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
00:12that you might forget midway through a round of golf. Think of this video as your checklist
00:17before every round to remind yourself how to score better and how to get the best out
00:22of your game. I'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
00:35loads of golfers forget to do before their round of golf and then their actual game will
00:39suffer for it. Now I know not everyone will have a nice range to warm up like this but
00:43even if it's 10 minutes of putting and chipping or a proper stretch on the first tee, any kind
00:48of warm up will really help your game so don't forget that prior to getting to the course and
00:52play better golf for it. So another thing golfers forget to do when they're out on course in
00:56the middle of a round is use a little bit less loft when they're chipping. I've got a great
01:01example in front of me here on the 17th at West Hill where I can't really putt it although I'm
01:04close to the green, there's too much water on the ground but there's also nothing for me to go over
01:09so why would I need to take my lob wedge or my sand wedge, a much higher tariff shot in this
01:14situation. You'll see now if I try and take my 60 degree, I'm more likely to shank it or thin it
01:23because it's a high tariff shot. What I think a lot of golfers need to do is use a little bit
01:27less loft, take your time around these chips, I've got an eight iron here and hit a lower tariff
01:33shot, almost just put a putting stroke on this and get the ball rolling. Not my greatest effort,
01:42I need to practice it a little bit more but I think taking less loft around the green is a much
01:46better idea. Okay another thing I think golfers forget all too frequently when they're out on the
01:51course is to swing a little bit slower into wind. The tendency is to think oh I'm into wind,
01:57I've got to hit the ball harder which it often isn't the case, you're not going to hit the ball
02:01that far anyway so a gentle swing and a better strike will actually work more often. Great
02:06example here today, the second at West Hill, we're into wind, I've got the big dog out, I'd normally
02:10want to hit this as hard as I can to get down there but into wind today I'm going to swing a little
02:13bit slower, just try and get a bit of strike on it, get myself down the fairway. So I'm going to swing
02:18this as easy as I can and away it goes, not my finest hit, a bit cutty but into wind on a day like
02:30today not too disappointed with that. So remember into wind swing a little bit slower. Right so
02:35another thing I think golfers forget all too much when they're out on the golf course is not going
02:40at every single pin. There are loads of sucker pins out there and if you find yourself short-sided
02:44these you're going to really struggle to make up and down. Start going for the centre 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 here
02:54at the first at West Hill where the pin is in the middle but it's really far to the left so the last
02:59thing I want to do is aim at it, go left of it and find myself in that trap or left of that trap
03:04where I'm never going to make up and down. So on this hole I'm going to almost take my medicine,
03:09aim at the centre of the green, hopefully get my two putt, walk on to the next one. Let's see how I do.
03:14Make sure I aim nice and central. I tend to hit a bit of a fade so this is a good pin for me
03:19but 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
03:32but because I aim middle, knowing my shot shape I knew I couldn't go too far wrong.
03:36So don't get suckered into those pins, play for the centre of the green,
03:39two putt and attack those pins later in the round.
03:44Ah, 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 with myself
03:59there leaving that fairly easy putt short and I've not thought about the next putt and
04:03I've missed it. I've cost myself another shot. Now it's easy to do this when the red mist descends,
04:09I've done it loads of times myself. I'm sure you have at home but it's really important that
04:13throughout the round you remind yourself not to get too angry, that every single shot matters.
04:18We'll do this on the fairway every now and again as well. If you duff one straight in front of you,
04:23you'll just take the same club, hit the same shot with the same amount of anger and the same thing
04:27might happen. So after a bad shot, take your time, remind yourself that every shot matters and hopefully
04:33that'll save a few shots on the course. Right, so another mistake I think lots of golfers make is
04:38taking their driver off the tee when they don't need to. Now across this video you might think I'm
04:43a bit overly 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, we've got the 12th through at West Hill,
04:51273 it's playing today, a little bit downwind. I probably could hit the green with my driver if I
04:55really liked it but there's all sorts in the way. There's bunkers, there's trees, it's times like this
05:00that I think a lot of golfers need to bin the driver like I am there and play something like this.
05:04A hybrid, a driving iron, a long iron, anything just to pop yourself in play, leave yourself
05:08a nice number in. So I'm going to leave that driver to one side there, I've got my trusty
05:12four hybrid here and it should just be the easiest swing to put myself in position.
05:21A bit like that on the first take as well might I add. So I think a lot of golfers need to think a lot
05:27more carefully on the course about when they're using their driver, use it in the right
05:30situations and on shorter par fours play for position. Okay so you joined me here on the 12th
05:35and after I was just telling you about playing for position, not taking your driver too often,
05:39I found myself out of position on a very short par four. So I'm not best pleased and that brings
05:44on to the next thing loads of golfers forget when they're out on course and that is to stay calm. I
05:50think if you can check yourself when you're out on course you'll save at least I think two shots a round
05:54especially if you're a bit of an angry golfer. You know you won't hit the angry chip or the angry putt
05:59when your head's not in the right space. Now I know there's nothing worse than someone else
06:02telling you to stay calm that often actually has the adverse effect but I think if you can check
06:06yourself out on course, remind yourself to stay calm, it's a really important thing to remember
06:11throughout the entire round. While I'm here another thing I think golfers forget is that bogey
06:16is your friend and it is more often than not. It's not a card killer and while it's not a great score
06:20it's not going to ruin your entire round. Now obviously I'm hoping to make a par from here and I'm not
06:25going to say I'm not you know, I still want to try and make up and down but I'm going to remind
06:28myself that if I don't come off here with a par a bogey is okay and I'm not going to get too angry
06:33and the bogey is my friend. It's not a double, it's not something worse. So stay calm, bogey is my
06:38friend and whenever I hit here I'm not going to get too wound up about it. And I hit a good shot so I've
06:46got a look at par, if I get a bogey it's okay. So two things, stay calm, bogey is your friend.
06:51Okay so another mistake I think a lot of golfers make is not playing for position on par fives. Now
06:56I know we've already spoken about not taking driver all the time, I don't want to come over as overly
07:01defensive on the golf course but I think every now and again we need to look at a par five for what
07:05it is, take a bit less club and score a little bit better for it I think in the majority. Example here
07:1117th at West Hill, hit my Sunday best drive here, pretty pleasing myself. But it's into wind,
07:16we've got trouble left, there's trouble right, should I really be trying to hit a three wood to get to this
07:20green that's barely in reach, probably not. So take the situation to account on par fives,
07:25but I think a seven iron is the play here, so away with the three wood. I'm just going to play,
07:31hopefully I'll 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 make
07:45anything worse than a par there whereas if my three went left or right anything could have happened.
07:49So I think playing for position on par fives when the situation warrants it is really important.
07:54So one major thing I think loads of golfers forget to do is take a little bit more club when the
07:59conditions warrant it. So I'm talking about heavy wind like it is today, colder temperatures and even
08:05consider when you're not striking the ball that well. I don't think enough of us adapt to that mid-round,
08:09so really think you know on the ninth hole halfway through your round, what's the wind like today,
08:14how am I striking it, should I attack the back nine with a little bit more club. Now I'm criminal for
08:19this as well, I'm going to flash up some data from one of my recent rounds, my Arcos data which shows I
08:23missed 10 out of 18 greens on a recent round, not my not my finest round and they were all short,
08:29all 10 were short and that's because it was a windy day, it was a little bit cold and as you can see I
08:33wasn't hitting the ball that well. What I didn't do was take into account the temperature, the way I was
08:37striking the ball that day which wasn't very good and the fact it was really really windy. So I was
08:42ending up short a lot of the time, missing all my greens and regulation and my scoring suffered for
08:46it. So when you're out on course think about all those conditions, re-evaluate midway through a round
08:51and don't forget to take more club. Right the final thing that golfers forget to do when they're out on
08:55course and you've probably heard it before and you're going to hear it again from me is to take your
09:00medicine. Playing partners would have said it, coaches would have said it to you, you've probably told this
09:04yourself when you've hit a bad shot but it's something we forget every now and again as we're
09:08trying to chase 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 tree is quite appealing to me and I think I might suddenly turn into Tiger Woods for
09:17this shot but I've got to carry over the heather, I've got to go below this tree through that gap,
09:23it's a very high tariff shot and for not that much gain. A chip out would make a lot more sense.
09:28So I'm going to show you what goes wrong when you don't take your medicine, when you try and take one on.
09:34Class, bonks it into the tree, there it goes in the heather. What I should have done and I'll show you
09:40with this ball, it's come way out to the left, all that fairway over there, take your medicine
09:48and I'm going to go and try and make a par now. So let me say it one more time, take your medicine,
09:53help your score out, don't think your Tiger Woods. So there you have it, those are the 11 things that I
09:58think all golfers forget to do out on course. As I said at the top of this video, consider this your
10:03checklist to remind yourself before every round of golf and I'm thinking you'll save at least a
10:08couple of shots per round if you follow those rules. Are there any I've forgotten? Are there
10:12any mistakes that you commonly make out on course that you know you do but you forget halfway through
10:16a round? Let me know down in the comments, I'd love to hear what you have to say. But for now,
10:20thank you very much for joining me, I'll see you next time.