{"id":498701,"date":"2026-02-25T14:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498701\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:25:13","slug":"think-and-prepare-like-a-pro-golfer-with-tour-winners-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498701\/","title":{"rendered":"Think And Prepare Like A Pro Golfer With Tour Winner’s Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning from the best players in the game is an opportunity that amateur golfers rarely get, but those lessons can be the difference between another mediocre season and playing better golf in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we had the opportunity to sit down with multiple DP World Tour winner Grant Forrest, who kindly shared his top tour winning tips for improved mentality, strategy and better preparation on the golf course.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While absorbing the best ball striking lessons for amateurs is crucial to consistency on the course, learning how to stop forcing it and check your ego<\/a> is just as important for hitting more greens and lowering your scores.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Below, Grant Forrest walks us through five ways we can think, strategise and prepare more effectively for a round of golf through his tour level insights…<\/p>\n

LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a 15-handicapper you can\u2019t expect to play like a scratch golfer<\/a>. It sounds obvious but you don\u2019t need to try to be a hero and take on near-impossible shots.<\/p>\n

We all do it still at this level, and you don\u2019t need to. We all turn into optimists when we get on the golf course.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself the question, what is a good shot? For your own game, what actually is a good result?<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the Golf Monthly newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest tour news, equipment news, reviews, head-to-heads and buyer\u2019s guides from our team of experienced experts.<\/p>\n

For most amateurs, if you hit the middle of the green<\/a>, that\u2019s a great result.<\/p>\n

A lot of club golfers could benefit from imagining there are no pins and just getting a yardage to the middle of the green and hitting that, especially if the flag is at the front as they tend to underclub.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re aiming for the middle of the green and don\u2019t catch it, it will probably be fine.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

WHY IT\u2019S CALLED A \u2018SWING\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called a swing for a reason. You\u2019re basically swinging a weight on the end of the stick and you\u2019ve got to feel the weight of the club.<\/p>\n

I think a good way of feeling that is to start the club forward first in your practice swings, ahead of the ball, before then swinging back.<\/p>\n

This will naturally set the club on the right path. It\u2019s quite hard to get out of position if you swing the club forward a bit first. If you can work on that in your practice, then it can move into your normal swing and it\u2019s going to help you.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Grant\n<\/p>\n

Grant Forrest is a big hitter who hits plenty of greens in regulation on the DP World Tour<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

PLAYING WITH NERVES<\/p>\n

I\u2019d always be worried if I wasn\u2019t nervous. It means that you care so it\u2019s something you have to manage and try and use to your advantage. You don\u2019t want to be too highly strung and, when you\u2019re on the course, you want to play from your comfort zone.<\/p>\n

If you put me up on a stage and asked me to sing in front of people, I would absolutely be sick with nerves.<\/p>\n

You might play every couple of weeks and in a handful of club competitions every year so it\u2019s just about accepting nerves and knowing that they\u2019re going to be there.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played well lots of times when I\u2019ve been nervous \u2013 and so have you \u2013 and that\u2019s a great thing to remember.<\/p>\n

I think about my breathing a lot, especially in my putting. If you feel noticeably nervous or more nervous than normal \u2013 it\u2019s going to be on an important shot or a higher-tariff shot \u2013 really focus on your breathing.<\/p>\n

It can be as simple as taking deep and slower breaths. Everything tends to get quicker when you\u2019re nervous so I\u2019m always trying to do everything in slow motion when I\u2019m feeling it.<\/p>\n

THE MENTAL GAME<\/p>\n

The important thing is your thought process, as part of your pre-shot routine<\/a>, so do you have a clear intention on every shot? Often you don\u2019t actually know what you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n

Again, and this is crucial, what are you trying to achieve? Whether you execute or not, you are trying to play the right shot.<\/p>\n

In terms of swing thoughts, most guys play with something in their head. It can vary day to day and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

A lot of it is about reacting to how you feel on a day. Maybe you will hit a couple of shots that you really like and you have a good feel on them. If so, just try and repeat that.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Grant\n<\/p>\n

Preparation is key, so ensure your pre-shot routine is consistent and fit for purpose<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

THE WARM-UP<\/p>\n

A golf warm-up<\/a> is a practice session and it\u2019s about finding that rhythm and hitting the shots that you\u2019re going to need on the course.<\/p>\n

One big thing is to pay attention to what you\u2019re doing in the warm-up. If you\u2019re hitting a draw<\/a> in your warm-up, that\u2019s the shot that\u2019s there that day. Be comfortable with what you have.<\/p>\n

There are so many great players out on tour and they only really stick to hitting one shot shape.<\/p>\n

We see a lot of the great players shaping it both ways on demand but the majority of guys, especially with the driver, will have one shot. I draw it and it just suits my eye more. I\u2019ve always played like that and I won\u2019t play around with that too much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Learning from the best players in the game is an opportunity that amateur golfers rarely get, but those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-498701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}