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