Tips On Visually Tracking Your Golf Ball

Golf Monthly

In this video, Neil Tappin shares some handy tips to help you find your golf ball more often and avoid costly penalty strokes.

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club, and

00:04this video in which we are going to offer some advice to help you search for and find

00:09golf balls that you've hit into a little bit of trouble. Now, we all do it from time to

00:13time where we hit tee shots or other shots into difficult areas of the golf course to

00:17find your ball in, and actually there are some really good practical tips that will

00:21help you find your ball more often than not. And that's what we're going to go through

00:25in this video. Guys, if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel, please do hit the subscribe

00:28button to make sure that you don't miss any of our videos. Hit the like button if you

00:31like what you're watching, but let's take a look at the seven best tips to help you search

00:35for and find your golf ball.

00:51Now, this tip relates to keeping a very close eye on your ball whenever you hit it into trouble.

00:55Now, it sounds incredibly obvious, doesn't it? But the truth is, whenever you hit a bad

00:59shot, the temptation is to look away in frustration or to think about what you've just done wrong in

01:05your swing that's caused you to hit such a bad shot, but that's not going to help you find the

01:08golf ball. The only way you're going to find your golf ball is to keep a very close eye on exactly

01:14where it's gone. In this scenario, I've just hit a bit of a slice here off the 15th tee at the London

01:19Club. I know it's up the right, but because I turned away in disgust, I have absolutely no idea where it's

01:24finished. So keep watching your ball very closely until it lands so you get all the information that

01:29you need. If you need to, walk over to the side to get a better view of exactly where the ball's gone.

01:34In this scenario, it's gone over a little mound on the right-hand side. I can probably see a bit more

01:38of its flight if I walk over to this side of the tee. All of those things, they might seem small,

01:42they might seem obvious, but they will make a big difference if you've hit your ball into trouble.

01:47Whenever you've hit your ball into trouble, you will, of course, need to get a good idea of how

01:55far you've hit it. I think the big mistake I see in this scenario is that people tend to overestimate

02:01how far they've hit the ball. Often, you'll find yourself searching for somebody's ball in the group

02:06and they're looking in an adjacent area to where the other players are who've hit them straight down

02:10the fairway when in fact they've hit a slice. Chances are, if you've hit a slice, the ball will not go

02:15as far. So just be realistic about how far you've hit the ball. If you're looking for a pushed shot

02:21or a sliced shot, take a bit of yardage off. That's always a sensible idea. Alternatively, if you have

02:26hit a hook, then perhaps it might have gone a little bit further. But do remember also that if the ball's

02:30gone into an area like this with some really thick, long grass, there's not going to be any run on it

02:34either. So as you can see here, my playing partner's hit a really good drive that's just ended up in the

02:39right-hand semi on this hole. My ball, which was further right than that, was a bit of a slice.

02:44There's some thick grass in here. It's never going to have gone as far as that drive there. So just

02:49having a sort of a sensible approach, a common sense approach to how far you've hit the ball,

02:55whenever you've hit it into trouble, might well help you identify a better area to search for your

03:00ball in and it might just yield the results you're looking for.

03:16Now, whenever you've hit your ball into trouble, it is really important that you get a very good

03:20line on where that ball has gone. Now, I'm on the 16th hole here on the international course at the

03:25London Club and I've hit a hook off the tee. My ball has gone just over the left-hand edge of

03:31the bunker that I think you can probably see there at the end of the fairway. Now, by having a really,

03:35really good line on it and by knowing that the ball's gone over just that left-hand edge, I've

03:39got a much better chance of finding it. Now, it might well be that you pick out a spot on the horizon,

03:43whether that's an electricity pylon, a church spire, a tree, whatever it is, pick something out that's

03:50really easily identifiable and as specific as possible so that when you get into the area to

03:55search for your golf ball, you can pick out that spot once again and you should be able to have a

04:00much better idea of where your ball has come to finish. Now, it's not essential under the rules of

04:10golf that you do this, but we would always advise that you put an identification mark on your golf ball.

04:15This is my Titleist Pro V1X number two and I put two green dots above the Titleist on both sides of

04:22the golf ball. That means that if I do hit the ball into an iffy area and chances are there are

04:27going to be other Titleist twos over in that area, I know exactly which ball is mine. It can be one of

04:32those things that can really help sort of clear up any unwanted confusion. Whenever it comes to the

04:37rules of golf, you really want to avoid any confusion. So when it comes to searching for and finding your

04:42golf ball, I'd say it's always a good idea to put a unique identification mark on your ball.

04:51Okay, so the next one is a really important one and it relates to how you go about searching for

04:55your golf ball. Now, this is the 13th hole on the International Golf Course here at the London Club

05:00and I've hit a slight pull off the tee and I know that my golf ball is somewhere behind me in amongst these

05:07trees and the long grass. Now, having got a good line on my tee shot, I know it's in line with that

05:12tree that you can see behind me, but where exactly, I don't know. Now, if I'm carrying my golf clubs, which

05:18I am today, then I would walk from the tee into the area that I think I've hit my ball on the line of the

05:24shot. Effectively, at some point, I should sort of run into my golf ball. I should see it as I walk in on

05:29that line. Now, that's not always going to be possible, of course, because sometimes you're going to be

05:33playing in a buggy or you're going to be using a trolley. In those scenarios, what I'd say is a

05:38good idea is to pull up roughly adjacent to the area you think your ball might be in, walk into the

05:44rough and by looking back towards the tee and looking forward towards the tree, I'm effectively

05:49retracing the line of the shot. I can then walk forwards and hopefully I should be able to find my

05:55ball. Some really simple stuff there, but when it comes to searching for golf balls in difficult areas,

06:00that's the sort of stuff that can make all the difference.

06:07So, if the sun was out for this shot, which I appreciate, it's a bit in and out of the clouds,

06:11then I'd be hitting directly into the sun and it can be really, really difficult to see where the ball

06:15goes. You make a swing at the ball, you look up to see where it's gone and suddenly you're blinded by

06:19the sun. You can't see where it's gone. In this situation, it always makes sense just to have a

06:23word with your playing partner and say, do you mind just keeping an eye on this one, just to make sure

06:28that your playing partner isn't practicing his grip or checking his backswing while you're hitting.

06:35Because if that does happen and you lose sight of it and your playing partner hasn't seen it at all,

06:40you could end up losing a ball that actually was perfectly findable in the first place.

06:58In the latest set of revisions to the rules of golf that were released by the RNA and USGA at the

07:05beginning of 2019, they decided to remove the penalty for accidentally moving your ball while

07:11searching for it. So, if you're somebody that's played golf for many years, you might think to

07:14yourself, oh, if I accidentally step on my ball or hit my ball with my club while I'm searching for it,

07:20I'm going to get a penalty shot. That is now not the case. So, my advice to you would be get in there,

07:25have a good look for it. Move the grass around with your feet. That will really help you uncover

07:30the ball in difficult areas, especially if you're playing in the autumn when leaves are coming down

07:34off the trees. The ball can go underneath those leaves. It can be very annoying. You can lose a ball

07:38in some really sort of findable areas. Now, if you do happen to accidentally move your ball,

07:45so my ball's just here and if I'm searching for it, I accidentally move it like that. I don't get a

07:50penalty, but I must replace the ball to its original position. So, I'd simply pick it up

07:56and then I know exactly where it was. But if I didn't know exactly where it was, then I'd have to

08:00sort of guess to the best of my knowledge where it was originally situated, which was just in there.

08:07And now I can carry on knowing that I've not broken the rule. So, the advice here is very simple.

08:11If you're searching for your ball, search for it. Get in there. Move the grass around. Try and find it.

08:16And if you move it, simply put it back to its original position. So, there you have it. That's

08:20our list of seven tips for how to search for and find your golf ball whenever you hit it into

08:25a spot of bother on the golf course. I hope you found that useful. Guys, before you go,

08:29hit the pause button and let us know if you have any tips for searching for golf balls that you think

08:34might be helpful to other people. I think it's always useful to share those ideas around. But that's

08:39it for now from The London Club. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.

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