G'day sports fans! Paul Williamson here, PGA Member and RGX Coach here to tell you about rule number nine in my 10 Rules to Shooting Lower Scores.

Rule number 9 is to start your rounds of golf in first gear.

What does that mean? Well, you don't start a car in fifth gear, do you? For those of you who've ever driven a manual in the past, you've got that gear in fifth and you tried to start the car, you know what happens. You're not going anywhere. So, you're going to start again. Guess what? The same thing happens in golf.

If you just turned up to the golf course, you haven't warmed up, you haven't done anything golf-related since last week, or maybe a month ago. You stand on that first tee, you grab your driver and you're trying to hit the career tee shot down the middle of that first fairway with no preparation whatsoever. That is a bad plan.

So what should you do? Playing first gear. What does first gear look like? That is when you stand there and you swing well within yourself. Something that you feel like you can do very easily. With a club that you can hit better than most and you just get the thing in play. You might remember one of my earlier rules is to avoid penalty shots at all costs. Chances are those architects have put penalties on that first hole so that if you just decide to try and play in fifth gear right from where you go, they're going to catch you out if you don't get it right. Which is going to be most of the time. So what do you do?

- Play first gear.
- Pick a club that's nice and easy.
- Pick a target that's not going to get you in any trouble even if you hit a fairly bad one or an average one, you're still okay and get going.
- Then maybe you can start working in the second third and fourth gear later on.

That even goes for your second shot too by the way. Maybe your first chip, your first putt. Just take it easy. You don't have to hole it, you don't have to hit it close. Just get it going, get in it around and then work your way into it from there. So hopefully that'll help you to start better and then, of course, lower our scores down.

If that helps I'd be fascinated to know put a comment down below be fantastic. In the meantime, please check out all my other videos and let me know what you think of those as well. See you next time for rule number 10, my final one in my 10 Rules To Scoring Lower. So, hang around for that one. Cheers!

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➔ Watch it all here!
Rule 1 - Hole all your short putts: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 2 - Avoid penalty shots at all costs: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 3 - Get out of trouble in one shot: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 4 - Get rid of your 3-putts: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 5 - Stop under clubbing: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 6 - Stop playing risky shots: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 7 - Stop short-siding yourself: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 8 - Read the lie: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 9 - Start your first round of golf in 1st gear: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 10 - Let go of BAD shots: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read