We know when we play golf, there are things we should do that will help us play better golf, however, it doesn't take much to forget everything you told yourself you would or wouldn't do. In this video, Dan Parker goes over 11 things all golfers forget to do whilst out on the course. Making sure you don't forget to do these things each time you play, will definitely help you improve your scores!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello everyone and welcome to this Golf Monthly video where I'm going to be talking about 11
00:03things that all golfers forget to do out on course. Now I'm not talking about forgetting
00:08your 5-iron or leaving your trolley battery at home, I'm talking about tactical things
00:12that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist
00:17before every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out
00:22of your game. I'm at the very blustery West Hill today, let's get started.
00:30Do you warm up properly before each round of golf? I think this is a massive thing that
00:35loads of golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will
00:39suffer for it. Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but
00:43even if it's 10 minutes of putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind
00:48of warm up will really help your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and
00:52play better golf for it. So another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in
00:56the middle of a round is use a little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great
01:01example in front of me here on the 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although I'm
01:04close to the green, there's too much water on the ground but there's also nothing for me to go over
01:09so why would I need to take my lob wedge or my sand wedge, a much higher tariff shot in this
01:14situation. You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree, I'm more likely to shank it or thin it
01:23because it's a high tariff shot. What I think a lot of golfers need to do is use a little bit
01:27less loft, take your time around these chips, I've got an eight iron here and hit a lower tariff
01:33shot, almost just put a putting stroke on this and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort,
01:42I need to practice it a little bit more but I think taking less loft around the green is a much
01:46better idea. Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the
01:51course is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind I've
01:57got to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case, you're not going to hit the ball that far
02:01anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often. Great example here today
02:06the second at West Hill, we're into wind I've got the big dog out, I'd normally want to hit this as hard
02:11as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going to swing a little bit slower, just try and get a
02:15bit of strike on it, get myself down the fairway. So I'm going to swing this as easy as I can.
02:21And away it goes, not my finest hit, a bit cutty but into wind on a day like today, not too
02:31disappointed with that. So remember into wind swing a little bit slower. Right so another thing I think
02:36golfers forget all too much when they're out on the golf course is not going at every single pin.
02:41There are loads of sucker pins out there and if you find yourself short-sided of these you're going to
02:46really struggle to make up and down. Start going for the centre of the green more often and there'll be
02:51other pins you can go at later in the round. I've got a good example here at the first at West Hill
02:55where the pin is in the middle but it's really far to the left. So the last thing I want to do is aim
03:00at it, go left of it and find myself in that trap or left of that trap where I'm never going to make
03:05up and down. So on this hole I'm going to almost take my medicine, aim at the centre of the green,
03:10hopefully get my two putt, walk on to the next one. Let's see how I do. Make sure I aim nice and central.
03:16I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this is a good pin for me but I'm going to stay nice and central.
03:27And I did hit the little fade and I got away with one. It wasn't my greatest strike, a little bit thin
03:32but because I aim middle, knowing my shot shape, I knew I couldn't go too far wrong.
03:36So don't get suckered into those pins, play for the centre of the green,
03:40two putt and attack those pins later in the round.
03:42Ah, right. That brings me on to my next thing that golfers forget when they're out on the course
03:54and it's to take every shot as seriously as the last. Now I got a little bit angry with myself
03:59there leaving that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the next putt and I've missed it.
04:04I've cost myself another shot. Now it's easy to do this when the red mist descends,
04:09I've done it loads of times myself. I'm sure you have at home but it's really important that
04:13throughout the round you remind yourself not to get too angry, that every single shot matters.
04:18We'll do this on the fairway every now and again as well. If you duff one straight in front of you,
04:23you'll just take the same club, hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and the same thing
04:27might happen. So after a bad shot, take your time, remind yourself that every shot matters and hopefully
04:33that'll save a few shots on the course. Right, so another mistake I think lots of golfers make is
04:38taking their driver off the tee when they don't need to. Now across this video you might think I'm
04:43a bit overly defensive on the golf course, feel free to let me know in the comments if I am and if I'm
04:47horribly wrong on this. But I think on a hole like this, we've got the 12 through at West Hill,
04:51273 it's playing today, a little bit downwind. I probably could hit the green with my driver if I
04:55really liked it but there's all sorts in the way. There's bunkers, there's trees, it's times like this that I
05:00think a lot of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play something like this,
05:04a hybrid, a driving iron, a long iron, anything just to pop yourself in play, leave yourself
05:08a nice number in. So I'm going to leave that driver to one side there, I've got my trusty
05:12four hybrid here and it should just be the easiest swing to put myself in position.
05:22A bit like that on the first take as well might I add. So I think a lot of golfers need to think a lot
05:27more carefully on the course about when they're using their driver, use it in the right
05:30situations and on shorter par fours, play for position. Okay so you joined me here on the 12th
05:35and after I was just telling you about playing for position, not taking your driver too often,
05:39I found myself out of position on a very short par four. So I'm not best pleased
05:43and that brings on to the next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course
05:47and that is to stay calm. I think if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save
05:52at least I think two shots around, especially if you're a bit of an angry golfer. You know you won't
05:57hit the angry chip or the angry putt when your head's not in the right space. Now I know there's
06:01nothing worse than someone else telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse effect,
06:06but I think if you can check yourself out on course, remind yourself to stay calm,
06:09it's a really important thing to remember throughout the entire round. While I'm here,
06:13another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey is your friend and it is more often than not. It's not
06:18a card killer and while it's not a great score it's not going to ruin your entire round. Now obviously I'm
06:23hoping to make a par from here and I'm not going to say I'm not, you know, I do want to try and make
06:27up and down, but I'm going to remind myself that if I don't come off here with a par, a bogey is
06:31okay and I'm not going to get too angry and the bogey is my friend. It's not a double, it's not something
06:35worse. So stay calm, bogey is my friend and whatever I hit here, I'm not going to get too wound up about it.
06:45And I hit a good shot, so I've got to look at par, if I get a bogey it's okay. So two things,
06:49stay calm, bogey is your friend. Okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make is not
06:54playing for position on par fives. Now I know we've already spoken about not taking driver all the
06:59time. I don't want to come over as overly defensive on the golf course, but I think every now and again
07:03we need to look at a par five for what it is, take a bit less club and score a little bit better for it
07:09I think in the majority. Example here, 17th at West Hill, I hit my Sunday best drive here, pretty
07:14pleasing myself. But it's into wind, we've got trouble left, there's trouble right, should I really be trying
07:19to hit a three wood to get to this green that's barely in reach, probably not. So take the situation
07:24to account on par fives, but I think a seven iron is the play here, so away with the three wood.
07:30I'm just going to play, hopefully I'll have about 100 yards left in, something like that with just
07:34an easy seven iron. Not my best, but not my worst, should just be a little wedge in from there
07:45and I'm not going to make anything worse than a par there, whereas if my three went left or right,
07:48anything could have happened. So I think playing for position on par fives, when the situation
07:52warrants it, is really important. So one major thing I think loads of golfers forget to do is
07:57take a little bit more club when the conditions warrant it. So I'm talking about heavy wind like
08:02it is today, colder temperatures and even consider when you're not striking the ball that well. I don't
08:07think enough of us adapt to that mid-round. So really think, you know, on the ninth hole, halfway through your
08:12round, what's the wind like today? How am I striking it? Should I attack the back nine with
08:16a little bit more club? Now I'm criminal for this as well. I'm going to flash up some data from one
08:21of my recent rounds, my Arcos data, which shows I missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round,
08:26not my, not my finest round. And they were all short, all 10 were short and that's because it was
08:31a windy day, it was a little bit cold and as you can see, I wasn't hitting the ball that well. What I
08:35didn't do was take into account the temperature, the way I was striking the ball that day, which wasn't
08:39very good and the fact it was really, really windy. So I was ending up short a lot of the time, missing
08:44all my greens and regulation and my scoring suffered for it. So when you're out on course,
08:48think about all those conditions, re-evaluate midway through a round and don't forget to take
08:52more club. Right, the final thing that golfers forget to do when they're out on course and you've
08:56probably heard it before and you're going to hear it again from me, is to take your medicine.
09:01Playing partners would have said it, coaches would have said it to you. You've probably told this yourself
09:04when you've hit a bad shot, but it's something we forget every now and again as we're trying to chase
09:08that score out on course. I've got a great example of it here at the second at West Hill. That gap in
09:13that tree is quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn to Tiger Woods for this shot,
09:18but I've got to carry over the heather. I've got to go below this tree through that gap. It's a very
09:24high tariff shot and for not that much gain. A chip out would make a lot more sense. So I'm going to
09:29show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine, when you try and take one on.
09:32Class. Bonks it into the tree. There it goes in the heather. What I should have done,
09:40and I'll show you with this ball, is come way out to the left, all that fairway over there,
09:45take your medicine and I'm going to go and try and make a par now. So I'm going to say it one more time,
09:52take your medicine, help your score out, don't think you're Tiger Woods. So there you have it,
09:57those are the 11 things that I think all golfers forget to do out on course.
10:01As I said at the top of this video, consider this your checklist to remind yourself before
10:05every round of golf. And I'm thinking you'll save at least a couple of shots per round if
10:09you follow those rules. Are there any I've forgotten? Are there any mistakes that you
10:13commonly make out on course that you know you do, but you forget halfway through a round?
10:17Let me know down in the comments. I'd love to hear what you have to say.
10:20But for now, thank you very much for joining me. I'll see you next time.