- 6 days ago
Joe 'The Pro' Ferguson and Dan Parker run through the five shots every golfer needs to score well on the course while offering some useful tips on how to play them successfully.
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00:00Joe, I've been thinking a lot about golf recently, as I always do.
00:04Aside from the stock shots we always go and practice, right?
00:06There's a lot of shots that appear on the golf course that you never practice
00:10but that are really vital to keeping a round going and keeping a score going.
00:13Does that seem fair?
00:15I would say that's fair. There's some essential skills you need to master to be good at golf.
00:19Should we go and find some out on the course today and help some people out?
00:22Let's do it.
00:30Well, there comes points in rounds, doesn't there, and this is a good example here.
00:33We're on the 17th hole at Kedleston Park, got a good round going,
00:36and I'm looking down the fairway and there's a lot of trouble either side.
00:39Left and right, it's very tree-lined, isn't it?
00:41It is very tree-lined, but it could be a really good opportunity
00:43because it's a short-ish par-5 if we can find the fairway.
00:46So, aside from your normal stock drive that you might hit and practice all the time,
00:50I think it's really important to have a fairway-finding shot, if you like,
00:55and I'm going to demonstrate mine to you.
00:57There are other ways which we might get into in a second,
01:00but I'm just going to demonstrate what I do when I really need to hit a fairway.
01:03Okay, go on.
01:04A couple of little things I change at setup.
01:06Firstly, I peg the ball down just a little bit.
01:09Why do you do that?
01:10When I'm pegged up a lot, it helps me sweep up on the ball
01:13and maybe hit from the inside of it and get a nice, powerful draw.
01:17That can increase my dispersion a little bit, so when it's pegged down,
01:20my attack angle comes down a little bit and I start to sort of squeeze a little fade out
01:26and then I know the ball is going to turn from left to right.
01:29So that gives me the confidence to aim just a little bit left,
01:32knowing the ball is going to squeeze out a little bit.
01:35And then from there, all I do is choke down on the club about half an inch.
01:39I stand a tiny bit closer to the ball because of that.
01:42So because I'm closer to the ball, I've got a better chance of centering the contact.
01:46I've then narrowed my stance a tiny bit.
01:48So I've got a slightly smaller radius of swing from the choking down
01:52and a slightly tighter swing radius from having a slightly narrower stance.
01:56So all that's kind of doing, it's inhibiting my speed a little bit admittedly.
02:00So I'm taking a little bit off it, but exactly that's okay for this shot.
02:03The priority here is finding the fairway.
02:05And you're more assured of what shot shape you're going to get.
02:08100%.
02:09So you can know where to aim and where to find the fairway.
02:11Absolutely.
02:12And just pegging it down really helps me know that this ball is going to squeeze from left to right.
02:16So it gives me the confidence to aim up the left.
02:18So I'll choke down again, like I said.
02:19Show us the way then, son.
02:20Half an inch.
02:22I'm aiming just inside that tree there, slightly narrower stance than normal.
02:26And I'm just going to make my smooth little golf swing.
02:30Now it's going to bleed off that tree nicely.
02:32Just inside it perfectly.
02:35That's a good example.
02:37So really tight.
02:38So really tight.
02:39So it's just past that tree.
02:40And now I'm in really good shape to make a birdie.
02:45Right then, Joe.
02:46Found you in your spiritual home.
02:47The trees.
02:48Bit harsh, but yes.
02:49Probably accurate.
02:50I know we just talked about fairway finders.
02:52Obviously sometimes you miss that.
02:53And this is a shot, the punch out from the trees, that you just never, well I don't anyway,
02:58practice, do you?
02:59You don't go to the range and start punching five irons off your back foot or whatever.
03:02I see a lot of complacency on this shot.
03:04And I play a lot of pro-ams and play a lot of guys who sort of walk into this scenario
03:08and just see it as a nominal shunt forward.
03:10Correct.
03:11But it's actually far more complicated than a shot from the middle of the fairway
03:14where you're thinking about your yardage and the wind.
03:16There's actually a lot more going on here to think about.
03:18Don't you think?
03:19So let's do strategy first then.
03:20And we'll come onto execution in a minute and how to practice it.
03:22So let's talk about this situation we found ourselves in.
03:24Yeah.
03:25It's pretty standard.
03:26So I've cut it too much off this tee.
03:27I'm in the right trees, but it's, like I said, a little bit more complex.
03:31We've got the green is actually over there behind this set of trees.
03:34Yeah.
03:35But I've got the fairway here to the left and I've got a couple of options.
03:38To the right of this big oak tree there, I've probably got a five or six yard gap.
03:42Can't see that, do you?
03:43It's doable in the right situation, but is it at a percentage play?
03:47Probably not.
03:48Even if I hit that gap from a width point of view, there's some overhanging limbs further up that I've got to keep it under.
03:54Yes.
03:55And I'm only really gaining around 20 to 30 yards.
03:57So I think in this scenario, it'd be more prudent to go through this larger gap to the left.
04:02We've still got some issues there, though, to think about.
04:05And I always start with a line.
04:06Whenever you get to a shot, you've got to assess what is possible from the line.
04:10I've got a reasonably clean line here, so I can think of a lot to do.
04:13We've got some quite hard panned stuff, which you tend to find in these trees,
04:17which we'll talk about in the execution in a minute.
04:19But this is a very different shot to that, for example.
04:24So you've got to work out where you are first.
04:26So you've got to work out where you are and work out what's possible.
04:28We're going to base it on a reasonably clean line here.
04:31So the next thing you need to think about is how much you've got to carry
04:35and how much run out you've got the other side.
04:37And that will determine the club that you're going to pick.
04:40So you've told me before that you quite often just walk in,
04:42you take your least lofted iron, your five iron?
04:44It's always five iron.
04:45It's just I go, yeah, five iron, whatever.
04:47But when that happens, if this rough is quite thick, which it is here, it's quite grabby,
04:51you've got to get that five iron carrying that rough.
04:54Otherwise, you're going to stop in the rough here, not have a shot to that green
04:57because these trees will impinge you.
04:59But if you carry that rough, it's going to hit that fairway and keep running and running and running
05:04and possibly run into the trees the other side.
05:06So I need to know here, I've got these over that I've got to keep it under because if it pops up too high
05:11and I pull out a nine iron or an eight iron, pops up too high, clips that, it's going to land there
05:15and I'm still in the same problem.
05:16So I've got to pick the right club that's going to give me enough carries to get past this rough
05:19but stay under those trees.
05:20And from experience, I feel that's a six iron for me.
05:23So you've got to weigh up where you want to be playing your next shot from.
05:27There's a lot to think about.
05:28Like I said, it's far more complex than just a shot from the middle of the fairway
05:31but people treat it like just a nothing shot and just walk up and shunt it and can still be in trouble.
05:36So it's really key to give it the attention it deserves.
05:39Pick the right club and pick your right strategy.
05:42Sorry, Joe, it turned out impinged was a word.
05:44I knew it was.
05:45So I've learnt a word, now teach us how to play this shot.
05:47Good idea, Dad. Good segue.
05:49So first things first, from a technical point of view, this shot's all about coaching.
05:52And controlling the flight.
05:54So the first thing I always like to do is choke down on the club.
05:57And it will always depend on the type of shot we're trying to play.
06:00All of these punch outs are different and they should be treated differently.
06:03They should be treated individually.
06:05If I had a little bit further to go, I might need to choke up a little bit more than I normally would for this shot
06:11because I need a bit more carry.
06:12So experience and practice is going to teach you that.
06:15Secondly, visualisation is a big key here.
06:18I need to get behind this.
06:19I need to look and I need to see the ball fly.
06:21I need to play a little picture in my mind of how this ball is going to take off.
06:25And then with my eyes and get that good message through my eyes to my brain,
06:29that should send the signals which put me in a good set up position.
06:32Yeah, that makes sense.
06:33Yeah, I like that.
06:34So it should be an athletic thing.
06:35So once you've got that visualisation of where you need to go,
06:37we've choked down on the club.
06:39The ball is going to be a little bit back because I need to keep it down here.
06:42How far back do you have it?
06:43It looks like front, back heel.
06:45Again, it's all shot dependent.
06:46People want kind of absolutes for these shots.
06:48Yes, please.
06:49No.
06:50But unfortunately, golf isn't an absolute kind of thing.
06:52If I need to carry it a little bit further, the ball is going to be slightly forward than this shot
06:56where I need to keep it very, very low.
06:57So how far forward and backwards in the stance it is depends on what shot.
07:01How far you need to carry it.
07:02How far I need to carry it.
07:03How much room you have up here.
07:04How much room I have beneath those trees.
07:06So for this particular shot, and that's why we're saying you need to practice these shots.
07:10It will seem odd that say you're going to go to the practice ground and hit bumps and punches
07:14and practice your punch out game, but it is key and it will save you shots.
07:18So if you start to understand your ball position relative to certain flights,
07:22it's going to really help you in this situation.
07:24And that's what I mean about your eyes will start to send the right messages to your brain
07:28and that set up will become more automatic.
07:30I've learnt a bit, show us how it's done.
07:32I'm going to grab a club.
07:36Well executed, sir.
07:38And that is going to go...
07:40That's good.
07:42Deep enough in the fairway.
07:43Just for the record, we hit a ball early.
07:45You just hit that ball.
07:46So Ty, she's done the exact same shot.
07:48You're welcome.
07:49It's carried far enough to go under those branches, but far enough so you can go and hit the green.
07:52I'm going to have a go now because you've taught me a lot today.
07:54You're choking down.
07:55I've pulled the six iron.
07:56You've seen the shot.
07:57I've sent messages to my brain.
07:59And you've sent the right messages because that's just made the fairway.
08:02You're in good shape.
08:03Not my finest, but again, I've got to go practice that.
08:04So, hey, I've got the fundamentals now.
08:05Go and practice it.
08:06It's a really useful shot to have.
08:08All right, next up, Joe.
08:09Really important shot.
08:10It's the chip and run.
08:11The bump and run.
08:12Now, I think we get it a lot on the golf course.
08:13I think a lot of people do practice this, but it's an essential shot.
08:15It's going to save you a lot of shots if you get up and down.
08:17How do we perfect it?
08:18How do we practice it?
08:19The floor is yours.
08:20Thank you, Dan.
08:21That's very kind.
08:22There are a couple of ways of doing it.
08:23And I've got a simple way, I think.
08:24Someone like a Shane Lowry might disagree with this.
08:25So, Shane Lowry, for example.
08:26He's a guy that likes to play all of these shots around the green with his 58-degree wedge.
08:31if you get up and down how do we perfect it how do we practice it the floor is yours thank you
08:36dan that's very kind there are a couple of ways of doing it and i've got a simple way i think
08:40someone like a shane lowry might disagree with this so shane lowry for example he's a guy that
08:45likes to play all of these shots around the green with his 58 degree wedge and he makes a lot of
08:50technical changes putting the ball back hands forward changing things around to produce
08:54different flights and different outcomes my personal opinion on it and a lot of other pros
08:59we've got a bag full of clubs here we've got potentially 10 11 even 12 clubs we could play
09:05including three wood for example so what i like to do i have a formula in my brain i like to
09:11number one my key is to get the ball on the green as quickly as possible and get it rolling as quickly
09:16as possible so to do that you need to know what club is going to produce the right amount of carry
09:21to get it just on the green and then produce the right amount of roll okay so i kind of work on a
09:26formula basis i like to have a 50 50 club which i know in normal conditions flat conditions on around
09:33a 10 stimp green will provide me with 50 percent of carry and 50 percent of roll for me that's my
09:39pitching wedge okay then i can work in the variables around that if the green's firmer those percentages
09:45might change a little bit so from there though is your then your nine iron 60 40 correct sorry 40 60
09:50and so on basically pretty much so so so it's actually the other way so nine is less loft so
09:56it would be 40 carrying 60 percent roll keep up thank you professor hawker you're very welcome so
10:01from there like i say factor in the variables whether the greens are firm whether the greens are
10:05soft whether we're going uphill whether we're going downhill but as i said number one key get the ball
10:10on the green as quickly as possible and get it rolling it's worth then for people watching
10:14going and practicing and figuring out what your 50 50 club is or what your 40 60 club is it could
10:18be different to yours absolutely could well be but i'd say that that's the key is practicing that
10:22because the technique which we'll talk about now isn't actually that complicated it's a fairly
10:27i like to think of it as just an extended putt so what we're talking about here i have a ball that's
10:32fairly centered maybe even just slightly forward in my stance okay i try and keep the shaft pitched up a
10:38little bit higher sort of more in the lie angle of a putter and then it's literally just a rock of the
10:43shoulders and i'm trying to get this club just coming in dead level with the ground and brushing
10:47the turf i don't want any sort of pinchy strikes when i'm taking divots joe show us this why have
10:51you picked a iron i'm gonna have a go as well actually talk us through it a time wise so i'm
10:55looking here and i'm thinking we've probably got about 20 to 25 percent of carry here and then maybe
11:0175 80 percent of roll okay going up quite a steep slope but we've we've played on these greens today
11:08and they're relatively quick so it's an experience thing and that's where the practice has to come in
11:13it's not necessarily as i said it's not necessarily you need to be grooving a lot of technical practice
11:17with with the bump and run because it's quite a simple technique it's more understanding those
11:21relationships between what club you pick and what role and carry percentage it will take so very good
11:26for me here based on my experience i fancy a time is the right club and i'm not looking at
11:30necessarily an exact blade of grass or something i'm just looking at an area which is around two to
11:35three feet on the green try and land it in that area and get it rolling the rest of the way and
11:40like i said nice neutral stance look at my landing area rock my shoulders get it just going two or
11:48three yeah and that's just going to cuddle up pin high pushed it a little bit but it's dead pin high
11:53so i've probably got what four or five feet there for par yeah eight out of ten but it's a very safe
11:59fail-safe shot interesting and this is just something again get yourself the chipping green and
12:03practice because it's a shot i don't practice with an eight iron or or whatever club you might have
12:07used so once you've got that formula you've just said go and practice it because you can work out
12:11the relationship with the ball in the face how quick it comes off okay so a little bit central
12:16bit of shaft just brush the grass lovely three or four feet on steady now you've absolutely nailed that
12:25steady now i'm inside the pro i'm inside the pro blow the hole as well mate well i mean it's a good shot
12:30it just shows what an excellent teacher i am what a great teacher you so take all of that there go
12:34practice it go work out that ratio the relationship with the ball with some of these different irons
12:38around here and you'll be up and down more often than not next then joe on the green putting and
12:48now i'm going to give us something pretty basic here but it's something that you need to master you
12:52need to get right practice it alongside everything else it's just holding out from really short range
12:56um how do we do it i put more in the hole obviously i meant more how do we practice it
13:03the process of getting better at it i assume is what you're asking so yeah i mean it's something
13:09again i see it a lot um playing in pro-ams playing with amateur partners miss a lot from this range and
13:14i think there's a couple of things i'd like to talk about number one there's just some fundamental
13:19technical issues and one of those technical issues i think is centering strike okay i see so many
13:25people hitting off the heel toe lower high on the face and what happens when when that takes place
13:30is the ball doesn't come off at the pace it's supposed to and if you've got a braking putt
13:35it can veer offline it's not going to have enough momentum to stay online because you don't have the
13:38same energy from strike also on sort of less high moi putters heel and toe strikes can kind of open
13:45and close the face a little bit so it's really important to get centered contact and one of the best
13:49drills for that is the tiger woods drill you might have seen a few times over the years so he does it
13:54as part of his warm-up all the time when he's playing just getting a couple of tee pegs
14:01probably best to start with a little bit of margin for error you've given yourself no margin for there
14:04but you are the pro i've been a bit tight on myself here and it's just simply find a nice straight putt
14:10and start stroking putts and trying to miss those tees so we're centering contact and that's just
14:15really good habit it's part of whether it's part of practice or warm-up or both just learning to
14:21center that contact is absolutely critical and i would heartily recommend a good five or ten
14:26minutes a day yeah and that's uh you like to talk about uh the computer up here yeah i think seeing
14:31the ball go in the hole a lot whether that's before around or practicing it's good five subliminal
14:35messages gives confidence and gives everything you need and that works on longer putts as well just
14:39striking the point hundred percent yeah it helps your hole in sorry go on mate so yeah another one on
14:43that if you do want to do it from further away another one of my drills i do a bit with a putting
14:48mirror yeah another one i like to set up maybe double this maybe six feet find a straight uphill
14:53putt relatively flat putt with no break and i like to practice hitting three balls one that's going to
14:59just drop in the front edge at no pace the next putt that's going to go in sort of a more mid-level
15:03pace and make sure the next one hits off the back of the cup and then work up and down that scale
15:08then you're really fine-tuning your feel and when you've got the option of hitting it in at pace or
15:13dropping it in you can pick the break you want to play a little bit more easily if it's a breaking putt
15:17so you're really again sending good messages and fine-tuning your touch and feel and while we're
15:22talking about breaking putts my next tip for practice on these is something i'm going to get
15:26you involved i'm going to make you do it so another reason i see a lot of amateur missing short putts
15:31is they just assume every putt straight you get close and think well if i hit it firm enough it's
15:35right yeah yeah that's just not the case it's a good example here we're on probably for the aim
15:40pointers amongst so it's probably a two percent slope here from from our left to right down here
15:47so a really good way of practicing these short putts is if you get a standard length putter
15:51generally sort of 33 to 36 inches around the three foot mark so you can grab a few tee pegs
15:58and set up a little clock face put the putt head in the hole drop a tee down at the end of it you've
16:03got three feet drop another tee i see where you're going kind of you know you can do four you can do
16:08quarters and just keep dropping those around in a different area i'm going to set me up three yeah and
16:13i'm going to go this way so what you'll do here is you're going to get these three foot putts but
16:19they're all going to be different breaks this one's going to have a touch of right to left yeah which
16:23is from this side we're going to have a touch of left to right we've got a downhiller just changing the
16:27pace a little bit from the one we would have had down exactly and what you'll do is you keep you
16:31hit some putts away i'll get the balls out for you but what you'll do as you're sort of going through
16:36this drill lovely putt now give me a downhiller you'll start to eventually over time you'll figure
16:43out some tendencies and you'll notice maybe you're better on right to left or left to right putts
16:47because we were doing this before we filmed this now and i was i was just pulling these was not
16:52the one correct along the brain able to correct that a little bit as we're going along so you'll
16:56start to notice some tendencies you'll identify some weaknesses and if you're really careful someone
17:01like a matt fitzpatrick would document some of this thing some of these things and write down this
17:05practice and go okay i've missed x amount right or left of the hole and you can begin to work on
17:10those tendencies so getting a bit more clinical and statistical with practice from this range
17:15if you can get sharp from here and get your percentages up in the 90s from this range it is
17:20huge for most club golfers so i think those are really good ways of making that happen love them joe
17:24two really good drills there to work on what is a fundamental part of the game you need to get right
17:28to get your scores lower right lastly joe we're in a bunker what i want to talk about here is just
17:37a fail safe get out of the bunker option a lot of people are scared of bunkers on the 17th here
17:43you don't want to ruin around by knifing one through so we're going to talk here about just a
17:48fail safe thought and technique not necessarily just to get up and down all the time and nip one in
17:52there it's just to even get up and two putt and not mess it up so give us some some nice thoughts
17:58to have when we're on the course i think this is a really good example you've picked a good shot here
18:02as well because we're short-sided we hit it in the left bunker the pins on the left the greens all
18:07running away so with the best will in the world even if you're one of the better bunker players in
18:11golf this is a really tricky one to get up and down so primarily target number one is the out of this
18:17trap and have a putt of some description for par target number one take the target out of it yeah
18:22i would agree with that entirely if we can i would agree with that yeah very much so so we're not
18:26even focusing on the pin here all our focus is getting the correct strike on this board so it pops
18:30out the bunker and we're taking no more than three correct we always talk about getting up and down
18:35but sometimes three shots from particular situations is good and this is it and for me from
18:39a technique point of view a fail safe way of doing that i like to envisage and i think i'll draw
18:45it now for illustration purposes a little circle around the ball so it's about an inch and a half
18:50probably either side of the ball so it ends up looking a bit like a fried egg and that ball sat
18:55on a little island in the middle of that circle and again you're talking about taking the target out of
19:00your sort of um consciousness i want to take the ball out of consciousness here okay all i am focusing on
19:07here is slapping this little island of sand i've created and i want to land this sand by the hole okay so
19:14many people i see get a bit tentative in this scenario and that you see where that sand landed
19:19about here yeah we don't get enough speed speed is underrated in bunkers you need it to get out
19:24so we're actually going to hit this shot quite hard but to counteract that you know i've heard it a
19:28million times the club face needs to be a little bit open if we're too square you get too much club
19:33base on the ball and that's when you send it rocketing over there so we're going to open up the club
19:36base that activates the trailing edge so the club will go in at the back of this island and it will have the
19:42pace and the bounce to come back out and the ball should travel out not focusing on ball not focusing
19:48on target just going to take my normal wide stance open up that club face and all i want to do like
19:53i said is slap that sand slap and throw it up to the pin it's come out great it's run on a little bit
20:00far so what we've kind of eight foot from there that's a really good result i'd have taken 25 feet
20:06if i'm telling you that's it you've hit a really good bunker shot there it's still got eight foot past
20:09you try and get too cute with that trying to make up and down your back in here aren't you and you're
20:13facing the same thing again so we're just going to get it out and take it from there so that's what
20:17are you doing here i'm here to experiment so we've had it that's a nice fail safe one when you've got
20:21a good lie yeah right let can i just give you a bit of a one of them wow just a bit of a fried egg
20:27yeah that's um it's a nasty one that's pleasant actually so i need another fail safe option here i need
20:31something i can um fall back on when i'm out on the course and i'm panicking perfect so number one here
20:36this ball is now sat below the surface level of the sand so we know we need to have the club
20:40under the ball to propel the ball up so so many people see this and think it's going to come out
20:44low and horrible and try and help up in the air worst thing you can possibly do you bring in the
20:48equator into play there and you are going to be sending a rocket through into those trees there
20:54contrary to the first shot here you still need the pace but i'm not too worried about throwing the sand
20:59all the way here my first thought whenever i'm plugged is to drill the club into the sand as hard
21:05and as steep as i can and i try and leave it there so i stick it in so it will look a little something
21:11like that yeah the sand does come out it proposes with a lot of pace but it just makes sure that i'm
21:17keeping that club traveling downwards downwards downwards under the ball and you actually need
21:21to hit down to make it go up not up to make it go up so same again fairly wide stance i generally
21:27speaking i open the club up a little bit still some people recommend playing it with a square face
21:32at the stage you want to try and bring that leading edge in a little bit yeah i think maybe
21:35if we're talking maybe the sort of mid to high handicap ender of the spectrum yeah i think that
21:38would be useful you probably would just square it up a little bit to ensure the leading edge will help
21:43you dig under the ball if you've got a bit more speed and you're a little bit more accomplished you
21:47can still open the face up a little bit so depending on your your level of ability that's probably
21:52something to think about we're just talking fail safe here so i'm going to square it up and i just want
21:56to make sure this gets out so i'm square square blade i'm looking at that little line behind the
22:01ball and i'm just going to dig stick it in there come out lovely oh but you can see how much deeper
22:09that divot is i've just stuck it in and the club barely moved past so just concentrate on that drill
22:14the club under the ball and i think that's a pretty fail safe way that the club will the ball will get
22:18out every time brilliant great work joe there's two fail safe swing thoughts and feelings to have there
22:23when you get a bit nervy toward the end of your round you're getting a bunker you don't like the
22:25look of get up if you pull one of those putts great two putting there's fine as well uh so joe
22:31thank you very much great work today i'll take both of them you take both of them good work today uh
22:36go practice these shots uh go work on this stuff alongside your normal game if you get these shots
22:41to talk about today right your score's going to come down aren't they joe 100 yeah 100 these basics
22:45will stand you in very good stead well thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed it see you next time
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