6 Golf Tips

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Transcript
00:00 - Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly
00:02 and welcome to this video in which we are gonna take a look
00:05 at six golf tips you should ignore.
00:08 These tend to be the things that amateurs say
00:10 to other amateurs and they can actually do you
00:12 more harm than good.
00:14 Right, let's head out onto the golf course here at Fox Hills,
00:17 take a look at the six golf tips you should ignore.
00:19 (upbeat music)
00:22 Okay, so we're joined by Alex again
00:26 and Alex, the first one on the list
00:28 is about the position of your left elbow in the golf swing.
00:32 Explain to me what it is that people get told here.
00:35 - There's a lot of talk where we've gotta keep
00:37 this left elbow straight and left arm straight
00:39 and now, okay, there may be reasons why
00:42 we actually bend the left elbow due to grip
00:44 but if we just look at it just as a whole and saying,
00:47 I don't think there should be so much pressure
00:49 on keeping the left arm straight.
00:50 - Okay, so can I just play devil's advocate here
00:54 for a second?
00:55 You don't wanna be in a position where
00:57 you're in that position then?
00:58 - No, no.
01:00 - So there is some truth to this,
01:01 that you shouldn't be in that position there.
01:03 Why is that not a good position to be in?
01:05 - Ultimately, it's gonna create a very inconsistent
01:08 bottom of the arc.
01:09 Now, any time I see a motion like this,
01:11 I tend to kinda classify people that may be
01:13 a little bit scoopy into the golf ball
01:15 but the thing with this, look at Jordan Spieth,
01:18 he was a world number one, master's winner.
01:22 He is what we kinda classify as slightly bent at the top.
01:25 - Okay, so what's an okay position
01:27 to be in at the top there?
01:28 - So, what I would say is we don't wanna feel like
01:30 we're locked out because that's really gonna limit
01:33 our rotation.
01:33 Any time that we feel like we concentrate on
01:36 trying to keep that straight,
01:37 we start to create a lot of tension through the whole body.
01:40 - Right, fine.
01:40 - Any time we create tension, it's hard to create rhythm,
01:42 it's hard to create a good consistent swing.
01:44 So even when I swing is, and as I come to the top,
01:47 I would never be locked out, I would never be at 90 degrees
01:50 but I would have a slight kink in my arm.
01:53 - Yeah.
01:53 - Just be relaxed.
01:54 - Yeah, I guess this is one for anyone out there
01:56 that's really getting a bit too focused
01:59 on keeping this very straight.
02:00 - Yes, exactly.
02:01 - And it all can become very mechanical
02:02 and sort of lacking in that kind of free-flowing movement
02:06 that you're looking for.
02:07 - Exactly, and if we look at Ernie Els, Jordan Spieth,
02:09 all free-flowing movements, we're not stood here
02:12 like a mechanical robot, really focusing on this
02:14 because our focus is on this then, not the shot in hand.
02:17 - Yeah, so there you have it.
02:18 Don't worry too much about keeping this elbow
02:20 perfectly straight during the golf swing.
02:22 (upbeat music)
02:25 - So for the next one, as you can see,
02:29 we are on the putting green.
02:30 And Alex, again, another tip that you'll hear
02:33 people give to each other, which is that you've got to
02:36 keep your wrists really locked down,
02:38 you have a repeatable, consistent putting stroke.
02:41 But actually, again, it's a thought
02:42 that can do more harm than good, why?
02:44 - Exactly, well, imagine you're gonna address the ball
02:47 on the floor there, if you feel the wrists are locked,
02:49 straight away we're gonna get tension in the arms,
02:51 tension in the shoulders, and it becomes a very wooden,
02:54 no-flowing motion.
02:57 Now, there are techniques where we potentially
02:59 get the arm in an arm lock, and we do create it
03:02 to be locked out.
03:03 So putting's very individual to you,
03:05 and if you're using that kind of grip,
03:07 then that's okay for that technique.
03:09 - Yes, but otherwise, for most of us,
03:11 who aren't using an arm lock grip,
03:12 actually you want a little bit of freedom in your wrist.
03:15 - We look at Jack Nicklaus, one of the best putters,
03:18 best short game, having that flow, even feeling,
03:22 I'm not saying flick it, but a little bit
03:24 of giving the lead wrist, it's gonna help you
03:26 develop feel, it's gonna help you longer putts,
03:28 shorter putts, and just overall help you flow.
03:31 - But as you say, you don't wanna flick it.
03:33 'Cause I guess the truth, again, there's always
03:35 an element of truth behind all of these, isn't there?
03:37 And the truth is, you see a lot of players,
03:39 when they get into that position there,
03:41 they kind of do all of the work
03:43 by flicking the wrist of the ball.
03:45 And why is that not a good idea?
03:47 - Almost gonna hit up on the ball,
03:48 we're gonna hit above the equator,
03:50 we could put the face left, put the face right.
03:52 So what I would tend to give as my advice
03:55 if I was holding it a more traditional way,
03:57 is that we want a motion that's driven
04:00 mainly by the arms and the body,
04:01 and very little with the wrist.
04:03 So if I make this motion here,
04:05 you wouldn't stick out that I'm flicking
04:08 the golf ball club.
04:09 But I have an element of softness to my wrist.
04:12 And that's what I want you to have,
04:13 the element of softness, almost like
04:15 you're squeezing a tube of toothpaste.
04:17 - Yeah, so just that little bit of,
04:19 I guess you could call this a little bit of lag actually,
04:21 in your wrist, it's gonna help the freedom of your stroke,
04:24 the flow of your stroke, ultimately improve
04:25 your overall consistency on the greens.
04:28 Okay, so the next one on our list relates to lag.
04:36 And it's something that a lot of amateurs
04:38 go in search of, because they know
04:40 that it's kind of that secret ingredient
04:42 that delivers more power.
04:43 But why is lag itself something that players
04:46 should sort of not be so worried about searching for?
04:49 - I think it's a dangerous topic for most people.
04:52 It can, for me, cause them to stiffen up,
04:55 point the face right at target,
04:57 and really become very obsessed in creating a move
05:00 that looks very false in rehearsal.
05:03 Now there are essence in saying that,
05:04 okay, we've gotta kind of create the opposite scenario
05:07 to what we've got.
05:08 But I would say for most people,
05:10 if you look at you've got a good grip,
05:12 good body movement, good sequencing,
05:14 that will help you create lag.
05:16 - Okay, fine.
05:17 - Rather than going searching for it directly.
05:19 - So don't be led down the path
05:21 of thinking it's this kind of magic,
05:23 you know, little single thing that you can do
05:25 that's gonna deliver more power.
05:27 - Exactly, we're not saying it's not important, it is.
05:29 But being too focused on it can be the wrong avenue for you.
05:32 - Okay, go on then, hit one for us, Alex.
05:34 - Okay.
05:35 - Okay, lovely shot.
05:44 And I think we'll show that again
05:46 from the sort of square on angle.
05:47 You'll be able to see that Alex creates lag
05:49 in his golf swing, but he does it
05:51 through a whole host of other things that are working well.
05:53 Trying to focus purely on delivering that lag
05:56 is probably not the right way to go.
05:58 Okay, so the next one on our list
06:05 relates to chipping, Alex, what is it?
06:08 - So I always hear this,
06:09 especially when we're trying to create
06:11 a bit of spin around the greens.
06:13 Put the ball back, get the hands forward,
06:15 hit down the golf ball.
06:17 I was told that as a junior.
06:18 - Yeah, I was actually taught that
06:20 as being the right way to chip.
06:22 - I mean, there probably are times and scenarios
06:24 where we probably want to adopt a similar technique for that
06:27 but sometimes by putting that ball back
06:29 and the hands forward, all we're doing there
06:31 is exposing that leading edge and it's gonna dig.
06:34 - And you're gonna potentially duff it,
06:36 which is something that I am very familiar with, Alex.
06:39 So if that's not the right technique for chipping,
06:41 what is the right technique?
06:42 - Well, I like to make sure the ball
06:44 is a little bit more central.
06:45 So the rule of thumb that I use is my stance,
06:48 I like to have just a wide of a clubbed width apart
06:51 and if the chip becomes a little bit longer,
06:53 I get a little bit wider accordingly.
06:55 Ball position, just on my zip or just the right of my zip
06:59 and then from there, hands on the golf ball
07:01 because now we've got an opportunity to display some loft
07:04 and hit slightly down on it,
07:06 which is a good recipe for creating spin.
07:07 - And crucially, you're gonna be employing
07:09 a bit more of the bounce of the golf club
07:11 so the clubs can just glide off the top of the turf.
07:13 - Exactly, you've got a much more margin for error.
07:14 So in the winter, when you're chipping
07:16 or it's a bit of a wet lie, a bit of a bad lie,
07:18 you've got a bigger margin for error.
07:19 - No, you've just put yourself under a bit of pressure there
07:21 because it is winter here, it is very wet underfoot.
07:25 This is a real prime scenario for duffing it, isn't it?
07:28 And that's exactly why you shouldn't have the ball
07:29 back in your stance and your hands forward.
07:31 - Exactly.
07:32 - So yeah, show us how it's done, Alex.
07:33 - Okay, no pressure.
07:35 - Well, it just grabbed on you there,
07:42 but as you can see, absolutely no danger
07:45 that that club was gonna dig
07:46 and that Alex was gonna duff that one.
07:48 That's not your best, Alex.
08:00 Now, if we were playing golf, in that scenario,
08:03 I might be tempted to say to you,
08:05 just slow it down a bit because it looked a bit ragged.
08:08 - Yes, yeah, it looked a little bit off balance, I guess.
08:11 But actually, it's a tip, again,
08:13 it's a tip that gets handed from one amateur to the next
08:15 that might not be that useful.
08:18 - Now, if we look at the top players in the world,
08:20 they're trying to swing the club as fast as they can.
08:23 It's all about distance in the modern game.
08:25 So I'm really reluctant to tell someone to slow it down.
08:28 I'm more bothered about the tempo of the swing.
08:31 - Okay, fine.
08:32 - So my speed might be the same as yours,
08:34 but we have slightly different tempo
08:35 in how we go about it.
08:36 - Okay, fine.
08:37 So that begs the question, how do you work on tempo?
08:40 Tempo is one of those things, isn't it,
08:42 that you either have one day or you don't.
08:44 - Yeah, so the analogy that I like to use,
08:46 and I use this on the course as well,
08:48 so not just in my practice,
08:49 I imagine a rev counter that works
08:51 from transition down to the golf ball,
08:54 so on the downswing.
08:55 - Okay.
08:56 - So a lot of people, like that swing there,
08:58 would have looked like the high peak
08:59 and the high revs in your car
09:01 were really early in the downswing.
09:02 - Right, at the top, almost.
09:03 - Exactly.
09:04 I want you to feel like you build up to that,
09:07 so we're peaking our revs just before impact.
09:10 - Yeah, and I guess it's the reason why
09:12 many of the world's best players,
09:13 they look like they swing the club quite easy,
09:17 but they hit the ball very hard.
09:19 - Yeah.
09:20 - Because actually they don't get speed
09:21 until they really need it most.
09:22 - I mean, Ernie Owls, as soon as I think rhythm and tempo,
09:25 he comes straight to my mind.
09:26 - Yeah, so next time someone says to you,
09:28 ah, I think you might need to slow it down,
09:30 just check yourself and think,
09:32 actually, it's tempo, it's a smoother tempo that I need.
09:35 That might just help you straighten things out,
09:37 hit better shots.
09:38 (upbeat music)
09:41 - Okay, so Alex, I'd say the number one thing
09:45 that you hear amateurs say to other amateurs
09:47 that pros really don't like is,
09:50 keep your head down.
09:52 - Yeah.
09:52 - You know, you've hit a bad shot there,
09:54 or you lifted your head.
09:55 - Especially when you see a top shot.
09:56 I hear that all the time.
09:57 - Yes, you hear it all the time.
09:59 Why is that unhelpful advice?
10:02 - Just in terms of, if we look at how we wanna work
10:05 through the golf ball, we want to be very rotary
10:07 through the golf ball.
10:08 Now, to help us do that, the chin has to lift.
10:12 We have to start looking towards the target.
10:14 - Yeah, I mean, take a look at the way
10:16 that Henrik Stenson swings the golf club,
10:17 or the way that Anna Kosorenstam hit the ball.
10:20 Both of them, through impact, their head would be
10:22 at kind of that angle, wouldn't it?
10:24 - Exactly, so what I would say is,
10:26 any time that we are trying to keep our head down,
10:29 is what the tip that we hear,
10:30 this is really limiting our ability
10:33 to swing through and rotate.
10:35 We're using club head speed,
10:36 and it's gonna do more harm than good,
10:38 'cause that face could be pointing left and right,
10:40 because we're really relying on our hand-eye coordination
10:43 to time it.
10:44 - Now, Alex, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here,
10:46 and say there is an element of truth
10:48 to don't lift your head.
10:50 And that element of truth is that you don't want people
10:54 to lose their posture, their spine angle.
10:56 You don't want someone to kind of lift up,
10:58 or I guess you'd less see people dipping down.
11:02 Is that true, is that fair?
11:03 - Yeah, that's the kind of, I think where it kind of
11:05 gets a little bit led down the wrong avenue
11:08 when we say lift our head.
11:10 In an ideal world, I like to think of the goal swing,
11:12 we get light, we get heavy, and we get light.
11:15 But through doing this, our head roughly stays
11:18 around the same position.
11:20 We never wanna see too many changing levels.
11:22 - Yeah, okay, well, hit one for us then, Alex,
11:25 we can see what you mean.
11:25 - So what I try and feel is, in terms of trying to get me,
11:28 to get my head to move towards target,
11:30 I try and imagine I'm gonna follow the spots
11:32 on the golf ball down to target.
11:34 - Okay, good.
11:35 (upbeat music)
11:37 - Lovely, so there you have it.
11:42 Don't focus too hard on keeping your head down
11:45 during the golf swing.
11:45 Chances are, if you're hitting bad shots,
11:47 it's not because you're not looking
11:48 at the ball through impact, it'll be something different.
11:51 Hopefully Alex's tip will show you what to do.
11:53 So there you have it, that's our list
11:54 of the six golf tips you should ignore.
11:57 Guys, please do leave some comments below.
11:59 Is there anything that you think we've missed?
12:01 Any tips that you've been given in the past
12:03 that have actually done you more harm
12:04 than good, we'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.
12:07 But for now, thanks for watching.
12:09 We'll see you next time.
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