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 where

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

01:20I know it's up the right, but because I turned away in disgust, I have absolutely no idea where

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

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

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

01:37bit more of its flight if I walk over to this side of the tee. All of those things, they might seem

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

01:51Whenever you've hit your ball into trouble, you will of course need to get a good idea of how far

01:56you'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 the

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

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

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

02:27hook, then perhaps it might have gone a little bit further. But do remember also that if the ball's gone

02:31into an area like this with some really thick, long grass, there's not going to be any run on it either.

02:35So as you can see here, my playing partner's hit a really good drive that's just ended up in the right-hand

02:39semi on this hole. My ball, which was further right than that, was a bit of a slice. There's some thick

02:44grass in here. It's never going to have gone as far as that drive there. So just having a sort of a

02:50sensible approach, a common sense approach to how far you've hit the ball whenever you've hit it into

02:55trouble might well help you identify a better area to search for your ball in and it might just yield

03:02the 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 the bunker

03:32that I think you can probably see there at the end of the fairway. Now, by having a really, really

03:36good line on it and by knowing that the ball's gone over just that left-hand edge, I've got a much

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

03:44that's an electricity pylon, a church spire, a tree, whatever it is, pick something out that's really

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

03:56golf ball, you can pick out that spot once again and you should be able to have a much better idea

04:02of where your ball has come to finish.

04:08Now, it's not essential under the rules of golf that you do this but we would always advise that

04:12you put an identification mark on your golf ball. This is my Titleist Pro V1X number two and I put two

04:19green dots above the Titleist on both sides of the golf ball. That means that if I do hit the ball

04:24into an iffy area and chances are there are going to be other Titleist 2s over in that area, I know

04:29exactly which ball is mine. It can be one of those things that can really help sort of clear up any

04:35unwanted confusion whenever it comes to the rules of golf. You really want to avoid any confusion so

04:39when it comes to searching for and finding your golf ball, I'd say it's always a good idea to put a

04:45unique identification mark on your ball.

04:47Okay, 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

05:06these trees and the long grass. Now, having got a good line on my tee shot, I know it's in line with

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

05:17golf clubs, which I am today, then I would walk from the tee into the area that I think I've hit my

05:22ball on the line of the shot. Effectively, at some point, I should sort of run into my golf ball,

05:27I should see it as I walk in on that line. Now, that's not always going to be possible, of course,

05:32because sometimes you're going to be playing in a buggy or you're going to be using a trolley and in

05:36those scenarios, what I'd say is a good idea is to pull up roughly adjacent to the area you think

05:42your ball might be in, walk into the rough and by looking back towards the tee and looking forward

05:47towards the tree, I'm effectively retracing the line of the shot. I can then walk forwards and hopefully

05:54I should be able to find my ball. Some really simple stuff there, but when it comes to searching

05:58for golf balls in difficult areas, that'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 word

06:24with your playing partner and say, do you mind just keeping an eye on this one, just to make sure

06:29that your playing partner isn't, you know, practicing his grip or checking his sort of backswing

06:34while you're hitting, because if that does happen and you lose sight of it and your playing partner

06:38hasn't seen it at all, you could end up losing a ball that actually was perfectly findable in the first place.

06:54In 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, feel, you know, move the grass around with your feet, that will really help

07:29you uncover the ball in difficult areas, especially if you're playing in the autumn when leaves are

07:33coming down off the trees, the ball can go underneath those leaves, can be very annoying,

07:37you can lose a ball in some really sort of findable areas. Now, if you do happen to accidentally

07:44move your ball, so my ball's just here and if I'm searching for it, I accidentally move it like that,

07:49I don't get a penalty, but I must replace the ball to its original position. So, I'd simply

07:55pick it up and then I know exactly where it was, but if I didn't know exactly where it was, then

08:00I'd have to sort of guess to the best of my knowledge where it was originally situated,

08:04which was just in there, and now I can carry on knowing that I've not broken the rule. So,

08:10the advice here is very simple. If you're searching for your ball, search for it, get in there,

08:14move the grass around, try and find it, and if you move it, simply put it back to its original position.

08:19So, there you have it. That's our list of seven tips for how to search for and find your golf

08:24ball whenever you hit it into a spot of bother on the golf course. I hope you found that useful.

08:28Guys, before you go, hit the pause button and let us know if you have any tips for searching for

08:33golf balls that you think might be helpful to other people. I think it's always useful to share

08:37those ideas around. But that's it for now from The London Club. Thanks for watching,

08:41and we'll see you next time.

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