In this video Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott to look at 10 tips to handle your first golf competition!
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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 grooves
02:59or some sort of debris between the ball and the grooves this causes the ball to
03:04spin less ball can potentially go further. So obviously carry a golf towel give every
03:10club in the bag quick wipe once you've hit it and you'll be fine. Exactly
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? First 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 will know three putts really do
04:32kill a score they kill your momentum and your mood. So Alex 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 and maybe I did that. You start tinkering.
06:16So 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 it's 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 is 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
08:05when you're putting on the green definitely and just in terms of speed of
08:08play I mean I've got a prime example here I just hit the front edge now the
08:12flag is at the back of the green the next tee is actually over the back of
08:15the green over there now this would be an absolute killer for me to leave my
08:19bag here put out after then walk back collect my bag off to the next tee, your
08:25playing partners you're playing with are not gonna like you and especially the
08:27guys behind. Actually it's one of those things that can create a sense of
08:31pressure on your own shoulders because you can feel like you're actually
08:34holding people up people are looking at you as if to say come on get the move on
08:38and actually you're just trying to do your best aren't you? Exactly and
08:40especially if you're then first in the next tee you're then running over it
08:44could actually affect your next shot. Yeah so actually Alex come over here
08:47because in actual fact your best bet both of us in this scenario is to pop
08:53the pop both the bags over here and then walk back to your golf ball and then go
08:58on from there isn't it? Exactly so we'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 I would then think about have I got a shot on
09:41this hole because having a shot on this hole might mean we can take a little bit
09:44less 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 basically
09:53plotting your way through saying that's a kind of card wrecking area over there
09:57can't hit it exactly and I think if we are a higher handicapper if we avoid a
10:01card 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
10:08those sevens and we have all we turn those sevens into nines that's when it
10:12can be really bad for our game. Okay so specific scenario we've got here this is
10:15a hundred and seventy yards slightly downhill wind off the left you can see
10:21that the flag is sort of tucked a little bit behind that bunker on the right hand
10:25side what is your advice I guess different golfers have different
10:29abilities from a place like this. So if we are a better player so single figures
10:33potentially and we have a bit more confidence in our game I would like you
10:36to kind of base the flag on a color code system so green being one you can attack
10:41that might be one in the middle of the green here amber being one if we feel
10:45like it's a good win it's a good shot shape it's accessible for our game
10:49that's when it comes into one that maybe go for yes and a red would be
10:53potentially this scenario behind the bunker over water where it could be
10:57again a card-wrecking situation yeah okay so for me what's this one I would
11:03think 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 amber to red depending on how
11:10we feel and the stage of the game now if you were a higher handicapper my rule of
11:14thumb is if we hit the green and the center of the green every single time
11:18we're not gonna be far away no okay fine and I guess how much you thinking
11:23about where to miss because a shot like this if you miss this particular shot
11:27short left yeah you're absolutely fine exactly if you miss it short right
11:31you're in a bad position aren't you are you thinking about that stuff and and if
11:36you are how are you blocking out some bad thoughts from kind of causing you to
11:40make a bad swing I think you're never gonna block my thoughts and potentially
11:43they will come in but I always think you can't plan for a bad shot you know the
11:48troubles there you use a color code system almost as a way of weighing up
11:53the trouble but not almost highlighting the trouble and then we plant it a good
11:57shot like for example here we'll be planning to hit a nice fade into the
12:01flag I wouldn't want you thinking well I can miss it short left I can miss it
12:04short right right fine because that's just gonna give you bad underlying
12:07thoughts okay good well I'm gonna give this a go then it looks like I want to
12:10see the stock shop okay fine yeah well you've asked for it so I'll have to do
12:13it okay
12:18oh guess where it's gone people it's in that trap short right I got a little bit
12:36greedy with it didn't I I thought it was gonna be alright for a second but the
12:39wind just held it up there okay so the next one on our list relates to swing
12:49thoughts now we all I guess most golfers have swing for things in there in their
12:54goal swing they're looking to achieve Alex question for you how how many is a
12:58good 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
13:06probably not the norm I really most people that come for lessons have
13:10sometimes it was a five swing for us right so like grip posture whatever
13:15exactly so my tip for that is because we're always gonna have if we're new to
13:19the game of golf and it's our first competition we're gonna have something
13:21that we need a bit of a checklist yes so I kind of like separate that into pre
13:25swing so grip stance all those aspects so we can throw them away once we've
13:30done it fine so you do all of the groundwork that you know you need to do
13:33itself in a good position over the ball exactly and then once you're there I
13:37tend to have hopefully no more than one potentially two one back swing and one
13:42trigger thought okay so what is it for you then so I like to feel that the club
13:45goes wide on the way back okay because I get kind of a little bit narrow is my
13:48bad swing thought on the way through I'm an absolute bugger for keeping my head
13:52down okay right so it stops me rotate through so I like to feel like I call it
13:57Anna correct that's literally my only thought on the way through okay right
14:00yeah so I try and work on like a role model that I can copy and almost create
14:05the same thing as what I visualize and see okay that's good well I have I say I
14:09have one and my one is because I tend to get a bit snatchy from the top I just
14:16like to just feel as if I'm just not pausing but just there's a bit of time
14:20at the back swing just don't don't rush the start of the downs for your role
14:23whatever like maybe like Maxiana to the top yeah exactly then go exactly it
14:27doesn't always look like that I'm sure anyone who's seen any of our videos in
14:30the past with no it doesn't always look like that but for me it's I know it's a
14:32swing thought that's worked well for me I guess Alex the point is that it's
14:37different for different people and different golf swing exactly but the one
14:40key thing is between me and you it's simple it's not a specific position yes
14:45it's a simple thought and a feeling to work to okay good
14:50let's have a hit right I've got to really try and pause at the top now yeah
15:04a little bit over fade but it's okay
15:12so as you can see the next tip we've got for you is about alignment and we've
15:16chosen alignment because it's something that everyone can get right it makes a
15:20big difference if you do get it right but equally it's something that we all
15:24get wrong from time to time certainly Alex I'm somebody that can often stand
15:27quite close to the ball at address so what why is it important to get your
15:30alignment sort of rock-solid I think the two the main aspect is is the fact that
15:34a lot of people's bad shots and bad swings just stems from poor alignment
15:39like you're saying about yourself there okay so having a routine to stick to on
15:43the first tee is absolutely key to sure you've got good alignment yeah so I mean
15:47we're talking here about how to handle your first competition and one of the
15:52big challenges of playing competition golf is that you can get a bit
15:54scrambled at times and these are the sorts of things that can fall by the
15:58wayside how do you make sure that doesn't happen I would visualize exactly
16:02what we've got down here we've got two alignment sticks one down the board to
16:05target line and then a parallel one for our feet line okay fine so how are you
16:09building that stance so straight away I'd do this and I'll make this as part
16:13of every single shot whether it be the first tee shot will be the last shot
16:17into the 18th green and even if it's your first round I would make sure you
16:21build this into a good thing which happens every single right good so
16:25behind the golf ball establish your ball to target line and I'll be where we want
16:30the ball to finish so I don't intend to make it like a thin line I like to feel
16:34like an alignment channel so that's gonna be our outside alignment stick I
16:38would then once I've got a strong visual of the outside one and highlighted it I
16:43would bring in a second one which feels like my feet line runs parallel to that
16:47from that I can build my stance around it my hips my shoulders and then ready to
16:51go yeah so two parallel lines that's the key obviously you can't put shafts down
16:56like this in competition just remember to get those two parallel lines set get
17:00yourself set properly over the ball if you do you are more than halfway to make
17:04a good swing okay so the last one on the list relates to your scorecard and
17:13actually we're talking here Alex about what you do after a round because you
17:17might think that you finish your round of golf nothing can go wrong but
17:20actually before you hand your card in something can go wrong what do people
17:24need to do what do they need to look out for so first point of call we've got to
17:27have the gross scores correct so I know we talked about playing in a stable third
17:32and we have a tally of a points that we get now if they don't add up correctly
17:35it doesn't matter and if they're not the correct points that doesn't matter the
17:38main thing is as long as your gross scores for each hole are correct yes so I
17:42would go through my card and I'd check what I'd put you down for against what
17:47you've got on your card we just make sure that the scores on both cards tally
17:51up right exactly and then if they do two things you've got to do number one make
17:56sure you sign it but the one I find a lot of people forget is the playing
17:59partners got to sign it too yeah okay so get that right hand your card in and
18:04you'll be good to go so there you have it that was our list of the ten best
18:08tips to handle your first golf competition guys what did you think what
18:12did you think of Alex's tips is there anything that you've done playing under
18:15pressure playing in competition that's really helped you out we'd be really
18:18interested to hear your thoughts but for now thanks for watching we'll see you