance of hitting
12:24it good. So nice, quickly here and simple. Dig your feet in. We've got ball position, a club head
12:30inside a left heel. You want to then grip it with the face open, sit down and left. And all
12:36I want
12:36you to do is feel like you're sliding that club underneath it with some speed. Okay. Go on then.
12:42Just like that.
12:48Yeah. And you'll notice, I mean, Alex has swung at that really quite hard. It's just popped it
12:52straight up into the air. Loads of control, not gone very far. It's the simple way to do it,
12:57but it does take some practice. Put some time into it. It will really pay off.
13:05Okay. So our number one top tip for breaking 100, Alex, is to break the round up into small
13:12segments. Explain what people should be doing here. I mean, most people who are trying to break 100,
13:17they'll go out there going, right, okay, well, I've got to do this and this on each nine. And that
13:21whole focus is coming to that end score. So breaking that round into six sets of three,
13:26you can set your little self a target on those sets, reset after one, go on the next.
13:32Right. Okay. So it might well be that you look at the first three holes and think
13:35they're three of the hardest holes on the golf course, try to get away from there,
13:38no more than four over par or something. Exactly like that. But also equally, if you have
13:43a bad set of three, don't let that impact the nine holes. Because most people go,
13:47oh, I'll reset after the ninth. We'll start again on the 10th. Yeah. Reset after three,
13:51start again. But equally, if you have a good set of three, don't get too far ahead of yourself
13:55and start trying to chase it even more. Yeah. So managing a score across 18 holes,
13:59it's a lot to do. Managing the same score over three hole chunks is much more achievable.
14:05Give it a go. Okay. So that's our look at our top 10 tips to break 100. Breaking 100 is
14:10such an
14:11important barrier that so many golfers are looking to get through. If you can just do a few of those
14:16things
14:16that Alex said, not many of them very technical, all of them really, really useful. They should
14:21really help. If you think there's anything that we've missed, that you have used in the past that
14:25really helped you, leave some comments below. We'd love to hear your thoughts. But that's it for now
14:29from The London Club. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
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