9 Handicap Golfer vs A New Course! [Every Shot]

Embark on a golfing exploration as Tom Roberts takes on Great Hadham Country Club for the very first time, sharing invaluable insights and strategic tactics for conquering a new course. In this educational video, join Tom, boasting a 9 handicap, as he navigates the challenges of unfamiliar terrain, providing viewers with a blueprint for approaching a new golfing experience.

Discover the secrets behind Tom’s strategic prowess as he meticulously outlines the thought process and decision-making required to tackle a new course effectively. From tee to green, witness the adaptability and skill of a seasoned golfer sharing tips on reading the landscape, understanding hazards, and making the right choices to optimize performance on an unfamiliar fairway.

Subscribe to Tom Roberts Golf for an exclusive look at this insightful round, where each shot becomes a lesson in mastering the nuances of a new golf course. Elevate your golfing knowledge and be part of a community that values strategic play and continuous improvement. Join the journey as Tom imparts wisdom to help golf enthusiasts tackle new courses with confidence and finesse.

Insta – https://www.instagram.com/tomrobertsgolf
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@tomrobertsgolf
Twitter – https://twitter.com/tomrobertsgolf

Welcome to every shot of a nine handicappers round here at Great hadam Country Club I have never played this course so today we’re going to be focusing on how I’m going to approach a course I’ve never played as a nine handicapper so that we can still shoot a

Respectable score you know what I’m feeling pretty good today I think potentially we could break a but let’s get on to the first T and see how we do first up here at Great halam is a 399 yd power 4 straight away in its si5 not a single swing yet so

There we go that was the bad one now we’ve got a good one coming in with downwind on this uh par 4 it’s quite a long one so hit it pretty high you know what they say when it’s windy see it High Let It Fly or something like that we’ve got

About 190 yards in here we’re downwind so I’m going to take a six iron see if we can get it there really although this hole is long I don’t think there’s really all that much to to worry about to be honest oh that is very right there are red steaks up

There we’re alive we’re alive we’re okay right we need to get up and down we’ve got about 30 yards here to the pin got my 54 in hand ball is very muddy green feel’s quite wet I’m not going to lie so I might give it a little bit more than I

Think I would normally here that looks pretty good roll out all right a reasonable chance for par I think this ball is so caked holy smokes so let’s start off with a 9 for par a confident roll I like that right we’re off to a great start guys next up

We have a par five it’s 537 Ys it’s si3 and it has a dog leg extremely downhill to the right just at the end par five water all up the left I really don’t have a clue of what it looks like that and it feels like the

Wind’s just gone into face as well can’t really see any reason why I wouldn’t hit driver still hit it high again but it’s going to be alive all right wasn’t expecting this course to be like this I was expecting very much a parkland’s course I literally went onto their website this

Morning cuz it’s in a 30-minute Drive of my house and I’ve never played it before looked at one picture thought looks okay of course says that everything’s open so I’ve booked it for £750 we’re going to be chasing daylight again as it’s about 2:00 already and the sun sets at 5:30

Other than that the only other thing you need to know is it’s a little bit windy let’s get into it right well since I’ve already hit a 600 I’m going to hit it again um effectively there’s like a downhill and there’s a bit that looks like there’s potentially water in it

Like a hazard so I’m going to lay up cuz I still got about 300 yards left on this one what is that all right we’ve all got them in our lockers guys we’ve all got them in our lockers right well I’m actually tempted to go for it now that I’m 22 away it’s

3-wood but I don’t know what’s down there so this is all about managing the course um we’re just going to take our medicine we’ve played a bad shot we’re going to pay for it with just a layup really so that we’re in the right spot so we can see what we’re

Doing that has come out so left please don’t go in the water no we are fine all right okay we’ll be able to see the Green from there and I guess we’ve kind of been rewarded cuz now we’ve got a relatively straightforward shot where we can see

The pin just beneath this Ridge it’s only 122 well it’s 15 away I’m going to hit pitching wedge it’s quite cold my ball is absolutely caked as well I need to get in the Fairway to be fair so a little bit left again got to remember that I’m off and off

Slope yeah we might be able to make up and down for bogey there come mud help me out oh there’s a chance ah it’s a good Roll Just slightly off all right double bogey on the second next up we have a 333 yd par 4 the flare way is sloping

Hard right to left let’s see what we can do this next tole has out of bounds all up the left it’s not a long PA for so we’re going to take three-wood cuz I feel like the Miss is much smaller with 3w than it is with drivers yeah that’ll do

Good strike that and it’s taking a good bounce I think it’s straight out in the middle of the Fairway balls quite above my feet what we’ve noticed is obviously it’s turning hard left every time it is above my feet when I’m using a more lofted Club lot of wind off the right

Hand side so uh going to play this like a 100 shot but I’m going to aim it very right at the green that could be really good be the number oh that is rolled on a bit couldn’t be any happier with that though we’ve got about 13t here for

Birdie can’t really see it moving very much right come on Tom good roll here there’s a chance oh baby right bouncing straight back from that double with a birdie taking us back to just the one over people come on short par three here 137 yd long and it is

Si7 nice short par three here downwind downhill and it’s 104 yds probably playing like 100 with the slope even less With the Wind that’s right on it little bit left it’s long all right and it’s spun back a bit nice don’t mind that at all now guys

The Channel’s doing better than I was expecting at this point but we’re still a long way off from achieving our goal and our goal is to become a fulltime yes I’m going to say say the word golf influencer so the way we’re going to do that is I’m going to need your help

Basically if I post you got to come and watch it as much of it as you possibly can you got to share it you got to like it you got to leave comments I’m commenting I’m replying to everybody in the comments by the way so literally

Drop me a comment about anything and I will reply it could be what’s my favorite Subway sandwich what’s my Nando order I had Nando last night for the first time in as oh my God it banged also I’ve got a really exciting round coming up at a Ryder Cup venue so I’m

Going to record that for you guys every shot of X handicapper at a Ridder Cup venue oh it’s going to be good make sure you hit that subscribe button we have got a 27o up the hill for the first time ever on the channel backtack birdies

Could we do it it might only be the second time in my entire life that I’ve made back toback birdies there’s a chance oh my God go in you rat you rat of a ball I got to say that’s pretty painful but we’re playing pretty well right now we are

Only one over for four holes let’s keep it rolling another par five here 473 yd long in it si 13 right we got this par five that’s directly into wind I think if it wasn’t into wind we could potentially get there in two but I mean

There’s just no chance so going to play it safe here going to hit a three-wood low to that open area take it around the dog leg on the next shot and then have a nice short approach in I think that’s probably the way to play it is this

Broken this feels so what is going on with that I feel broken maybe I’m losing my mind it was Wibble wobbling you know what I don’t feel comfortable right now I’m going to re restart my uh my entire my entire sort of like process that really threw me off I don’t

Know what was going on there yeah I’m glad I reset there that’s something big that I’ve been working on is when I don’t feel comfortable is doing a full reset because yeah when you’re not comfortable over the ball and you hit it it goes wrong 90% of the time

Not too much to think about on this shot just literally going to hit a for iron up as far as I can still got a long way in well I’ve absolutely smoked that yep love that could hold this all day long bloody yeah we’re striking it

All right today we have got 83 yards into a pretty strong headwind right now I’m thinking like hitting a 100 shot that it’s so left catch a piece of the green please wind has died as well oh my God the wind has literally just given up completely Oh I thought it was blowing

Again and it’s just dropped completely we’re off a down slope here not ideal going to put it on the back foot I think just try and wrist hinge my way through it I think not the most reliable way to chip but off a down slope I think it’s better than what I’d usually

Do spin a bit spin a bit stop that is quite a woeful putt guys I’m not going to lie that is so bad oh he tried to slip out all right we got through we’ve just a bogey there we go back to two up through I think that’s

Five all six is a 401 yd PA for and it is si7 just done a little surgery on the Drone one of it poor little propellers has broken off it’s kind of downwind off the the left just a little bit maybe off my left shoulder so you’re going to keep

It up the left side and it should drift round oh my God that is so right hell um I think we’re going to need a Reload there that’s much better yeah it should have just done that all right couldn’t find the first ball guys so we are hitting our provisional so this is

Number four let’s see if we can get it on we’re about 158 yards down window ways that looks pretty good that looks really good see it there oh it’s running on not sure why it’s running on 18 ft for what I like to call a 30 which is a

Fake birdie uh but you had to take three of the tea so really it’s a it’s a bogey um if we could make it it’ be pretty epic I think I’ve left it short and it was the perfect line as well right that is our second double of the day but I’m

Not too too sad about that one I just made a mistake I shouldn’t have taken driver there like it was just I don’t know just too tight and I hit it straight right so what can I expect off the regular T box this par three would

Be a long one at 188 yards but we’re on a map today it’s si5 oh that’s a nice surprise it’s playing well it’s 138 playing 135 so oh that wind has got it but it could be really good just stop pushing it wind yeah we’re on little bit of spin

Back don’t mind it and if you’re wondering why the Drone wasn’t up for that one it’s because there are it’s because there are green Keepers on the hole and I don’t technically get permission to fly the Drone around I think the GoPro on the stick is probably

No problem but the Drone there might be a few issues with so I mean if you guys don’t tell anyone I won’t tell anyone either so you know Secret Safe slow now yeah that’s a great lag P what do you mean I was trying to make it of

Course I wasn’t trying to make it for another birdie I just lagging it up there guys make it nice and easy nice three next up is the hardest on the course it’s a 398 yd Par Four all uphill into wind I haven’t hit driver particularly well today we are on

The hardest hole it’s a long PA for inter wind uphill so um I would love to take driver but when you’re not hitting it well and you got out of bounds all up the left hand side um it makes me less inclined to hit it as you can probably

Imagine so you’re going to hit 3w again oh that is I’m not overly convinced that this D this is all right I’m not blaming it for a bad shot but that was that was really odd I felt wobbly in the hands hitting for IR just

Going to try and pump it as far up there as possible really oh I’ve caught that so well it’s a little right but it’s drifting back in nicely yeah all right okay I still think we’re going to have a long way in from there though now the wind is like still

Into face so I’m going to hit this pretty full but I’m going to hit it straight into the middle of the green because it’s a a treacherous shot oh I’ve caught that so thin get lucky oh it’s out the back this could be a bad bad hole

Sit sit sit oh my God how has that come out so hot all right we are on the green so at least that’s something now I am bringing out a video guys um a lot of people have asked kind of how I’ve managed to get my handicap to go from

About 16 17 sort of like that mid handicap down to single figures in sort of like a six-month time period And I do have like five tips that I’m going to make a video about uh which you can Implement into your game so quickly so

Uh if you want to see that smash a like let me know down in the comments section oh slow down again this green is a little faster than everything oh actually that’s a really good put what am I talking about I get so jittery when

I make the putt go past the hole I’m always much more comfortable when it falls short which I don’t think is the right way to be so that is a double bogey what started off as a really really promising round is quite quickly gone a little bit

Tits up hole 9 is the ninth hardest on the course it’s 336 yard par forward dog leg to the left that’ll play thank you now I’m not really sure what the ruling is guys so maybe you can let me know I’m not going to touch it because

I’m not overly sure but you can see where my feet are actually a drainage channel that runs here um that has admittedly got a lot of grass in it so I don’t know whether I’m allowed relief from that or not but maybe you guys can

Let me know um so I’m going to hit a pitching where in here cuz it is just so bloody windy a little bit above my feet again not really sure how this Ball’s going to react so kind of aiming right oh my God how do that come out so

Left almost hit the Drone as well in the air wow okay interesting almost broke my hands it’s kind of sitting down a little bit so I’m might tow it a bit more than I would usually oh hello all right we definitely got up down for par

There all right there we go so we’re six over through nine it’s not a worst score it’s not our best score but if we shoot how we have been on the back nine recently on this nine we’re going to have a really good score in our hands

We’re on to the back nine we’re in a bit of backlog there’s no real rush I mean I think everyone’s getting in and once we’ve got a second a lot of people ask me how I get my aerial shot so me and Oakley invested for the absolute Bandits

Channel which if you haven’t checked out go check out uh me and him out on a golf course together bit more Ladish Behavior bit more fun bit more challenging kind of content versus this every shot kind of malaky we got going on over here um this is a DJI

Mini3 um really good really small quite quiet so you can fly it around without getting noticed too much there are some really big ones which will be really noisy relatively good camera quality I think it just kind of checks all the boxes you buy a handset with it which

Basically looks like this it has the display on it you don’t need a flying license for this one because it is a mini which is like the best thing about it and yeah I think it just add something really nice to the video so I’m going to fly it down there

Now starting the back nine here with a PA three it’s 179 y long and it’s SI 16 now this is a scary shot because I’m kind of trusting that the wind isn’t going to take this too far cuz we’re directly downwind I’ve got a seven iron in hand oh it’s come out so

Right all right I saw it bouncing it’s not what we were after right we got about 25 yards here this is a horrible horrible chip I got no idea how I’m going to play this I got to get it up and just hope it stops

Really sit sit sit oh my God that could be really good wow it really did sit I’ve been working on this technique where I open up the face and just let it come out a bit higher and that has worked an absolute treat I’m a little

Bit nervous about this part I think it could break more than I really see I I think it’s flat but right let’s just try and give it a good roll it was flat Tom and that is unfortunately a bogey to start the back nine back to back part

3es it’s 168 yards this one and it’s SI 10 there is red stakes on that right hand side um right on the line of the pin I don’t really want to take it over that just in case oh someone’s just used a Wentworth tea very bougie oh that is such a bad strike

Ow all right looks like we need to try making up and down similar as last time I think kind of like open it up and just try and hit through it that is not as good as the last one we are however putting which is the main

Thing just going to break off the right just a little got 24t for par go on bu don’t roll short oh it’s another one that if I just hit it it was good that’s going to be another bogey to take us to 8 over through 11 so realistically if we want

Our shoot our handicap and score 36 points we need to get around the rest of the holes in one over but to be honest we’re on a new course we’ve never played it before we don’t know what’s out here there’s already been a few mistakes that we’ve made just because we don’t know

The course and say therefore I’m not too bothered I’m thinking like 11 12 over would be a really really good result today especially since it’s very very windy this par five is a big dog leg to the right it’s 475 yd long and it’s Si14 oh right that will play that’s probably the best driver shot we’ve had today that’s for sure okay so our good provision Drive is unnecessary because we have found our ball in amongst all this kind of like cutback stuff summer different story that’d be game over I’ll do it I’ll do nicely right

Probably want to hit this like it’s a 70 shot maybe maybe more like a 75 could be good yeah I think it’s on it’s from front edge though and it’s at the back of the pin wow that is a big gust of win the ball is

Wobbling left it short again this is a dangerous distance as well this one there you go that is a par come on baby next up we have a par 4 396 yard one at that and it is si4 this is a par 4 uh it’s one of the hardest on the

Course apparently but I can’t see any reason that I wouldn’t just hit driver it gets so wide up past the bottleneck we’ve got in front of us so hopefully that’s okay I’ve snapped it left a little see it bouncing we’ll have to go down and have

A look won’t we 160 playe 152 wind off the right maybe slightly behind all right I’m going to hit eight here and hopefully it’s going to rise up quick enough that it gets out this thing cuz uh there’s a quite a meaty slope straight in front of me so

Oh I’ve chunked it I got so trigger happy to pull there and like I’ve chunked it because of it okay we got about 100 in now ball above my feet aiming it out just a little bit to the right didn’t turn at all wow take a good

Kick how did it turn every time except the one time I aim it far enough right for it to work that is got to run run run run run run run run it’s actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would have done I genuinely thought I’d left that

About 30 foot short of the pin but it’s going to be a tricky one two about 8 n footer for the uh for the bogey oh thank God right another double there would have been well just so disheartening is a bogey we limit the

Damage of it and we move on to the next all 14 is a 3 33 yards all the threes in its si8 it is a short Par Four into win dog legs to the left um I am going to take three-wood here just the way the

Driver has been kind of all over the place uh doesn’t mean it’s very reliable at the moment oh that is so good oh freewoods back it’s gone high and it is been absolutely blown a mile of course and it’s short uh yeah okay worst result possible but okay now this sounds

Ridiculous but I feel like I’m going to try and make this I’ve pulled out the club to try and make it we got 18 yards to the pin filter was down to the the left your right so let’s see what we can do eh I’ve hit it too hard oh you know what

It’s a good attempt if you’re trying to make it that’s pretty much the the right amount of weight you need on it maybe a little bit less oh my God I towed it I towed it and I thought I got away with it rats oh it’s a bogey oh that’s

Devastating six Footers though they get missed all the time so we’re not going to worry about it I believe we’re now 10 over in the round um so yeah we’re going to need some birdies coming in and a lot of pars if we want to get back to our

Handicap but I think that’s probably a little bit optimistic stick whole 15 is an all downhill straight away Par Four it’s 363 Y and it’s the easiest on the course this uh Par Four is not particularly long so I’m just going to take three with here that will P

Perfectly I haven’t pulled it too far left that’s for sure yeah it’s in the Fairway now despite standing on probably the wetest patch I’ve stood on all day I’ve got to say I’m very impressed with how well this course has held up considering the amount of rain that

We’ve had uh recently you’ve seen the rounds that I’ve been playing up until now and they have not been pretty we’ve got 117 playing 113 into this pin that three three-wood was cooked 249 haven’t had a Freewood like that since the summer now because we are standing on a

Wet patch there’s no relief anywhere cuz it’s all wet around here so I’d have to move it miles away to get away from this kind of like water standing water um I’m too scared to hit like a a full wedge in case I go fat so what I’m going to do is

I’m going to hit a chippy nine and have it run down there that looks pretty good oh it took a awful kick oh man took like it hit a down slope and just like got so much extra run because of it we’re going to have to

Stab this one back out up onto this uh up onto this screen oh my God it might go in oh tapping hey look at this we don’t mind that look look at that PA come on baby moving on to the second hardest hole on the course here it’s a par 4 and it’s

384 yd long three to go in the second hardest on the course can’t really understand why cuz it’s not particularly long it isn’t wind it is uphill so it’s got that going for it oh I’ve absolutely crunched that love that that’s gone miles right again 111

Yards but this time it’s uphill I think I’m hitting a pitching wedge to that one that could be so good be really good oh I think it’s really really good I think it’s really really good birdie parts do not get much better than this we got 9t up the hill frustratingly we

Actually spun back about 4ot from the uh hole which has made this slightly longer part but that’s all right yes oh it tried to snap off right there second birdie of the round that takes us back to N9 over I am unbelievably gassed by that come on guys

Two to go now this might be going crazy but if we go birdie par we are going to finish and break 80 we’re currently on an 80 that’s what we’re currently shooting if we par out a wonderful little Par 3 here over waterer it’s 148

Y long and it’s SI 12 says it’s 141 y it looks like it’s about 170 maybe it’s cuz it’s getting dark and I can’t tell I’m definitely taking more Club than I think here I’m taking an eight oh it’s a bit left please get over that

Bunker I kind of towed it a little oh it’s on we we’re putting so we can hope for right 30 foot oh there’s a chance turn left oh I left it short anyway but it was just offline it’s fine it’s a stress free par there we go and we move on to the

Last now I’m going to let you in a little secret guys I’ve said as we’ gone around that when I was like eight over through whatever it was 10 holes that you know a finish of about 12 over would be really really good today but I’m not

Thinking that I’m thinking how do I get this ball in the hole in the lowest number of shots possible every single time is it unrealistic to think I could go and actually shoot my handicap from that point well probably not but if you set your target at like you know three

Over through the last bunch of holes well then you’re probably going to shoot three or worse you’re not going to shoot better so I’m actually thinking maybe I can get through all these holes in underpar or maybe you know par itself and it’s that mindset that’s going to

Let you go lower you don’t have to be stupidly optimistic obviously you’re not going to go round in level bar if you’re like a 20 handicapper but you will be shocked how much a positive mindset will do for you out on the course or at least all that speech play I’ve been giving

You is uh what I’ve heard in Bob Rotella’s books to finish it off here we have a par five it’s 473 yard long and it’s si6 all right I’m hitting driver winds into face going to make this par five pretty challenging but oh I’m just up for it today I want to break

80 oh I’ve absolutely crunched that one as well go on ball just go yeah it’s up there fite a good drive we still got a long way in I’m going to hit hybrid I want to get up there as far as possible there is a water hazard so I

Can’t really be uh not hitting this very well I have to hit it well so um yeah just going to keep it up the left side of the Fairway once it gets up over this hill Oh no I might have just put it in the pond

I was trying so hard not to say top it and it’s all I could think about and guess what I’ve bloody topped it and I pretty sure it’s in the pond I saw it bouncing right if it stopped it’ll be a miracle damn damn it I was I was wearing

Up whether I should at 79 79 was probably the play I was nervous about that hill in front of me I didn’t know whether I’d even get up over that um but yeah that is a bit of a disaster of it is in if I wasn’t I reckon that’s the

Ball right there you see it just underneath the surface I think I can actually see it is my ball it is a Kirkland don’t you even think that I’m putting my feet in that pond to try and play that out it’s like 3 in beneath the

Surface of the pond we’re going to have to take a drop oh that is so sad oh wow that is so stupid tell you’ve just soaked your own leg you donut all right dropping it on the line it went in on I’m going to give it a

Quick clean dry it off find a nice fluffy patch here um about here yep that sat pretty nicely all right okay right our mission is to get up and down for par to keep our goal of shooting our handicap Alive come on Tom I’ve hit a good

One is it going to be really good oh my God I think it’s really good I think it’s really really good it’s putable it’s makeable the dream of shooting our handicap on a brand new course we’ve never seen before is still alive we’ve got to go for a foot of Fringe but we

Have got an 18 footer for par oh my God please let this drop that would be absolutely Ely wild it’s going to break off the right just a little oh I’ve left it short and it’s the line oh I’ve done that all day oh that is absolutely devastating what a round of golf

Though guys hopefully you have enjoyed that if you have enjoyed it today make sure you smash a thumbs up subscribe and if you want to see another video from me just click right here