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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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to this video in which
00:08we are looking at the nine things that pros are doing that maybe, just maybe, you're not.
00:14These are all things that 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.
00:22Those little tips and tricks that could make a big difference to your game if you start
00:26doing 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.
00:32Hit the like button if you like what you're watching and also, tell us, have you seen
00:36the pros doing anything that you've tried that's really worked for you and your game?
00:40We would be interested to hear any ideas that you've got.
00:43But let's head out now onto the golf course here at the London Club and find out what
00:47the nine things that pros are doing that perhaps you're not.
00:51Okay, so the first one on my list relates to warming up.
00:58Now I appreciate this isn't the most exciting topic in the world and I'm sure that everyone
01:02out there knows it's important to warm up before they play golf.
01:05But how many of you out there warm up before you go to the range or you go to the practice
01:09ground?
01:10I suspect the answer to that is not many.
01:13You often, me included, get to the driving range, do a few simple stretches like this,
01:18a little bit of that, and then start hitting shots.
01:20And that can cause you problems.
01:21It can cause you problems because the first few shots that you hit, you might fat and
01:25that sets the tone for the practice session.
01:27What you'll find with the pros is that they will do their stretching before they get to
01:31the practice ground.
01:32They'll do it in the changing room or they'll do it in the physio truck so that by the time
01:35they get to the driving range or the practice ground, they are ready to hit balls.
01:40They are ready to sort of strike the ball cleanly and build up pace from their most
01:43lofted club up through the bag.
01:45So take a small leaf out of the book of the pros, do a little bit of stretching before
01:50you even arrive on the practice ground, and that can make a big difference to your session
01:54as a whole.
01:55It can make sure that right from the first ball to the last, you're warm, you're ready
01:58to go, and your body is working exactly how you want it to.
02:15So the next one on my list relates to pitching and something the pros don't tend to do.
02:20The pros will very, very rarely hit a flat out pitch with their most lofted club in the
02:25bag.
02:26The reason for that is that if you're making a full swing at a short shot with your most
02:31lofted club, you're going to be creating a lot of speed down by the ball.
02:34Speed means backspin and backspin means more flight.
02:37And for the pros, that is something that takes control away from them.
02:41Remember, this part of the game is all about precision, and in order to be as precise as
02:46possible, you need to be able to control the trajectory.
02:49Often when the pros talk about hitting a full pitch with their most lofted club in the bag,
02:53they're only ever really hitting the ball at 80 or 90 percent.
02:56They're never really going at it flat out 100 percent.
02:59By taking just a little bit of pace off the swing, they're able to create more control
03:04over the ball flight, and ultimately, that helps them hit the ball closer from inside
03:09100 yards.
03:12Okay, so one thing the pros do brilliantly well is whenever they're building a strategy
03:20for a hole, they will have a very clear idea in their minds of where they absolutely cannot
03:25miss.
03:26Now, to give you an idea of exactly that thought process, this is the 11th hole here on the
03:31Heritage course at the London Club, and the number one place you cannot hit it on this
03:37hole is in the trouble over the back.
03:40There is all sorts of very long grass, flags right at the back of this green as well today,
03:46and so your chances of getting up and down if you've gone over the back are virtually
03:49zero here.
03:51Despite the fact that it looks as if all the big trouble is at the front, you're far better
03:56off being slightly short than you are being slightly long, and that has a big impact on
04:01ultimately the strategy that you build, the club that you take, and how you play the hole.
04:06This hole is 175 yards, and for me, that's probably a soft six iron, but it's slightly
04:12downhill, it's slightly downwind.
04:13If I absolutely flush it and I hit a six iron, I might just hit this over the back, in which
04:18case I'm doing very well to make a double bogey, so I'm going to put the six iron down.
04:23I'm going to choose the seven iron instead with the specific aim that I can hit this
04:28as hard as I want.
04:29I won't go past that flag.
04:36A little bit right, but it's on the green, it's short of the flag, definitely shouldn't
04:47be making more than a bogey at absolute worst.
04:55One thing the pros are often very meticulous about in practice is when it comes to their
05:00putting, are they starting the ball on exactly the right line?
05:05It's very easy when you hit putt after putt after putt, in practice especially, to start
05:09slightly pulling or slightly pushing your putts without really even realising.
05:13Suddenly that can affect everything in your stroke, and the way in which you stand over
05:17the ball, and suddenly you can lose your confidence very quickly on the greens.
05:22There's a whole host of training aids out there that the pros use that help them just
05:26perfect that start line.
05:28Make sure they're starting, if it's a right lip putt, they are starting the ball on exactly
05:32the right line every single time.
05:35You don't have to necessarily use a training aid, a simple gate drill like this where the
05:39gate 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.
05:51If your start lines are good, then you should hold a few more putts.
06:01The next one on my list relates to understanding your game.
06:05The pros will have a very, very clear idea about where their strengths and weaknesses
06:09in their game lies.
06:10They'll have a lot of detail as well.
06:12They'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.
06:20That gives them a framework for what to work on in practice, but more importantly, when
06:25they're out on the golf course, it helps them to build a strategy.
06:27If they know they're more likely to miss right off the tee than they are to miss left, and
06:31they're as bunkers down the right-hand side as they are on this hole, they'll know that
06:34perhaps a strategy, either a different golf club to lay up short of them, or playing away
06:39from the trouble might just get them a better score.
06:42The question is, how well do you really understand your game?
06:46Even if you do understand your game, are you putting the lessons you've learnt into play
06:51in practice and out on the golf course?
06:53Take 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.
07:06There's no two ways about it.
07:07The pros are definitely taking the mental side of the game very, very seriously.
07:11Indeed, they understand just how the mind, when it works for you, can have a huge impact
07:17on the quality of the performances you put in on the golf course.
07:20I suspect many of you watching this will also understand just the impact the mind can have
07:24on the way in which you play.
07:26The question is, are you doing those little bits of work that really train your mind to
07:30think in the best way possible?
07:32The answer to that is, well, possibly not.
07:35There are lots of different things you can do from the way in which you practice, performance
07:38practice, putting yourself under pressure in practice, to the way in which you process
07:44every round of golf that you play.
07:45One thing that I've done over the last few years that's really worked well for me is
07:48that after every round of golf I play, I get a notepad and I write down the five best shots
07:54that I've hit.
07:55I write them down in quite a bit of detail, just to reflect on them, just to get a log
07:59of some of the best shots that I've hit.
08:00I'll then go over and I'll read them over again, every now and again, just to remind
08:04myself of some of the shots that I've hit and the thought process that I had going into
08:08those shots.
08:09It has actually really made a big difference to my game.
08:13The advice here is perhaps just taking that little bit of time to think about and work
08:18on the mental side of your golf game could make a big difference in the long run.
08:28Now the next one on my list relates to building a very, very clear vision in your mind for
08:32exactly the shot that you want to play.
08:36You need to do it on every single shot you hit on the golf course.
08:38I'm sure that you probably already know that you need to do that.
08:40You need to have a vision for the start point and the ball flight that you're looking to
08:44achieve, but do you do it on every single shot you play?
08:48The pros do.
08:49The pros will have a very clear idea in their minds.
08:51For instance, when they're chipping, they'll know the sort of flight they're looking for,
08:54they'll know their landing spot and they'll know what to expect in terms of how much run
08:58they're getting.
08:59So you need to build that picture on every single shot you hit.
09:03Now this is a par five here at the London Club and this is a specific scenario which
09:07is really, really important because it's quite open, but unless you're focused, it can be
09:11very easy to hit a wayward shot.
09:13So in this scenario, I'm picking my start point, which is just on the right hand edge
09:19of the green bush on the left hand side, just beyond the fairway, and I'm looking to just
09:23hit a small fade off that bush and I'll be focusing very hard on trying to do that.
09:27I'll have a picture in my mind of exactly the sort of ball flight I'm expecting.
09:31It's something that Jack Nicklaus spoke about years and years ago, something that he did.
09:35He ran a sort of almost like a movie vision in his mind for the shot he was looking to
09:39produce.
09:40It has a big impact because it acts as a very positive sort of mental rehearsal before you
09:45hit the shot.
09:46Right, let's give it a go.
09:54A little bit necky, but it goes to show I had a very clear idea of what I was trying
09:58to do.
09:59It wasn't a great swing.
10:00It wasn't a great shot, but the ball's on the fairway.
10:07The next one on my list relates to practice and practicing in particular with a very,
10:15very clear purpose in mind.
10:17How many times do you go to the range or do you go to the practice ground and just start
10:21hitting balls?
10:22Before you know it, you've hit 40 or 50 balls and you've not really had a very clear idea
10:26in mind of what you're looking to achieve.
10:28The pros are very, very good about being crystal clear about what they're looking to achieve.
10:33Now, it might be on the driving range that you're looking to improve something technically
10:37in your golf swing, in which case, obviously, advice from a PGA pro and then going away
10:42and working with some of the drills they've given you or exercises they've given you can
10:46make a big difference.
10:47Other than that, don't forget performance practice, putting yourself under pressure
10:52in practice to help you out on the golf course can really help you.
10:55Then also, don't forget the short game.
10:57This is a drill that I often use.
10:59I 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 put a towel down roughly where I would expect the
11:10ball to land.
11:11It's a landing zone drill, so it gets me thinking about where I want the ball to pitch and giving
11:16me an idea of how far it will run with each club in my bag.
11:20That can help me out on the golf course become very focused on the flight, the landing spot
11:25and the roll.
11:26All good things when you're out on the golf course.
11:27Have a very clear idea in your mind about what you're trying to achieve in practice
11:32because 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.
11:45Now obviously they have a caddy to help them with that, so usually the caddy's job, but
11:49you'll find that not only with their wedges, but every club in the bag really, the face
11:53of every club will be clean before they hit the ball.
11:55Doesn't matter whether you're talking about your irons, your wedges or your putter, anything
11:59that gets trapped between the face and the ball will affect the outcome, ultimately that's
12:04what you need to remember.
12:05Now the face of my wedge here you might think looks pretty clean and might be good to go,
12:09but actually I can tell you right now a tour player would want to give this a good scrub,
12:12would want to get some sort of brush or T-peg out to get between each of the grooves.
12:17You can see how much dirt is coming up between each of the grooves and actually this is going
12:21to affect the amount of spin you get, this is going to affect your control when you're
12:24chipping and the ball flight and spin that you get when you're hitting pitch shots into
12:28the green.
12:29So just take a little bit of time, clean the face of your club before you hit, it will
12:33give you a more reliable, more consistent outcome.
12:35So there you have it, that was our list of the nine things the pros are doing that perhaps
12:40maybe you're not.
12:41I hope you found that list interesting and useful and if you do have any comments, anything
12:46that you've seen the pros doing that you think could help amateurs as well, please do let
12:50us know, leave comments below, tell us what you've seen, we'll get back to as many of
12:53you as we can, hopefully we can share some of this information around.
12:57Also please do like the video if you've liked what you've seen and hit the subscribe button
13:00to make sure that you don't miss any of our videos.
13:03But for now, from the London Club, it's goodbye.