- 24/05/2025
In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott to talk through the 7 shots every golfers needs, and how to play them.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to this video in which
00:07we're going to take a look at the seven shots that every golfer needs. Now these are things
00:10from the tee all the way through to the green that are really going to help you shoot lower
00:14scores. They're not necessarily the flashy shots that everyone wants to hit but they
00:17certainly are the ones that are going to help you get your handicap down so they are well
00:21worth learning. Now the advice in this video comes from PGA Pro Alex Elliott. He'll offer
00:26you everything you need to know and how to play these shots. Guys, if you need to the
00:29Golf Monthly channel, please do hit the subscribe button to make sure that you don't miss any
00:32of our videos. Hit the like button if you like what you're watching. But let's head out now
00:35to the golf course here at West Hill and look at the seven shots that every golfer needs.
00:41If you want to keep your score ticking over, you're going to need to be able to play this
00:48sort of half-pitch shot and it's one that so many golfers struggle with, myself included
00:53Alex. Why is it that people struggle with this shot, do you think?
00:56For me, it's the lack of speed, so it's a lack of commitment and not set up to it correctly.
01:02Anything that we're talking around short game, we've got to be set up to it correctly because
01:06we've not got the speed, we've not got the momentum, we've not got that time to compensate
01:10and hit the shot. Yeah. There's nothing you can do about the fact that you can't put much
01:14speed into the shot. It is what it is. Exactly.
01:16But how do you set up to it properly so that you can take the kind of bad shots out of play?
01:20So straight away, I want to feel as though I grip in the middle, so I have even amounts
01:25of grip at the top and the bottom.
01:27Okay. So shortening the length of the club. And if you think about it, we're looking for
01:30accuracy, we're not looking for distance. So all these things are everything that's going
01:34to help us give control rather than give distance.
01:37Okay, fine.
01:38I like to feel ball in the middle of stance, shoulders parallel to target line, but lower
01:43half slightly open. And this is the best thing for me. I'd encourage a lot of you to make
01:48some one-handed practice swings because it's amazing. Anytime you make a one-handed practice
01:51swing, actually, most people swing it on plane and most people swing it really good. So I
01:56would put my right hand onto my left elbow and just make some practice swings back and through.
02:01Really trying to concentrate on, can I create this L shape? So every time you do this, I've
02:06not even thought about doing this, I've made the club feel light. It's not feeling heavy
02:11and too far around the corner. It's not too far out and in front of my hands. It's not
02:15heavy in each direction. Anytime the club feels light, it's a lot easier for me to control speed.
02:21Can I just ask you, why do you open up your hips? What does that do for you? By opening
02:25your stance up a little bit, what does that do?
02:27It helps us clear that left side. So a lot of people go wrong when it's very scoopy. So
02:33if I was to stand very square on, this would encourage sort of a more scoopy nature to
02:38the motion. So I'd always start with a bit of a routine, club down behind the ball, everything
02:43starts parallel, ball in the middle of the stance, lower half opens, weight goes left,
02:49a little bit of a waggle.
02:51Yeah, very nice.
02:55And we get a good bit of consistency. We've got a routine. Anytime we've got a routine,
03:00we can trust it.
03:01And the one thing you have to do with this shot is practice.
03:03A stock shot. Alex, it's something that everyone needs, right? Everyone needs a shot they can
03:14rely on, a swing thought that they can have that's really going to just help them get the
03:17ball in play. What's your advice here? I think a stock shot, we've got to have it
03:23where we're under pressure or when we're not playing our best golf. And if we can get the
03:27ball around the golf course that way, that's our best, best golf. I think that's most impressive
03:31golf stock shot that gets us around the course. Okay.
03:33So I think most golfers will tend to fade to slice it. So I think it's working out on the
03:38day. Is it more fadey today or is it a little bit straighter? Because sometimes we have days
03:42where we feel better and it becomes a bit more of a straight shot. So I tend to get five golf balls
03:47before I got on the golf course. And maybe these are my last five before I actually walked the
03:51first tee. No real swing thoughts. What I would try and do here is-
03:54No swing thoughts at all?
03:55No. I want you to, at this point, we've gone through that process of working on a swing thought
03:59and maybe getting a feel into the swing. What happens if I naturally make a swing,
04:04what ball flight comes out? Because if we can let the ball flight dictate our swing,
04:09then that's a great place to be in. How many times have we've all done this? No matter
04:13a level of golfer, we've tried so hard to get it into a certain position. We're not really worried
04:17about the ball flight. So for your last five shots, make a swing. Let's see what ball flight comes out.
04:23Right. Okay. So when you're out on the golf course, Alex, do you not, you play with no swing thought?
04:27You're just focusing on the target and the ball flight?
04:29I separate it like this. I have kind of like a virtual line, which is thinking zone,
04:33playing zone. Right.
04:34So I'm quite heavily thinking about technique and swing thoughts right here. As soon as I step over the
04:39line, I let the shot dictate the swing. Because I use a theory, we all practice to improve our
04:45technique. So we've got to trust that actually improving our technique. Why are we improving
04:49our technique? So it becomes an inherent movement. So keep reminding me what my kind of blue star,
04:54my gold star, my blueprint is. So when I get over here, I trust that what I've done in my routine
05:00is going to somewhat come into my golf swing, but simply shot dictates the swing.
05:04Okay. So your stock shot would tend to be a little fade, would it?
05:07Yeah, definitely. Some days it comes out a little bit straighter. So it's for me,
05:11just finding out what it is. And I would tend to split these five golf balls up,
05:15three with my seven iron and two with driver.
05:17Go on then, hit a couple for us.
05:26There's one. A little bit of a fade.
05:28A little fade.
05:29So straight away, I've got a little bit of feedback. Again, no real thoughts. Just seeing what
05:33ball flight comes out. Again, a little bit of a fade. So I'm getting some feedback right now,
05:43knowing that just out on the golf course today, I can expect a little bit more of a fade.
05:47Yeah. And you can see now that that's building a picture in Alex's mind,
05:51should be building a picture in your mind of exactly the sort of shape you'll have.
05:55So when you get into the golf course, you can have a positive image in your mind before you play the
05:59shot. And if you can do that, you should be able to get the ball around the golf course in fewer shots.
06:09Okay. So I guess this one, Alex, is on the list because it's one of the most intimidating shots
06:12that people face, isn't it? So having to hit a chip shot over a bunker, it's tricky for anybody.
06:19In this scenario, you've got a little bit more green to work with, with the flag. But if the flag was
06:23a little bit closer to the bunker, this would be a very intimidating shot for a lot of people.
06:27How do you play it? I think a lot of people go wrong with this kind of shot straight away is,
06:31especially if this flag was a little bit closer, is the Phil Mickelson million dollar shot of trying
06:35to land it just over the bunker and take all the risk into play. Right. Yes. I always try and think
06:41if there's not a lot of green between the fringe and the flag over the bunker, try and land it in
06:44the hole. So I always overcompensate and take 10, 15, even 20 foot past the flag. Right. So you're
06:49taking the bunker out. Yeah. I think for a lot of golfers, if we can avoid going in here,
06:54we avoid that card wrecker and we can keep our score going. That also begs the question,
06:59how do you avoid hitting it 50 yards over the back? Definitely. So the setup that I like to use is,
07:04is ball position in the middle of my stance, choose my most lofted wedge, which is my 58 degree.
07:10I then really want to feel a little bit of separation between upper and lower. So I feel
07:14that my shoulders point towards or parallel with target, but my lower halves and my feet and my hips
07:19are slightly open. If we think in the long game, everything that we're looking for is to be open
07:23at impact and be through to target. Whereas in the short shot, we've not got the speed,
07:28we've not got the momentum for that. So it's almost like preempting where we want to be.
07:31Okay, fine. So I lay the field, just get that split and almost feel my stance is very,
07:36very narrow, ball in the middle, underarm throwing it through towards target. And really trust that I've
07:43got to put the speed in. Now, if I took a really long backswing, I might tend to deaccelerate into the ball
07:48to control the distance that way. However far back you go is how far through we go.
07:52Let's imagine the flag is a little bit closer to us than it is, because with this shot,
07:57it would be a slightly more straightforward shot, but if the flag was a bit closer to us.
08:00So again, I would picture landing it into the hole. I wouldn't open the face too much. I've chosen my
08:05most lofted wedge and trust the fact that the loft is going to come from what club I've taken.
08:10Okay. Ball in the middle, weight slightly left.
08:18And trust that it's going to land over, roll just past the flag. And I'd always say to every single
08:23person, we'd rather have a 10-foot putt past the flag or even 20-foot putt than be in the bunker
08:28in front of us. Yeah. If you can, devote a little bit of time to that in practice, because it's the
08:32sort of shot you're going to need from time to time out on the golf course. And avoiding the bunker
08:36and avoiding hitting it over the back is the only way to keep your score intact.
08:39Okay. So this one is about the punch. Now, a lot of people watching this might think to themselves,
08:49well, you know, I want to master, you know, a normal golf shot before I develop the punch,
08:54but actually it's a shot well worth practicing, isn't it? Because it can teach you an awful lot
08:58about your game. Definitely. I think what are most people
09:00looking for with their irons? Hands ahead of the golf ball, hit the ball and turf. That's everything
09:06in this shot sort of tending itself to be. So it can actually have some great benefits technical
09:09wise. Yeah. Okay. So how do you play it? How can people play in the sort of most simple
09:14and effective way? So first off, we've got to think of like, we're trying to lower the ball flight.
09:18So we want a little bit less speed and less spin. So less speed and less spin, a little bit more
09:23gripping. Yeah. So, so, so, so by having, when you have more spin, more backspin, it doesn't matter
09:26what level you are. I feel a lot of people associate backspin with like tall level, but everyone creates
09:31backspin. The harder you hit it, the more you create, the higher the ball will go. That's the basic physics,
09:35right? Exactly. Yeah. So shorten the lever. So ultimately making, gripping the golf club closer
09:40towards the steel. Ball towards the back of our stance. So I try and tend to use my reference
09:45points as where my buttons are on my shirt. Yeah. Just the right of my buttons, no specific point
09:49really. Start everything feeling like it's working parallel to target. I then open up the lower half
09:55and weight goes left. Why do you open up the lower half? Now, without going into too much detail,
09:59the more you hit down on it, the more lighter this ball is going to want to squirt a little bit out to the
10:03right. So I open up my stance and feel as though I swing down my feet line and hit down on it that
10:08way. Right. Okay. Go on then, hit one for us then, Alex, can you? So clip down, gripping down more
10:12towards the steel. Start with everything parallel, and that's a really nice point. Open up the lower
10:17half. Weight goes left. Swing down the feet line and keep the weight left. And I'm really trying to feel
10:25like I make a three-quarter back swing to three-quarter. Yeah. And you should notice that it doesn't,
10:29doesn't look like Alex is really, I think I have a, certainly I have a tendency to try and hit the
10:34ball too hard when I'm doing it. And then you just create that ball. You create the sort of spinny
10:38flight that you're looking to avoid. So it's really important, isn't it? Yeah. And I kind of attach
10:43that to gears of a car. So we'd probably, you hit our normal shops to nine and kind of gear four out
10:48five. Whereas I try and feel it more in gear three, a little bit smoother, a little bit slower. Yeah.
10:52Okay. So our next one relates to how to chip from a bad line. Alex, we have given you a particularly
11:02bad line here. And it's one of those situations that you're going to need to have a shot that
11:06helps you in this scenario, because this can be a real card record, can't it? Yeah. I mean,
11:10we've all been there late in the round, 16th, 17th, 12th, just missed the green and we end up in this.
11:16Yeah. So you need to find a technique that is going to take the duff and the thin,
11:21and even actually from a line like this, the double hit out of the equation.
11:23Yeah. That's what I'm worried about right now.
11:26So what are you doing here to escape and get a good contact on the ball?
11:29For me, there's two factors. It's club selection and how we settle to the ball. I think these two
11:34things have got to be on point to allow us to, I think our level expectation, we don't expect to get
11:38it too close here. It's like I said before, get it on the green. Worst case scenario, bogey, not turning
11:43that into a double or a triple. So I always like to advocate using a more specialist wedge. So we have
11:49wedges that are part of the set sometimes, a bit more of a cavity on the back. This is more of like
11:53a specialist wedge. Bounce, it's got a little bit more bounce on than a traditional wedge out of a
11:58set. And this just helps us in terms of interaction on the ground. So my preferred wedge for this is
12:0450 degree, 52 or even 48 could be, as long as it's a specialist wedge, will really help us play this
12:09shot. Okay. So fine. Technically then, how are you changing it from your normal chipping technique?
12:16So my normal chipping technique, I would stand a little bit open. I wouldn't be as close to it.
12:20This hole, my sole of the club would be on the ground. And I would feel very similar to a chip
12:25and run shot that I would underarm throw it back and through. Whereas this setup changes completely.
12:31I like to feel I get the toe on the ground. I walk a little bit closer to it and I grip it just short
12:37of the steel. So all I'm trying to feel is that I keep my weight left and I get the toe brushing the
12:43ground. So ultimately we feel as though the toe is working and scooping this ball up. It's like it
12:51pops it up. Okay. It's the best way I can describe it. It's like a knife in butter. It's like a sharp edge
12:55getting into that bad lie and popping it out and up. Okay. Go on then. Show us how it's done.
12:59So we're in there. I have a few practice swings. I think it's important to have a practice swing
13:03and commit to this because a lot of people would see this and be like, ah, I'm scared.
13:06Yeah. And probably also to practice it from time to time. Definitely.
13:09You know, it's very tempting when you're practicing your chipping just to give yourself a perfect lie
13:13and practice those ones that just spin a little bit on the second bounce. But actually
13:16in reality, it's these shots that are going to really help you out on the course.
13:19These are the ones that keep momentum. You know, if you get up and down for par here or
13:22not even that, you just don't make a card wrecker, then you're going to feel good walking onto the next tee.
13:28Yeah. So a few practice swings. Just get the toe
13:31interact on the ground. Try and feel it's more of a wooden motion. No wheel set in the wrist. I try and feel my
13:37thumbs are really pointing down to the ground. Walking in, weight left.
13:45Oh, that's really well played. Do you know, that got a little shooty bounce, but it's fine.
13:49I mean, from there, I'm more than happy with that shot.
13:53It's a really good shot. It's probably a little bit unlucky, actually. So,
13:56you know, it's one of these things that can be tempting not to practice this shot.
13:59But when you are confronted with a situation like this out on the golf course, you'll need the
14:02technique. Hopefully, Alex's that he's shown you there will help you.
14:11Okay, so the next one relates to putting, and in particular, putting from long range.
14:15If you can get down in two from this area more often, it's going to make a massive difference to
14:20your momentum and your scoring, and it's just going to help you all around the whole of your
14:24game. How do you prepare? And then what do you do to make sure that you're getting the ball
14:28consistently right in terms of the distance? So, preparation is key, getting the speed of the
14:32greens. Out on the course, I'm picturing a bin lid around the hole. So, not really from this distance
14:38looking to hold it. If we do, absolutely fantastic. I think we can get into a bit of trouble trying to
14:43hold a put of this length and it going three to that four feet past. Yeah, yeah. So, what do you do
14:48pre-round, then, to help you get a better judgment for pace? This might sound quite
14:51counterintuitive, really, but I don't put towards a hole. I have two golf balls. What I would do is,
14:56I would put into free space, and I'd almost try and play balls. I'd try and hit my second ball
15:01onto my first, because if I can do that, it's a lot harder to do that than it is to get it inside
15:06that bin lid. Okay. So, why do you take the hole out of the equation, then? So, there's no real
15:10outcome in terms of something that I can make it relative to the course. So, I'm literally tuning
15:15into not actually holding a putt, but getting pace. I think a lot of golfers think they're better at
15:21pace than they are at reading the putt, and they don't actually tune into this enough. So, then, Alex,
15:25what are you doing on the course in a situation like this to make sure that you get that pace
15:29right? What I would do is, similar to what we might do on a long chip and run, I would walk
15:34half the distance, make a triangle between me and the hole, walk back, and this gives us a great
15:41perception of distance. Right, yeah. So, looking at something this way, we can make it sometimes
15:46look a little bit shorter. Yeah, it shorts it a little bit, yeah. Yeah, and just taking a walk on that
15:51journey, you get a little bit of feedback. Is it uphill? Is it downhill? Is it left to right?
15:56Because sometimes, we've all been there, we looked at a putt from this side, we've gotten the other
15:59side, and we're like, it looks totally different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, it gives us a real good
16:04instincts come into play. It gives us a real good view of what the hole and what the putt is like.
16:08So, as I'm preparing for a putt, I'm looking at the hole, I'm making that stroke back and through,
16:13asking myself a question, is that enough? If it's not, take it a little bit further back, a little bit
16:18further through, really getting some great feedback for hitting that putt. Over the golf ball now,
16:23one look towards target, pull the trigger. Yeah, very good. Now, we've made that stress-free,
16:33we're more than happy from 35, 40 feet, walking up to that, tapping it in. We may even mark it
16:38to be sure, but definitely take stress-free. Put those tips into play and it should help you
16:43whenever you're in this sort of situation and you've got a scorecard in your hand and you need to keep it
16:47ticking over. Okay, so this one is about the chip and run. Now, I'm sure it's a shot that most of
16:57you have played, but how many of you actually practice it? And I think that's the key point,
17:00isn't it, Alex? Because, you know, it's a shot that technically, there's not an awful lot of
17:05sort of difficulty with it, but it does require practice if you want to, you know, consistently get
17:09the ball up and down. Yeah, and I think because it's not a glamorous shot, it's not the shot people see
17:14on TV all the time. It's like, I don't really want to practice that one too much. But I tend to get a
17:19lot of people, especially on like playing lessons, things like that, using a rule, if you can put it,
17:23let's put it. So in this situation here, we probably can't put this. I know the turf's great here.
17:27It's quite a long shot really to play, isn't it? Yeah. So next resort in my head,
17:31I'm going, right, if I can chip it, let's run it. So yes, I can chip and run this. Now,
17:35I try and think of it in a simple analogy of, if I was going to underarm throw it,
17:39or the strings of the badminton racket here are ultimately in my palm or the club face,
17:45how much impetus would I have to put into it? I know it's a lot easier for me to land it five
17:49yards in front of me than 25 yards next to the flag on a five pence piece. Okay. So when you're
17:56planning the shot, how are you figuring out where to land it, how much to run it, what club to hit,
18:01all of those elements? So I would tend to, on a shot like this, maybe have a little bit of a walk.
18:05Yeah. And especially because there's a little bit of a raise here and get to a point and sort
18:10of give myself an angle from the side of what does this shot look like? Because from the side,
18:15you get a much better perception of distance. Yeah. When we're looking this way at something,
18:19it looks a little bit shorter. A little bit shorter. Yeah. So I tend to get to the side of it,
18:23have a little bit of a look, always walk to where I want to land it on as well. So you've almost got a
18:28reference of even subconsciously, well, that was about 10 yards. I know I can back myself to a 10 yard chart.
18:34I think most people watching this one as well, no matter what your handicap is. Whereas if I was
18:38trying to land it with my 58 off this lie as well, which is, it's just tight.
18:41Very tight. Yeah. What would be the mistakes that people make with this shot?
18:45I think like, like, like what I said there is standing to it like a full shot,
18:49letting the club work to around the body. Okay.
18:51And then I always think, make gravity on your side. So getting closer to the golf ball,
18:57and I use this term lightly, straighter back, straighter through, it's never quite straight back,
19:01straight through, but it allows you to easily drop the golf club on the back of the ball,
19:05rather than too much around the corner. We're sort of fighting it and scooping it.
19:10Okay. So everything's on your side, then a little bit closer, a little bit easier,
19:13and make it a little bit more wooden. Okay. Go on. Let's have a look.
19:21There you go. Really good. And I think the point about this shot is, Alex, that it's just,
19:27it's one of the safest shots you can hit. Exactly. You know, if you are prone to the odd,
19:30you know, chunky chip around the greens or thinning one through the back,
19:33and you're playing in competition, it's just a fairly easy shot to play. You know,
19:37you're not going to make double bogey from this scenario. No, I would say, your worst chip and
19:41run's never going to be as worse as your worst lofted shot. Yeah. Okay. So practice that,
19:45hopefully you'll improve. There you have it. That was our list of the seven most important golf shots
19:50that every golfer needs. Guys, before you go, please do hit the pause button and let us know. Firstly, if you think we've missed
19:55any, if they think there are any shots that really would help players get round in as fewer shots as possible.
20:00And also, if you do use any of these techniques regularly, let us know. We'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
20:06But that's all now from West Hill. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.
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