Think And Prepare Like A Pro Golfer With Tour Winner's Tips

Grant Forrest in the finish position with driver watching his golf ball travel with an inset image of Grant Forrest discussing strategy and preparing for his next shot with his caddie in a DP World Tour event — Two-time DP World Tour winner Grant Forrest shares his tour insights and tips to help you play better golf

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

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.

LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS

If you’re a 15-handicapper you can’t expect to play like a scratch golfer. It sounds obvious but you don’t need to try to be a hero and take on near-impossible shots.

We all do it still at this level, and you don’t need to. We all turn into optimists when we get on the golf course.

Ask yourself the question, what is a good shot? For your own game, what actually is a good result?

For most amateurs, if you hit the middle of the green, that’s a great result.

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.

If you’re aiming for the middle of the green and don’t catch it, it will probably be fine.

WHY IT’S CALLED A ‘SWING’

It’s called a swing for a reason. You’re basically swinging a weight on the end of the stick and you’ve got to feel the weight of the club.

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.

This will naturally set the club on the right path. It’s 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’s going to help you.

Grant Forrest at the top of his backswing with driver — Grant Forrest is a big hitter who hits plenty of greens in regulation on the DP World Tour

PLAYING WITH NERVES

I’d always be worried if I wasn’t nervous. It means that you care so it’s something you have to manage and try and use to your advantage. You don’t want to be too highly strung and, when you’re on the course, you want to play from your comfort zone.

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

You might play every couple of weeks and in a handful of club competitions every year so it’s just about accepting nerves and knowing that they’re going to be there.

I’ve played well lots of times when I’ve been nervous – and so have you – and that’s a great thing to remember.

I think about my breathing a lot, especially in my putting. If you feel noticeably nervous or more nervous than normal – it’s going to be on an important shot or a higher-tariff shot – really focus on your breathing.

It can be as simple as taking deep and slower breaths. Everything tends to get quicker when you’re nervous so I’m always trying to do everything in slow motion when I’m feeling it.

THE MENTAL GAME

The important thing is your thought process, as part of your pre-shot routine, so do you have a clear intention on every shot? Often you don’t actually know what you’re trying to do.

Again, and this is crucial, what are you trying to achieve? Whether you execute or not, you are trying to play the right shot.

In terms of swing thoughts, most guys play with something in their head. It can vary day to day and that’s fine.

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.

Grant Forrest talking with his caddie while studying course guides before hitting a shot on a DP World Tour event — Preparation is key, so ensure your pre-shot routine is consistent and fit for purpose

THE WARM-UP

A golf warm-up is a practice session and it’s about finding that rhythm and hitting the shots that you’re going to need on the course.

One big thing is to pay attention to what you’re doing in the warm-up. If you’re hitting a draw in your warm-up, that’s the shot that’s there that day. Be comfortable with what you have.

There are so many great players out on tour and they only really stick to hitting one shot shape.

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’ve always played like that and I won’t play around with that too much.

Mark has worked in golf for over 20 years having started off his journalistic life at the Press Association and BBC Sport before moving to Sky Sports where he became their golf editor on skysports.com. He then worked at National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer where he was the deputy editor and he has interviewed many of the leading names in the game, both male and female, ghosted columns for the likes of Robert Rock, Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies, as well as playing the vast majority of our Top 100 GB&I courses. He loves links golf with a particular love of Royal Dornoch and Kingsbarns. He is now a freelance, also working for the PGA and Robert Rock. Loves tour golf, both men and women and he remains the long-standing owner of an horrific short game. He plays at Moortown with a handicap of 6.

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