Think and Play Like a Pro | 9 Holes with Iona Stephen

In this special episode of Chasing the Red, Iona takes on your questions while playing 9 holes at Sunningdale Heath. From tour tactics and mindset to pressure moments and recent Open highlights, nothing’s off limits. Iona shares honest, unfiltered insights from inside the ropes, giving a real look at what it takes to compete at the top level.

Zen Golf book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zen-Golf-Mastering-Mental-Game/dp/0385504462

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Thanks to the team at Sunningdale Heath for having us.

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Yes, we are back at one of our favorite places. We’re going to do a Q&A. Coolest thing I own. There’s some really good questions in here. Welcome back to On the Road with Iona. As you can see, we are back at one of our favorite places, Sunningdale Heath, just outside London. So, a huge thank you to Sunningale Heath for having us back. I am here with Emily behind the camera. And we are going to be doing a nine-hole chasing the red right now. Me versus the golf course. But as we go around, I’m going to be answering questions from you, from our on the road community that you’ve sent in via Instagram. So, we’re going to do a Q&A. I’m going to reflect on the last few weeks that we’ve had on the road. I’ve been at the Open Championship, the Scottish Open prior to that. I’ve seen Scottish Effler in action up close. And then next week, we’re heading to the Women’s Open. So, we’re going to chat to you all the way round about all the things that have been going on in the golfing world. Let’s go. And here we are on the first hole. It’s 145 yards. Little bit chilly. It’s 6:30 in the morning or thereabouts. So, we’re out with the birds today. Um, so I’m going to hit a little cruisy eight iron. That’s down the left hand side, but we’ll go and find it. I’ve been watching a little bit of Lassy W recently, who is taking the female golfing world by storm. She has already won her le card and her LPGA card uh through the amateur system and she’s now playing in her pro debut this week. Today is Sunday of the women’s Scottish Open and she has the lead. So by the time this video comes out, Lywood will have either won it or not won it the Scottish Open. Uh I’ve got fancier chances though. I really do. and she was my favorite going into the week. And then next week, of course, is the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porto Call. So, two great events on the women’s schedule, but as you all know, I’ve been well, I’ve been at the Open. Um, last week I was at the Open Championship with Sky as an encourse commentator, presenting, doing a little bit of interviewing as well. And it was uh an absolutely brilliant week with wonderful weather. Royal Port Rush is a masterpiece and it’s hard to hard to say this out loud, but I think it’s my favorite open venue. I really do. It’s something something else that place. Uh if you’ve not been there to play, try and get it on the bucket list for the next 10 years because you will not you will not regret it. going to start with some questions now, but before I do, I want to let you know that at the end of this video, we’ve got a giveaway. Uh, really cool giveaway to do with Titist and the GT series. So, hold on for that. But let’s get in to some of these questions, shall we? And to get into Instagram, I’m actually having to use uh this app I use called Opal that blocks my social media throughout the day. Um, end my break. Thank you very much. certain times of the day I have my social media blocked so that I don’t just waste my life scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. I don’t know how you guys manage social media in your life but it’s such a big part of well the human experience now isn’t it? the phones have taken over so much of what we do. And sometimes it can just you can just lose track of time just getting into these apps where you’re consuming things and you go down these rabbit holes and before you know it half an hour’s pass or an hour’s pass and over a day over a lifetime that’s a lot of time. So I use a little app which I would really recommend if you if that’s something that you’re interested in but less of that more of the questions. Okay, question number one. Um, so I’m on I’m on the on the road with Iona Instagram as you can see. And at the very top I can see the latest question has actually come in from Butch Harmon himself. So hi Butch. It’s good to see you. And he says, “How do you hit the 75 yard bunker shot?” That’s a great question. We will find the 75 yard bunker shot. And I’ll talk you through how I hit it. Thank you, Butch, for sending in a question. Um, okay. Justin W75 says, “What was the biggest breakthrough in your golf game?” That is a great question. I think the biggest breakthrough in my golf game was learning this one thing which applies to tea to green. And I wish I had learned this earlier. I really do. I’m going to use an eight iron to demonstrate it. But when I was learning the game of golf, nobody taught me that the golf club has to stay in front of your body. And if you look at the best golfers in the world, like Podrick Harrington, he’s playing down the road. He’s got a two-shot lead or three shot lead at the Senior Open Championship this weekend. One of the best players and performers that golf’s ever seen, multiple major champion. If you look at the way the club works with the body, as soon as the club gets stuck behind the torso, behind the upper body like that, you’re in big trouble. And I that’s what led to my wrist injuries. And that’s why this was such a breakthrough for me also for performing. When the club stays in front of your body like this, if you imagine it was stuck into your belly button, let’s say, and as you turn around, the club is moving and is in that position. That’s really the golf swing. It should always be in front of your body as soon as your body moves too quickly and the club gets left behind. And that happens to a lot of golfers because of this obsession with lag. And I just do not buy into this obsession with lag. In fact, it drives me bananas because I think it leads to a lot of injury and bad bad golf. Really bad golf. Like ugly ugly golf. And I’ve played a lot of that ugly golf. getting the club stuck there. So, the biggest breakthrough I’ve ever had in my golf game was learning that if you keep the club in front of your body and don’t let it get left behind, you will play really, really good golf. There we have it. Okay, more questions to come. For now, I’m I’m in position zed here. Um, as you can see, I’m left of this lovely little green. Um, the flag is back left, so I’ve got barely any green to work with. Um, and I’m gonna use my 60deree oil can wedge. And you can see I’ve actually had a bit of it ground down. So that’s what that it takes off the oil can finish, but I wanted it to sit tighter on the ground because I’ve been playing quite a lot of Lynx golf. That’s not what we have today. But let’s see if these fresh grooves can help me. Oh, they can help me. Managed to get a little bit of spin out of that. Thank you very much to the oil can wedge. Right, this is an e knocker if I ever saw one down the slope. Little bit left to right. You can see there’s a lot of moisture on these greens. I’m leaving Sansa’s footprints as I walk around. We’re the first ones here today. So, there’s no train tracks to tell me where to go. How can you How can you leave that short above the hole on a massive slope for the good effort? Lots of dew on the on the greens. They look beautiful, actually. They’re great condition. We are out early today and there’s nobody here apart from one green keeper. Hole number two is 180 yards. It plays a little bit downhill. 180 yards. No wind really to speak of. 180 yards. I reckon my my five iron can get me there today. You can see in England it’s been a very very hot summer and we’ve got very dried out land. It’s very firm that the greens are looking in immaculate condition, but the rest of the golf course will be very firm and fast. It’s a very tough start at Sunningale Heath. Tiny little greens and you know, you’re a lot of the holes around here are par threes and par 3es are very difficult. So, it really is a it’s a tricky tricky golf course, Sunnydale Heath, but a tough a tough start in particular. Okay, a little draw. Yes, that is right on the flag. Go, baby. Yeah, I think that’s one of the best shots I’ve ever hit actually into this flag. I I have not hit this green many times. I’m thrilled with that. I do want to say I’m taking quite a lot of inspiration from Lotty Wood’s golf swing right now because if you watch Lotty Wood swinging, you’ll notice that from the top she’s got this tiny little over the top move and then she comes down. And I know that for a lot of amateurs this this might not sound very appealing because a lot of amateurs struggle with throwing the right shoulder at the ball and and having this big slice. But if you can stop doing that so extreme and actually maintain a tiny little bit of that, you’ll see that a lot of the top performers in golf, men’s and women’s, have a very, very ever so slight over-the-top move. Even Scotty Sheffller has this quite a steep angle of attack. And that’s why he’s so good out of the rough. He is so good out of the rough, it’s a joke. his distance control and his ability to get the ball out and sometimes spinning when you think he’s in position zed is absolutely ridiculous. And in fact, Jack Nicholas was talking about this a few weeks ago. I was covering a PJ tour event and he was talking about players that he remembers even in his day that were really good out the rough had a slightly steeper angle of attack and players who take it around the body which is kind of me and are a little bit more sort of shallow in the way they take the club away and they take the club back to the ball struggle to get the ball out of out of venues. He was talking about at the US Open actually that’s where it was where they had that juicy juicy rough. Simon Taylor_65 says, “What’s your view on the mental side of the game? Have you spent much time on this yourself?” Another really good question. I have spent a lot of time on this. Yeah, as you will have noticed, if you have been a follower of this channel and you’ve watched quite a lot of Chasing the Red, I know for certain that I play my best golf when I’m relaxed and when I’m happy. And when I went to open qualifying last year, it was the first time I had a competitive card in my hand, I tried to maintain that feeling when I was under pressure because I enjoy my golf so much. When I’m out on the golf course, a lot of the time there is no pressure, you know? I’m just doing it because I love it. If I’m featuring on someone else’s channel and we’re keeping a score, like I’m just loving it. So, it’s not like I’m needing to put bread on the table or it’s how I’m earning my living anymore. So, it’s easy for me to sit and stay say this, but I do genuinely think that being relaxed is a really really important factor in playing good golf. And you see it in the best players. Scottish Heffler is a great example. you know, he’s not putting himself under pressure where in fact he’s taken it to the point where he completely separates his identity from who he is as a golfer. And if he has a good day, it doesn’t mean he’s a good person. If he has a bad day, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. That’s really interesting. But I have read some really great books about the psychology of golf. And one that had a particularly big influence on me was a book called Zen Golf. I’ll put a link to it below. And that that book actually changed my my golfing life. And I remember I read it and then a couple days later I went and shot the course record at Wentworth just down the road on the East Course and I still hold that ladies course record to this day. So it had a big impact particularly on the putting. I think when you putt with fear, you don’t hold many putts. when you put with confidence, you’ve got a really good chance of getting that ball in the hole. So, there’s loads to discuss on that subject and um I think it’s a fascinating one because you know in golf it is such a psychological game and so much of it does come down to how you’re feeling mentally because that impacts how you swing the club physically and how you putt. Great question. Thank you for asking. Well, the opening hole is a par three, so I’ve made a bogey. So, this is to get back to a level playing field. These greens, they’re so beautiful. But to hold a putt on the screen is quite tricky. Big left to right swing here. That is low. Can never get it high enough on the screen. It’s It is so difficult. But a par definitely take a par. It’s a tricky little hole. And I stay at one over par. Okay, the third hole is 153 yards, but it’s playing like down the hill probably more like 147 yards. And I’m going to get some more questions. Nick Marshall asks, “I’d like some advice on how to improve your scoring. I’ll do some quickfire ones here. So, my best advice on how to improve your scoring is try to make a par at all the par 3s.” So, just start with that. Like think to yourself, if I could par all the par threes in this round of golf, how would I shoot? And to do that, I used to aim exclusively at the middle of the green. So if the flag was on the left or the right, I didn’t bother. I just said, I’m going at the middle of the green and I’m going to make a par on this hole. And you know, if you hit a bad shot, you’ve still got a good chance of, you know, might pull it to the left hand side of the green or to the right hand side of the green, but you’ve still got a good chance of making a par. I remember the day that I decided I was going to just focus on making pars and par threes and it really really helped my scoring. The other thing that can be useful is just to keep a track of how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit and how many putts you have. Obviously the putting stats can be a little bit skewed because the more greens you hit, the more putts you might have. So it can sometimes be a little bit misleading so be careful of that. But keeping some form of very simple stats about your game will allow you to learn and understand where maybe you need to improve your game. So there’s my quick tips on that. Brandon J. Smith27, hello Brandon says, “How has your swing changed since your visit to TPI? It’s been really difficult to to make these changes. I’m not going to lie. The hamstring thing is so hard to change. And one thing I found is the more I’ve stretched my hamstrings, I’ll have several days, like a day or two, and today’s actually one of them because I did the TPI circuit yesterday. My hamstrings are so tight today because I’ve been stretching them. And I know I have to keep persevering with this because um you know, it’s a it’s a process, but I have found changing my hamstring flexibility really really hard. These are stubborn buggers that I’ve got. Um, but one thing that I’ve keep trying to do from TPI is to is to continue to stand close to the ball. And as soon as I get standing too far, then I just introduce that dropping on the inside, which is bad news. So standing really close to the ball is something that I I’ve tried to keep doing from TPI. And honestly, my game fell off a bit of a cliff a few months ago because I introduced a new swing thought and it all went south. And in the last few weeks, it’s come right back around again because I’ve come back to the same feeling of keeping the club in front of my body. And it’s just such a great swing thought. Honestly, it’s just works like a treat. And if I stand nice and close to the ball like I learned to do at TPI, then it all comes together quite well. So, we are going to stay in America the week after the RDER Cup and do a follow-on episode for the TPI. So, I’ll really look forward to sharing that with you. Spy School for Girls says, “Donald, wears your truisers.” Nice. It’s a great song. Donald, wears your trers. It’s one of my faves. Cos 97 says, “Do you have any superstitions when you play golf?” Yes. I never enter, if you come with me, Emily, I never enter a tea box in front of the tea. So, like I’m hitting in that direction. I would never walk this way and cross the line there. Like to me that is just absolutely criminal. I always have to come in behind the teeing area and then from there I would I would tee. When I was playing I always used to have two T’s in my pocket. That was something in my ball marker. Always two T’s and my ball marker and that was it really. Um I definitely had more superstitions when um I used to play but to be honest I’ve probably got more superstitions now about when I’m presenting for Sky. I do all kinds of crazy things when I’m presenting for Sky because that’s my real area of performance now when I’m getting ready to go live on television. I have this routine and actually I was chatting to Henny about it from Sky the other day that I do two hours before we go on air. And in my routine I am such a creature of habit. It’s almost identical every single time. So on the golf course though, yeah, not golf bag always on the right hand side. I couldn’t hit a shot with my golf bag behind me. That would make me feel very uncomfortable. Okay, one more here. Marqueesh, will we see any on the road vids from the US in the future? 100%. Week after the RDER Cup, we’re staying out in the States to film quite a bit. I wonder who you’d like to see, like who who are the American YouTubers that we should be collabing with at On the Road with Iona. I don’t really know, maybe the Brian Bros. I know there’s there’s some great people doing good things. Grant Horvat seems to be dominating. There’s a girl called Gabby Golf Girl. She does a really good job. But I wonder who you would like to to see us collaborating with. Okay, time to hit a shot and we’ll come back to this. Okay, this is an interesting hole because if you land it on just short, it will chase down like with an eight iron. Or if you fly it all the way, which I’m going to do with a seven iron, you can land it on the flat. Right, this T- box is an interesting one because the ball is way above my feet. Like this is going to draw whether I like it or not. So, I got to account for that and start it out on the right. So nice. So nice. Right at the flag. Yes, please. No warm up today. Just straight out here. And it’s this thing I’ve spoken about before called cruisy golf. That’s what we’re playing. Cruisy golf. Right. We’ve got a plat for birdie here back up the hill. So come on, baby. To get back to level. But I thought I’d show you this new addition to the bag. It’s probably just going to be a one and done like viewing and showing because this is such a special putter head cover that the Scotty Cameron team very kindly gifted me at Royal Port Rush. And it’s a sheep, guys. I mean, it’s a circle tea sheep. Have you ever seen anything so sweet? His little fluffy ears and his little fluffy head. And then he’s got this Circle T here, which is just so cool. I mean, it’s the coolest putter cover and the Circle T black badge there. This is the Open Royal Port Rush Scotty Cameron Special Edition. And it’s probably the coolest thing I own. It’s It’s definitely the coolest thing I own now. And for that reason, I can only play with it today. And then and then it’s going in the in the trophy cabinet. Hasn’t got a name this sheep. So I think we should really open that up to the community and see. Sheila. Sheila. Emily thinks Sheila. What do we think of that? She’s going with it being a girl. Um I think it’s probably is a girl. She looks like a girl. So let us know your suggestions. I like Sheila the sheep. But if you have anything to add, then please do. She’s a She’s an absolute babe, isn’t she? Let’s see if I can roll this in. Earlier this week, I went on to Peter Finch’s YouTube channel for the very first time. So, for the Peter Finch fans out there, Pete will be releasing that video quite soon, and it was real a real treat. And prior to that, I’d been on another video where I noticed I was actually standing too far away from the ball on the putting green. So, something to say about putting, I’ve corrected it, which has been a massive help, but when you’re over the ball, when you’re putting, your ey line should drop on top of the ball. So, if I dropped another ball from my eyes, it should land on right on top of this ball. I was standing too far away, so my ball line was what we would say inside my my ey line, rather. If you stand too close, your ey line is outside. Generally from a for a neutral setup, you want your ey line to be on top of the ball. So, I’ve adjusted that and my putting has improved. It’s amazing what a tiny little difference can make. Oh, it’s right in the jaws as well. These greens are a little bit slower than what I’m used to. There we are. Got to give them a hit. These greens are they’re lush. They’re absolutely gorgeous. How good did Scotty Sheffller putt during the Open Championship week. That guy and his golf. It’s He makes it look so easy. It’s like he’s just in cruise control cruising his way around. You’d never know that he was playing for, you know, a major title. And now he’s got three of them. He’s got three of the four men’s majors and he’s only one win away from another player winning the Grand Slam. Can you imagine in our lifetime if we saw two players win the grand slam? That would be absolutely crazy. Right, time to get the big dog out. Beautiful hole. And I can try I’m going to leave myself a little wedge. Let’s get this driver away down the left hand side. Looks like it’s going straight for that bunker. Oh no, it’s over it. That’s going to leave a little flick in. Not bad. 50 yard. Loads of great questions, by the way. Thanks so much to everyone. We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of them, so we won’t get through them all, but I’m going to keep moving along. PW Leachch says, “Hey, do you play golf differently in the wind?” Yes, absolutely. Um, play a lower ball flight and try to keep the spin off the ball around the greens. Try to get it down on the ground as quickly as possible. So, in this scenario where I’m, you’ll see in a moment, I’ve got this 50 yard shot, I wouldn’t be taking that up in the air. I’d be playing that a chip and run off the back foot off the tea. Um, I try and swing a little bit slower to try if I’m into the wind to try and take keep the spin down. It’s a great great to watch the women actually in the in the coming week and any any windy venue that the guys or the girls go to and listen to how they are managing to control their ball in the wind. And actually watching some of the guys at Royal Port Rush, I mean the wind went away basically during the week, but in the practice sessions there was quite a lot of wind and you have players that sometimes try to hold the ball into the wind or players that let the wind carry the ball. So there’s different ways to do it, but yes, um you have to have a different strategy in the wind and it’s really helpful if you can learn to bring the ball flight down a little bit particularly with the wedges. Campbell Castle 23 says, “How do you change your setup when a tea box is tilted?” Good example was just a few holes ago where the ball was way above my feet and you just have to kind of allow for that shot. So if the ball’s way above your feet, you know it’s going to draw. Like there’s nothing you can do about that. That’s just science. So that’s just physics. So it’s it’s kind of just sort of um you know letting go to the fact that the ball is going to do if the ball’s below your feet on the tea box for example, you know it’s going to go from left to right. So you just have to kind of give in a little bit. This is a question from NB Ference. NB fn C says, “How did you deal with the nerves on the first tea in your pro days?” Good question. Um, sometimes I would try and trick my brain by just smiling. just smiling and having a laugh, finding something that wasn’t particularly funny and just laughing because then you’re releasing good hormones in your body that makes you you trick your brain into thinking this is not a flight or fight or flight situation. I’m just happy. I’m happy to be alive. Nice breathing. Always making sure you’re having nice breathing. And then I would try sometimes and I still do this in in high pressure moments to just pretend to be someone else or feel something else. So, I’d just be like get into this psychology of just watch this. Like, I’m just going to hit such a good shot here. Just watch what I can do, you know? And even though you might not feel like that, it’s like trying to somehow trick the brain because the brain does all kinds of crazy things. It interprets a situation as it’s life or death and it’s not. You’re just playing around of golf. Another really good trick that I do, something called the zoom out technique, which is where I would picture myself standing on the first tee. Let’s say I was teeing off the first tea of the old course in St. Andrews. Then I would zoom out and I would see in my mind I think about the town of St. Andrews. I’d be like, “Okay, I’m kind of just a little small fish.” Then I’d zoom out and see the whole of Scotland and the whole of the UK. Then I’d see the whole of Europe and think about myself standing on that first tea in the old course in St. Andrews. I’d be like, “Okay.” and then keep going until you suddenly remember like we’re all just part of this big universe and really not as important as we think we are and nobody cares as much as we think they do. So I try and just get myself a bit of perspective by like doing this kind of what they call the zoom out technique. Zoom all the way out and then come back to being in your shoes and you might just feel a little bit lighter. Keith Grubber or Gruber says, “Which wedges do you carry? Do you change based on the course you are playing?” Good question, Keith. Um, in my bag right now, you can see I’ve got the new oil can set and I’ve got the 52 with the F grind SM10 Vokis. I’ve got the 56 with the M grind, which if you’ve seen our episode with Bob Vokei, um, is the kind of one of the original grinds. And this is like a really good grind to start with. If you’re looking for an all round wedge, then the M grind is a really good place to start. And then I’ve got the 60° with the T grind. and a little bit extra taken off. And that is for really tight links turf, tight lies. Um, and I absolutely love it. But I’ve also just, this is illegal, but I’ve got my my old 60° in there. But that’s just because I’ve been testing how this new, this new tea grind feels compared to my old SM9, which had the T grind some extra taken off. So, I wanted to try and get this one feeling exactly like this one because I was so happy with it. So, I’ve actually just been out here kind of testing They’re exactly the same shaft, exactly the same grip. And I’ve just been making sure that they feel the same. And it’s not quite there yet to be honest with you. Um, I still feel like I want to get even more a little bit more taken off the heel of this wedge. So, there we go. Let’s go on with hitting a shot, shall we? Right, we got 50 yards. I’ve got my 60° because I I’m quite comfortable with that yardage. Nice little bit check on that. It’s so fun when you got fresh grooves. It’s just amazing to see the way the ball reacts. Okay, let’s go and try and haul apart, shall we? Okay, Emily’s coming in with a great question. best moment at the open non like like not necessarily like at work in the mornings it was really special because there’s so many beautiful walks like you could have around Royal Port Rush and that whole area is just spectacular but the only night I went out was the Saturday night I didn’t I was it wasn’t like a mad one but we went to this pub that was just literally round the corner from the course and you just cannot beat like a good night out in Northern Ireland and the vibe, the live music, a couple of pints of Guinness. I managed to see a really old friend of mine from Northern Ireland called Andy who I love. Um, and he was there with a a guy coach on tour who coaches Brian Harmon and Justin Parson. So, it was a really nice group of us and just like the vibe was just on point, you know what I mean? And I I just absolutely loved it. I thought this this is what we love about Northern Ireland. It’s the spirit of the people, just their banter. Like they have so much fun in life. They don’t take anything too seriously and I was just there having a good few pints of Guinness and thinking like, yes, these are the good times. Yeah, we did have a dance and we met loads of cool people at C are watch on the road with Iona and they came up and said, you know, such we love the channel. people come up and say hello and they say I love the channel, you know, and I think more people probably know me because of this channel than they do um Sky Sports. So, it’s really I love meeting people like out on the road. And when I was at the Scottish Open, met a couple of great people that follow the channel, came up and said hello and then at the Open and met some lovely people as well. Met this one lady at the Scottish Open. You you’ll like this, Emily. She came up and said hello to me when I was waiting at the back of the seventh tea at the Renaissance because I was waiting to do my in round interviews and she said, you know, I just want to say hi and I I just want to say thank you for the content and I’ve gotten to golf and I’ve been so inspired by the channel and and now, you know, she was there with her partner or her husband and she said, you know, we just love playing golf together and she got a handicap of 36 and it’s coming down and just to see the impact that’s having was like absolutely amazing. Amazing. I loved it. You know, it’s just a good reminder. Like today, you I’ve had a busy week at the open last week. Fitting all the content in is really hard. Alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Came to meet Emily bright and breezy this morning to film and you know, it’s just a really lovely when you go out on the road and you see people that come up and say hello and it motivates me to keep making this kind of content and to to keep going. I’m going to say this is a ball on the left. No. How much swing did that have? This is a tough school today on the greens. Ah, that’s so disappointing. A par. We stay at one over. Ouch. Right. 156 yards. Playing more like 160 up the hill. Perfect little sixiron. [Music] Looks so good. That’s just perfect. I genuinely so inspired by the golf swing of Lotty W right now. I can’t even tell you. I’m just picturing that little over the top move and it’s working an absolute treat. Yeah, she’s an unbelievable talent, Lotty W. I mean, we’ve got a superstar on our hands. And the best thing is she’s from the UK for the UKers. And she played for the same county as I played for, which is Surrey. I was part very proud member of the Surrey golf team for a couple of years. Played in the Surrey County Championships. Lost in the Surrey County Championship final at Royal Wimbledon to a brilliant player called Lizzie Prior. She beat me with an eagle on the last hole. Brilliant day though. Great memories and a very really strong golfing county. Let’s get some more questions in, shall we? Running Gus says, “What’s your favorite item of merch from this year’s competitions?” I mean, it has to be Sheila the Sheep. Like, doesn’t get any better than that. But like I say, at the end of this video, I’ve got a really cool merch giveaway for you. So, hold tight for that. Jen Eric user name 89 says, “What’s your biggest pinch myself moment?” So, it’s definitely Scottish and has to be presenting the RDER Cup. I mean, standing there with the RDER Cup about a foot away from me in Rome waiting to present it to Luke Donald and team Europe was absolutely insane. This year at this at the RDER Cup, they’ll have American presenters, but I really would love to be involved again in a couple years time, 2027, at Dare Manor. But if even if I never get to go near the Ryder Cup again, that is a moment I’ll treasure forever. Smitchel Kemn, I’m really murdering these names, haven’t I? That’s the best part of the video so far. Smitchel Kem says, “Are you planning playing more competitive golf? I really want to. Yeah, I really really want to. Getting the time to do it is the problem I’ve got. I’ve got to quit Sky. Do you guys think I should quit my job at Sky? Let me know in the comments because if I stop working from Sky or I take a year off, then I could play more competitive golf. And my wrist feels pretty good to be honest. Like I reckon I could handle a year, just one year, trying to see what I could do. really need you to subscribe though if you want me to do that because I can’t leave my job at Sky unless this has actually got some sort of success. So subscribe guys, that would be great. Okay, I’m going to hold this part and then come back. There’s a really really good question coming up next. Now it’s coming in with a big old draw. So my pitch mark must be somewhere over here. We have a YouTube short on our channel that’s the one of the most viewed that we ever had and it’s how to repair a pitch mark. And the reason it’s got so much engagement is because the controversy around people discussing how you should or shouldn’t repair a pitch mark. Here’s my pitch mark right here from my sixiron. And the thing is I explain the video using a tea. Now you go from the back of the pitch mark and you go around the side and then eventually you go from the bottom and before you know it, you’ve pulled it all in. You tap it down and it’s like nobody even knew you were there. There were people kicking off on this video because they were like, “Oh, you haven’t used a pitchfork repair tool.” And I understand that if you have a pitchfork repair tool, it’s actually it can be more effective. But I need to find a green keeper for you guys because I’ve spoken to a few, maybe my mate James Bledge can can chip in on this, but 99.9% of golfers only have a tea in their pocket. You forget the pitch repair fork. Like not everybody remembers to bring a pitch repair fork. And if you watch the guys and gals out on tour, none of them are using pitch repair forks. They are all using a tea. A tea does the job just as well. Guys and gals, if you know what you’re doing, then to the folk that were like, “No, you’ve got to use a pitch repair fork.” Like, it’s okay. It’s all right. Have a have, you know, just take a sigh of relief because when you repair a pitch mark with a tea, it does just the same job. And if you repair any pitch mark, it’s better than repairing no pitch mark. The people that don’t repair the pitch marks because they’re like, “No, I don’t have a pitch repair fork.” Just get your tea out. You should always have a tea in your pocket. Give it a quick push in. Tap it down. Bob’s your uncle. All right. And we can all still be friends. Up the hill, right to left. Oh, I’ve left it short again. That is so pathetic. Goodness me. This is all kinds of horrible [Music] to leave it short twice. Oh, that’s absolutely awful. Three putt. Just when I feel like my putting’s been really good, go and do a three putt. What an idiot. There’s some really good questions in here. We’re going to tackle a few more. Martin Taylor123 says, “I’ve just started playing competitive golf. How can I deal with the pressure?” Hopefully some of the comments we’ve said so far will help you with that. Martin, one thing I just remembered I also used to do like back in my competitive days when I was learning golf and improving was I I used to think about every hole is like if if the round of golf was just this one hole, how would I play it? Just this one hole and that was going to be it. Everyone hands their card in and the lowest score wins. How would I play it? And I used to have that psychology for 18 holes. So I’d be like start again mentally on every single hole and go, “Okay, let’s try again.” And quite often par wins, like par, you’re never far away with par. But that was something else. But I think just be happy, Martin. Try to remember that nobody cares as much as you think they do. And we’re all so blessed to be on the golf course anyway that we should really try and be kinder to ourselves, not put ourselves under too much pressure. Gary Wallace 161 says, “If if you could only play Krill Balcomi or the old course for the rest of your life, which one wins?” It’s got to be Cray Balcomi for me because of the views. I love the old course, but the views at Krill make my soul so happy. That’s where I’m choosing. What athlete personality would you shoot with and retire happy the next day? That’s from Enable Golf. Great photographer, does a lot of good work in golf. Um, right now we are hoping to do some filming with some pretty talented tennis players. You’ve probably seen there’s a lot of tennis players, but I have to be honest, I’ve always been a bit of a Jovovich fan. I know that’s a little bit controversial. Jovovich splits opinion. You got Federer, Nadal, and Jovovich, and Andy Murray. I mean, any of those. I think I’ I’ve always been a big tennis fan and but to be honest, Jovovich wrote a book I remember I got quite obsessed with called Serve to Win and it was a book all about what he ate. So he was little play on words there because he was serving the plate to win and I remember I learned a lot from that book again his psychology and I just have a lot of respect for him and the way he’s gone about his business and taken a lot of stick and just stayed strong. It’s hard to stay true to yourself in this life without all with being in the public eye and all that negative stuff he’s had. Like fair play to him. Ashers, which spelled with a lot of hes and a lot of errors, says, “What’s the lowest you have shot in a single round? I’ve had a couple of nine under pars.” Um, I’ve shot I think a 62 is the lowest. Um, so that that’s a 10 under. Um, yeah, pretty good. Pretty good. That was enjoyable. I’ve not done that for a while. Foreheads golf says, “Has golf ever helped your health?” Big time. Golf’s helped my health so much. Getting the steps in, you know, I think more I get older in life, the more I realize the value of actually just walking. We all do so much sitting that walking, getting the step count in, the research continues to show how valuable that is for our health. But mentally, um, it saved me sometimes in my life where I felt really lonely. different transitions in life going from school to university, university into the big bad world. Golf has saved me in my life time and time again and it continues to now I’m feeling overwhelmed with things and really stressed then nothing helps me more than getting out onto the golf course and playing golf 210 down to this flag. Going to hit my 3-wood. Thank you very much. recently did a what’s in the bag where you can see all the clubs I’ve got and more controversy on the channel because I said I’ve got a 3-wood and then people saw it was 18° and they were like that’s not a 3-wood that’s a fivewood and I hear your point. I just call them my three and my fivewood, but really you could call them a five and a seven word if you wanted. And that has got the members kick of a lifetime because I’ve actually hit that so far left that it’s managed to kick back out. Happy days. See, just keep a smile on your face. You never know what’s going to happen. I got a lucky kick there. Luck of the Irish, you might say, off this tree back into play. I’ve got very similar yardage to what I had a few holes ago, but from the rough, which which means it’s not going to spin as much. It’s going to release. And I’m going to try and take it a bit right of this flag. It just played the played the safe option there. Gave myself a chance. That’s all we can ask for in golf. Just a chance. If I leave this putt short, I’m prepared to do a forfeit right now live on the channel. Finally gave one a chance. No forfeit required. [Music] It’s not going to cut it. It’s not going to cut it. I’ve got to make some birdies. Hey, Sheila. Hey, thought you were going to bring me some luck. Really good chance to make a birdie here on seven because it’s a drivable par4. Um 230 yards and I’m going to hit a little kind of stock little knockdown driver. Hold on, baby. Uhoh. Wild kick to the left over the road. It’s going to be an interesting chip. It wasn’t. It was like just going down the left hand side and it’s landed left edge of the green and take a taken a wild kick to the left. Was always quite an aggressive play to be honest. I was trying to just take a bit off the driver. Let’s go and see, shall we? And answer a few more questions as we go. Shaunie.m says, “Why was the British Open changed to the Open and now Port Marik could host it over here in Ireland?” So the British Open has been called the Open. It’s a re it was a rebranding because ultimately it was the the original Open Championship and it’s the oldest of all the men’s majors. So that’s why the RNA decided who run the tournament to call it the Open. I think it’s great. I think the Open is cool. A lot of Americans call it still call it the British Open, but slowly slowly it’ll more and more people will just become to know it as the Open. And it’s true. There is a rumor that Port Marik could host it over in Ireland. The RNA have commented saying, you know, it’s been so successful in Royalport Rush. The Royal Port Rush has only hosted the Open three times and there was a 60-year gap or more between the first time and second time it hosted it. But I can we can all say it’s been an absolute success as a venue. I have to say logistically it’s an absolute treat to work on it. Um, so there’s just so many great things about it and I think it’d be amazing if it was in Port Marik as well. Matthew Gordon 97 says, “When you’re back in Scotland, would you like a game at Long Nidri Golf Club?” Yes, I’d love to. Long Nidru was sometimes where I used to catch the train to school if I missed it from DM um where I lived in East Loian for a little bit of my life and I’d love to. Thank you very much. The Man 5, who’s clearly a Manu fan based on the thumbnail, says, “Would you like to see more mixed events?” I would. I would too. I definitely would and one in particular is the I’d love love love to see like the Ryder Cup, the Soulheim Cup come together for a new event that’s mixed. I know at the Olympics they’re going for mix and I cannot wait for that. So I do think it’s great when the men and women’s game come together just now and again. Morton H1234 says, “Have you played golf in Norway on Loft and Golf Links?” Have not, and it looks unbelievably good. Have you, Emily? No, but it’s been on my bucket list forever. Should we go? Yes. Yes. Okay, we’re going. Right, as you can see, I’ve taken a hop off the road onto the other side of the fairway, and now I’ve got this little shot to the green. So, Birdie is still on here that needs a big kick. Ah, caught it a bit heavy. Crumbs pop for the birdie. Not going to leave it short. Break, break, break. Oh, played that right where I wanted it, you know. Golf’s so much better when you give it a chance to get to the hole, but it’s another par for me. The birdies are not coming today yet. Two holes to try and grab a couple. Tyson Stubbing says, “What three pieces of advice would you give to anyone wanting to start a YouTube channel without any prior experience publicity in the game of golf?” Three bits. Number one, be yourself and take yourself into the channel. Number two, find a voice. So, you have to find what it is that you’re passionate about in the game of golf. What is it that really sets your soul on fire in the game of golf? Because otherwise, you would just, you know, you need to have a focus. You know, I think in this channel, you can see I’m passionate about telling people’s stories and hopefully bringing inspiration to the audience so that we can all come away from these interviews and go, do you know what that that’s really made me think about something differently or it’s really inspired me in some way in my life to be a better parent, to be a kinder human, to work a little harder, whatever it might be. And then my third piece of advice is don’t start it without really realizing what you’re getting yourself in for because this YouTube stuff is no joke. It is an enormous amount of work. I have a team of five people now and myself and everybody plays a key role in this in getting this channel to come to life. Plus all the camera operators and the editors. It’s an enormous amount of work to try and get the content. It’s the amount of time it takes to film it, edit it, get it out there before you do all that. When you do all that, you’ve got to do it all again. And it’s just like this, it’s just this wheel that never stops. So, there are my three bits of advice. Tyson, thank you very much for your question. Here’s a a great question from Craig Mullen. He says, “What have you enjoyed most about moving into commentary?” I think what I’ve enjoyed most, Craig, thank you for the question, is the challenge that it’s brought to me in my life. You know, I lost that ability to compete in professional golf. And it’s been a different kind of challenge. You know, it’s not easy commentating largely because of the the technical aspects of it, trying to get yourself in position, the wearing all the kit. I mean, a lot of people don’t realize that kit weighs like 8 kg. Like sitting on your hips for 5 hours, it’s physically a very demanding job. and trying to get in the right position where you can talk to the audience through the microphone without, you know, pissing off the players, quite frankly, without talking too loudly. You’ve got to understand where to stand and you’re listening to the program all the time, listening to your producer, listening to your director, trying to speak at the same time while you’re listening to all this stuff. It’s like a totally different skill set that you need to be able to do that. So, I think I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of that. Um, and then obviously like the Open Championship or next week at the Women’s Open, being inside the ropes and being right close to some of the action is just amazing. Um, it’s really stretched my vocabulary as well. You know, trying to find a way to describe things for the viewer at home that’s not obvious and um is is descriptive and paints a picture in your mind of what you’re trying to say. And I’ve learned from like Ken Brown who’s been a great mentor to me in my life. He’s a great friend as well. Um, I’d love to have Ken on the channel at some point. So, we have played holes one to seven at Sunningdale Heath and we’re going to play two more holes in this beautiful little flat back section. More par threes. This is such a difficult round of golf. So tricky to make a score, but I’m desperately trying to find a cheeky little birdie. And who knows, this might be my chance. We’ve got 156 yards. Playing a little bit uphill. It’s a seven iron for me. Yes, that’s a nice ball flight. Perfect. Perfect. You’re dancing. And I’ve got the P for the birdie. Come on. Very happy with my approach shot in. And it’s quite a flat green this one, but this is a little bit up the hill. Maybe a little bit off the left as well. Keep leaving them short. Emily, I cannot get this get these balls to the hole. Absolutely have to hold this. It’s been the story of the day, really, hasn’t it? I mean, that’s like a good 5 ft short. It’s such a difficult game when you leave it so short like that. I need to spend an hour on the putting green after this or even just 10 minutes. Yes, baby. That was not particularly lovely putt, but that’s a par. Got one hole left to play. Here’s the competition then, guys. It’s a tightless special edition T-Series swag bag. Yes, please. Inside you’re going to get a really special groove cleaning tool. Now, don’t knock these till you’ve tried them. You’ll see Justin Thomas, Xander Schoffley, Jordan Spith, all these guys use this groove cleaner to keep your clubs nice and sharp and a beautiful ball marker as well that’s got some proper weight. On top of that, you’re going to get a yardage book that I used at the Open Championship with all my notes inside. This is the players edition of the yardage book. And we’re going to throw in some tight list provision on this video. Good luck. Right, gang. I’m on my final hole here. Uh it’s another par three shock we’ve come across because right now the Senior Open Championships taking place at Sunningdale and there’s using some of this golf course for car parking. So we’ve had to kind of move a little bit. We’re playing what’s technically the 17th hole, but it is our ninth hole of this nine-hole Q&A. Really hope you’ve enjoyed it. Please don’t forget to subscribe. I know we’ve mentioned that in this video, but it does mean the world to us and allows us to keep going. And um I just really hope that we can keep this channel going because I love creating this content for you and we’ve got so many brilliant people around the world that we’ve still yet to interview. So we have to keep the dream alive. I’m going to answer two more questions. This one comes from David M who says, “Hi Ona, do you think with the amount of knowledge you have from your own playing career, with the information you’ve picked up from TV, you’d be a good coach, mentor, caddy to an upand cominging player?” This is a good question. I actually love cadding. So I definitely do the odd cadding now again for a friend. But just unfortunately, David, there’s so many things in life I would love to do. I love coaching. I love I love mentoring, especially love coaching women to come into the game who are brand new to it. And I’ve got some plans to do more of that in this year and into next year through using the channel. But I just don’t know about you guys at home, but I feel like in this world, there’s just so me there’s so much to do and just not enough time. There’s only one of me. and being a broadcaster and trying to manage the YouTube channel already feels like I’ve taken on a huge amount and trying to have a life as well and actually fit in time for personal things is really really tricky. So right now um I can’t do any other things but um I do love caddying so the occasional caddy job um I will say yes to one last question. Tony Mlan, that’s a good Scottish name, says, “What’s the best piece of advice you can provide on how to reach a single figure handicap?” Great question, Tony, and thank you for sending it in. My best bit of advice for how to reach a single figure handicap, two things. Number one, a coach I worked with for a while called Humar taught me if you can drive the ball well. So if you can get the ball in play and you can hole out from five footing in well, then you will become a single figure handicapper. So if you can hit the ball well off the tea and you become a master of hauling out, you will do well. So that’s my first bit of advice. And then the second bit of advice I have is is course management. Because if you’re stuck at like 15 handicap or 12 handicap or even a 10 handicap and you’re desperate to get down to single figures, you your course management is where you’re going to do that. How you manage when you’re out of position, that was an absolute gamecher for me. And I know that it’s not exciting. I’m not standing here saying, “Ah, you’ve got to you’ve got to swing the ball faster and and hit it faster and harder and it’ll, you know, get your drives carrying over 300 yards.” No, that is not how you’re going to become a single figure handicapper. Single figure handicap comes from good strategy and the way you manage your ball around the golf course. And I’ve learned so much about that from following the best tours in the world, the best players in the world and watching how they plot plot plot. A bogey is not a bad score. If you get yourself out position and you make a bogey, you’ve done really really well. It’s when you force the issue and you make a double or a triple is when you’re you come unstuck. when I started removing double bogeies from my scorecards was when I started to get really good at this game. So, that’s my bit of advice. Thank you for this Q&A. I’m going to see if I can finish on a high at this beautiful par three. 138 yards. It’s a good yardage for me. It’s perfect. 135 yards as my nine irons. My swing right now, I take it back and I have to feel like I’m casting it over the top. And then when I look at it in reality, that’s it actually straight up and down. So it’s currently what my swing feel is. Little right of the flag, but it should be okay. Pretty good. Pretty good. First fade I’ve hit today, which is nice. A good chance. The last shout at finishing the high. I’ve just seen the green keeper cutting this green. So, I know it’s a little bit quicker than the other ones, which gives me a chance of actually getting it to the hole. Some left to right in this for sure. How has that not broken? I honestly thought that was such a good putt. Like, I just thought from the moment that took off, that was in the hole. Not been a good day. Not a hot day for me on the greens, but I’ve really enjoyed it. Coming out early, crack it on with my gal Emily behind the cam to have a chat with you and we ble. It’s been a really exciting couple of weeks on the tour. Lot of work. Feel like my energy tank at this middle stage of the year is like somewhere half in the middle, maybe 50 60%. So, I’ll recharge before we have the women’s open. Quick turn around. But I want to say a huge thank you to you all again for being part of this channel. It’s an exciting journey to be a part of. Don’t forget we’ve got our inside the ropes community where you can come and actually get extra content, behind the scenes action. I did a whole kind of series of vlogs from the open as well. So, if you want to come and join the inside the ropes community, there’s a link for that below. And we’ll see you next time. Thanks so much.