Tips To Help You Play Your First Golf Competition
In this video Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott to look at 10 tips to handle your first golf competition!
Transcript
00:00Playing competition golf is not easy and that's why we've come out here today to
00:05produce a video on the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition. This
00:09is all the things that you need to do from the strategy that you have on the
00:12golf course, good course management, to developing some of the stock shots that
00:16you need to be able to compete and get yourself in the best possible mindset to
00:21return a good score. Right let's head out onto the golf course here at Fox Hills
00:25and look at the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition.
00:33Okay so we're on the first tee here at the long course golf course at Fox Hills and
00:37Alex you said to me that one of the best things you can do if you're gonna play
00:42in a competition is to have a stock shot. Definitely now I think a lot of people
00:46when you say stock shot they associate like low handicappers, professionals, but
00:51that could literally be for anybody. Now most commonly for players who are a
00:54high handicap that might be a lot of movement left to right or right to left
00:58depending on if you're a right or left hander but just sticking with that
01:02knowing what happens is very powerful. Okay so so if you were to advise
01:07somebody and just say this is a good stock shot to have what would you what
01:11would you suggest they use? Now it can vary day to day if you've got the
01:15opportunity to practice the day before or on a day before on a driving range I
01:19would just see what comes out whether it be a fade or it be a draw and I would
01:23stick with that on the golf course. Okay fine all right well I'm gonna go for my
01:27stock shot here which is my stock shot in this scenario would be a little fade I
01:31think Alex. Okay so interesting actually you said before sometimes it feels a
01:35draw but if you have to hit a fairway it becomes a fade so that is your stock
01:39shot so if you're one of those players that likes to hit a draw but you have to
01:43hit a fairway swing and it comes out a fade that becomes a stock shot. A safe shot
01:47something we can all do with right let's see if this one can can work for
01:51me. Beauty that is really nice
02:04Now the next one on our list is a very simple one but it's really important
02:19Alex what is it? Clean your clubs after every single shot. Yes do you know what
02:25it's very very wet underfoot at the moment in the UK we've had so much rain
02:28and it's kind of obvious to clean your clubs after every shot but why is it so
02:32important? I think the main thing is is when it doesn't look like it's got much
02:36on it it could be a little kind of bit of broken mud inside the grooves you're
02:39more likely to get a flyer. Right so so that means when you're hitting from the
02:44rough likely to end up hitting it too far. Exactly well having dirty grooves
02:48having grass in the grooves you can have that same effect from the fairway so a
02:51shot that could go 90 yards and it would go 100 yards getting you in trouble. Because
02:55it's not spinning. Exactly so when you get grass between the ball and the
02:59grooves or some sort of debris between the ball and the grooves this causes the
03:04ball to spin less ball can potentially go further. So obviously carry a golf towel
03:09give every club in the bag quick wipe once you've hit it and you'll be fine.
03:14Exactly
03:20Okay so the next one on the list relates to your scorecard and a little bit of
03:24prep you can do before you go out and tear up for the first time in a
03:28competition what is that prep Alex? Firstly we've got to have our name, date,
03:31competition and your handicap. So what I get people to do especially if they're
03:36brand new to the game and find the scoring system potentially a little bit
03:39difficult on a Stableford I get them to mark on everywhere they got a single
03:43shot or off the handicap say for example 20 where they get two shots. Fine so
03:48you're just making that little note on the stroke index is to say yeah you get
03:51two shots here and two shots here and that's important because that can
03:55actually have a bearing on the way in which you play those holes right Alex?
03:58Exactly so say for example the stroke index one we know we don't potentially
04:01have to get it on in three we can actually get it on in one more than that.
04:04Yeah and if you can just get away with making it even a double bogey you might
04:08find yourself picking up shots on the field and just that little bit of prep
04:12before you can go out to play can make a big difference.
04:20Right so as you can see we've made our way up to the green and if you're about
04:23to play in your first golf competition you're gonna face long putts like this
04:28and actually as anyone who's played golf for a while know three putts really do
04:32kill a score they kill your momentum and your mood so what's your advice when
04:38putting from long range? Now when we've got a putt of this length we see on TV
04:42we saw the highlights them draining putts from this distance 25 30 feet when
04:47really we're not expected to so if we watch that we run the risk of trying to
04:51be too aggressive at this point I mean of course we could hold the putt but we
04:55run the risk of hitting it three or four foot past got a knee knocker coming back.
04:58Yes so what should we be aiming for then? I like to use the kind of bin lid method
05:03so if we can get the ball around the bin lid we keep it stress-free we've got a
05:07better chance of maintaining that score keeping that momentum like you said. Yeah
05:10so just take a little bit of pressure off your own shoulders just try and get
05:14the ball as Alex said within that kind of bin lid around the hole you'll be
05:18taking three putts out of the equation won't you? Exactly, exactly. Go on then, show us how it's done.
05:22No pressure.
05:32And that is how it's done.
05:40Okay so for the next one on the list you could probably guess what we're about to
05:44tell you that is the importance of warming up. Alex people know that it's
05:48important to warm up before they go and play but what should they be doing? I
05:52would firstly research a few stretches that you can do online just to basically
05:57get mobility through back through spine and just get us generally warmed up
06:01ready for exercise. Then I would make sure if you hit a few goal balls don't
06:05treat it like a practice session. Don't treat it like a practice session.
06:09Alright we've all done it you know it's very you hit one bad one you pull one
06:13and then suddenly you're like well maybe I did this maybe I did that. You start tinkering.
06:17So what do you do in that scenario? You hit a bad shot how do you put that to you back in mind?
06:19I mean you're always gonna want to tinker a little bit what I'd do is I would go
06:23back to either my last lesson my rules of thumb what I've been working on in
06:26general and trust that is that's gonna come through. Okay fine and so then let's
06:31say you've done your stretches you've hit how many balls? 25 max. You've hit 25
06:36balls what do you what's the sort of routine what's the kind of timeline
06:41between arriving at the golf course and stepping onto the first tee? So a lot of
06:44people finish on their putting as the last thing they do before they go on the
06:47first tee. Now generally that probably is because the putting means near the first
06:51tee but if we can my absolute ideal scenario is stretching, putting, few
06:57wedges, mid-irons and lastly finish on about five drives straight to the first
07:02tee we're ready to go. Off you go. Okay so what happens if that last drive you hit
07:06what happens if you carve it off to the right-hand side? It's not a great image
07:10to have as you step onto the first tee is it? No it's not but you could argue if
07:13your first tee shot of the day was a bad one then that could set the tone for the day
07:17so what I would say is literally look at the warm-up as a way of just getting
07:21your body loose body ready and don't judge the last shot as what's gonna
07:25happen on the first tee because you're in a completely different environment.
07:28Yeah I mean the truth is you can't really expect to play well if you
07:31haven't done some form of warming up before you step onto the first tee if
07:35you haven't got the ability to hit balls before you go and play because that's
07:38not always the case then at least do the sort of physical stretches that you can
07:42do a little bit of putting get to the first tee in some degree of readiness so
07:46that you can go and shoot a good score.
07:53Okay so Alex the next one on the list is a really simple one it's got nothing to
07:57do with technique or even strategy but it actually can make a difference to you
08:01on the course and that's related to where you put your bag when you
08:05putting on the green definitely and just in terms of speed of play I mean I've
08:09got a prime example here I just hit the front edge now the flag is at the back
08:13of the green the next tee is actually over the back of the green over there
08:16yeah now this would be an absolute killer for me to leave my bag here put
08:21out after then walk back collect my bag off the next tee. Your playing partners
08:25you're playing with are not gonna like you and especially the guys behind.
08:28Actually it's one of those things that can create a sense of pressure on your
08:32own shoulders because you can feel like you're actually holding people up people
08:36are looking at you as if to say come on get the move on and actually you're just
08:39trying to do your best aren't you? Exactly and especially if you're then first on the
08:42next tee you're then running over it could actually affect your next shot.
08:45Yeah so actually Alex come over here because in actual fact your best bet
08:50both of us in this scenario is to pop both the bags over here and
08:56then walk back to your golf ball and then go on from there isn't it? Exactly so
09:00we're straight off to the next tee.
09:06Okay so the next one is Alex a really important one isn't it it's course
09:11management if you want your first competition to be a good one if you want
09:14to shoot a good score you need to think about this stuff really closely what's
09:19your advice generally speaking on course management Alex? Most golf courses either
09:23have a course guide or people have a digital device or even in fact on each
09:28hole they have a visual what you can see my kind of rule of thumb is one look at
09:32the visual where's the trouble is the bunkers is the water is the trees like
09:36there's here at Cogs Hill yeah and I would then think about have I got a shot
09:41on this hole because having a shot on this hole might mean we can take a
09:44little bit less risk from the tee yes and plan our way down the hole a little bit better.
09:47Okay so are you identifying where the big trouble is so you're just
09:52basically plotting your way through saying that's a kind of card wrecking
09:56area over there I can't hit it. Exactly and I think if we are a higher handicapper if we avoid
10:01a card wrecker and we say if we're off 20 and we accumulate just to run a bogeys
10:05yeah we're gonna we're gonna be under our handicap yeah it's when we have those sevens
10:09and we have all we turn those sevens into nines that's when it can be really bad for our game.
10:13Okay so specific scenario we've got here this is 170 yards slightly downhill wind off the left
10:20you can see that the flag is sort of tucked a little bit behind that bunker on the right
10:24hand side what what is your advice to I guess different golfers of different abilities from
10:29a place like this? So if we are a better player so single figures potentially and we have a bit
10:34more confidence in our game I would like you to kind of base the flag on a color code system so
10:39green being one you can attack that might be one in the middle of the green here amber being one
10:44if we feel like it's a good win it's a good shot shape it's accessible for our game that's when it
10:50comes into one that maybe go for yes and a red would be potentially this scenario behind the
10:55bunker over water where it could be again a card wrecking situation. Yeah okay so for me what's
11:01this one? I would think for you because you said on the on the start of the video stock shot was a
11:06fade this one might be an amber for you. Okay yeah fine. Amber to red depending on how we feel and
11:11the stage of the game now if you're a higher handicapper my rule of thumb is if we hit the
11:16green and the center of the green every single time we're not going to be far away. No okay fine
11:22and I guess how much are you thinking about where to miss because a shot like this if you miss this
11:26particular shot short left yeah you're absolutely fine exactly but if you miss it short right you're
11:31in a bad position aren't you are you thinking about that stuff and and if you are how are you
11:36blocking out sort of bad thoughts from kind of causing you to make a bad swing? I think you're
11:41never going to block bad thoughts and potentially they will come in but I always think you can't
11:46plan for a bad shot you know the trouble's there you use a color code system almost as a way of
11:52weighing up the trouble but not almost highlighting the trouble. Okay fine. And then we plan to hit a
11:57good shot like for example here we'll be planning to hit a nice fade into the flag I wouldn't want
12:01you thinking well I can miss it short left I can miss it short right. Right fine. Because that's
12:05just going to give you bad underlying thoughts. Okay good well I'm going to give this a go then
12:10All right I want to see the stock shot. Okay fine yeah well you've asked for it so I'll have to do it.
12:28Go! Oh no! Guess where it's gone people? It's in that trap short right. I got a little bit greedy
12:36with it didn't I? I thought it was going to be all right for a second but the wind just held it up there.
12:47Okay so the next one on our list relates to swing thoughts. Now we all I guess most golfers have
12:52swing thought things in their in their golf swing they're looking to achieve. Alex question for you
12:57how how many is a good number of swing thoughts to have do you think? Before I give that answer I
13:01want to know how many do you have? One. One okay so I'd say you're generally probably not the norm.
13:08Oh really? Most people that come for lessons have sometimes it was a five swing thoughts. Right so
13:13like grip posture whatever. Exactly so my tip for that is because we're always going to have if we're
13:18new to the game of golf and it's our first competition we're going to have something that
13:21we need a bit of a checklist. Yes. So I kind of like separate that into pre-swing so grip stance
13:27all those aspects. Okay yeah. So we can throw them away once we've done it. Fine so you do all of the
13:32groundwork that you know you need to do to get yourself in a good position over the ball. Exactly.
13:35And then once you're there. I tend to have hopefully no more than one potentially two one back swing
13:41and one trigger thought. Okay so what is it for you then? So I like to feel that the club goes
13:45wide on the way back. Okay. Because I get kind of a little bit narrow is my bad swing thought on the
13:49way through I'm an absolute bugger for keeping my head down. Okay right. So it stops me rotate
13:55through so I like to feel like I call it anachoretic that's literally my only thought on the
13:59way through. Okay right yeah. So I try and work on like a role model that I can copy and almost
14:04create the same thing as what I visualize and see. Okay that's good. Well I have let's say I have one
14:10and my one is because I tend to get a bit snatchy from the top I just like to just feel as if I'm
14:16just not pausing but just there's a bit of time at the top of the backswing. Just don't rush the
14:22start of the downswing. Your role model would be like maybe like Matsuyama to the top and then go.
14:26Exactly it doesn't always look like that I'm sure anyone who's seen any of our videos in the past
14:30will know it doesn't always look like that but for me it's I know it's a swing thought that's
14:33worked well for me. I guess Alex the point is that it's different for different people and
14:38different golf swings isn't it? Exactly but the one key thing is between me and you it's simple
14:43it's not a specific position. Yes. It's a simple thought and a feeling to work to. Okay
14:49Good. Shall I have a hit? Let's have a hit.
14:53Right I've got to really try and pause at the top now.
15:05A little bit over fade but it's okay.
15:13So as you can see the next tip we've got for you is about alignment and we've chosen
15:17alignment because it's something that everyone can get right. It makes a big difference if you
15:21do get it right but equally it's something that we all get wrong from time to time. Certainly Alex
15:25I'm somebody that can often stand quite close to the ball at address. I'm the same. Why is it
15:30important to get your alignment sort of rock solid? I think the two the main aspect is is the
15:34fact that a lot of people's bad shots and bad swings just stems from poor alignment like you
15:39were saying about yourself there. Okay. So having a routine to stick to on the first tee is absolutely
15:44key to assure you've got good alignment. Yeah so I mean we're talking here about how to handle your
15:49first competition and one of the big challenges of playing competition golf is that you can get
15:54a bit scrambled at times and these are the sorts of things that can fall by the wayside. How do
15:58you make sure that doesn't happen? I would visualize exactly what we've got down here.
16:02We've got two alignment sticks one down the board to target line and then a parallel one for our
16:07feet line. Okay fine. So how are you building that stance then? So straight away I'd do this and I'd
16:12make this as part of every single shot whether it be the first tee shot whether it be the last shot
16:17into the 18th green and even if it's your first round I would make sure you build this into a
16:22good thing which happens every single round. So behind the golf ball establish your ball to target
16:28line and that'll be where we want the ball to finish. So I don't intend to make it like a thin
16:33line I like to feel like an alignment channel so that's going to be our outside alignment stick.
16:38I would then once I've got a strong visual of the outside one and highlighted it I would bring
16:44in a second one which feels like my feet line runs parallel to that from that I can build my
16:48stance around it my hips my shoulders and then ready to go. Yeah so two parallel lines that's
16:54the key obviously you can't put shafts down like this in competition just remember to get those two
16:58parallel lines set get yourself set properly over the ball if you do you are more than halfway to
17:04making a good swing. Okay so the last one on the list relates to your score card and actually
17:14we're talking here Alex about what you do after a round because you might think that you've finished
17:18your round of golf nothing can go wrong but actually before you hand your card in something
17:22can go wrong what do people need to do what do they need to look out for? So first point of call
17:27we've got to have the gross scores correct okay so I know we talked about playing in a stable third
17:32and we have a tally of points that we get now if they don't add up correctly it doesn't matter and
17:36if they're not the correct points that doesn't matter the main thing is as long as your gross
17:40scores for each hole are correct. Yes so I would go through my card and I'd check what I'd put you
17:45down for and against what you've got on your card we just make sure that the scores on both cards
17:50tally up right exactly and then if they do two things you've got to do okay number one make sure
17:56you sign it but the one I find a lot of people forget is the playing partners got to sign it too
18:01yeah okay so get that right hand your card in and you'll be good to go. So there you have it that
18:06was our list of the 10 best tips to handle your first golf competition guys what did you think
18:11what did you think of Alex's tips is there anything that you've done playing under pressure playing in
18:16competition that's really helped you out we'd be really interested to hear your thoughts but for
18:20now thanks for watching we'll see you next time