Essential Golf Shots To Practice

Hello and welcome to this video in which we're looking at the five most important must have golf shots. If you're playing any competitive golf at all this summer, this video should really help you out. We're going to take a look at everything from how to hit fairways on tight drives, a shot shaping, how to hit those really awkward half pit shots, plug lies in bunkers and hauling out from close range. Now the advice in this video comes from Andy Sullivan. We were given some time with Andy earlier on this year through ping. His style is really, sort of really effective, but really simple and easy to put into play. Guys, if you're new to the Golf Monthly channel, please do hit the subscribe button to make sure that you don't miss any of our videos. Hit the like button as well if you like what you're watching. But let's take a look at the five most important must have golf shots, starting with how to hit the fairway on a tight drive. OK, so this is the 18th hole here at Stratford, your home club. My home club. Yeah. You know, see, it's a it's a tight little tee shot. You've got to you have got to find the right side of the fairway to have A to have a go at it in two. What's the what's the the process you go through when you're under pressure, when you you've got to pull the the big stick, you've got to hit a good drive, you've got to commit, you've got to make a good golf swing. What's the process of making sure that you do that? I think, you know, freeing yourself up and picking a picking a really Pacific target, You know, not just picking a tree, pick a branch out, you know, really try and TuneIn on exactly where you want it and exactly what you want to do with it. So in my routine before I'll be trying it, I'll be picking the shot now. So I'll pick the shot here. Now I'm going to be instantly thinking, right, I'm going to start it at that flag at the green there, right on the flag. I'm going to just move it over to that tree stump that's 10 yards right of it. So in my, in my mind, I know exactly what I'm going to hit shot, I'm going to hit what I'm going to do after that. I'm going to right. I'm going to try and get him a routine thing, right? Just that 5 yard plate, what I normally do. And then from there onwards, you know, like I said, I've done all the ground work now I'm into the shot. I've just got to free it up now and just just commit to that swing. That's the biggest thing when you've got a tight tee shot. What do you mean by committing to that swing? That swing is, you know, whatever you're going to do with that ball, you've got to just go through with it and free it up and just hit it. Not just go, not question, not no second questions in there. You just got to go, right. That's exactly what I've got to do. So you almost like building yourself up to it, Not just going can't be second guessing type tee shots. No. And if you are second guessing, I change. Do something different. Yeah. Or do something different. Hit three wood or something, hit an iron. If you're if you've got that little bit of element of doubt, stop. You need to change. OK, OK, go on then. Get it for us to see. Good shot straight down the middle. That'll work. Yeah. Well, guys, there you go. There you have it. If you are faced with a really difficult drive, you're under pressure, you're feeling nervous, pick a very, very specific target, Really think about what you're going to do. Visualize the shot and commit to it. Right, 100%. I mean, half of it for me is, is is built up in your mind when a tight tee shot. So as soon as you can just focus on exactly what you're going to do with it, free it up and let it go. So do those things find the fairway, make par. OK, so we are stuck on the 18th here behind a little cops of trees. You've got 165, six, 165. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, to be fair, you can go left or you can go right here. Yeah, it's quite an interesting one, really. I mean, it's fully stymied. I mean, either way, it's got to be moving a long way, right? It's got to be moving a good 78 yard left close to it as well. So you know, the ball's got to be moving quite a lot here. So I mean, these are really high tariff shots that you you're trying to hit here. So I mean, likelihood of it coming off, which way are you? Which option #1? I mean, for me, if I, if I was playing this, I mean, I, I'd, I'd be Hollywood in it and going left towards the car park and trying to get it sliding in. It's only because that's my favorite shot. Yeah, this is what I'd go to. So I mean, for me, I'd just try and get it left and chop it in right. It's probably the better shot where the pin is, but we'll go left first. We'll go left fine. So talk to me about how you play the shot. I mean, you're just trying to put as much left to right spin on it as possible. But here we've got to deal with height as well. I mean, we can't go over it and move it that much, so we've got to keep it down low and get it cutting. So I mean it's a really tough shot. I'm going to put it more in the back of my stance really worth the club miles outside and then try and swing as far left as I can just to get that the revolutions going on. But but because you need to keep it low, you can't open the face or can you? You can, yeah. You just got to make sure you cover the ball. So when I mean when I mean cover the ball, your spine angle's still got to be over the ball. You can't back out of it because then you're going to put loft on it. So by getting the back of the stance and cutting across it as much as I can, it's going to get the revolutions going that way. I'm looking forward to this. Yeah, I bet you are. Yeah, What a golf shot. Go on skip through the oh, this is that could be money by the way, is that on the green got to be. I think it's just on the left side. What a shot, what a shot right now I'm going to ask Andy to do it again, but with the opposite ball fly. We'll go through exactly the same divot. Just this divot is no editing here, guys, no editing here. Look at that right, go on right. So if I've gone the other way, I'd actually take less club because you're shutting down a drawer anyway. Yes, So I don't need, I mean, I hit that before. I'm just trying to really work it low and cut it round here. I'll probably go 6 iron. I mean, I say 6 iron. I mean I've got to try and keep it under that tree, but the ball's got to move quite a long way. So is it easier to move it with a straighter face? Yeah, I think, I think with the draw. I think with the draw, when you're drawing it, you're shutting down the club that much, it's going to move. Fade is almost the harder shot to keep it low there. When you're trying to draw it low, it's almost easy because you're shutting it down anyway. That's why I've just gone up a few clubs just to to promote it again, same similar thing. And we're just going to get it back at the stance, really close the club face down because I've really got to get this moving and I'm just going to literally come so far inside. So I'm going to try and go past my left right heel here and then just swing it so far out to the right. And I'm hoping that I don't hit that guy's mansion on the right there. Go on. This will be impressive too. I'm looking forward to seeing where this divot goes, what a shot might be a bit long, but lacking a bit of control on landing, but far from that, what a golf shot. Guys. Thank you very much for watching. And that really is an interesting insight into somebody who's competing out on tour and having to sort of you get yourself in the odd situation where you need to manufacture a shot. You do get them shots. Yeah. I mean, but just we'll just quickly look, look at them divots. You got one going this way and one going completely opposite way. I mean, it's literally 80° angle, isn't it? So for me, if you're going to move the ball, just swing as far the other way as you can that you want to move it to. So, so when you're out on the golf course playing with your mates, be creative. Try a few of these different things. You never know, you might just pull it off. This is a 50 yard pit shot. This is absolute meat and drink to you. This is instilling real fear in my game. How? What advice would you give me? What? How do you play this shot so that you take kind of you're taking for us, you're taking bogey out of play and giving yourself a chance of making birdie for me. You, I mean, if you're if you're going to learn from the best, I'd say you watch the top. So you, Luke Donald, your Ernie elves, you know the rhythm they play these shots with and you hardly ever see them take a divot. The divot is minimal. So they're taking the ground out of play for me. So that all that is for me is just getting a little bit shallower and just brushing that grass, just clipping it off the top. I mean, you see it with a lot of a lot of amateurs and the first thing they want to do, they want to get the club in the ground. They guarantee the strike. We deal off in the club then. So you you're wasting your time with your lob wedge already. You might as well play with a nine on if you're going to do that. But for me it it is literally as simple as you. You've just got to be very, you know, feel like it's a very rhythmical swing, shallow it out a little bit, just a nice body turn. But a lot of us out and I'm sure a lot of people watching this will have been taught. I was taught for a lot of short game shots in a ball, back hands, forward, drive it in a bit. It's very, I mean, you know, it's very old school way of doing it. That was the way you guarantee a strike. Now, you know, everyone's trying to play, play the shots to the back of the club using the bounce more. So you're taking the leading edge out of the play and the back of the club here is hitting the ground. So you've got loft on the club the whole time you've got D loft in it, which is giving you more, you know, using the loft that you've got in the hand instead of just taking it away from you. If you're going to use, if you're going to use a 60 or a 54, well, you're using the loft for a reason. Do you know what I mean? But when I'm, when I mean rhythmical as well, I'm not on about someone just going, oh, it's nice and slow and not moving your body. You watch the best guys do it and they're still their bodies turning onto it, face onto it. Even from 50 yards. You see a lot of guys from 50 yards and they and they stop, they get stuck. Yeah, yeah, You still got to rotate onto it to make that continuance. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. But for me, again, like I say, it's just it's that rhythmical feeling and just trying to clip it off the top. Yeah. And club you're going for, I've got 60° here from 50 yards. So I mean, again, you're not going to get a massive amount of spin on it. So you're going to pitch it 5 yards short and just let it trickle out, right? No excuses gone. No excuses. Well, there you have it. Lovely shot, Andy, very nice. A really good demonstration about how to sort of take the fear out of some of those short game shots. Definitely. I mean, I think that I think what most people get scared of is the lead in edge, but you're not trying to hit it with the lead in edge. You know, you're trying to use the loft you've got there. I mean, I've took a minimal divot. That's the biggest key. So as you talk to take in less divots from there, you're going to get cleaner strikes, you're going to get a more consistent flight, less spin on the ball. And hopefully, you know, you'll, you'll be out of control and distance is a lot better from that area. Now, Andy, you threw your bunker, you brought into this bunker, and then you've made it even worse for yourself. So frankly, I don't know how you're going to get this out. Yeah, I mean, we might as well exaggerate if we're going to do it. It's a Weeble lot. There's there's, there's all kinds of methods people think you should shut the face down to get it coming out. That's how I would have been taught. I I I don't really like that because generally it's going to come out left and you're not getting it wet in the direction you want to get it going. And it's fast as well, isn't it? It's running. Yeah, exactly. A lot. I mean, a lot of time when you're in a plug bunker shot, you actually just want it just pretty much just popping just out of the bunker and releasing down to the flag. I mean, this, this is an extremely difficult one. It's straight down the hill. So you just want it just land on this fringe and just releasing down. But me and my friends started playing this shot a few years ago and and and and it was weird. We just thought, just thought we'd try, try something different. And I was hitting these bunker shots, plug bunker shots, and I was going in so steep and so hard and I was trying to recall the club out and the ball just come popping out. So we just took it to another level and just thought if we just hammer it in and just see what happens and just leave the club in there and it just pops out every time. So it's a weird way of doing it, but that's the way sort of I've created over a few years and it and and it's been, you know, it's been. So it's like it's a bit of sort of problem solving something that you would do you do that sort of thing a bit. Sometimes if I'm struggling with a shot that I haven't really got something to go to with, I I would like to find something that I think, well, I can go with that and I'll stick to that. You know, it's not often you get a plug ball. I mean, if you do, it's very rare, but I would want something in place to have that scenario covered. You know what I mean? I wouldn't want to be there going or do I play it that way because then I'm going to be in a bit of indecision. I'd rather just go right. That's the way I'm going to play it. This is how we do it. So you're going to swing really hard at it. I'm just going to, I'm just going to get all all my way on my left side again because I want the club coming in steep because I've got to get through the sand, get to the back of the ball somehow. So I want to go all my way on my left side. So I'm going to get steep on it, but I'm just going to leave the club in there. I'm just going to literally, I'm just going to go like that and hopefully because I'm putting that much force in the sand is going to move the ball as well because I'm going to be hitting a good, good three inches beyond the ball here as well. OK, let's have a look. That is a great shot and it's come out with a bit of height, a bit of control. It's not gone on, you know, run on for 50 feet, is it? But the big key is there is not to decelerate into it. You have got to hit that hard, get steep on it, get down and just leave the club in the ground there. And for me, it's been quite successful with that. You know, the ball comes out pretty consistently high every time and you've got something that you feel like you can go to with that You're not you're not questioning yourself over it so much. I'll talk us through how to hole out from close range. Obviously it's an area of the game that a lot of people like me get very nervous about. And you know, people can make some mistakes. And what's the process for you? How do you, what's the right way of looking at these and thinking about them Again, read it as a normal part as you read it. And then for me, there again, it's about that little word commitment from here. You know, for me, once you've picked that line, you've got to commit to that what you're going to hit there. And again, a lot of people like to hit him in firmly. I'm not a big, big fan of ramming him in firm. I like to see it just going foot by because then if it does hit the edge, it's still going to go in. If you don't firm and it hits the edges, you're going to lip out and you're probably going to get the same distance back. Yeah. So for me, you know, working on a football pace, picking your picking your line. So I've got a line on my ball here. Commit to your line. And then this is going to sound like a really silly like process, but this is what I think When I'm over the ball, all I'm thinking about is keeping my knees as still as possible. So it's like I'm wedged into the ground, My feet are wedged into the ground and all I can move is my rocking of my shoulders. So I've picked my line, knees planted in the ground, feet in the ground, and then just stroke it on your line nice and smooth back and through. In we go in she goes. And what's your attitude towards pin in or pin out? So a lot of guys are, are we're getting used to seeing players out on tour putting from even from quite close range with the flag in. What what's your take on it? You know, for me, I, I, I think the pin can only be an advantage of when the ball's going in with too much pace. I don't see it being an advantage if your ball's going in a foot barge or two feet by just don't see how that can be an advantage because the ball's generally going to go well, no, the ball is going to go, it's going to go in with a foot or two foot of pace in. It can only help when it's going 6-7 feet by it's going to hit it and go stone dead. I mean, there's been a few scenarios this year where I've seen the ball that's going in at a nice pace, like a foot, 2 feet by hit the flag, rage the hole and come out. So, you know, for me, I, I, I prefer it out visually. It's just the way that, you know, I've been doing it for so long. I don't really want to change that. So for me it's a it's a pin out unless you're 50 feet away and you just leave it in that, you know, that scenario is probably plays out for me a few times, but but pin out and every part's going about a footpath. That's the idea. That's my key with with putting everything a football, you work on that and it's and then green reading becomes a lot easier. There you go, guys. I hope you enjoyed that really simple advice there from Andy. Use that next time you play and hole out a little bit more consistently from close range.