Nearest To The Flag Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles
Nearest To The Flag Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles

This game is probably the simplest game you can ever imagine. We are just going to play Nearest to the Flag, but we are going to play with two people. We pick a flag, hit the ball towards it, nearest person scores the point. The person that hits the nearest to that flag then picks the next target and goes again. But the benefit of this game isn't to be misunderstood because out in the golf course we're always competitive, you know, whether it’s competitive with ourselves, or whether it's competitive against the playing partners, we are always trying to win, always trying to beat somebody. But when we practice sometimes we practice alone and we just hit the balls and there is no real consequence to a good or bad shot. But with the benefit of this game because we are trying to hit to a flag, we are trying to beat the other person, we are trying to make it more difficult for them to win. Suddenly we've got a consequence, there is a bit more pressure, the heart rate starts going and you will focus a lot more on your practice than if you were just knocking balls out there on your own. And because we work on this principle that if you win that game, or win that shot you get to pick the next target, you certainly starts to realize where your strengths and weaknesses lie. You might start feeling that well I am always picking the short targets because I am better at the short targets and he is always picking the longer targets because he prefers the longer targets. So if that's the case, you can then go work on your weakness. If every time they pick a target that's 100 yards away and you can’t hit that, and every time you pick a target that’s 25 yards away and you kind of hit that, you know where you need to go and practice, you need to go and practice the more difficult shots for you. So having that pick a target, nearest ball wins, move to another target. It’s a great game to make sure you are practicing shots, you are being competitive and when you go out in the golf course hopefully you will hit it closer with your short irons. 2015-07-02

This game is probably the simplest game you can ever imagine. We are just going to play Nearest to the Flag, but we are going to play with two people. We pick a flag, hit the ball towards it, nearest person scores the point. The person that hits the nearest to that flag then picks the next target and goes again. But the benefit of this game isn't to be misunderstood because out in the golf course we're always competitive, you know, whether it’s competitive with ourselves, or whether it's competitive against the playing partners, we are always trying to win, always trying to beat somebody. But when we practice sometimes we practice alone and we just hit the balls and there is no real consequence to a good or bad shot.

But with the benefit of this game because we are trying to hit to a flag, we are trying to beat the other person, we are trying to make it more difficult for them to win. Suddenly we've got a consequence, there is a bit more pressure, the heart rate starts going and you will focus a lot more on your practice than if you were just knocking balls out there on your own. And because we work on this principle that if you win that game, or win that shot you get to pick the next target, you certainly starts to realize where your strengths and weaknesses lie. You might start feeling that well I am always picking the short targets because I am better at the short targets and he is always picking the longer targets because he prefers the longer targets.

So if that's the case, you can then go work on your weakness. If every time they pick a target that's 100 yards away and you can’t hit that, and every time you pick a target that’s 25 yards away and you kind of hit that, you know where you need to go and practice, you need to go and practice the more difficult shots for you. So having that pick a target, nearest ball wins, move to another target. It’s a great game to make sure you are practicing shots, you are being competitive and when you go out in the golf course hopefully you will hit it closer with your short irons.