 Okay so welcome back to Diplo TV and thank you for joining the average golfer I am at the Taggers Target Board. Now then very briefly for those of you who don't know the Taggers Target Board is all about setting a target for your handicap for 2018 so what you want to achieve. So people, golfers, supporters of this channel have been giving their name, their current handicap and their target handicap for 2018 and then as the months have progressed inform me of the changes hopefully positive ones that have been made and that's the ones that we highlight on the board in white. I will go through those changes at the end of this video so plenty of shout outs to be given but in the first instance what I want to discuss is how you've made those handicap reductions what you feel and I'm looking for a general sense of opinion in the comments boxes below here it's a real good topic for debating my opinion how have you achieved those reductions how have you done it it isn't happening for me but judging by the board there's plenty of people who are playing some good golf who are achieving their goals and are moving in the right direction so one by one I want to go through a checklist of what the potential is or the potential reasons are in how you've achieved that reduction and we'll start off with the number one thought okay so the obvious one and it seems to be that and my mind surely this got to be the logic this is how you've achieved your reductions it's all about practice surely maybe anyway then I get to thinking okay so you practice what do you practice exactly and how do you practice so it's a driver is it irons is it your short game has it been your put in which of those specific areas are focusing on your potential weakness and concentrating all your focus and on your attention in practicing those areas make sense would you do that thing I sometimes found is that a minute I identify a weakness so for example my chipping wasn't too good six months ago I would have identified that as being a problem in my game spent plenty of time practicing on my short game I have to say I think it did get better following that is I started to neglect other parts of the game that were my strengths and they start to become weaker so as amateur golfers and most was with limited time to dedicate to golf practice you've then got sort of make sure that your efforts are spread across those sort of four areas I would think or do you like I said I don't know how is it worth for you how have you achieved and how do you practice and then that is the next point that I want to make how do you practice is it a case of most of us will practice on the driving range as you know I test golf clubs on a rather frequent basis and on every Monday morning I hit and quite a few golf balls in the practice range at four golf the thing all safe that is that my ball striking I would say has improved but taking your game from the range then on to the golf course is a whole different thing so sometimes I may practicing in a golf range in order to improve my golfing ability to reduce my handicap is not always necessarily going to happen it's not a given because it's controlled environment and the minute you move on to that golf course obviously it's a different environment there's things like trees and bunkers and water and all other things that come into the equation you don't face on the driving range so again for me is practicing on the golf course on the driving range rather the ultimately is it going to lead to improvement and reduction in handicap let's have a look on the next thing that I want to consider. So we decided that yes you need to practice your golf swing and your golf swing technique but ultimately you need to be told where you're going on and that leads from instruction golf lessons from a PTA qualified golf coach now then again would we put this would we rank this very highly in the ability to reduce your handicap and become a better player better golfer you're going to need assistance and you're going to need advice and you're going to need help and you're going to need coaching because for me playing for as long as I have done my swing is relatively stayed the same some minor tweaks but I think that with the swing that I have currently am I going to be really any better in terms of my handicap than I am currently I think probably not I think there's going to be limitations with the swing that I've gotten the way that I played the game there's going to be limitations unless I'm prepared to go and do the hard yards get with a golf coach for him to identify the issues that I've got whether that be from putter to short game into irons into driver and put the hours in and spend time with a golf coach with golf lessons and put the hours and hours of change in those swing issues that I would certainly have which will ultimately lead to me potentially being a better golfer and I say potentially because this is the question I'm asking and then reducing my handicap would golf lessons be the key I don't know how high is it on the agenda in terms of why you think you may be able to achieve a handicap reduction anyway next time for a shiny new set of bats everybody knows when it's not going right then it's definitely the problem of the golf clubs that we've got in our hands the irons aren't right there's something shiny and better that's going to just be a game changer new driver promises to be longer straighter find more fairways so a few couple of bad rounds he's not going well that handicaps not reducing what do we do we go and buy a new driver and we think problems will be solved now then I'm claiming that G400 max is a game changer for me in some of the videos that I've done because it's the best driver I've ever bought and I think it is for me I'm finding more fairways with it am I reducing my handicap because of it no I'm not so there are it's definitely this again is something that there are no quick fixes but how many of you have been out there and bought a new club whether it be from a wedge set of irons putter driver how many of you would attribute your handicap changes your improvements in your game down to a changing golf clubs in some new kit interesting one plenty of us do it plenty of us change the kit but how many of you can honestly say that buying this new piece of equipment has ultimately led to you becoming a better player and a reduction in your golf family gap I'm dying to know the answer to this one anyway next on the agenda yeah is it just a case of playing more golf and when I say playing more golf I mean playing real golf so like I said not in the driving range not on a practice put in green not on a practice chipping area is it about getting out there on the golf course in a real environment and just playing more golf getting out there in a competitive environment and again I've just thrown that one in there competitive environments do we necessarily improve by going round as I do a lot on the videos for example play a lot of golf on my Jack Jones and no pressure I'm not against anybody my three whole challenges that I play for example often up against the course so I'm not competing in any way so have you got put yourself into an environment where there's a little bit of pressure where you're competing and where like I said you're on the course you're in a real environment so the situations that you're thrown now are not artificial in terms of the the mats that you hit off in and around a driving range is that ultimately what leads to playing better and reducing your handicap I don't know that's another big one for me have you got to be out there on the golf course is the driving range a false environment and then finally there's one more of the thing that I want to consider has been a potential issue as to why you do or you don't reduce your handicap it's the mental approach to the game and again it's a bit like what I've just said about taking your game from the driving range and onto the golf course whole different environment whole different ball game playing on your own playing in a four ball playing on a Friday afternoon for a fiver with your mates as opposed to playing with a on a Saturday morning in a medal competition of the white T's different situations all together and ultimately they all lead to different mental approaches required I would think and again is the whole mental approach and the strength of character the strength of mind the is that a key elements to again ultimately playing golf and reducing your handicap is that something that you have that has your mind as well got to be focused it's got to be goal driven and when I say goal driven in this case my goal being to be a lower handicapped golfer a better golfer but ultimately that means I'll be a lower handicaps on my mentality my whole drive my whole reasoning and logic when I get out there and get the sticks out is the ultimate goal of my mental approach key and important to making sure that I get out there achieve the very best I can and ultimately reduce my hand so there you have it you have all the reasoning in which I can think we could possibly make a reduction in our handicap and if I missed anything I probably missed something out no doubt there could be some logic and something in particular that's helped you make a reduction in your handicap and please stick it in the comments box below but the real thing they want the real feedback I want is for as many of you to get involved and tell me in the comments box below all the things that I've mentioned what has ever helped you achieve you make you play better golf and achieve a better handicap what in those things because it's great for me I thought about doing this video a few days back I just I'm dying to know the general sense of opinion as to what has helped you or what we think helps us be better players and be lower handicapped golfers anyway that's that video done what I'm going to do now is I'm going to be a pant cross this whole tag as well I've added a lot of people over these last few months I probably missed a few people out there is a lot of white on that board which indicate like I said the positive handicap changes so well done to everybody it was achieved those that those moves so far and long may continue plenty of why you just want to see white all over that board which means everybody's playing book golf and they're all doing very very well indeed so it'll pan out on the finish keep an arm for your name if you're not included all you need to do on this particular video is put your name your current handicap your target handicap and I will stick it on the Tigers target board so for now that's me done thank you for watching hope you get involved in this one hit the like button subscribe if you don't already and I will see you very very soon