In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by PGA professional and Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Katie Dawkins. They discuss some of those simple lessons we all get taught when we first pick up the game but that we all forget! These are the simple and effective tips that can make a huge difference to your scoring potential. Katie's advice should help you from tee-to-green!
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to West Hill Golf Club
00:03and this video in which we're going to take a look at the seven tips that every golfer forgets.
00:09Now these are all things that you'll pick up as you play golf over the years. The really simple
00:13stuff that can actually make a big difference to your scoring but that from time to time we all
00:19forget. Now the advice in this video comes courtesy of Katie Dawkins. She's a PGA Pro. She's one of
00:24the Golf Monthly Top 50 coaches and she's going to talk you through everything you need to know
00:29and it should help you in all areas of the game from tee to green. Right, let's get started.
00:38Right, so for our first one we're going to talk about the speed of your swing and in particular
00:42the tempo of your golf swing. Katie, what do people forget here? I think people tend to forget that
00:49this is a golf swing, it's not a golf hit. Right. And I think that's probably the key thought for a
00:55lot of people to kind of bank in the memory banks because actually the fact the act of the golf swing
01:00suggests that there's a natural flow to it. There's a natural swing back and swing through.
01:05The problem people tend to find is that they've got lots of swing thoughts going on in there in
01:10their minds and that tends to stunt this nice natural rhythm that we're looking for in the golf
01:15swing. So you tend to find people thinking about stuff too much and therefore even if you're a decent
01:20sports person, you've got a good ability to hit a ball with a racket, a club, a bat, whatever you
01:26happen to be using, that can sometimes disappear just because you're overthinking it and you're
01:31trying to hit it and trying to force the ball to do what you want it to do. It's such a good point. I
01:35think my specific issue on this, I think, is that I tend to start getting too aggressive when I'm on the
01:42golf course, under pressure, start snatching at it a little bit too much. So, okay, so most people watching
01:48this will know. Tempo, really important. So how do people practice it? How do you make sure that you
01:53don't go too far wrong? I think it's important to have something that you can take out on the golf
01:57course with you because like you said, there's situations out there where you need a little bit
02:02of restraining perhaps. So you actually need just to calm things down a bit. So a really good drill
02:10to do that is to actually maybe do one of your practice swings or just your sole practicing with
02:15your feet together because what that does is it starts to create this lovely freewheeling chilled
02:22out tempo. If you go at it like a bat out of hell with your feet together, guess what? You fall over.
02:27Yeah. So you're throwing yourself, throwing yourself off balance. Okay, so if you are somebody like me,
02:32who has a tendency to snatch at their shots a little bit too much, that feeling that you're hitting and
02:36not swinging, try to incorporate that into your pre-shot routine. Okay, so we have reached the
02:45inevitable part of this video, which we're going to talk about alignment. And most golfers watching
02:50this will know how important it is. And yet there'll be a lot of people watching this that don't do it
02:54correctly every time. And that's because they're forgetting something. What is it that golfers tend to
02:59forget about aiming properly?
03:01I think the biggest thing golfers tend to forget with alignment is they forget that it's not their
03:05body that's lined up to the target. They're on those old train tracks. So the ball and the target
03:10are on one train track, your feet, knees, hips and shoulders are on the other. So in theory,
03:15you're running parallel to your target. But the problem is when a lot of people set up to the ball
03:19is they look down their shoulder and they tend to kind of shuffle themselves and aim themselves at.
03:25So they've skewed themselves across the line. Yes. So what's the process? How do you get it right
03:31time and time again? So you need to build it into your pre-shot routine. So you need to stand behind
03:35the ball, use your club almost like a ruler, point it at your target, pull the club down and pick
03:40yourself a mini target just in front of the ball. It's so much easier to get yourself lined up on those
03:45train tracks because you can see the tracks down there. Yeah. When we're looking up at the target,
03:50it's much easier to have a little shuffle, do a little dance and immediately you've pushed yourself
03:55offline. Yeah. So having a mini target is probably my biggest tip for this and being able to aim
04:01yourself to that is much, much easier than the longer one. Yeah. And it's so important. So if you
04:06can just do what Katie said and get it right more often, chances are you'll also start making better
04:11swings, better contacts and just generally playing golf a little bit better.
04:14Okay. So we've come down to the green here and Katie, we're talking about chipping. What
04:23do people forget to do in a situation like this? I think the biggest problem people have when it
04:29comes to shots out on the course around the green is they choose the wrong club. Right. So I think
04:34there's that idea that because I'm chipping, I need to look good and they want that Sevee-esque
04:39sort of high floaty shot that's going to land right by the flag and zip back and stop. That's not
04:44reality. Reality would be if I was to give you a ball and throw it to the flag, I'm not going to
04:51go up and over like that because I've got no control over it. The bounce is going to be more
04:55unpredictable. Everything's just a little bit more dangerous. My safest possible option would
05:00be to almost play lawn bowls basically. So I'd roll it on the first available bit of green and it
05:05would run into the flag. Yeah. So then what I'd want you to do out on the golf course is kind of put
05:11into your hand the club that best fits that carry and roll. Right. So for me that went low and rolled
05:18out so it'd probably be something like an A time. Yeah. The majority of people would not be choosing
05:22an A time from here. Well I think that they possibly just automatically grab the lob wedge or the sand
05:27wedge. Yeah. Whatever shot they're facing around the green. I know that I'd probably have a tendency
05:31to do that a bit from time to time just immediately pick the club. You just want to look the best you
05:35can possibly look and for a lot of people that's the ball in the air. But what's interesting about
05:39this Katie is that you're saying work backwards figure out what the shot looks like. The best
05:43most reliable looking shot what it looks like and then pick your club. So with this little short chip
05:49this almost tick-tock action I can afford to miss hit it a little bit and still get away with it.
05:54I think that's the important bit. Go on then. Miss hit it for us and get away with it. That's the important. Miss hit it and get away with it. Oh great.
05:59So all I'm going to do is just that little tick-tock bounce it on that top and let it roll around.
06:06This is good. This is very good. You told me to miss hit it. You didn't. And I said no. No you did it perfectly.
06:12But I think the point remains keep it simple. It's the best way to do it.
06:19Posture. It's something that I think most golfers understand how important it is to have a nice athletic posture.
06:24Yet the amount of golfers that you see out on the course who have stood over the ball not looking particularly athletic.
06:31Why is it so important to get right firstly Katie?
06:34It's so important to get right because posture, good posture gives you good balance which in turn gives you control in your golf swing.
06:41And we want control in our golf swing right? We don't want to stand there in a position where we're rocking about the place.
06:47And this is what happens when the position that you're setting up in is poor. You're setting up in a state of almost sitting down or sometimes tipped over too much.
06:57But the one we see the most is the fat bag, kind of slightly lazy posture almost.
07:02What you've got there is you've got the weight on the heels. So you're going to swing the club back and you're going to be rocking around, rocking all over the place.
07:09What we want to see is a more of a planted onto the balls of the feet and the ability to actually be in balance as you come back to the ball.
07:19Good posture to begin with is usually going to mean better posture as you hit the shot.
07:24Poor posture, you're just not going to introduce any of the bigger muscles so you're not going to get that lovely rotation and that lovely weight transfer through the ball.
07:31So what's a good tip, what's a good checkpoint to make sure you're in the right posture?
07:34You could stand in front of a mirror at home and actually take your posture if the mirror's there, take your posture, set yourself up, have a look, go, yeah, all right, that's great.
07:43But we want something we can take onto the golf course. You do see people out there going tippy over, flex your knees and going through almost a little routine in their heads, but that can introduce tension.
07:52Okay.
07:53In good posture, you should be able to, a bit like you're about to return to serve in tennis, you should be able to give your heels a little tap.
08:00That tells us we're ready to run somewhere, tells us we're athletic.
08:04If you're setting up to the ball and you try and do that and you think, oh blimey, I'm rocking back already because I can tap my toes.
08:11If you're a toe tapper, your posture's lacking athleticism.
08:15It's a really simple tip and if you do have issues with your posture over the ball, then maybe introduce that into your pre-shot routine.
08:22It could make all the difference.
08:24Okay, so we're going to talk about bunker play and obviously the two biggest mistakes are either leaving it in the bunker or thinning it over the back.
08:36The lesson that people forget here is that the bunker shot, the greenslide bunker shot, is the only one in which you're not trying to make contact with the ball first, right?
08:45Exactly, and I think this is the thing is that we don't want to hit the ball first, we want to hit the sand behind the ball so it floats out on that lovely cushion.
08:53So it's really important here that we address the part we want to hit, so we're actually addressing the sand behind the ball.
09:00Okay, so talk us through how you did it.
09:02So it's important to almost think of the ball as being sat on a fried egg, so the ball is the yoke, essentially.
09:07Just draw a couple of little circles, obviously not allowed to do this in real play for obvious reasons, but draw a couple of circles around the ball and you can even give yourself three circles in a row almost like traffic lights.
09:19Practice hitting the right bit of sand.
09:22So if I was to have a little practice traffic light, if you like, so I'm going to set myself up, swing back, swing through and take the whole thing out.
09:30What I'm then going to do is set myself up to the back of the egg where the ball is and again, almost try and repeat it.
09:37So I'm just letting the ball get in the way, but I'm aiming to hit the back of that egg.
09:43Perfect, great shot.
09:45And you'll notice, I mean, that description there that Katie's given is so simple.
09:48It's something that every golfer can do, but you do need to practice these things.
09:52Trust it and practice it.
09:54It should help.
10:00Okay, so our next one is about grip pressure.
10:02And this is starting to feel actually a bit like a personal counselling session for me because I know that under pressure,
10:08I have a tendency to really squeeze the grip and strangle the grip.
10:11And I know that's not good, but can you explain to everyone why it's not good?
10:16So the first thing is you're not alone.
10:18Probably 90% of the people that I teach are strangling the club.
10:22Now, the effect that this has on your ability to get back to that ball is huge.
10:27The reason being, if you're holding the club in an appropriate manner,
10:31an appropriate amount of pressure is being applied,
10:33you're holding it almost like a tube of toothpaste with the lid off.
10:35So that would be quite a good way of remembering it.
10:38What people tend to do is they tend to go from setting themselves up,
10:42holding it all right, and then suddenly the squeeze comes in.
10:46So you've got a nice relaxed hold where the club's on the ground.
10:49Check out what my club face does when I squeeze it.
10:52That's literally down to me strengthening my grip.
10:56My forearms are contracting and therefore shortening.
10:59And lo and behold, you can imagine the shots that you're going to get from that.
11:02If you've got an iron in the hand, you're likely to hit, I would think, you're likely to hit bins.
11:05Yes.
11:06Maybe tops.
11:07Absolutely. Yeah, you are.
11:08But also it's the impact that it has on your rhythm, which we've talked about before.
11:14You want that free, easy swing.
11:17You want that lovely flow to your golf swing.
11:19Yeah. So as Katie said, a nice, light grip pressure.
11:23It'll help your rhythm.
11:24It'll help all sorts of different things in your golf swing.
11:27OK, so the number one tip on our list that golfers forget is they forget to aim at the middle of the green,
11:38in particular when the flag is cut tight to one side or another.
11:42So imagine for a second that the green behind Katie and I here,
11:46imagine that flag is tucked just over the bunkers on the right-hand side.
11:49I appreciate it's not today, but imagine that it is.
11:52That's a really dangerous flag.
11:55Yeah.
11:56Especially when you consider, Katie, you've got so much room to aim at on this green, haven't you?
11:59And we've all said it.
12:00We've all got up there and gone, damn it, I'm in the bunker.
12:03Look how much room there is on the left.
12:05Yes.
12:06And for some reason, we tend to go at tiger line at the flag stick.
12:11Something that will really help you to avoid this and remind you that actually the middle of the green,
12:16you want to be on the middle of the green because you're never going to get a really long putt.
12:20You're never going to be too far from the flag, are you?
12:22No.
12:23But it's just a safe place to be.
12:25But a way that you can do that is actually pay attention to what's behind the green.
12:29So for example, here, we've got two tall fir trees just to the right of where our flag is,
12:34but that's the centre of the green.
12:36I'd be thinking about aiming at those and use that as my marker as part of my pre-shot routine.
12:41Just draw my attention to what's at the back.
12:43It lifts you up body language wise.
12:45So you're looking up, you're visualising a decent shot because you're going at something that's beyond the green.
12:51Yeah.
12:52And it takes your attention away from any trouble that might be sneaking around in the foreground.
12:57Come on Katie, let's finish off with a good shot, shall we?
12:59Okay.
13:00So that flag, let's be honest, is in a pretty good spot.
13:02Yes.
13:03I'm not giving you any excuses here.
13:04Oh right, no pressure.
13:06Lovely shot.
13:11Nice, high, soft draw, very easy.
13:14And I think it goes to show that if you're out on the golf course and you're thinking about how to compile a score,
13:18maybe just have one round of golf where you just aim at the middle of the greens.
13:22Forget about where the flag is.
13:23See what it does to your score.
13:25It might just help.
13:26Okay, so there you have it.
13:27That's our look at the seven tips that every golfer forgets.
13:31If you've enjoyed the video, please do hit the like button.
13:33If you have any questions or any comments, leave them below.
13:36But that's it for now from West Hill.
13:38Thanks for watching.
13:39We'll see you next time.