Biggest Strategy Mistakes In Golf
In this video, Neil Tappin runs down the 7 biggest strategy mistakes golfers are making.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club where
00:08today we're looking at the seven biggest strategy mistakes that golfers make.
00:13Now the information we've got for you in this video comes courtesy of the guys at Shotscope.
00:18Shotscope have a unit called the V2 which consists of a GPS watch that I've got on my
00:21wrist here that gives you all the distances you'll need while you're out on the golf course,
00:25plus a load of tags that you can put into the butt end of your golf clubs that allows
00:30you to track all the shots you hit during a round of golf.
00:33Now Shotscope have aggregated all of their data from all of their users to provide us
00:39with some really interesting findings and in particular in this video we're going to
00:43focus on some of those really simple mistakes that you might be making that could save you
00:47shots going forward.
00:49So guys if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel please do hit the subscribe button,
00:53give us a like if you like what you're watching and do leave comments below where do you think
00:57you're throwing away shots, how do you think you could improve, we'd be really interested
01:00to hear your thoughts.
01:01But let's head out now onto the golf course here at the London Club and look at the seven
01:05biggest strategy mistakes that golfers are making.
01:0780% of missed greens are missed short, so 47% are short right and 33% are short left
01:26and if you fall into the category of missing short of pin high more than you think you
01:31should then there are a few different things to consider within your own game.
01:35The first is how consistent is your ball striking, now it will depend on your handicap
01:40as you improve your ball striking of course gets better but if you feel like your ball
01:44striking isn't quite at the level that your handicap is it can be a really quick and easy
01:49way to improve.
01:50There are a whole host of free online tutorials out there that will help you strike the ball
01:55better, will help you catch the ball and then turf and that's a really powerful strike through
02:01impact that could make a big difference.
02:03The next point relates to your equipment, is your equipment forgiving those slight heel
02:08and toe strikes that might be causing you to come up short of the green, if the answer
02:12to that is I'm not sure then perhaps a more forgiving modern set of irons might just help
02:18you out.
02:19And thirdly how far do you hit each club in the bag, obviously this is where performance
02:25tracking technology like the Shotscope V2 can prove really handy, finding out how far
02:30you hit the golf ball on the course when you're faced with different lies and different
02:34weather conditions and you're under pressure is really useful and it can be very different
02:39to how far you hit the ball on the range hitting shot after shot from the perfect lie.
02:43The other thing is it's also worth finding out how far you carry each club in the bag
02:48because your total distance will largely depend on ground conditions whereas knowing your
02:53average carry yardages will make a big difference to knowing what club you should hit in what
02:57situation.
02:59This is the third hole here at the London Club, we have water short left, you really
03:03don't want to be coming up short, the pin is sort of just beyond half way up the green,
03:07the front of the green is 127, middle of the green is 142 so you really need to make sure
03:12that whatever you do on this hole you pick a club that you know carries past 127 and
03:19if all you know is that you hit your 9 iron around about 135 yards, well you don't know
03:24whether you carry your 9 iron over 127 yards so it's something to think about so if you
03:30fall into that category do some work on the range in practice, find out how far you carry
03:36each club in the bag and use those as your go to numbers going forward, it could make
03:41a really big difference to your game.
03:46Right so the next one on my list relates to which club you should be using off the tee
03:53and what you're looking at here are the average distances players are able to achieve with
03:57their driver versus their three wood and usually players are giving up around about 30 yards
04:03between driver and three wood which is roughly what we would expect, what we didn't expect
04:08to see however was that players off the tee using a three wood were only 1% more accurate,
04:15now that's something that's well worth considering because and it's something that we've said
04:18in some of our videos in the past, fairway woods are the hardest golf clubs in the bag
04:23to get right, obviously small head, long shaft, you're standing a long way away from it, you've
04:27got to hit the ball a long way so you've got to make a big full athletic swing, fairway
04:31woods are hard to get right and it is difficult to find something that you can really rely
04:35on so that you end up using it well when you need to most when you're competing out on
04:39the golf course under pressure so there are a couple of things to consider here, firstly
04:43is your fairway wood a golf club that you really can rely on, if it is then fine keep
04:48it in the bag, if it's not then perhaps you go down a different route, perhaps you leave
04:52the three wood behind, carry a five wood, use something that doesn't quite go as far
04:55but that you do feel confident using and confident using under pressure and the other point about
05:00the data that we've seen here is that if you're going to not go for driver in order to use
05:05something that you know you can hit straight then make sure that you take a club that you
05:09do know you can hit straight so you would expect to be far more accurate with your fairway
05:14wood off the tee than just 1% over your driver, guys there's real food for thought there in
05:20terms of your strategy off the tee, what do you do when there are bunkers in play like
05:24there are here, when there's trouble up there that you need to avoid, do you go with do
05:29you just stick with hitting driver and take your chances or do you try and hit the fairway
05:33with more of a safety option, if you go for the latter make sure that you choose something
05:38that you are going to hit the fairway with more often and for the majority of people
05:42out there it might not be their fairway wood.
05:51Ok so the next point relates to how aggressive your strategy is when playing into the greens
05:56and what we're going to do here is we're going to take a look at the number of birdies players
06:00are making on average versus the number of double bogeys players are making on average
06:04and we're going to split the numbers up based on different handicap categories so what you're
06:09looking at here is the average number of birdies per round so for category 1 player 2 birdies
06:15per round, category 2 it's roughly 1 birdie per round and then once you get above a handy
06:20cap of about 12 really golfers are not making very many birdies at all but conversely take
06:27a look at the double bogey numbers so handicap 0-5 roughly making 1 double bogey per round
06:35category 2 golfers are making 2 double bogeys per round and then above category 2 again
06:39the double bogey numbers really increase very quickly again so the point here for a lot
06:44of players the fastest way to improve is not to make more birdies but to make fewer double
06:49bogeys and in the situation that I'm in here this is a really good highlight of exactly
06:55where players go wrong so the flag here on the 18th green on the heritage course at the
06:59London club is perched way over on the right hand side it's a real sucker pin and by going
07:04for it you really are bringing bogeys and double bogeys into play no matter what your
07:08handicap and I think for a lot of golfers out there especially higher handicap players
07:14it is worth thinking about playing golf to the centre of the green more often so what
07:20I would suggest to you to do is next time you go and play golf try and play to the centre
07:24of every single green whenever you're faced with an approach shot to the green it doesn't
07:28matter if you've got 100 yards or 200 yards in aim for a point on the middle of the green
07:33that's where the GPS watch comes in really handy it gives you yardages to the very centre
07:38of every green work to those yardages try and hit the middle of every green and then
07:43take a look at your scoring averages take a look and see what's happening to your birdie
07:46percentages versus your bogey and double bogey percentages because I think that for a lot
07:50of players taking the flag completely out of their mindset might improve all of those
07:56numbers it might help them make more birdies but it will definitely help them keep bogeys
08:00and double bogeys off the card more often so in this situation really I need to be avoiding
08:06that flag on the right hand side aiming for the middle of the green trying to make par
08:11taking double bogey certainly out of play entirely right let's give it a go
08:22well my miss is definitely a miss to the right I've aimed for the centre of the green I've
08:26pushed it a fraction but I'm still left of the flag I'm definitely not in any bother
08:31and it's that sort of thinking that can really save you shots out on the golf course. 82%
08:47of putts hit from outside five feet are left short it's an incredible stat from the shot
08:53scope data that we've been given and it is based on what people are doing whilst they're
08:58competing for real and it's something well worth thinking about in your own game now
09:02Dave Peltz did a bit of research a few years ago that said that the ideal pace at which
09:07you should be hitting your putts is to get the ball rolling about 18 inches past the
09:11hole that's where I've got the T peg here and that means the ball will be rolling fast
09:16enough to roll over any imperfections on the green without being bumped off line without
09:19going too fast and putting you in danger of three putting or lipping out if you hit the
09:23putt on a good line so pace control is a really crucial factor when it comes to your
09:30success on the greens now there are a whole host of really great drills that you can do
09:35to hone your putting speed so placing a tease around the hole in a box to make sure that
09:41you get that ball rolling just past the hole the more work you can do on your speed control
09:46the more likely you will be to putt the ball just past the hole and if you can do that
09:50more often chances are you might just hole a few more putts
09:59it's often said that when it comes to pitching you're better off leaving yourself a little
10:03bit further back so that you can make a full swing the idea being that if you make a full
10:07swing you can make a more committed swing and the results ultimately will be slightly
10:11better but the shotscope data doesn't actually back this theory up what you're looking at
10:17here is the average proximity to the hole data for shots hit from 50 yards versus shots
10:23hit from 80 yards and both from the fairway and the rough players are hitting the ball
10:29closer to the hole from closer to the green it's something well worth thinking about in
10:34your own game if you've always tended to lay up to a further yardage well perhaps just
10:40consider it perhaps keep some stats of your own to find out if you are hitting it closer
10:44from further away because it might be that you aren't and if you aren't then a little
10:48bit more of an aggressive strategy off the tee off from the fairway with your layup shot
10:52might pay off might pay dividends so the shot that I've got here this is just around about
10:57the 62 yard mark this would be a fiddly shot for me but perhaps I'm better off hitting
11:02a shot from here than I am from 30 yards further back let's give it a go
11:14a little bit long but I'll take it
11:22should you be carrying hybrids or long irons at the top end of your bag it's a question that
11:27every golfer needs to ask themselves and as far as the shotscope data goes it's fairly
11:31inconclusive for lower handicappers so for category 1 and category 2 golfers it really
11:36does depend on the individual and the individual's game but as the handicaps increase so hybrids tend
11:43to be far more successful and I'd say the cut off point seems to be around about the
11:47handicap of a 13 mark golfers with handicaps of 13 and over tend to be more successful
11:54with hybrids for a 20 handicapper facing the sort of shot that I'm facing here of around
11:59about 180 to 200 yards a 20 handicapper is almost twice as likely to hit the green with
12:05a hybrid as they are with a long iron it really is food for thought and I'm sure it's something
12:10that a lot of you out there have considered and thought about in your game if you are a
12:14high handicapper carrying long irons just be wary think about it keep some stats of your own find
12:20out how successful you are from further out from the green if you find out that you're coming up
12:25short a lot a lot of the time from further out with your longer irons perhaps it's worth swapping
12:30out your three and four irons for hybrids and finally are you more likely to miss right or
12:41left off the tee it's really invaluable information to know so the shot scope data reveals that for
12:48the majority of golfers out there they are more likely to miss right it's 58% right versus 42%
12:54left and it's really about knowing your game and understanding your shot patterns understanding
13:00where you are most likely to miss now the best players in the world they don't always hit great
13:05shots but what they do understand is where not to miss and they understand what they're most
13:10likely to do you can bring that into your game so a hole like this is the 10th hole here on the
13:15heritage course of the London Club you cannot go left off the tee and if you are a player that is
13:20more likely to miss left you can build your strategy based on that knowledge you can say to
13:25yourself okay the mistake I'm not going to make is I'm not going to snap and hook one into the
13:30water that's where the card wrecking score comes from for me that water on the left here is a huge
13:35danger whereas if you're somebody that misses more often to the right you'll know that water
13:40on the left-hand side is not such a big danger and you can take a more aggressive strategy I
13:45know that in my game I'm much more likely to miss right than I am to miss left so I'm confident and
13:50happy with driver that's what I'm going to hit here and having a simple strategy based on what
13:56you are most likely to do can really help your game it's about managing your misses and going
14:02from there it can make a huge difference as predicted I've missed it slightly to the right
14:16hand side but I'm fine I'm in play and I can attack the green from there so there you have
14:20it those are the seven biggest strategy mistakes that golfers make based on the shot scope data
14:25and there are some really fascinating insights in there I don't think it matters whether you're a
14:29category one player or if you're just starting out on your golfing journey there are some really
14:34simple findings in there that could help give you some guidance on the best and quickest way to
14:39possibly improve your game guys please do leave comments below is there anything that you want
14:43clarification on is there any more information you want from the stats we'd be more than happy
14:48to help out wherever we can please also hit the like button if you liked the video but for now
14:53from the London Club it's goodbye