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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
01:00swing suggests 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 their,
01:10in their 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 who
02:32has a tendency to snatch at their shots a little bit too much, that feeling that you're hitting and not
02:36swinging, try to incorporate that into your pre-shot routine. Okay, so we have reached the inevitable
02:46part of this video, which we're going to talk about alignment. And most golfers watching this
02:50will 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? I think the biggest thing golfers tend to forget with alignment is they
03:04forget that it's not their body that's lined up to the target. They're on those old train tracks. So
03:10the ball and the target are on one train track, your feet, knees, hips and shoulders are on the
03:14other. So in theory, you're running parallel to your target. But the problem is when a lot of people
03:19set up to the ball is they look down their shoulder and they tend to kind of shuffle themselves and aim
03:24themselves at. So they've skewed themselves across the line. Yes. So what's the process? How do you get it
03:31right time and time again? So you need to build it into your pre-shot routine. So you need to stand
03:35behind the ball, use your club almost like a ruler, point it at your target, pull the club down and
03:40pick yourself a mini target just in front of the ball. It's so much easier to get yourself lined up
03:45on those train 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
04:06you can just do what Katie said and get it right more often, chances are you'll also start making
04:10better swings, better contacts and just generally playing golf a little bit better.
04:19Okay, so we've come down to the green here. And Katie, we're talking about chipping.
04:23What do people forget to do in a situation like this?
04:26I think the biggest problem people have when it comes to shots out on the course around the green
04:32is they choose the wrong club. Right.
04:34So I think there's that idea that because I'm chipping, I need to look good. And they want that
04:38Seve-esque sort of high floaty shot that's going to land right by the flag and zip back and stop.
04:43That's not reality. Reality would be if I was to give you a ball and throw it to the flag.
04:48Go on then. Yeah, right. I'm not going to go up and over like that because I've
04:52got no control over it. The bounce is going to be more unpredictable. Everything's just a little
04:57bit more dangerous. My safest possible option would be to almost play lawn bowls, basically.
05:02So I'd roll it on the first available bit of green. It would run into the flag.
05:07Yeah. So then what I'd want you to do out on the golf course is kind of put into your hand
05:12the club that best fits that carry and roll. Right.
05:16So for me, that went low and rolled out. So it'd probably be something like an A time.
05:20Yeah. The majority of people would not be choosing an A time from here.
05:23Well, I think that they possibly just automatically grab the lob wedge or the sand wedge.
05:27Yeah. 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.
05:34You just want to look the best you can possibly look. And for a lot of people, that's the ball in the air.
05:38But what's interesting about this, Katie, is that you're saying work backwards, figure out what the shot looks like,
05:43the best, most reliable looking shot, what it looks like, and then pick your club.
05:47So with this little short chip, this almost tick tock action,
05:52I can afford to miss hit it a little bit and still get away with it.
05:55I think that's the important thing. Go on then.
05:56Miss hit it for us and get away with it. Miss hit it and get away with it. Oh, great.
06:01So all I'm going to do is just that little tick tock, bounce it on that top bit and let it roll around.
06:08This is good.
06:09You told me to miss hit it and I said no.
06:11No, you did it perfectly. But I think the point remains, keep it simple. It's the best way to do it.
06:20Posture. It's something that I think most golfers understand how important it is to have a nice
06:24athletic posture. Yet the amount of golfers that you see out on the course who have stood over the ball,
06:30not looking particularly athletic. Why is it so important to get right firstly, Katie?
06:35It's so important to get right because posture, good posture gives you good balance,
06:40which in turn gives you control in your golf swing. And we want control in our golf swing,
06:44right? Yeah. We don't want to stand there in a position where we're rocking about the place.
06:48And this is what happens when the position that you're setting up in is poor. You're setting up in
06:54a state of almost sitting down or sometimes tipped over too much. But the one we see the most is the
06:59fat back, kind of slightly lazy posture almost. What you've got there is you've got the weight on the
07:05heels. So you're going to swing the club back and you're going to be rocking around, rocking all over
07:10the place. What we want to see is a more of a planted onto the balls of the feet and the ability to
07:16actually be in balance as you come back to the ball. Good posture to begin with is usually going to
07:22mean better posture as you hit the shot. Poor posture, you're just not going to introduce any
07:27of the bigger muscles. So you're not going to get that lovely rotation and that lovely weight transfer
07:31through the ball. So what's a good tip? What's a good checkpoint to make sure you're in the right
07:35posture? You could stand in front of a mirror at home and actually take your posture if the mirror's
07:40there. Take your posture, set yourself up, have a look, go, yeah, all right, that's great. But we want
07:44something we can take onto the golf course. You do see people out there going tippy over, flex your
07:49knees and going through almost a little routine in their heads, but that can introduce tension.
07:53Okay. In good posture, you should be able to, a bit like you're about to return to serve in tennis,
07:58you should be able to give your heels a little tap. That tells us we're ready to run somewhere,
08:03tells us we're athletic. If you're setting up to the ball and you try and do that and you think,
08:08blimey, I'm rocking back already because I can tap my toes. If you're a toe tapper, your posture's
08:14lacking athleticism. It's a really simple tip and if you do have issues with your posture over the
08:19ball, then maybe introduce that into your pre-shot routine. It could make all the difference.
08:29Okay, so we're going to talk about bunker play and obviously the two biggest mistakes
08:33are either leaving it in the bunker or thinning it over the back. The lesson that people forget here
08:39is that the bunker shot, the green side bunker shot, is the only one in which you're not trying to make
08:43contact with the ball first, right? Exactly. And I think this is the thing is that we don't want
08:49to hit the ball first. We want to hit the sand behind the ball so it floats out on that lovely
08:53cushion. So it's really important here that we address the part we want to hit. So we're actually
08:58addressing the sand behind the ball. Okay, so talk us through how you do it. So it's important to
09:03almost think of the ball as being sat on a fried egg. So the ball is the yolk, essentially. Just draw a
09:08couple of little circles, obviously not allowed to do this in real play for obvious reasons,
09:14but draw a couple of circles around the ball and you can even give yourself three circles in a row,
09:18almost like traffic lights. Practice hitting the right bit of sand. So if I was to have a little
09:23practice traffic light, if you like, so I'm going to set myself up, swing back, swing through and take
09:29the whole thing out. What I'm then going to do is set myself up to the back of the egg where the ball is
09:36and again, almost try and repeat it. So I'm just letting the ball get in the way, but I'm aiming
09:40to hit the back of that egg. Perfect. Great shot. And you'll notice, I mean, that description there
09:48that Katie's given is so simple. It's something that every golfer can do, but you do need to practice
09:52these things. Trust it and practice it. It should help.
09:56Okay. So our next one is about grip pressure and this is starting to feel actually a bit like a
10:05personal counselling session for me because I know that under pressure, I have a tendency to really
10:10squeeze the grip and strangle the grip. And I know that's not good, but can you explain to everyone
10:16why it's not good? So the first thing is you're not alone. Probably 90% of the people that I teach
10:21are strangling the club. Now, the effect that this has on your ability to get back to that ball
10:27is huge. The reason being, if you're holding the club in an appropriate manner, an appropriate amount
10:33of pressure is being applied, you're holding it almost like a tube of toothpaste with the lid off.
10:36So that would be quite a good way of remembering it. What people tend to do is they tend to go from
10:42setting themselves up, holding it all right, and then suddenly the squeeze comes in. So you've got a nice,
10:47relaxed hold where the club's on the ground. Check out what my club face does when I squeeze it.
10:53That's literally down to me strengthening my grip. My forearms are contracting and therefore shortening
11:00and lo and behold, you can imagine the shots that you're going to get from that.
11:03Yeah, if you've got an iron in the hand, you're likely to hit, I would think, you're likely to hit
11:06fins. Yes. Maybe tops. Absolutely. Yeah, you are. But also it's the impact that it has on your rhythm,
11:13which we've talked about before. You want that free, easy swing. You want that lovely flow to your golf
11:20swing. Yeah. So as Katie said, a nice, light grip pressure. It'll help your rhythm. It'll help all
11:25sorts of different things in your golf swing.
11:32Okay, so the number one tip on our list that golfers forget is they forget to aim at the middle of the
11:38green, in particular when the flag is cut tight to one side or another. So imagine for a second
11:45that the green behind Katie and I here, imagine that flag is tucked just over the bunkers on the
11:49right-hand side. I appreciate it's not today, but imagine that it is. That's a really dangerous flag.
11:55Yeah. Especially when you consider, Katie, you've got so much room to aim at on this green, haven't you?
12:00And we've all said it. We've all got up there and gone, damn it, I'm in the bunker. Look how much room
12:05there is on the left. Yes. And for some reason, we tend to go at tiger line at the flag stick.
12:12Something that will really help you to avoid this and remind you that actually the middle of the
12:16green, you want to be on the middle of the green because you're never going to get a really long
12:20putt. You're never going to be too far from the flag, are you? No. But 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. So for example,
12:31here we've got two tall fir trees just to the right of where our flag is, but that's the centre of the
12:36green. I'd be thinking about aiming at those and use that as my marker as my part of my pre-shot
12:41routine. Just draw my attention to what's at the back. It lifts you up body language-wise, so you're
12:46looking up. You're visualising a decent shot because you're going at something that's beyond the green.
12:52Yeah. And it just takes your attention away from any trouble that might be sneaking around in the
12:57foreground. Come on Katie, let's finish off with a good shot, shall we? So that flag, let's be honest,
13:02is in a pretty good spot. I'm not giving you any excuses here. Oh right, no pressure.
13:11Lovely shot. Nice, high, soft draw, very easy. And I think it goes to show that if you're out on the
13:17golf course and you're thinking about how to compile a score, maybe just have one round of golf where you
13:21just aim at the middle of the green. Forget about where the flag is, see what it does to your score.
13:26It might just help. Okay, so there you have it. That's our look at the seven tips that every golfer
13:32forgets. If you've enjoyed the video, please do hit the like button. If you have any questions
13:35or any comments, leave them below. But that's it for now from West Hill.
13:39Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
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