In this video, Neil Tappin and Katie Dawkins discus how to take your game from the range to the golf course.
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00:00Now, one of the biggest areas that golfers often struggle with is how do you take your
00:06golf game from the range with you out onto the golf course?
00:11We've all been there before where you've hit it well on the range, preparing for a big
00:15round of golf, and then you get onto the golf course and suddenly all those good shots suddenly
00:19elude you and you play really poorly and it's very demoralizing.
00:22So that's what this video is all about, and we're going to offer some really simple and
00:26effective advice.
00:27Now, the tips come from Katie Dawkins.
00:29She's one of the Golf Monthly Top 50 coaches, and she'll offer you a framework for practice
00:35and a way in which you can put that practice into play when you're on the golf course.
00:39Now, a lot of this is about information gathering, and so that's why in this video we've partnered
00:44up with Garmin.
00:45They've got a whole host of different technologies you can use both when you're on the range
00:49and also when you're out on the golf course to help you gather all that information you
00:52need to make smarter choices while you're on the golf course.
00:56Right, we've split this video up into three sections.
00:59Off the tee, ball striking, and pitching, and we're going to start right here on the
01:04range.
01:05Okay, so we are going to start with the game off the tee, and I guess the biggest difference
01:19between the range and the golf course is consequence.
01:22When you're hitting balls on the range, you've got this big expanse to hit at.
01:25Yeah.
01:26There's no consequence.
01:27It doesn't matter if you don't get it right, does it?
01:28So how do you make sure that your range session then is as valuable to you as possible when
01:33you're working through it?
01:34So you have to keep it more in line with how you would play on the course, and the way
01:37that I do that is I go through my pre-shot routine every single time.
01:41So every shot I hit, I'll walk behind the ball and I'll prepare myself and rehearse
01:46the swing.
01:47Right.
01:48And then I'll come in and hit the shot, exactly how I do in the course.
01:51So when you're on the golf course, that puts you in a more positive state of mind, does
01:54it?
01:55Yeah, because I trust it.
01:56I trust my routine.
01:57It's almost like having a safety blanket.
01:59That's interesting, because I think a lot of people know they have to have a pre-shot
02:01routine and it's something they use on the golf course, but how many of you watching
02:04this use it on the range as well?
02:07And Katie's talking about doing it on every single shot, which requires real discipline.
02:11Okay, Katie, why don't you hit one for us?
02:14Okay.
02:15We have the Garmin Approach R10, a portable launch monitor on the ground.
02:18So that will give me some feedback on the app about where it's going.
02:21You've got nowhere to hide.
02:22Sorry about that.
02:23That's fine.
02:24Lovely shot, slight fade, straight down the middle, and that has gone.
02:34It's carried 195.
02:35It's gone 212.
02:36So a good shot, a nice shot, but one of the first shots that we've actually hit this morning.
02:41I think as you warm up, you'll probably start to hit it a bit further.
02:45But the question is, how do you then prepare specifically for the game off the tee with
02:49the different clubs that you'd be looking to hit?
02:51What would be the way you'd do it?
02:53So I'd be wanting to make sure I know my average carry with the driver, then perhaps with a
02:57fairway wood.
02:58Yeah.
02:59So maybe my five wood I would pick just in case there's holes where this is just going
03:02to go too far.
03:03Yeah.
03:04But also a rescue club as well off the tee.
03:05Right.
03:06I think it's important to have those three options in your bag for when you come across
03:10a hole that's got a lot of trouble halfway down it, perhaps.
03:12Yeah.
03:13Now that's a good question, that is.
03:14You hit that one fairly well.
03:16I reckon you could probably hit them a bit better.
03:18But what are you looking to gain as the yardage that you have in mind?
03:22Is it your absolute best or is it somewhere in the middle?
03:24No.
03:25And I think this is the thing that people come a cropper with, is that out on the golf
03:29course, they're clubbing themselves with the very best shot they've ever hit with that
03:32club.
03:33And of course, that gets them into trouble because eight times out of 10, they'll come
03:35up a bit short.
03:36Right.
03:37So it's important to have the average yardages and it's important to perhaps write them down
03:41in a little notebook.
03:42Yeah, have them to hand.
03:43To have that in your bag.
03:44So you can go, oh, it's that far and if I hit it that far, I won't go in the heather.
03:48Let's have a look and see what club does that for me.
03:50The other question I was going to ask you was about your dispersion.
03:54So this one has gone a little bit left.
03:56It's gone 14 yards left of the centre line.
03:59We would all, all of us have a tendency to miss either right or left.
04:03What would be yours, Katie?
04:04Mine would be, I would miss to the right.
04:07So I'm aware of what trouble is up on the right hand side on a hole and I will pick
04:11the safest route away from that.
04:13So I'll often aim left up a hole to allow for that.
04:17Okay, so there's some really good advice there about how to practice.
04:20The question is, how do you then put that into play on the golf course?
04:24Let's go and find out.
04:25Okay, so you've done your homework on the range, you know, your carry distances for
04:28your driver and your fairway woods, the other key driving clubs that you have in your bag.
04:33Plus you've done some work on your pre-shot routine and that, this is where all of that
04:37should, should come to fruition and help you hit a good shot.
04:41But there's some more important thinking to do, Katie, isn't there?
04:44Tell us what do you need to do?
04:46So I think the fact that we've been on the range and we've done a bit of homework, our
04:50confidence should be much higher.
04:52If you haven't prepared on the range, so you haven't had a good practice, you haven't see
04:56yourself hit those good shots, then chances are you can't visualize them.
05:00So it's really important to have that in the bank before you then expect yourself to do
05:04well out here.
05:05Yes, exactly.
05:06And then once you are stood here, a lot of it is about information gathering because
05:10you need to develop a picture for exactly where you need to hit the ball, don't you?
05:14Absolutely.
05:15And you need to know how far your clubs carry because we know that that bunker on the right
05:19is about 140 and the bunker on the left about 174.
05:22And I know that my five wood, for example, is going to carry both of those quite happily.
05:27And I've suddenly devised myself a lovely safe plateau to land my ball on.
05:33Yes.
05:34The heather's about 200, isn't it?
05:35Well, the heather is actually 210.
05:37It's 210.
05:38We know that because the...
05:39Yeah, because the laser has told us that it's 210.
05:41But importantly, you don't have to hit it 209, do you?
05:44No, you don't.
05:45And I think it's important to hit a club that you like.
05:48And this is the thing.
05:49You look at your distances and go, well, my three wood goes this far, so I must hit that.
05:53Well, you don't have to.
05:55You could be 10, 15 yards further back than that and probably be more likely to hit a
05:59good shot because you like your five wood more than your three wood.
06:03You've had more success rate with it.
06:05Therefore, you're more likely to commit to the swing and finish it and be way more confident
06:08with the way you hit the shot.
06:09This is it.
06:11Katie, your concept of having a personal par really comes into play, isn't it?
06:15It's something that we've talked about before, but explain to us what is a personal par and
06:19how does it work in a scenario like this?
06:20It's very easy for a golfer to stand on the tee, look at the scorecard and go, wow, this
06:24is a par five.
06:25I've got to get down the hole in five shots.
06:28That's not the case.
06:29You have a handicap for a reason.
06:31That's the wonderful thing about golf is you're on a kind of fairly even keel with the people
06:34you're playing because of your handicap.
06:36If you were playing off a handicap of 18, your personal par on this hole isn't five,
06:40it's six because you get an extra shot on each hole.
06:44You would stand here thinking, well, actually, I've got another shot to play with.
06:47You can then start to devise yourself the safest route up that hole, taking into account
06:53the shots you love to hit and the clubs that are your favorites.
06:57I think you can start to make a picture almost, especially using the course planner on your
07:01watch.
07:02You can almost plot yourself a nice little safe route.
07:06So the bunker on the right is 145 to carry.
07:08The bunker on the left is 174 to carry.
07:11The heather to reach it is 210.
07:13So this is a club that should deal with all of that really, isn't it?
07:16It should do.
07:17And I'm looking in the distance at that white post.
07:19OK, so although that's in line with my lovely safe zone, it's way further than this is going
07:25to go.
07:26Yes, but it's important to pick a target beyond your landing area.
07:29Why is that?
07:30That's because you're visualizing then a good shot.
07:32Also, by focusing on something in the distance, it helps all the hazards and all the trouble
07:37you're trying to get over to sort of merge and blur away, if you like.
07:41OK, Katie, so run through the routine that we've already talked about and hit it for
07:45us.
07:46So really important.
07:47We're going to do one rehearsal.
07:48Make sure we make decent contact with the turf.
07:50I always do it looking down the hole.
07:52So nice back and through, take a look at the turf, point my club at my target in the distance,
07:58the white post in this, pick a mini target and just try and recreate what I did on the
08:06range.
08:07Oh, oh, straight on that white post, it is.
08:15It's very good.
08:16And it's in a really it's in that safe spot, it's in a perfect, you're then able to go
08:19and attack the green.
08:20You don't have to play perfect golf to get the ball round in a lower score.
08:24But what you do need to do is you really need to think smart and if you can employ what
08:27Katie said there, it should make a big difference.
08:36OK, so for the second part of our video, we're going to focus on one of the areas that I
08:40think a lot of players really struggle with when it comes to taking their game from the
08:43range to the course, and that's ball striking, particularly with your irons, when the golf
08:47ball's on the ground.
08:48Katie, I'm going to start by asking you for just a straight up tip.
08:51Give us a drill.
08:52Give us a tip that people can use while they're on the range to really help them with their
08:55ball striking.
08:56So I think first of all, starting with what people don't do a lot of the time when they're
09:01not striking it well, they're not getting the ground under the ball, whether that's
09:05the grass, the teepeg, whatever the ball's sat on, they're not making contact with it
09:09because they're almost trying to lift the ball in the air.
09:11So that's the first reason that sometimes it doesn't work.
09:14So that's what we want to focus on on the range by placing something down just in front
09:18of the ball, whether it be a little teepeg, a leaf, a feather, whatever you can find.
09:22You've got something that you're just aware of that's after the ball.
09:26That's going to help you to do is going to help you to hit the ball first and be aware
09:29you've got to collect that little mini target just after the ball as well.
09:33OK, so it helps you stay lower for longer.
09:35So seven iron shot.
09:37We've got the R10 running again.
09:42Very nice.
09:43OK, so Katie, the carry distance for that was 140, total distance 148.
09:48Five yards left to the centre line.
09:50Looked perfect to me.
09:50It felt good.
09:51Yeah, really good shot.
09:52Now, obviously, you want to spend some time on your ball striking to make sure that you feel
09:58comfortable running through your routine, as we've already talked about.
10:01But you also need to gather some information in this session.
10:05So what information are you trying to gather about your irons?
10:08You're trying to gather your average carry with them.
10:11Right, so it's a very similar way that we did with the driver.
10:14Oh, absolutely, 100%.
10:15So that you know when you're out on the golf course that your seven iron will carry over
10:18the bunker just short of the green.
10:20That kind of information.
10:22Why is the total distance less important?
10:26Well, because the conditions are going to vary.
10:28So sometimes you're going to be landing the ball in the summer on quite hard ground.
10:32Sometimes you're going to be landing the ball in the winter on soft ground.
10:35The ball's not going to get any roll at all.
10:37So it's important to know you're going to carry any trouble.
10:39And this is also really important to say.
10:42This is about developing your confidence so that when you get to the golf course,
10:46you know what it feels like to have the ball come in flush out the middle of the golf club.
10:49Time after time, by using that drill and then gathering the data, it can really help you.
10:54OK, so with your iron play, this is all about good quality ball striking when you're on the golf course.
10:59Katie, you've given us a really good drill to use on the range to make sure you're getting that full
11:04first, ground, second contact that we all need.
11:07But you're still on the golf course here.
11:09You've got trouble in front of you.
11:10You still need to focus on that good quality contact.
11:13How do you do it when you're on the course?
11:15So on the range, we put a little something or a little mini target ahead of the ball
11:20just to encourage ourselves to stay lower for longer.
11:23Out on the course, it's very easy to suddenly get result orientated.
11:27You suddenly worry about the water, the bunkers.
11:31What happens if it goes wrong?
11:33What happens with that then is you come up on the ball.
11:35Therefore, you don't get the grass underneath it.
11:38Right, yes.
11:39So just having an awareness of what's ahead of the ball helps you just to keep the club a little bit lower.
11:44Therefore, get little ball, then the big ball.
11:46See, the last thing you all need to be doing during a medal at your golf club is go,
11:50hang on, everyone, I'm just going to stick a little something or other just in front of the ball
11:53because you can't touch your line of play.
11:55So you can just have a look.
11:57We're on the golf course.
11:58It's a natural surface.
11:59It's grass.
12:00There's some little bits and pieces on the ground.
12:02We've actually got a little twig just in front of our ball.
12:04So when I stand behind my ball and go through that really important pre-shot routine
12:08and I point the club at the target line, draw a line down,
12:11I'm going to pick something just ahead of the ball on that.
12:13That's simple. It's effective.
12:15It's something we can all do.
12:16The other part that we can all do and get right is figuring out the yardages.
12:21The work that we've done on the range to work out our carry yardages,
12:23you need to now apply it.
12:24So the shot that we've got here, the second shot into 16 here at West Hill,
12:28the back of the green, the laser is telling me it's 164, flag is 160.
12:32To cover the bunker on the right is 152.
12:36That's to carry that.
12:37Yeah.
12:37So what club are you going to play?
12:39What's the key yardage of all of that that you're trying to take into account?
12:42So I want to carry the bunker, but at the same time,
12:45it's a really good idea when you're going for your approach shots
12:48to actually focus on hitting the middle of the green.
12:50And my watch says 153 to the centre.
12:52So I'm going to hit something I'm confident on average.
12:55And it's really important that part on average goes 150 yards.
12:59Right, Katie, so you're going to have to hit this for us.
13:01Now, it is quite dewy this morning.
13:03You just gave me a very good tip in this scenario.
13:05What is it?
13:06So when there is dew on the ground,
13:08you can actually see where your club hits the world.
13:11And that's important.
13:12That gives you immediate feedback.
13:14And for us, immediate feedback, if you've done a good swing,
13:17it's a real confidence booster.
13:19So you would have picked a little mini target just ahead of the ball.
13:22But then, so we know where we're aiming because we've got that spot.
13:25Then you're going to set up level with the ball
13:28and you're going to do your practice swing back and through.
13:31Yeah, and you can see where you hit the ground.
13:33So I can see that my first point of contact would have been the ball.
13:37After that, I've made a nice little neat divot mark ahead of that.
13:41So I know that I'm collecting that mini target that we were using on the range.
13:45I'm ticking that box.
13:47I've committed to the shot and I've hit under the ball.
13:49Yes. And the dew really highlights.
13:51Go for it.
13:57Lovely. Great strike.
14:01Now, where's that going?
14:02Middle of the green.
14:03It's fine.
14:05Very good.
14:05Decent two-part. I'll be happy with that.
14:07Yes, indeed.
14:07And it's just a really good way to think it doesn't need to take you an awful
14:11lot of time, but just having the awareness to think about some of these factors
14:13while you're on the golf course should really help you shoot lower scores.
14:23OK, so for the final part of our video, we're looking at pitching.
14:26Now, pitching, Katie, is one of those areas that coaches like you will tell
14:29amateurs like me, you need to focus on this because it's the fastest way
14:32to save your shots out on the golf course.
14:35But you've got to practice it, right?
14:37And so the first question is, how do you practice your pitching?
14:40Well, I think, like you say, it is.
14:42This is like your score zone.
14:43So if you can get your wedges actually hitting the greens,
14:46you are going to save shots.
14:47It's quite simple.
14:49But a lot of people don't like doing the half shots, three-quarter shots.
14:52So you need to know your wedge distances with the full swing first and foremost.
14:56That's your first port of call.
14:57Right. And we can do that on the range.
14:59Yes, you can.
14:59And it helps to have a laser to identify how far the flags are.
15:03So I've already done it.
15:04The first flag is 71.
15:06Second flag is 83.
15:08And the third flag is 109.
15:10So, Katie, why don't you hit a full shot with your, which club is this?
15:13This is my sand wedge, so it's 54 degrees.
15:16Right, fine.
15:16And we've got the Approach R10 on the floor as well,
15:19so I'll be able to get some feedback.
15:21OK, right, good shot, Katie.
15:24Now that's carried 74.
15:26And again, the carry yardages are what you're looking for.
15:28You're looking at average carry yardages.
15:30And I guess having a good understanding for how far a full
15:33you know, wedge shot goes for each of your wedges, maybe your 9-iron, etc.
15:36is going to be really useful to you.
15:38But if you really want to get good at pitching,
15:40you need to add an extra dimension to everything.
15:43What is that?
15:44So the extra dimension that you need is to be able to control the length of your swing,
15:48because it's all very well knowing how far you hit a full shot,
15:51but we're not always going to have a full shot out there.
15:53No.
15:54And people try and manufacture that less length by slowing down and decelerating.
15:59We all know what that.
15:59Yeah, fat shots.
16:00Yeah, lovely big old fat shots.
16:02And you think that was a lovely drive for what a waste.
16:04Yeah. And so it's just a point of frustration for everybody.
16:07OK, so you can practice this.
16:09And so how do you what's the way that you think about?
16:11So one of the best visuals that I tend to use when I'm coaching
16:13is that your head is 12 o'clock and you're doing a length of swing
16:17that's almost nine bang through to three.
16:20OK, it's like a half swing.
16:21Yeah. And you would work on your averages like we talked about before.
16:25So the average distance that say you'd hit between seven and 10 balls
16:28doing that length swing with each of your clubs.
16:30Yes. Now you can get more in depth in this.
16:33You can do sort of 10 o'clock swings.
16:35You can lengthen it.
16:35But we're suggesting in this instance just to get a foothold in all of this,
16:39that nine to three swing with each of your clubs through to,
16:43I guess, even up to seven or nine.
16:45Yeah, even up to a seven or a six nine.
16:46If you imagine you're playing links golf out by the seaside,
16:50you need to bump and run that ball in.
16:52You need to be able to control how far you carry it.
16:55Yeah. And obviously the result there on in.
16:57Yeah. So it's important to go all the way through your clubs.
17:00But initially, just sort of four wedges or so would be sufficient.
17:03Would be a good start.
17:04So I'm now interested to find out how much a nine to three swing
17:07takes off your normal full pitching swing shot,
17:11which was, as we know, carry distance 74.
17:13So, yeah, hit a full, sorry, hit a nine to three
17:19sand wedge shot for us.
17:20Lovely. OK.
17:26And now that's interesting, Katie, because that's carried 60.
17:30Yeah. So there's a 14 yard carry distance gap between those two shots.
17:35And I hit that pretty well.
17:37You hit that. OK.
17:38Probably one of my better wedge shots. Right.
17:40So I probably wouldn't take that.
17:42Probably more than I'd normally hit my nine to three on average.
17:45Yeah. So that's an important point is not to take.
17:48That's why it's so important to do the sort of seven to ten shots.
17:51Shots. Yes. OK, fine.
17:52So once you've got that
17:54that average for each of the shots,
17:56then you can do that with each of the different clubs.
17:58Yeah. And I guess a key point here is practice,
18:00just the repetition of being comfortable hitting those half shots.
18:03Yeah. And when you go through your routine on the course, you're rehearsing.
18:07You've got a definite place to go.
18:08That nine o'clock is a really good
18:11kind of band of distance to swing that club back and through.
18:14And obviously, if you've written it down, you look at you look at the yardage
18:18on the course and you go, what's that?
18:19Oh, that's my nine o'clock pitching wedge.
18:21Yeah. My nine o'clock.
18:22And the other great thing about this is that when you get to the golf course,
18:26this process gives you options as you're about to find out.
18:29OK, so you've done all of that work on your pitching.
18:32You should have some confidence in hitting the numbers that you're trying to hit.
18:36But again, you need to be smart while you're out on the golf course.
18:39Now, Katie, the flag, I've lasered the flag.
18:41It's 80 to the flag.
18:43What is it to the back? What is it to the middle?
18:45So you've got 71 to the middle of the green.
18:47And like we mentioned, we've mentioned before, the middle of the green
18:50is just safe place. Yes. Safe option.
18:52So 71 to the middle, uphill a little bit.
18:55So we're going to take that into account.
18:56But it's 83 to the back.
18:57So hit one for us then, Katie.
18:59So this is this will be a full sand wedge shot for you.
19:02But we've got two clubs
19:03because we're going to I'm going to ask you to play in two different ways,
19:05because this is the beauty of really getting to know your pitching distances.
19:09You can play these shots in different ways.
19:10Yeah. So I'm going to hit my full sand wedge, first of all.
19:18Lovely. That's good.
19:21You know, that's actually I think that's pin high.
19:25What did you say? Yeah, that's pretty good.
19:26Literally, my full sand wedge will go about 75, 80 yards.
19:30Perfect. So my watch, you know, said 72.
19:33And actually we went to the backyard.
19:35Just that's perfect.
19:36Yeah. So we're going to play the same shot again,
19:38but with a nine nine using that nine to three action.
19:42And hopefully the ball will go to a similar sort of distance.
19:45Yeah. And the reason this is quite a good idea as well
19:47is there's no trouble in between us and the flag.
19:50So you can bump and run it in if you like.
19:53And a shorter swing is a lot safer.
19:55Yeah. A lot of golfers would stand there with a full sand wedge.
19:59That's a lot of golf swing.
20:00If you catch it skinny. Yeah.
20:01And you can hit it going to go a long way.
20:02Pulls or pushes, as with any other part of your game.
20:05So maybe this is the most consistent way of doing it.
20:07Absolutely. It's the safest way of doing it. Yeah.
20:14And I'm from where I'm stood, it's so interesting
20:17because it's a lot more of a driven ball flight, it's a lot lower.
20:21And it's half a swing.
20:22It's run once it's gone onto the green, it's run
20:24probably a yard or two further than the first one, but not a huge amount.
20:27No. And probably the most important thing is if I hadn't quite caught that,
20:32say I had caught it a little bit skinny.
20:34There's not enough swing there to send me into a lot of trouble.
20:37I may be at the back of the green, but I'm not going to be really in a pickle.
20:40Yeah. So as I said before, this might feel like a really kind of advanced
20:44technique, but you can see from Katie's the way that Katie's played it.
20:47It's actually really simple,
20:49but it does require that time on the range to make sure that you know
20:53what you're doing, because once you become comfortable with shots like this,
20:56they can really, really help you out on the course.
20:58So there you have it.
21:00That's our look at how you take your game from the range to the golf course.
21:04Yeah. And I think it's it's not just about what you do on the golf course.
21:09It's about building good habits when you're practicing so that you are,
21:12in fact, practicing the same game here as you play out there.
21:16Yeah. It's a simple piece of advice.
21:19But it requires real discipline and real thought to make sure that you get it right.
21:23Hopefully Katie's tips today will make a big difference.
21:26But that's it for now. Thanks very much for watching.
21:28We'll see you next time.