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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00:00 Hello everyone and welcome to this Golf Month video where I'm going to be talking about 11
00:03 things that all golfers forget to do out on course. Now I'm not talking about forgetting
00:08 your 5-iron or leaving your trolley battery at home, I'm talking about tactical things
00:13 that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist before
00:18 every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out of your game.
00:23 I'm at the very blustery West Hill today, let's get started.
00:27 Do you warm up properly before each round of golf? I think this is a massive thing that loads
00:35 of golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will suffer for it.
00:40 Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but even if it's 10 minutes of
00:44 putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind of warm-up will really help
00:49 your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and play better golf for it. So
00:53 another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in the middle of a round is use a
00:58 little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great example in front of me here on the
01:02 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although I'm close to the green there's too much
01:06 water on the ground but there's also nothing for me to go over so why would I need to take
01:10 my lob wedge or my sand wedge a much higher tariff shot in this situation.
01:14 You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree
01:21 I'm more likely to shank it or thin it because it's a high tariff shot.
01:24 What I think a lot of golfers need to do is use a little bit less loft,
01:28 taking time around these chips, I've got an eight iron here
01:31 and hit a lower tariff shot, almost just put a putting stroke on this
01:36 and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort, I need to practice it a little bit more
01:44 but I think taking less loft around the green is a much better idea.
01:47 Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the course
01:52 is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind I've got
01:57 to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case you're not going to hit the ball that far
02:01 anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often.
02:05 Great example here today on the second at West Hill we're into wind I've got the big dog out
02:10 I'd normally want to hit this as hard as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going
02:13 to swing a little bit slower just try and get a bit of strike on it get myself down the fairway
02:18 so I'm going to swing this as easy as I can and away it goes not my finest hit a bit cutty
02:29 but into wind on a day like today not too disappointed with that so remember into wind
02:33 swing a little bit slower. Right so another thing I think golfers forget all too much when they're
02:38 out on the golf course is not going every single pin. There are loads of sucker pins out there
02:43 and if you find yourself short side of these you're going to really struggle to make up and
02:47 down. Start going for the center of the green more often and there'll be other pins you can go at
02:52 later in the round. I've got a good example here at the first at West Hill where the pin is in the
02:56 middle but it's really far to the left so the last thing I want to do is aim at it go left of it and
03:02 find myself in that in that trap or left of that trap where I'm never going to make up and down.
03:06 So on this hole I'm going to almost take my medicine aim at the center of the green
03:10 hopefully get my two putt walk on to the next one let's see how I do.
03:14 Make sure I am nice and central I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this this
03:18 is a good pin for me but I'm going to stay nice and central.
03:21 I did hit the little fade and I got away with one it wasn't my greatest strike a little bit thin
03:32 because I am middle knowing my shot shape I knew I couldn't go too far wrong.
03:36 So don't get suckered into those pins play for the center of the green
03:40 two putt and attack those pins later in the round.
03:42 Ah right that brings me on to my next thing that golfers forget when they're out on the course
03:54 it's to take every shot as seriously as the last. Now I got a little bit angry myself there leaving
04:00 that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the next putt and I've missed it I've cost
04:04 myself another shot. Now it's easy to do this when the red mist descends I've done it loads
04:09 of times myself I'm sure you have at home but it's really important that throughout the round
04:14 you remind yourself not to get too angry that every single shot matters. We'll do this on the
04:19 fairway every now and again as well if you duff one straight in front of you you'll just take the
04:23 same club hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and the same thing might happen. So after
04:29 a bad shot take your time remind yourself that every shot matters and hopefully that will save
04:34 a few shots on the course. Right so another mistake I think lots of golfers make is taking
04:38 their driver off the tee when they don't need to. Now across this video you might think I'm a bit
04:43 overly defensive on the golf course feel free to let me know in the comments if I am and if I'm
04:47 horribly wrong on this but I think on a hole like this got the 12th through at West Hill
04:51 273 it's playing today a little bit downwind I probably could hit the green with my driver if
04:55 I really liked it but there's all sorts in the way there's bunkers there's trees it's times like
05:00 this I think a lot of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play something like
05:03 this a hybrid a driving iron a long iron anything just to pop yourself in play leave yourself a
05:09 nice number in so I'm gonna leave that driver to one side there I've got my trusty four hybrid here
05:13 and it should just be the easiest swing to put myself in position
05:16 a bit like that on the first take as well might I add so I think a lot of golfers need to think
05:27 a lot more carefully on the course about when they're using their driver use it in the right
05:30 situations and on shorter par fours play for position okay so you join me here on the 12th
05:35 and after I was just telling you about playing for position not taking your driver too often
05:40 I found myself out of position a very short par four so I'm not best pleased and that brings on
05:44 to the next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course and that is to stay calm
05:50 I think if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save at least I think two shots
05:54 around especially if you're a bit of an angrier golfer you know you won't hit the angry chip or
05:58 the angry putt when your head's not in the right space now I know there's nothing worse than someone
06:02 else telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse effect but I think if you can
06:06 check yourself out on course remind yourself to stay calm it's a really important thing to remember
06:11 throughout the entire round while I'm here another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey is your
06:16 friend and it is more often than not it's not a card killer and while it's not a great score
06:20 it's not going to ruin your entire round now obviously I'm hoping to make a par from here
06:24 I'm not going to say I'm not you know I do want to try and make up and down but I'm going to remind
06:28 myself if I don't come off here with a par a bogey is okay and I'm not going to get too angry and the
06:33 bogey is my friend it's not a double it's not something worse so stay calm bogey is my friend
06:39 and whatever I hit here I'm not going to get too wound up about it
06:42 and I hit a good shot so I've got a look at par if I get a bogey it's okay
06:48 so two things stay calm bogey's your friend okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make
06:53 is not playing for position on par fives now I know we've already spoken about not taking driver
06:58 all the time I don't want to come over as overly defensive on the golf course but I think every
07:02 now and again we need to look at a par five for what it is take a bit less club and score a little
07:08 bit better for it I think in the majority uh example here 17th at Westhill I've hit my Sunday
07:13 best drive here pretty pretty pleased with myself but it's into wind we've got trouble left there's
07:17 trouble right should I really be trying to hit a three wood to get to this green that's barely in
07:21 reach probably not so so take the situation to account on par fives but I think a seven iron
07:27 is the play here so away with the three words I'm just going to play hopefully I have about
07:32 100 yards left in something like that with just an easy seven iron
07:35 not my best but not my worst should just be a little wedge in from there and I'm not going
07:45 to make anything worse than a par there whereas if my three went left or right anything could
07:49 have happened so I think playing for position on par fives when the situation warrants it
07:53 is really important so one major thing I think loads of golfers forget to do is take a little
07:58 bit more club when the conditions warrant it so I'm talking about heavy wind like it is today
08:03 colder temperatures and even consider when you're not striking the ball that well I don't think
08:08 enough of us adapt to that mid-round so really think you know on the ninth hole halfway through
08:12 your round what's the wind like today how am I striking it should I attack the back nine with
08:16 a little bit more club now I'm criminal for this as well I'm going to flash up some data from one
08:21 of my recent rounds my r-cost data which shows I missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round not
08:26 my not my finest round and they were all short all 10 were short and that's because it was a windy
08:31 day it was a little bit cold and as you can see I wasn't hitting the ball that well what I didn't do
08:35 was take into account temperature the way I was striking the ball that day which wasn't very good
08:39 and the fact it was really really windy so I was ending up short a lot of the time missing
08:44 all my greens in regulation and my scoring suffered for it so when you're out on course
08:48 think about all those conditions re-evaluate midway through a round and don't forget to take
08:52 more club right the final thing that golfers forget to do when they're out on course and
08:56 you've probably heard it before and you're gonna hear it again from me is to take your medicine
09:01 playing partners would have said it coaches would have said it to you you've probably told this
09:04 yourself when you've hit a bad shot but it's something we forget every now and again as we're
09:08 trying to chase that score out on course I've got a great example of it here at the second at West
09:12 Hill that gap in that trees it was quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn to Tiger
09:17 Woods for this shot but I've got to carry it over the heather I've got to go below this tree through
09:23 that gap it's a very high tariff shot and for not that much gain a chip out would make a lot more
09:28 sense so I'm going to show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine when you try
09:31 and take one on class bonks into the tree there it goes in the heather what I should have done
09:40 and I'll show you with this ball it's come way out to the left all that fairway over there take
09:46 your medicine and I'm going to go and try and make a par now so I'm going to say it one more time
09:52 take your medicine help you score out don't think you're Tiger Woods so there you have it those are
09:57 the 11 things that I think all golfers forget to do out on course as I said at the top of this video
10:03 consider this your checklist to remind yourself before every round of golf and I'm thinking
10:07 you'll save at least a couple of shots per round if you follow those rules are there any I've
10:11 forgotten are there any mistakes that you commonly make out on course that you know you do but you
10:15 forget halfway through a round let me know down in the comments I'd love to hear what you have to
10:19 say but for now thank you very much for joining me I'll see you next time