Over the last year I’ve been on a golfing journey. One that is still continuing and is the road to scratch! I started this journey a 9 handicap and now 12 months later I’m down to a 3 handicap. What did I do and what did I change? Well in this video we go through all the details and I hope it helps you to get better at the sport we love and get that handicap down. Enjoy!
Who am I?
Hey I’m Aaron, a golfer who’s obsessed with hitting the ball as far as possible. Outside of the golf course I’m a personal trainer and my favourite saying is ‘Don’t be a D*ck’ which I tend to use a lot on my short form content. Ultimately it keeps the snowflakes away and has done a pretty good job of grabbing your attention. I hope to bring you some laughs and drop some knowledge bombs now and then. Have a good day.
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Just over a year ago, I was a nine handicapper and I was literally playing so much golf and yet I was getting no better. It was so frustrating. But then I was like, you know what? I need to sort this out. And I made quite a few big changes which not only led me onto my long drive journey, but also led me on to my road to scratch. The road to scratch begins. Now a year later, we are a free handicapper. So, how did I get rid of them six shots? Well, in this video, I’m going to tell you. So, let’s get stuck into it. Not my best, but it’ll do. Took like a big bounce to hit the tree, but it’ be fine. Wasn’t the purest. So, the first thing you’ve got to do, and this was the biggest change for me, was realizing that more golf, and I know it’s quite hypocritical as we’re on the course, but more golf on the golf course does not equal better golf. You need to do the work. And what I mean by doing the work is if you’ve got a ball striking issue, which is what it was for me. I was hitting fats, fins, hooks, slices, you name it, all over the joint. A ball striking problem only tends to be solved with hitting more balls. And it is that simple. That means don’t go on the course more. Take some time out your week just to go to the range and actually practice your swing. Actually just get some reps in. I’m not talking being there for 2 hours. I’m talking 60 balls. But just be consistent. For me, the season started in winter. It didn’t start in summer. I was going to the range two to three times a week through winter practicing just normal shots. And this is where the big changes start to really happen. It’s great being on the course. We love it. But if you really want to get better, you’ve got to do a bit of work outside of it. Right, let’s see what we got. Let’s just punch out a little pitching wedge. Here’s one of the shots I used to practice on the range a lot. Let’s see if I got it in me. That’s not it. Tell you what, it’s actually come out right though. It’s on the green. Pretty skanky. I was in a divot. Horrible. Now listen, you’re going to think obviously that wasn’t the best golf shot in the world, but it’s going to refer to one of my next points. The point is still on the green. That’s a bit quick. Steamy till you pull it. Wow. We’ll take the path. It’s not great. Moving on to the next hole. And my second point, this one is just like so simple, but yet so many people don’t do it. And it actually frustrates the out of me. And I was one of them people. Like that’s why it kind of annoys me. It’s cuz I was one of those people. But since I’ve made the change, just been amazing. That’s the one. So my second tip leads massively on from my first. It is pretty simple. Get yourself a golf coach. One of the first things I did was get myself a golf coach. I get coached by Lee Cox down at the Shire. He is a long drive specialist, but he also works with loads of just tour players and normal golf players. And just having a coach with me has been it’s just been revolutionary because it actually gives me a reason to do the work that I need to do and that direction that stopped me from proving for so long. And you don’t have to see them every week like people think. No, no, no. I actually recommend seeing a golf coach like every four to six weeks, maybe even eight weeks. Like if you’ve worked on a lot of the things that you need to do and you’re getting better, why do you need to see me so frequently? But it’s also important to have that gap to put what they said in place. It’s no good just like, “Yeah, I got a golf lesson and now I’m sorted.” You’re not. You need to do the work that actually makes it happen. For me, I was just massively casting the club, losing so much power. I was still hing far, but I just was actually my fundamentals of my swing were all over the place. So, just having someone like Lee to make sure, you know, I’m working on turning my hips correctly, make sure that I’m actually, you know, using the lever of the club through the ball, it it just genuinely made everything so much easier. And as I said, it’s the simplest thing, but yet most people don’t invest in it. You’re investing in loads of expensive golf clubs. You’re investing in probably expensive memberships at clubs, but yet you won’t pay what 50, 60, 70 quid for a lesson once every four to six weeks. That might just be the thing you exactly need it. I know I was mad to not do it before, especially being a personal trainer and someone who actually coaches people for a living. But it’s the one of the best things you’ll ever do. 150 up the hill. I’m going to take a gapper on this one. Feel like the wind’s helping a bit. So, oh, big carry. Big carry in the bunker. No idea. It was actually a really nice swing, but the the wind moved it more left than I thought. Oh, yeah. See that? Yeah. That’s what gets you to single figures. But this is what gets you to scratch. Not bad. So, my third tip correlates very much with what I’ve just said. Get your swing better. When I was a nine handicap, I had an unreal short game. Do you know why? Because I was constantly practicing it. I was never in the fairway. I was in the trees. I was in the rough. I was constantly having to get up and down because I never hit the green. Like short game gets you low, but if you really want to get lower, you’ve got to start hitting greens in regulation. You’ve got to start hitting fairways. You got to start giving yourself more puts for birdie and them almost stressfree pars. You can’t go through your round constantly having a heart rate of 150 because you’re constantly stressed out and worried you’re not going to get, you know, you’re not going to get up and down. You have to make the game easier. And one of the easiest ways you can do that is focusing on your te to green and your long game. One of the biggest stats on tour is literally te to green. If your tea green percentage is high, you are always on average performing a lot better. Little six here. I’m just going to float this one up, I think. Oh, spin spin spin spin spin spin spin. Oh, we did. Not bad. P is a P’s was a little bit long, but not bad at all. Oh, that was nice. See that? That’s one of the stressfree pars we were talking about. Let’s go to the next. Right, let’s try and hit another fairway and then we’re going to talk through number four. I’m going to give you a little bit of a clue. I’m going to try and play soft draw off the right here. All right. Wasn’t the prettiest strike, but it was a soft draw. We’re in play. So, my fourth tip is exactly what I just did. Find your miss and the shot shape that works best for you. For me, it’s like a little draw off the right usually with most clubs. Sometimes it can be a fade, but most of the time it’s that little draw. Exactly what I just played. Learning your way to get around a golf course. If you look at this hole, OB all down left. I’ve got a pond to our left as well. So, my point was I was going to aim right completely away for the trouble. And if my ball comes a little bit back in to the fairway, I’m happy. We did just find a little bit of the rough, but still not in a bad position at all to get onto the green into. And this is what it’s all about. You’ve got to find a shape that you can do under pressure as something that you can just hit rep after rep after rep and it’s not going to get you in trouble because otherwise if you’re like me and you know your club speed gets up the ball can be flipping miles away which is not what we want. And what’s really changed the game for me is just having that shot shape that I can hit. Even if you can move it both ways, just having one that you know you can play and if it goes bad, it’s not that bad. That’s what we need. I’m just going to play a soft seven and see how it comes out. Just nice and low. Grip down on it. Oh, it’s moved a bit left to right on me. Go ball. It’s fine. See, play that nice soft one. Didn’t go perfect. Just on the side of the green there. They’re the misses that we want. That was an interesting one. Not my best. Came out like low and weird off that. Oh, it’s frustrating. Wasn’t a good chip. Didn’t probably deserve the bird, but we’ll take the par. Let’s move on to our final point. Now, this one, this is for me is the most important and it’s something that was a game changer because it’ll keep you on track. It’s something that people don’t often think about, but yeah, when it comes to golf, I probably think it’s the most important thing to be thinking about. All right, start the one down the middle. Go ball. Not bad. The final tip that I have is one, be patient. Of course, be consistent. But the final one is focus on how good your bad golf is getting. off. And this how it was for me. I’ll actually even give you an example here. Right when at the start of last season, a year ago, I didn’t like the course up. I knew I was getting better because I could just feel it on the course, but I didn’t like the course up. I actually shot like an 80 81 which wasn’t brilliant. It was like one or two under my handicap. Okay, not great, but it got progressively better and I didn’t even finishing last year. I didn’t feel like, do you know what? I actually just played amazing. Any golfer can have that amazing day where everything works out whether you’ve been practicing or not. But the difference between someone who’s getting better and someone who’s not is the fact you are far more consistent. Your bad scores are nowhere near as bad. Your bad shots are nowhere near as wide. Your misses are a lot smaller and just how good your bad golf is. So focus on that. Don’t get caught up thinking I need to hit the best shot. I need to light up the course. No, no, no, no. You don’t need to do any of that. You need to focus on how good your bad golf is getting. And look, if you enjoyed this video, I’m going to try and just whip one round the tree here. Then please make sure you stay around for future vids. They’re going to be good. I can’t wait to document more of my road to scratch journey. And guess what? Onto the next. If I can flop this over this tree and put it within six foot, you better hit that subscribe button. A Looks like you’re not subscribing. First fat one I’ve hit all day. Hit them balls, boys.
1 Comment
Let me know if you think I missed anything 🤜🏻🤛🏻