In this video Neil Tappin, Digital Editor of Golf Monthly explains:
How can you play better golf without changing your swing with guest Nick Dougherty.
In association with Taylor Made.
How can you play better golf without changing your swing with guest Nick Dougherty.
In association with Taylor Made.
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00:00How can you play better golf without changing your golf swing?
00:04That's what we're going to find out in this video and to help us we have a special guest.
00:08Now most of you watching this will know Nick Doherty from Fronting Up The Sky Sports golf
00:12coverage but also from his Tea Time Tips videos that he releases on Instagram that have been so
00:18popular with so many golfers. If you haven't already seen them please do head over and
00:21check them out. But by the end of this video we want to give you some inspiration so five
00:26simple action points that will help you improve your scores without you needing to head to the
00:32range and make major swing changes. Now the way in which this video is going to work is that Nick
00:37is going to play three holes here at Wentworth on the west coast with an amateur golfer. This
00:41is somebody who's played golf for the last 30 years. He's struggling with his game but he
00:46doesn't really have the time or frankly the inclination to head to the range and go through
00:51that sort of swing rebuilding process. So effectively we're challenging Nick to come up
00:56with the easiest and simplest ways to help our golfer improve. Now the last thing to say is that
01:01this video is coming to you in association with TaylorMade. They sponsor Nick and they've also
01:06kitted out our amateur golfer. Speaking of which I think it's time to meet the man in question,
01:11Mike Harris. Okay so Mike Harris our amateur golfer for the day, 10 handicapper, you've been
01:17playing golf for 30 years. Correct. Is that right? Yeah. And tell us what is it that's going
01:24ultimately going wrong with your golf game at the moment you think Nick might be able to help you
01:27with? I think it's a really interesting one. So like everyone I want to play better golf
01:32but I think as I've got older and I realize where golf fits into my life I actually just want to
01:37play well in the important rounds when it matters whether it's a medal or club championships or a
01:42trip away with friends. And I've also realized that I don't have the time to really invest to
01:48get a lot better technically so I suppose I want to limit the mistakes. I know my better rounds
01:54when I look at my r-cost data would tend to be the rounds where I'm not having doubles and trebles
01:59in there. It's not so much about making loads of birdies it's about I guess playing to my strengths
02:06and not making those silly mistakes. I'm hoping that Nick can offer me some advice on
02:12how to make the most of my game. How to I guess enjoy golf more and you enjoy golf more by playing
02:18I think fewer bad shots. So specifically where do you think is the biggest area? Let's call it an
02:24opportunity. Biggest opportunity probably to be less bad would be in my iron play. I'm very
02:31inconsistent on my iron play and my short game as well. Used to feel like I had a really good short
02:36game completely deserted me. It's coming back a little bit but I still don't get up and down
02:41anywhere near often enough. So let's set Nick the challenge. Can Nick help Mike
02:46play better golf without swinging the golf club any better? Let's go find out.
03:12So Nick you've played three holes with Mike and it's been an interesting experience watching the
03:17various different bits of advice that you've given Mike along the way and we're going to divide this
03:20part of the video up into five different sections and Nick I wanted to talk to you about in this
03:26first section about managing stress and nerves because I think part of Mike's issue is that he
03:31wants to be able to manage stress and nerves and he's got a lot of nerves and he's got a lot of
03:36in this first section about managing stress and nerves because I think part of Mike's issue is
03:41that he wants to play well but he's not fussed really about playing well all the time but he
03:45wants to play well when it matters. So what advice would you give people about managing
03:50their nerves around the course? I think it's an overall mentality and sure we all want to play
03:56well you know when we go away for that trip or when we play in that club championship or whatever
04:00it may be but unfortunately it's like a wet bar of soap the more we want it the more it tries to
04:03get away from us so I think a lot of it comes down to acceptance first of all you can only do
04:06what you can do you can only be the best that you can be uh with the game that you have and
04:11accepting that golf is a hard game first of all and you it's going to go wrong you're going to
04:14hit shots that don't work out you're going to do lots of things right that don't get the results
04:18that you expect they're going to do there are a few little things that you can do on the golf
04:21course that can assist so for instance you know one of the things with Mike there was with the
04:25putter and he said to me on the 10th hole here at Wentworth that the I have the birdie pots and I
04:30sort of think yeah I really want these ones because I know I need it because it'll get me
04:34going but the fact of the matter is you need to again accept that every single putt is worth
04:39exactly the same if it's for a two or a seven we still want it because it's still worth the whole
04:43shot so that first of all just a little bit of logic can put that to bed but then after that
04:47getting out your own way so for Mike it was all about trying to have something to think about
04:52that takes him away from thinking about the meaning of making or missing that putt so we
04:56use something really simple for him which one help is stroke so physiologically it's a nice
05:01thing to do as well and it was the simple act of saying back roll as he hit it so you say back in
05:06the backswing roll as you go through because if you're thinking about saying those words you're
05:10then also he's saying that out loud you can't yeah I would do but you know granted you know
05:16someone's going to give you a bit of grief in your four ball maybe if you start talking to
05:19yourself when you're playing but the but it absolutely stay inside don't take something
05:23to focus on it as you're doing it saying back and roll and it takes your mind away from thinking
05:28about the outcome and puts you into the process of doing what you're doing so you're not worried
05:31about if it goes in because you're just thinking about this the great thing about this is you can
05:35be a top top golfer or you can be somebody who's just starting out the game managing
05:40nerves managing your stress is a really important part of the game that should really help
05:44okay so the next one is about figuring out your yardages and picking the right club and nick
05:49as a as a pro as somebody who's done this so many times in the past there's an awful lot more to
05:54this as I discovered as we were working our way around the golf course today then the kind of
05:59I guess most amateurs would maybe give it credit for so what are the things that
06:02amateurs should be doing more often they don't currently do to find the right yardage find the
06:07right club well find the right yardage you'll be the first one right yeah and I think the
06:10right yardage find the right club well find the right yardage you'll be the first one right and
06:15because a lot of the time if you use some sort of a range finder or use a smart watch or whatever
06:20you use to get your distance you can get a yardage to a flag but that's not really it
06:24so if the flag for instance here on 18 you're hitting a wedge shot and it's 135 to go to the
06:28flag but 135 is not your yardage most of your yardages need to be your carry distances because
06:33you can't say oh with roll it goes this because every course you play if it's in the middle of
06:37winter it goes or in the middle of summer on a link score so it's going to bounce 15 yards
06:41further on your yardage would always change and hitting a five iron into a green is going to be
06:45different hitting a sand iron into a green so you know just having the exact number you need to
06:49calculate what that is so if we're hitting a five iron into the last green I'd need to take 10 yards
06:53off at least my landing point so yeah if the yardage was 205 to the flag actually my carry
07:01yardage is 195 because that's where I need to land it right and then you've got to take into
07:05account as well wind direction slope as well and one thing I noticed when Mike was on the 11th hole
07:10he had 113 I think he had and I said well go on what else are we working out here and he said
07:15well it's uphill I mean so yeah and what's that and you could tell he just like uh it's playing
07:21further you know which is kind of what I'd say but but we need more right we do need more because
07:27the difference between success and failure can be quite a fine margin in this game and I know from
07:32having used rangefinders but also all the years of playing the game within a yard or two what a
07:37slope is but a lot of the rangefinders now you can find that or you know you can find devices that
07:41will give you that sort of information so it was five uphill so it's not 112 or 113 I think it was
07:47113 it's 118 it was into the wind there as well and so when we play in the wind most people any
07:53sort of breeze will say it's 10 yards or it's a clever wind you're saying the wind's the same
07:58strength every time you've played there's been wind at the same strength no it's always different
08:01but a nice thing you can do you can always use your phone now to find out what the speed of the
08:04wind is going to be across the day and let's say for instance it is 10 miles per hour the wind
08:08if it's downwind this is a generalization but it's really close to the truth it's about a yard per
08:14miles per hour so if it's 10 mile an hour downwind it's going to play about 10 yards less okay into
08:19the wind though it's double so when if you're playing it into a 10 miles per hour wind it's
08:24two yards per mile per hour so it's 20 into yet most people I'd hazard a guess would say
08:29well if it's a club down it's a club into and it's not it's double the difference and again
08:34it's a generalization but it's remarkably close to to being factual in terms of the way that a
08:39wind will affect the balls so it's really important to calculate those things pick your landing point
08:43as well know where you want to land it take the slope into all that as well and and that gives
08:47you a number and only when you've done all that work before you even take the club back can you
08:51honestly say I know what the distance is and regardless of who you are if you're if you're
08:55John Rahm or or you and I we all have the same ability as John Rahm before we move the club
09:02so we can do this this is not really it's not rocket science no no but it does take a bit
09:07of learning and remembering to do the right processes so for Mike there we just said we'll
09:11make it easier have more control because actually as much as the total number we've got now is
09:15correct for how it's playing we need to hit a shot that we can make get there without having
09:19to swing out of our shoes especially into the wind so I mean there are some mistakes in there
09:23that I know that I make and I'm sure many of you do too picking the right club there is more to it
09:28than just saying ah that's a one club wind use some of Nick's tips there should really help
09:37okay so the next one Nick is kind of it feels a bit more technical but it's something that
09:43everyone needs to get right and can do probably better talk us through the first you can talk
09:48through the importance of posture if you've got poor posture and for most of us especially me
09:52I'm terrible for it because I do it when I'm sat in a chair as well I'm this way I just switch off
09:56I come in this way and when I'm tired I naturally go like this and then that goes to the golf course
10:00then when I'm on the course next minute I'm stood like I'm you know 85 years of age and everything's
10:05constricted when when we get into this position nothing wants to turn properly so we end up with
10:10lots of armsy swings so I really like this because if nothing else it means that you can turn up
10:15and feel the same every time it's like a reset button and it's a super simple one I like it
10:20because one it's easy to do but also super easy to visualize is the goalkeeper posture I really
10:26really like it so if you were you know Mo Salah's about to step up and take a penalty and you're on
10:30the goal line how would you stand to take that you know receive that penalty you'd have the weight
10:35naturally in the balls of the feet we're on a little bit of a slope here so it's more challenging
10:38but you'd have the weight naturally towards the balls of the feet so you'd be athletic there would
10:42be a little bit of bend in the knees there'd be a nice little angle the correct angle in the lower
10:46part of the spine there through the bum and then when the chest would be nicely up the chin would
10:50be slightly off the chest but you wouldn't think of any of that whereas you go for lessons sometimes
10:54and you might get a pro and you'll be like a bit of that bit of that bit of that get that knee
10:58twisted in it and next week you're like okay how's that and oh my god is this all I've got and of
11:02course you're rigid because you're trying you're trying aren't you but what about those people who
11:06feel like physically there's something restricting them if you think well you know I can't get into
11:11that position you are there we don't have to get there we can just do our best to get into a
11:14position that allows us to move as well as we can you have to play around what you have in the locker
11:19and a great coach will do that for you yeah but we can you know you still have to make the effort
11:24to be the best that you can be right and still have it if it's causing pain it's no good yeah
11:28so I mean finding the right posture vitally important as Nick says hopefully that's simple
11:33and effective give it a go okay so for this part we're going to talk about short game
11:42uh what did you think of Mike's short game firstly I thought you know what I really liked about it
11:47was there was the shot on the 12 where the pro shot so the right shot which is a dangerous way
11:54to label it was landing it on the green bit of check roll it down to the hole because otherwise
11:59you had to play deal with this upslope to judge then onto the flat then onto the downslope seemed
12:04harder but actually Mike was just I don't I'd look at it and think oh don't really fancy it
12:09there's the tip in itself like if you don't like it then it's probably not going to work because
12:14you're going to start to go down that hole yeah and almost to the degree where you before you've
12:18hit it thinking I know I'm going to be annoyed at myself because this isn't the right shot because
12:21I don't feel I don't like this I knew I'd do that you know if that's what comes out your mouth I
12:25knew I'd do that this that's on you because you had a choice if you knew you'd do it why'd you do
12:30it no one said you have to play this game a certain way that's your choice and there's a great
12:34satisfaction from doing it your own way all the guys on tour do it that way yeah you know they've
12:38all got a different strategy and and he played this lovely and beautiful shot as well you know
12:42with a low iron and just scamp it up the bank because he was comfortable and something that's
12:47a bad decision with commitment will always do better than something that's a good decision
12:50without commitment right I'd always try and land it a yard on the green you can do it two yards
12:54can be anything you want but I always try and think I'll land a yard on the green you know
12:59like I did on the 10th hole that was all the shot sort of gets me there yeah I didn't execute
13:03perfectly but I was all in with the commitment to it then where the flag is tells me what club
13:08to play now if it's right there and it's only sort of three or four on the green it's that 60
13:11degree definitely because I've got any room if it's another 10 feet on it might be a 56 or 52
13:17degree it's across the other side of the green it might even be a five iron or something like that
13:20if you've got a nice lie to do it okay but what I'm always doing is land it in the same place
13:24so then all I need to do is I've done enough practice and hit enough shots which most of us
13:28have so now roughly how far would a seven iron run if I landed it there roughly how far would
13:32my sand iron run or my 60 degree run if I landed it there which doesn't take a lot of work but what
13:37it does it takes away all that indecision of where do I land it what sort of shot how high
13:41should I hit it you just think well I've got to land it there and it's got to roll to there
13:45so that would be a 52 nice so often people reach for too much loft actually it's a higher tariff
13:52shot with that sort of sort of club yeah for me it's the simplicity and the commitment and if
13:57you can do both of those things no doubt about it you'll get it up and down more often
14:00so Nick the final area to talk to you about then is a bit of strategy and a bit of course
14:05management something that you covered quite a bit with Mike during that that three whole
14:08period what was the sort of general advice that you're giving like I think taking medicine is the
14:14is the best one you know in terms of scoring so often the big numbers come because we won't accept
14:19that we've made an error and we try to get it all back straight away when you do hit it in trouble
14:23looking at the lie damage limitation okay so you've got to be able to hit it in the right
14:27looking at the lie damage limitation okay horrible lie like Mike's ball there in the um in the
14:33heather awful lie tree in front of us well yeah yeah the shot's the low one under the tree but
14:40you can't physically come out of that you can't lift it out of that which needs loft yeah you
14:44need to keep it under that so just because you want it Mike fortunately bud it can't have it
14:49so the first job is get it out of that which means we can't do that so now we have to make our
14:54decision you've made that strategy shift before you've ever gone to you know pull the club out the
14:58bag okay that's the plan I have to take it on the chin that's what's happened chip it out and then
15:02you build from there whereas the eights and nines and you know whatever else it may be come from
15:07that we try to do more and it's only worth a shot the same as the one you hit off the tee so you
15:12know I think that's really important uh the other shot we looked at when we were in there uh with
15:16my other opportunity if the lie was clean I think it's a nice little tip just a bonus one but if
15:20you're punching out through trees when you're punching out through trees and there's a gap
15:24don't aim for the gap picture a flag in the distance it might be in the middle of the gap
15:28assuming that's where we're going right in the middle of the gap it's amazing often we miss it
15:31when we just try and steer it through the gap right because we start to steer it like this
15:35towards it rather than if it was a flag we wouldn't try and steer it down the line we'd make
15:39a swing towards the flag so be really precise when you're picking a spot that's through a gap in the
15:43trees that you're aiming for and then let it all hang out because if you aim small miss small sort
15:48of mentality and I think it will help people to find their way through that gap more often
15:52there you have it play smart shoot lower scores simple so that's us finished Mike you've played
15:58your three holes with Nick from what I could see just so much really helpful information in there
16:04what did you find to be most useful do you think the stuff that Nick was telling you
16:08so it's really interesting there was so much good stuff I actually had to make some notes
16:13on my phone and write it all down I guess the most technical thing that Nick said two things
16:19were check my alignment and I know I need to do that better I tend to stand a bit closed and then
16:24with my posture he gave me the really cool tip of and I used to be a goalkeeper when I was a kid
16:28have that goalkeeper posture ready to try and save a penalty so those are two things that are
16:34really easy to remember don't need to do anything changing my swing he talked as well about if I
16:39start to overthink concentrate on your breathing yeah he said if you are breathing and in as you're
16:45addressing the ball and out as you swing that's actually what you'll then think about you're not
16:49think about all the techniques he just said be in on every shot and I think what Nick was saying
16:54there is just really commit to it have a line have a target and then commit to the shot don't
16:59don't poke it don't be nervous last question then Mike so 10 handicapper yep of all the the advice
17:06that Nick has given given to you then what does success look like then for you I think success
17:12would be playing under my handicap or whatever that handicap was at that given point in a round
17:21that really mattered so there you have it that completes our look at how you might just be able
17:26to shoot lower scores without changing your golf swing some fantastic advice from Nick Doherty as
17:32I said at the beginning if you haven't checked out Tea Time Tips do go over to Nick's Instagram
17:37have a look you'll find loads of great information on how to do everything better in the golf game
17:41frankly but that's it for now from Wentworth thank you very much for watching we'll see you next time