Neil Tappin is joined by PGA Professional Alex Elliott look at the keys to breaking one of golf's biggest milestones - 100. Alex offers some simple guidance on how think while you are out on the course, what to practice and he also offers some practical advice on the shots you'll need to develop. These tips are designed to be simple and achievable for any golfer looking to break 100.
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00:00Hello and welcome to The London Club. Now, in this video, we have 10 top tips that are going
00:06to help you break 100. We look at everything from what clubs you have in your bag, some mental tips
00:12and how to get out of trouble. Yes, let's head out onto the golf course here at The London Club
00:16and look at our first tip on our list. The first tip on our list, number 10,
00:25is about relaxing between shots. Now, golf is, for a lot of people, myself included,
00:29quite stressful at times. I can join that club. Yes, but it's crucial that you don't get kind
00:34of caught up at trying to focus for large periods, isn't it? Yes, I mean like golf is one of them
00:39sports. We perceive there's a lot to think about over the shot and for some time there is. It's
00:45about concentrating at the right point. Okay, so how do you do it then? How do you switch off?
00:49Because that's the key, isn't it? We've seen a trend of all top players now. They have one of their best
00:53friends on the bag or a companion on the bag. So having someone that you can relate to and talk
00:58to is key. Now, for most of us, we don't have a caddy. I don't have a caddy. But we play with our
01:01friends on the weekend, right? Yes. So having a chat with them whilst walking around from the T
01:06to the green. And then when you get close to your ball, then switch on. You're not having to
01:10concentrate for four and a half hours. You're just doing 30 to 40 second stints. And I guess it's
01:14important to remember this, particularly when these signs get nervous. You've got a good score going,
01:18maybe with a few holes to go. I can imagine this shot, one of the last few holes here in your round.
01:22You've missed the reed on a par three. It's a difficult chip. You want to be fully concentrated
01:26on it. Yeah, you could have been thinking about it for five minutes while you're walking here. It's
01:29maybe not a great preparation. No, definitely not. Yeah, so a really simple tip. Try and
01:34focus when you need to and relax when you don't need to be concentrating.
01:42So the next tip for golfers looking to break a hundred is to avoid three putting. Okay,
01:46we all do it. It doesn't matter what handicap you are. Everyone does it. But Alex, what do you think
01:51the mistakes are that cost people in this scenario? I think when we get to a distance like we've got
01:56now, we just sort of go on to the green. Oh, yeah, it's about this. Hit the putt away. A bit of
02:01autopilot comes into play. Yes. So we've put up some alignment sticks around the flag. And what are you
02:07trying to do then from here? All I want you to focus on is getting it inside that bin lid, that three foot
02:12range where actually we make our next putt as stress-free as possible. Okay, go on then. So
02:19so this is a little bit uphill right to left. So now I'm aiming a little bit right in the hole.
02:24I'm trying to dye it into that space. I always picture that ball dying near the hole,
02:29not accelerating too far past. Yeah, okay.
02:37Perfect. And if you can, I mean, this just shows you that if you can get the pace right,
02:40the odd one will drop in the hole. But the crucial point is scenarios like this,
02:44make them stress-free, get it down in two, you'll keep the score ticking over.
02:53Tip number eight is so important and it's about developing a fairway finder. So every golf course
02:59you'll ever play, there will be holes on that course that you don't fancy the look of off the
03:03tee. You're worried about losing the ball off the tee or you're just worried about hitting a bad shot.
03:07So every golfer needs to find a fairway finder. Yeah. How do you do it, Alex?
03:11I think there's sort of two scenarios we can look at here. Doing it with a driver, preferably.
03:15Now, if you're not comfortable with driver, finding a club, like maybe a fairway would,
03:20that allows you to hit that fairway and you've got more confidence. But I guess the main thing is,
03:24is just going the range, finding a swing with some nice rhythm with a club that gives you a repeatable
03:30shot. Okay. So what are you going to do? Well, I'm going down that route of, I think most golfers
03:35have a bit of a love-hate relationship with driver, but their fairway would, their five would,
03:39their three would, it's probably something that they get on with more often than not.
03:43Okay. Just because it's a bit shorter, a bit more loft. Okay. So what's the swing thought that
03:47you would have when you're on a fairway, like a hole like this, bunkers everywhere, tricky shot.
03:51What's the fairway finding swing for you? I just put my seven iron rhythm on it. Okay. So for me,
03:58getting good rhythm gives me a better chance of squaring that face. With driver,
04:02a more problem into giving it a bit of a welly. Yes. So rhythm is key and don't overcomplicate it
04:07too much. Most people, if you're balanced through the shot, you're going to hit a better shot than
04:12if you're unbalanced. Okay. Well, show us your seven iron rhythm then with you. So I'll have two
04:16practice swings. One, two. Most people are comfortable with seven iron right. And we're in.
04:26Count for the wind a little bit off the left today and then put that rhythm on.
04:34Yeah, very good. I think actually it doesn't really matter what the club is or what the swing thought
04:40is, but the key thing is you need to practice it. You need to go to the range. You need to groove it
04:44so that when you are stood in a position like this, it's not alien. It's not new to you. You've done it
04:49before, you've repeated it, and then you might just produce a shot like that one.
04:57So this one is about bag setup and the clubs that you choose to carry. Alex,
05:01what's the advice here for people? I think really nice and simple. I prefer most golfers to carry a
05:06five wood over a three wood, a little bit more loft, a little bit shorter club, and then hybrids
05:11over long irons. Just a little bit more forgiving. Yeah. I mean, it's that simple. If you can do those
05:16things, you should find a setup that's just that bit more forgiving that's going to let you get
05:20away with the odd dodgy swing and not going to cost you too much while you're out on the course.
05:29Okay, so number six on our list is about pressure and how you handle pressure on the golf course.
05:34It's something that we all need to do. It might well be that the first tee shot's incredibly
05:38nerve-wracking, but then there's also going to be holes like this one. This is the ninth hole here at
05:43the Heritage Course in London Club, really tough par four, and you might want to go for your fairway
05:48finder, Alex, as we've already discussed, but equally you might want to just hit driver because
05:51it's such a tough hole. In this scenario, when you need to do it most, what can we do to hit a good
05:57shot? That's the golden nugget, isn't it? Yeah. Well, I mean, if we're looking to break 100, right,
06:02this scenario here, we're probably going to have two shots, so that's going to hopefully calm us
06:06down a little bit. But the key thing here is it's not just to pick your club rush and just get it over
06:11and done with because you don't feel comfortable. Yes, which I have definitely done in my past,
06:15for sure. Yeah, and if we actually look at golf, we want to be in scenarios where we're playing good
06:19golf and we're not feeling comfortable because that means we're doing something different. We're
06:22playing well, right? Right, okay. So I want you to think about aiming really small. So if you aim
06:27really at a small target rather than just a general fairway, if you just miss a small target by a little
06:32bit, you're still going to be okay. So we're going to talk later in this video about how to aim,
06:36but in this particular scenario, what are you aiming at and what's your kind of miss, I guess?
06:41So, for example here, trouble looks to be more left. So I'm going to take something that's a very
06:46small target to the right of the trouble. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to hone really in small. So if
06:51I take this tree straight down, I've got the one that sticks up a little bit more, I'm going to use
06:56that. I know if I miss just a little bit left, I'm okay. But equally, if I miss just a little bit right,
07:00I'm still okay as well. Okay. So aim small, miss small, still end up on the fairway. Exactly.
07:06Exactly. Let's see if it works, Alex. Here we go.
07:15Bingo. Slight cut off that mark, middle of the fairway, no trouble. Aiming small,
07:19it really is very important and it could help you in a scenario like this.
07:23This one is all about club selection. And I think, Alex, we've chosen this particular hole
07:33here at the London club for a very good reason. So we've got water short of the green and most
07:37golfers would know in this scenario to do what? Take one club more, avoid going short. Yes. And
07:43the problem is that how often do you take the same approach on holes where there isn't water short,
07:47but there is other trouble like bunkers or other things that might be short of the green? Well,
07:50where do most club golfers finish even on a good strike? Short, right? Yes. So they don't take
07:54that advice. So what we're saying here is think that you're always in a scenario like this. Like
07:59there's water short or the trouble short, put the bunker in the same category, take one more club
08:04and make sure you're on the green. Yes. So that you are avoiding failing to carry the front of the green,
08:09which is the kind of the big mistake I think a lot of players make, right? Exactly. So Alex,
08:13you've got 153 and you would usually hit seven iron usually. So I will look for your six iron.
08:20There you go. Thank you. Now being a pro, I expect this to finish close to the flag. I feel a bit of
08:26pressure and even this is a tough one of the wind into as well. You might have to adjust that even
08:30further sometimes. Lovely contact. Very good shot. But has it made the green? Yes, pin high.
08:47So number four on our list is developing the punch shot, being able to hit a shot when you're in a
08:52scenario like this. Yeah. How do you play it? So essentially, if we want the ball to go lower,
08:57we need to lower the loft of our club. So use less loft, lower the loft of our club at impact and hit
09:04down on it more. That's going to lower the launch. Okay. So, okay. Set up to the ball then. Explain
09:08to me what you do. So how I would do with this is I would put the ball towards the back of my stance.
09:12That allows me to hit down it more. I'd grip down on it. Now with that ball going towards the back of
09:18my stance, that's going to encourage a bit more forward shaft lean, taking some loft off the club. Now,
09:22all I want you to feel is you're going to keep your weight left throughout and just make a bit of a
09:26slower swing. And I always like to feel it's more of like a tailed follow through with my chest pointing
09:32to target rather than this nice full follow through on a full shot. Okay. Go on then. Let's have a look
09:38at it. So this is a real toughy actually, because we're not too far from the green. So I've gone eight
09:42iron and I'm trying to picture that ball flying through this window here down and I'm running up.
09:47Yeah. So ball back, hands forward, grip down.
09:51Well, it clipped the tree, but as Alex said, it's a really tricky shot. And I think the key thing is
10:01often in a scenario like this, the punch shot is really important, but it's about getting yourself
10:06back into play. So not trying to do too much with it. Just get yourself back in the game
10:10and then take it from there. The punch shot is a really important shot for golfers,
10:14no matter what their handicap. Okay. So number three on our list, it's a simple one,
10:23but it's so important is knowing exactly how to aim the club. Alex, what's the advice here?
10:28I mean, what I think is, is always coming to the range and pressing the reset button occasionally,
10:33where you can get into bad habits that creep in that time off the time of aiming a little bit right
10:38or a little bit left. And there's nothing worse, is there, right? Ripping a swing, feeling an amazing
10:42swing out the middle and the ball is just sailing in the wrong direction. Yeah. And I guess the point
10:47here is that if you aim wrong, then suddenly your swing path is out and you can get other faults that
10:52creep into the game. So it really is important to get this right. Yeah. So how do you do it?
10:56So I always have a bit of a process. I always come to the range and I'll place one alignment stick down
11:01first. That's my ball to target line. So we've chosen this red flag down here. I would then put my feet
11:07line, which runs parallel to that. Now this is getting me to have two parallel lines on the golf
11:12course. If we're drawing or fading, we would slightly aim different to that, but use this as
11:17like a coming back to neutral reset button. So now I can stand over here. I've also used the line of
11:23a ball to extend that line, address the ball, make sure everything's neutral. And you know what?
11:30It might feel like you're aiming a bit left or it might feel like you're aiming now a bit right,
11:33but it's getting both target line, then shoulders, feet, hips, and knees running parallel.
11:38Yeah. Take pride in getting this part right. If you do, it will definitely pay off.
11:47Okay. So number two on our list is to have two different short game shots up your sleeve. Two
11:53that you feel really comfortable with. One, Alex is a chip and run. You'll be able to find advice on how
11:57to hit the chip and run on the golf monthly website. Alex, I'm sure you'll have some content on your
12:01YouTube channel about how to do it, but we're now going to look at how to hit a bunker shot
12:05because this is so important. You're going to face it. A lot of golfers struggle with it. So
12:09give us a tip, Alex. So first thing, choose your most lofted club. I tend to buy wedges that have
12:15a lot of bouts. This helps the club sort of glide through the sand. Also, I think it's all to do with
12:20setup really. If we set up to this club correctly, we've got a better chance of hitting it good.
12:25So nice, quickly here and simple. Dig your feet in. We've got ball position, a club head inside
12:30our left heel. You want to then grip it with the face open, sit down and left. And all I want you
12:36to do is feel like you're sliding that club underneath it with some speed. Okay. Go on then. Just like that.
12:48Yeah. And you'll notice, I mean, Alex has swung at that really quite hard.
12:51Yeah. It's just popped it straight up into the air. Loads of control, not gone very far.
12:56It's the simple way to do it, but it does take some practice. Put some time into it. It will really pay off.
13:05Okay. So our number one top tip for breaking a hundred, Alex, is to break the round up into small
13:12segments. Explain what people should be doing here. I mean, most people who are trying to break a hundred,
13:17they'll go out there going, right, okay, well, I've got to do this and this on each nine. And that whole
13:22focus is coming to that end score. So breaking that round into six sets of three, you can set your
13:27little self a target on those sets, reset after one, go on the next. Right. Okay. So it might well be
13:33that you look at the first three holes and think they're three of the hardest holes on the golf course,
13:37try to get away from there, no more than four over par or something. Exactly like that. But also equally,
13:42if you have a bad set of three, don't let that impact the nine holes. Because most people go,
13:47oh, I'll reset after the ninth. We'll start again on the 10th. Yeah. Reset after three,
13:51start again. But equally, if you have a good set of three, don't get too far ahead of yourself and
13:55start trying to chase it even more. Yeah. So managing a score across 18 holes,
13:59it's a lot to do. Managing the same score over three hole chunks is much more achievable. Give it a go.
14:06Okay. So that's our look at our top 10 tips to break a hundred. Breaking a hundred is such a
14:11important barrier that so many golfers are looking to get through. If you can just do a few of those
14:16things that Alex said, not many of them very technical, all of them really, really useful.
14:20They should really help. If you think there's anything that we've missed that you have used
14:24in the past that really helped you, leave some comments below. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
14:28But that's it for now from The London Club. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
14:41We'll see you next time.