In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Pro and YouTuber Alex Elliott. They discuss the 7 ways to play better golf without changing your swing. These are all the things you can do that will make a big difference out on the course and in practice. You needn't make any major technical swing changes to play better, instead a smarter all-round approach could help improve your handicap far quicker. Try putting some of Alex's ideas into play and you should notice an improvement!
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly, and welcome to this video in which
00:08we are looking at the seven ways to play better golf without changing your swing.
00:14This is all about how to practice and how to think on the golf course so that you have
00:18a smarter approach, so that you don't have to go through the whole process of rebuilding
00:22your swing and making major technical changes.
00:25The advice in this video comes from Alex Elliott.
00:28He's our PGA Pro, and he offers some really simple and effective ways for you to play
00:32better without changing your swing.
00:33Right, let's head out onto the golf course here at Westhill and find out what number
00:37seven on the list is.
00:40Okay, so the first one on the list, Alex, is no flag golf.
00:46Now you may have noticed the 16th green behind us here at Westhill.
00:49There's no flag on it.
00:50There's no flag on it for a reason, Alex.
00:52What's the thinking here?
00:53I think a lot of us, when we get down to kind of like our 7, 8, 9, 9, or even 6, our
00:58independent level of player, we get that kind of green light in our head where we go, right,
01:02we've got to go for that flag.
01:04And it could bring in trouble.
01:05Like, say, for example, on this hole here, if it was tight against the right, then straight
01:10away we're bringing in those bunkers, we're going to have to miss it a little bit.
01:13Yeah, and you're also going slightly uphill, and if you leave it a bit right, it's going
01:16to come up a little bit short as well.
01:17So all of those things are going to count against you.
01:19All I would say is if we could hit one more green around, that's going to have a massive
01:24effect on our handicap over the season.
01:26Have one more green around, strokes gain, tells us we've got more chance of hole in
01:29the putt.
01:30Yeah.
01:31So we look at the knock-on effect of this in confidence.
01:33I just really believe that if you could go, right, okay, I've got a green, it's 15 yards
01:37either side of that flag, and my virtual flag's now in the middle, then our margin for error
01:41is so much bigger.
01:42This does take quite a lot of discipline, I'll warn you, because there are times when
01:47you just can't help it, can you?
01:48But if you do play towards the middle of the green, and if you can hit the ball where
01:52you want to, which is the other thing, isn't it?
01:54Yeah.
01:55But if you can do that, then you're never going to be left with that long a putt, I
01:56guess.
01:57No, and it's amazing, a lot of the time when I've tried this with people, like in the lesson,
02:01they actually, even if they hit a miss here and they slightly leak it to the right and
02:05the flag's on the right, they sometimes hit it closer.
02:08So I think it's just measuring your expectations and measuring where your strengths and weaknesses
02:13are and realising that, okay, well, if I'm a slight fade of the golf ball, slight draw
02:17the golf ball, even if I am at the middle, I'm never going to be too far away from the
02:20flag.
02:21Go on then, Alex.
02:22I'll let you into a little trade secret here.
02:24It's very early in the morning.
02:25Alex hasn't warmed up, he hasn't hit a ball, but we're going to put him under pressure
02:28and see how good he is from now on.
02:29No pressure now.
02:30So one thing I would mention, when you're going to do this, because we've taken the
02:34flag out here, if there was a flag when you were playing, I would pick out a target in
02:37the far ground and use that as kind of my focus point, otherwise it just becomes a little
02:42bit too wide.
02:43Okay, so what are you looking at here?
02:44Well, there's a silver birch.
02:45I think it's a silver birch.
02:46Yep.
02:47Yeah, that is a silver birch.
02:48Straight through onto the middle of the green.
02:50That is exactly what I'm trying to hold my targeting on.
02:53So if the flag was either side of that, I would focus on the tree.
02:56Right.
03:02That's gone straight at the silver.
03:04I'll tell you what, it's about three yards left of the silver birch.
03:07Do you know what, Alex?
03:08It's a tad long.
03:09You've taken maybe half a club too much, but from wherever that's finished, it's not far
03:12away.
03:13You haven't got much work to do to make sure that you walk off with a par, and if you can
03:17keep your score ticking over, if you can keep making pars, ultimately your handicap, your
03:22scores are definitely going to improve.
03:28Okay, Alex, so you found yourself in a spot of bother here, and as I'm sure that most
03:33people watching this will be thinking to themselves, you're going to tell them to chip out.
03:36Yeah.
03:37But it's not quite as simple as that.
03:38No, I like to use the word smart golf.
03:41So every time you've got a situation, it could be from the fairway to a tight flag, or predominantly
03:46like we have here, I've got to fade it round, keep it low, get it towards the green, or
03:51I could chip it out.
03:52Ask yourself the question, how many times out of 10 could I pull this shot off and keep
03:57me being able to advance towards the green?
03:59I like to use the eight out of 10 rule.
04:02Yes.
04:03So anything less than eight out of 10, I would take the smarter, safer option possibly.
04:08If it's a question where you go, yeah, I can pull that shot off, then it's a risk worth
04:11taking.
04:12So let me ask you this question then, Alex.
04:15What quantifies a successful outcome from here?
04:19Being on the green, being around the green, being in a bunker short of the green, what
04:21would you say, I'll take that over a chip out?
04:24I think what I would say here is if I could advance this inside 100 yards, then I've got
04:29a better opportunity of getting this ball closer to the flag.
04:33Versus chipping it out sideways.
04:34If I'm giving myself 200, 180 yards, say, I'm less likely to hit it closer to the green.
04:39Whereas if I could get this out here on this par five, inside 100 or around 100 yards,
04:44no matter what level of player we are, we'll probably feel a little bit more comfortable
04:47with a wedge than we do, say, a four iron or a three iron.
04:50Now see, eight out of 10 threshold to me sounds quite high.
04:55I wouldn't describe myself as naturally the most aggressive golfer, but I'd probably be
04:58working to about five out of 10, which I think illustrates the problem.
05:02Yeah, but I mean, I think it could be a sliding scale depending on your level of player.
05:07If you feel like you're less likely to be more repeatable under pressure in this situation,
05:13then possibly it might be like a six, five out of 10.
05:16Or maybe it's saying, well, okay, well maybe I need to take a little bit more of potentially
05:20a risk.
05:21Because we look at all the top guys on tour and they are the elite of the elite, but they
05:25take on some of the shots that we wouldn't dream of.
05:27And I know they're probably thinking, because they can control that ball a little bit better
05:30than us.
05:32But I believe that we've got to be smart, aggressive sometimes in our golf.
05:35Yes.
05:36Okay.
05:37So that begs the question, what out of 10 would you rank this shot?
05:40I've got to say eight, haven't I?
05:42No, I would probably give this an eight out of 10, but just because I'm quite comfortable
05:46fading the golf ball.
05:48I also carry a three iron, which I know I can hit relatively low and it suits my eye.
05:53If it was a hook around the tree, then it probably wouldn't be a shot.
05:57Even though this looks like a really difficult golf shot, you're about an eight.
06:01You would go for this versus the chip out?
06:03Yes.
06:04Well, then that's a bit unfortunate, you're going to have to do it for us then, Alex.
06:09I feel a little bit in danger here, Alex, I'm not going to lie.
06:11You've got to trust me.
06:12That's an absolutely amazing shot.
06:21That's probably going to get about 20 yards short.
06:25Yes, if it wasn't quite so wet, that would be on the green.
06:28I think it goes to show you've got to know your game, you've got to know, as Alex said,
06:31what your strengths and weaknesses are.
06:32If you're happier hitting a fade than a draw, then there are going to be certain circumstances
06:35where you will be able to pull shots off where otherwise you wouldn't.
06:38So understand your own game, be realistic, and then come up with a plan.
06:42If it's eight out of 10, whether you go for it or not, it might just make a big difference
06:45to your scores.
06:48Okay, so the next one is a great way of practicing.
06:54If you're out on the golf course on your own, a bit of performance practice is really going
06:58to sharpen you up.
06:59Alex, talk about a tip here.
07:02It's going to sound a bit contradictory of terms, we don't want to ever try and miss
07:05the green.
07:06But this element of this game really kind of tunes you into where is a good miss, your
07:11short game skills, and also makes it a little bit more fun and interesting over, say, three
07:16holes.
07:17Okay, fine.
07:18It's easy just to go out and mundanely hit shots and not really take anything in.
07:21Okay, fine.
07:22So in a situation like this, you've got about 150 yards into the green, you're looking to
07:26miss the green, where are you looking to miss it?
07:28So for this flag here, where it would be a nice simple chip, if I could miss it front
07:32left, I've then got a simple chip and run up.
07:35So I'd get a point if I missed the green, two more points if I then got it up and down
07:40from there, and then minus two if I actually hit the green.
07:43Okay, fine.
07:44So over the three holes, say, if you played it when you were on your own, there's nine
07:48points available.
07:49So you can measure your score out of nine.
07:50I think if we could really go and say, well, imagine I was now hitting it towards this
07:55small bunker, and that was my good miss on this hole.
07:57You could use the same theory and say, well, if I can hit it into a five yard wide bunker,
08:02I can hit it onto a 45 foot wide green.
08:06So it's actually harder to do the deliberate miss.
08:08Come on then, let's do it.
08:09Okay.
08:10So I'm going to go for short left here, just on line with this big tree.
08:14Oh, get down, don't get on the green.
08:26Oh.
08:27Just short.
08:28Just, just, just short.
08:30You're in danger of losing two points there, but you haven't, so you're one point up.
08:34Now, quick question for you, do you have to chip it or can you putt it?
08:38Completely up to you.
08:39Aim of the game now is just to get it up and down.
08:41Okay, fine.
08:42So the idea here is the more you get it up and down, the more you're growing your confidence,
08:46you're testing your short game skills.
08:47It's good for a whole host of different reasons.
08:49Exactly.
08:50And this becomes less pressure on hitting greens then.
08:52So you're probably going to hit more greens just because you feel a little bit more relaxed.
08:54More relaxed.
08:55Okay, fine.
08:56Let's see if you can...
08:57I would usually putt this here, but just for this bit of mud on the front of the green
09:01here, I'm just going to try and lift it over it.
09:02Yeah, it's wet.
09:03It's a bit dewy, isn't it?
09:04So...
09:05Rolling out towards the hole.
09:08Hurry, hurry.
09:13Oh.
09:16Yes.
09:19Saved to two points.
09:23Saved to two points.
09:24There you go.
09:25So put this into play.
09:26Whenever you get a chance to play golf on your own, give this a go.
09:28It will build your confidence from the fairway and around the greens, and it could make a
09:33big difference to your scoring.
09:38So Neil, we've got 177 into the last tier.
09:42Yes.
09:43What would be your usual approach to hitting a shot?
09:45One that potentially you're not very comfortable with?
09:49Good question.
09:50Well, I have learned over the years that I'm better off having a very clear picture in
09:54my mind for the sort of shot I'm trying to play.
09:57So I would definitely be trying to work out whether I wanted to hit a fade or a draw.
10:01Now, I'm not the best golfer in the world, but I can hit, you know, I can try and do
10:05that.
10:06So if you're away from a technical swing thought, then...
10:09Yes.
10:10Although I will have one swing thought.
10:11Okay.
10:12And that's important.
10:13I think having one kind of gives you a feeling of what you're trying to achieve.
10:15What I want to get you into here is I think a lot of people have too much going on in
10:18their head.
10:19Yes.
10:20So potentially, I mean, sometimes people have got five swing thoughts.
10:23Yes.
10:24And that's clutter.
10:25Yes, for sure.
10:27So this is all about asking good questions.
10:30What I want you to do is before every single shot, whether that be a tee shot, chip shot,
10:34iron shot we've got here, or even a putt, ask yourself a question.
10:37What shot do I see?
10:38Fine.
10:39Even if you ask it in your head, stand behind the golf ball.
10:42I think straight away, it's a lot easier for you to paint that picture in your mind.
10:45And if you're not someone that's very visual, I always think of, you know, the shot tracer.
10:49Yes.
10:50The thing you see on TV.
10:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:52Almost trying to imagine one of those.
10:53Okay.
10:54And that's a really good way to go about this.
10:55Fine.
10:56And a question I've got for you then, Alex, is you don't want to be negative with any
10:59shot you want to hit.
11:01We all understand how important it is to stay positive.
11:03And yet, it's also really important to know where you can't miss.
11:06So how do you stay positive whilst also paying attention to where you can't hit it?
11:09I think the thing you've got to realise is all these top players, they will have negative
11:14thoughts.
11:15I think it's just about how you deal with them.
11:16And it's realising that if I have a negative thought, don't let that become so much of
11:21an objective in your shots.
11:23Okay, fine.
11:24I think it'd be unrealistic for us to go, right, okay, he'll never think negative, even
11:28though we want to try and get as positive as we can.
11:30I would really try and hone myself on a really clear, detailed image.
11:34So you like to fade it, you like to draw it, and then we hit a few shots before, draw's
11:38probably your go-to shot.
11:39Preferred shot, yeah.
11:40So I'll be really detailed in the shot that I see towards the green.
11:44Okay, fine.
11:45And in a shot like this, where, you know, it's one of my, I'll be honest, one of my
11:50least favourite shots here at Westhill.
11:51I always worry that I'm going to hit it into the clubhouse.
11:55So should I be just sticking with my normal shot shape, which would be a slight draw,
11:59or should, for instance, it feels like naturally to me, this favours a slight fade, but would
12:03you suggest I should stick with the draw?
12:06You've answered the question there, haven't you?
12:07You've said, what shot do I see?
12:09This shot now favours a natural fade.
12:11So that's where I would go, well, the picture's telling you the story.
12:15If it was really where, when you're super, super not comfortable with it, and it was
12:18potentially a little bit further away, I would potentially revert to type, so your draw.
12:22Yes.
12:23But where you've come out to me there and you've said, this shot prefers a fade, you're
12:26telling yourself what you see.
12:27Okay, fine, good.
12:28Okay, fine.
12:29So I'll try and hit a little fade in here then, trying to draw a very clear picture
12:33in my mind for what to do, see if I can do it.
12:45Beautiful shot.
12:46Well, I've, the start line was a bit off, I pushed it a bit, but I faded it, it's over
12:50the bunker, it's okay, isn't it?
12:52I'll take it.
12:58Okay, so the next one on our list relates to the way in which you build a strategy for
13:03the holes that you're playing out on the golf course, in particular, Alex, the difficult
13:06holes that you play.
13:07Yeah.
13:08And what's the thinking here?
13:09Ultimately, I think it's just highlighting the way the course designer wanted you to
13:14play it, rather than getting into your own routine.
13:16I think we're all probably guilty of this, we get to say the fifth, the sixth, the sixteenth,
13:20oh, I always hit driver here, or I always hit three-wood here, and we just get into
13:24a routine of doing that, bringing in trouble, probably making the same mistakes every single
13:28time.
13:29So if we take the sixteenth here at West Sills, if we look at it back towards the tee, and
13:33we said, right, okay, if we wanted to hit to the middle of the green here, well, we'd
13:36probably want to be down the right-hand side, as we look at it, so the left-hand side from
13:40the tee.
13:41From the tee, yeah.
13:42And it really opens up the green, takes away the trouble on the right side, which you can't
13:45see here, there's some bunkers there.
13:46And for me, I really believe that it doesn't highlight the trouble, it really highlights
13:50the positions you want to put the ball in.
13:52And it's interesting you should say that, because actually, it's the first time I've
13:55really looked at this hole from this angle, and certainly, the left-hand side, as you
13:59play it, is a much better place to miss it as well, because the trouble's not as severe
14:03on that left side.
14:04You can get away with hitting a bit of a hook, whereas if you leak it out to the right, you're
14:08in a lot more trouble.
14:09And it's the sort of thing that you'll only really notice, I think, when you look at the
14:13hole from the green back towards the tee.
14:14Exactly.
14:15I think you don't look at it subjectively as well, because if you're looking at it from
14:18the tee to the green, you know you've got to then play a shot there, and it might influence
14:22you that way, whereas if you stood here now, you know you've played the hole, it could
14:25be in a practice round, it could just be walking that hole.
14:28And it just gives you that impression of, okay, well, if I put it there, put it here,
14:32and put it there.
14:33I know golf's not as simple as that, but I think if we can start to plan our rounds better,
14:37we take the trouble out of play.
14:38So there you have it.
14:39Think about it slightly differently.
14:41Pick the three hardest holes, the three holes on your local course that you play the worst,
14:45think about them from the green back to the tee, maybe come up with a slightly different
14:49strategy.
14:50And then just shoot those scores.
14:51Right, Neil.
14:52I'm now your caddie.
14:53Yes.
14:54Rolls reversed.
14:55Yes.
14:56We've got a flag here.
14:57We've got 120 yards.
14:58It's quite tight on the right.
14:59I want you to give me what colour you think this flag is on a traffic light system.
15:00So red, amber, or green.
15:01Well, I would say it's a green light flag, because it's 120 yards.
15:02I'm a five handicapper, so I definitely would be going for this.
15:03Put it that way.
15:04Yeah.
15:05For me, it's a green light flag.
15:06I'm a five handicapper, so I definitely would be going for this.
15:07Put it that way.
15:08Yeah.
15:09For me, it's a green light flag.
15:10I'm a five handicapper, so I definitely would be going for this.
15:11I would say it's a green light flag because it's 120 yards.
15:14I'm a five handicapper, so I definitely would be going for this.
15:18Put it that way.
15:19Yeah.
15:20For me, because it's quite close to that bunker, and because there's a little bit of danger
15:23there, I would kind of classify this as an amber.
15:27Okay, fine.
15:28Just because I think it's one of those sucker pins where you could potentially bring in
15:33a lot of danger.
15:34I would think about flags and scenarios and wind and conditions, and that would give me
15:39an overall opinion on what I would classify. Okay, so you're saying to me that before you
15:44hit every shot into a green, you're kind of having a simple traffic light system and green being
15:50absolutely go for it, amber being play away from it a bit, what's red? Red would be one where I
15:55would kind of take middle of the green, so we sort of spoke about on a previous tip where we
16:00would just say no flag golf and that would be where if I missed that green at all costs then
16:05it was going to be bogey, say for example water, island green, bunker, short sided, that would be
16:10where it would be a red flag, but that could also be on the situation as well, like say this was
16:15howling into the wind, this then may change or downwind vice versa, it may change more towards
16:20the green, so it all depends on the situation and that's why I want you to think of it as like a
16:24fluid system, depending on the day, depending on the weather, but having a category of flags
16:29definitely allows you a bit more of a game plan. So where shall I aim? Okay, so what I would do here
16:35because I think from a caddy's point of view I'll be saying right okay, five handicappers, 120 yards
16:40into a little bit of wind, but it's a tight flag, I'll be saying this is an amber flag, so if we could
16:45aim roughly five, ten yards left of it, see the fence in the background, that would be where I'd
16:50concentrate in my aim, because if we could still get pin high, we're still gonna have a chance of a birdie.
16:55Right, I'm gonna take one more club, because as you say it is getting into the wind a bit
16:59and I will do my best, I will do my best to aim away from the flag, even though my
17:05natural instinct is to be aggressive from here, I'll aim a little bit left of it.
17:16Well, I've pulled it a bit, it's very safe, but it's on the green.
17:22Okay, so number one on our list is something that every single golfer, no matter what your ability, can do.
17:33Alex, what is it? Consistent alignment routine from the tee. I think it's just worth noting that I think
17:39people get into bad habits with alignment, I think notoriously people will aim a little bit to the
17:45right, swing a little bit left, and it can really bring in bad swing habits, and bad swing habits can
17:51lead to bad shots out on the golf course. So I kind of think of it as like a three-stage process that
17:57is really simple to follow. Neil, I'll put this alignment stick down the ground here, this is going to
18:02be our ball-to-target line, so if we look directly down this, this is just pointing just right at that
18:08second bunk on the left. So for me there, I've got my ball-to-target line and I would go trace that
18:14from the target to an intermediate target. So we've got an alignment stick down here, but I appreciate
18:19if you're playing your competition on a Saturday or a Sunday, this can't be down. I would just pick
18:24out a divot, a leaf, and an impression on the ground that will form your intermediate target between
18:30the bunker we've got here and the ground. I always then place my club down, try and make like a right
18:35angle with my driver between the crown and that imaginary line, and then try and build my
18:40stance around that. So point number two, I would really try and feel that I've got parallel lines
18:47with my feet. Yeah, like you're stood on a train tracks or something. Exactly that, and people may argue
18:51slight for draw, slight for fade, but I really believe if you can get consistently aiming towards a
18:56certain target, it's going to make you feel a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more of a
19:00better routine. Yeah. And I think any routine in your golf swing, especially like on the first tee, coming
19:05down the last with a good score, it's a good place to be. Yeah, it's definitely going to help you handle
19:08pressure that little bit better. Exactly. So go on then Alex, just run through the process, don't
19:12necessarily need to sort of slow it down, just talk us through kind of exactly what you're doing
19:17and then hit one. Tracing my ball to target line, picking my intermediate target out, club down,
19:24feet parallel, waggle the shoulders, one look towards the target and pull the trigger.
19:32And you flush one straight down the middle. Very good. Now how many of you out there do what Alex
19:38has just done? Take the time just to make sure that you're focused on getting the right alignment.
19:43If you don't, be sure to put that into your game this year. It might just make a big difference.
19:48So there you have it, that was our list of the seven ways to play better golf without
19:52changing your swing. Guys, if you've liked the video, please do hit the like button
19:56and also comment below. What have you done in your game that's made a big difference?
20:00Leave some comments below, share the ideas around, we'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.
20:05That's all from Westhill for now, thank you for watching, we'll see you next time.