We know when we play golf, there are things we should do that will help us play better golf, however, it doesn't take much to forget everything you told yourself you would or wouldn't do. In this video, Dan Parker goes over 11 things all golfers forget to do whilst out on the course. Making sure you don't forget to do these things each time you play, will definitely help you improve your scores!
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00:00Hello everyone and welcome to this Golf Monthly video where I'm going to be talking about 11
00:03things that all golfers forget to do out on course. Now I'm not talking about forgetting
00:08your 5-iron or leaving your trolley battery at home, I'm talking about tactical things
00:13that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist before
00:18every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out of your game.
00:23I'm at the very blustery West Hill today, let's get started.
00:30Do you warm up properly before each round of golf? I think this is a massive thing that loads of
00:35golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will suffer for it.
00:40Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but even if it's 10 minutes of
00:44putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind of warm-up will really help
00:49your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and play better golf for it.
00:53So another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in the middle of a round
00:57is use a little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great example in front
01:01of me here on the 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although I'm close to the green,
01:05there's too much water on the ground but there's also nothing for me to go over so why would I
01:10need to take my lob wedge or my sand wedge, a much higher tariff shot in this situation.
01:15You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree
01:21I'm more likely to shank it or thin it because it's a high tariff shot.
01:24What I think a lot of golfers need to do is use a little bit less loft,
01:28taking time around these chips, I've got an eight iron here
01:32and hit a lower tariff shot, almost just put a putting stroke on this
01:40and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort, I need to practice it a little bit more
01:44but I think taking less loft around the green is a much better idea.
01:47Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the course
01:52is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind I've got
01:57to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case, you're not going to hit the ball that far
02:01anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often. Great example here today
02:06the second at West Hill we're into wind I've got the big dog out I'd normally want to hit this as
02:11hard as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going to swing a little bit slower
02:14just try and get a bit of strike on it get myself down the fairway so I'm going to swing this as
02:19easy as I can and away it goes not my finest hit a bit cutty but into wind on a day like today
02:31not too disappointed with that so remember into wind swing a little bit slower. Right so another
02:36thing I think golfers forget all too much when they're out on the golf course is not going every
02:40single pin. There are loads of sucker pins out there and if you find yourself short side of
02:45these you're going to really struggle to make up and down start going for the center of the green
02:49more often and there'll be other pins you can go at later in the round. I've got a good example
02:54here at the first at West Hill where the pin is in the middle but it's really far to the left
02:59so the last thing I want to do is aim at it go left of it and find myself in that in that trap
03:03or left of that trap where I'm never going to make up and down so on this hole I'm going to
03:07almost take my medicine aim at the center of the green hopefully get my two putt walk on to the
03:12next one let's see how I do make sure I am nice and central I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this
03:17this is a good pin for me but I'm going to stay nice and central
03:27and I did hit the little fade and I got away with one it wasn't my greatest strike a little bit thin
03:32because I am middle knowing my shot shape I knew I couldn't go too far wrong so don't get
03:37suckered into those pins play for the center of the green two putt and attack those pins later in the round
03:49ah right that brings me on to my next thing that golfers forget when they're out on the course
03:54and it's to take every shot as seriously as the last now I got a little bit angry myself there
03:59leaving that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the next putt and I've missed it
04:04I've cost myself another shot now it's easy to do this when the red mist descends I've done it
04:09loads of times myself I'm sure you have at home but it's really important that throughout the
04:13round you remind yourself not to get too angry that every single shot matters we'll do this on
04:19the fairway every now and again as well if you duff one straight in front of you you'll just
04:23take the same club hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and the same thing might happen
04:28so after a bad shot take your time remind yourself that every shot matters and hopefully that will
04:34save a few shots on the course right so another mistake I think lots of golfers make is taking
04:38their driver off the tee when they don't need to now across this video you might think I'm a bit
04:43overly defensive on the golf course feel free to let me know in the comments if I am and if I'm
04:47horribly wrong on this but I think on a hole like this got the 12th at West Hill 273 it's playing
04:52today a little bit downwind I probably could hit the green with my driver if I really liked it
04:56but there's all sorts in the way there's bunkers there's trees it's times like this I think a lot
05:00of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play something like this a hybrid a driving
05:05iron a long iron anything just to pop yourself in play leave yourself a nice number in so I'm
05:10gonna leave that driver to one side there I've got my trusty four hybrid here and it should just be
05:15the easiest swing to put myself in position a bit like that on the first take as well might I add
05:25so I think a lot of golfers need to think a lot more carefully on the course about when they're
05:28using their driver using the right situations and on shorter par fours play for position okay so you
05:34join me here on the 12th and after I was just telling you about playing for position not taking
05:38your driver too often I found myself out of position a very short par four so I'm not best
05:43pleased and that brings on to the next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course and
05:48that is to stay calm I think if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save
05:52at least I think two shots around especially if you're a bit of an angrier golfer you know you
05:56won't hit the angry chip or the angry putt when your head's not in the right space now I know
06:01there's nothing worse than someone else telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse
06:05effect but I think if you can check yourself out on course remind yourself to stay calm
06:09it's a really important thing to remember throughout the entire round while I'm here
06:13another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey is your friend and it is more often than not it's
06:18not a card killer and what it's not a great score it's not going to ruin your entire round now
06:22obviously I'm hoping to make a par from here I'm not going to say I'm not you know I do want to
06:27try and make up and down but I'm going to remind myself if I don't come off here with a par
06:30a bogey is okay and I'm not going to get too angry and the bogey is my friend it's not a double it's
06:35not something worse so stay calm bogey is my friend and whatever I hit here I'm not going to
06:41get too wound up about it and I hit a good shot so I've got a look at par if I get a bogey it's okay
06:48so two things stay calm bogey is your friend okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make
06:53is not playing for position on par fives now I know we've already spoken about not taking driver
06:59all the time I don't want to come over as overly defensive on the golf course but I think every
07:02now and again we need to look at a par five for what it is take a bit less club and score a little
07:08bit better for it I think in the majority uh example here 17th at West Hill a bit on Sunday
07:13best drive here pretty pretty pleasing myself but it's into wind we've got trouble left there's
07:17trouble right should I really be trying to hit a three wood to get to this green that's
07:21barely in reach probably not so so take the situation to account on par fives but I think a
07:26seven iron is the play here so away with the three woods I'm just going to play hopefully
07:31I have about 100 yards left in something like that with just an easy seven iron
07:40not my best but not my worst should just be a little wedge in from there and I'm not going to
07:45make anything worse than a par there whereas if my three went left or right anything could
07:49have happened so I think playing for position on par fives when the situation warrants it
07:53is really important so one major thing I think loads of golfers forget to do is take a little
07:58bit more club when the conditions warrant it so I'm talking about heavy wind like it is today
08:03colder temperatures and even consider when you're not striking the ball that well I don't think
08:08enough of us adapt to that mid-round so really think you know on the ninth hole halfway through
08:12your round what's the wind like today how am I striking it should I attack the back nine with a
08:17little bit more club now I'm criminal for this as well I'm going to flash up some data from one of
08:21my recent rounds my arcos data which shows I missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round not
08:26my not my finest round and they were all short all 10 were short and that's because it was a windy day
08:31it was a little bit cold and as you can see I wasn't hitting the ball that well what I didn't
08:35do was take into account temperature the way I was striking the ball that day which wasn't very good
08:39and the fact it was really really windy so I was ending up short a lot of the time missing
08:44all my greens and regulation and my scoring suffered for it so when you're out on course
08:48think about all those conditions re-evaluate midway through a round and don't forget to take
08:52more club right the final thing the golfers forget to do when they're out on course and
08:56you've probably heard it before and you can hear it again from me is to take your medicine playing
09:01partners would have said it coaches would have said it to you you've probably told this yourself
09:04when you've hit a bad shot but it's something we forget every now and again as we're trying to
09:08chase that score out on course I've got a great example of it here at the second at West Hill
09:13that gap in that trees it was quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn to Tiger Woods
09:17for this shot but I've got to carry over the heather I've got to go below this tree through
09:23that gap it's a very high tariff shot and for not that much gain a chip out would make a lot more
09:28sense so I'm going to show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine when you try
09:31and take one on class bonks into the tree there it goes in the heather what I should have done
09:40and I'll show you with this ball it's come way out to the left all that fairway over there take
09:46your medicine and I'm going to go and try and make a par now so I'm going to say it one more time
09:52take your medicine help you score out don't think you're Tiger Woods so there you have it those are
09:57the 11 things that I think all golfers forget to do out on course as I said at the top of this video
10:03consider this your checklist to remind yourself before every round of golf and I'm thinking you'll
10:07save at least a couple of shots per round if you follow those rules are there any I've forgotten
10:12are there any mistakes that you commonly make out on course that you know you do and you forget
10:15halfway through a round let me know down in the comments I'd love to hear what you have to say
10:20but for now thank you very much for joining me I'll see you next time