Ryder Cup 

Great comment "As I stood over the ball I couldn't possibly ignore the silence"

Graeme Mcdowell on his opening tee shot in the Ryder Cup

28th September

MAGNIFICENT MICKLESON !!!

Pure class. Just look how he does not look up until the ball is well on its way and out of his influence. All golfers should and CAN do this !!

29th July

Fantastic passage below !!!! Practice it even without a club at home.

Do you warm up at all? Take a look at the below. It only takes 3 minutes .

Improve your flexiblity with a 5 minute daily workout ! (look in my shop menu)

"Routines become habits, habits become beliefs, beliefs become your destiny"

You just gotta start the routine first!

You Can Handle Any Lie!!!

When golf was invented there were no winter rules. For those that don’t know winter rules allow you give yourself a better lie anywhere on the course. So if you have a scruffy lie in the rough you can go ahead a tee that up.Nope.This is a fase representation of the player you are.When you play winter rules and are giving yourself a perfect lie everywhere, you’re be in trouble come the spring time.

Let me explain.

As the spring rolls in and the local courses go to summer rules (play the ball as it lies) you’ll struggle massively remembering how to play certain shots from all the various lies. That’s because in the winter you’re use to teeing the ball up. You don’t ever have to worry about grass behind the ball or anything. The ball will react the same coming out of every perfect lie.We all know that’s not the case when you play the ball as it lies since you’ll hardly see a perfect lie.

So by playing the ball down throughout the ugly winter and less than ideal course conditions, you’ll become so much better at hitting shots from different lies. This will help you early in the spring as every else is adjusting to playing the ball down and whenever you have those nasty lies.

A Constant spine angle is the key !! (this will give you stability and balance in the swing). I love Tom Watson's simple aproach to this. Please look at clip below.

What a gem of a tip for any golfer !!!

Towards the end of your warm up or practice session play the first few holes on the range.  Pick out the club you would hit off the first tee and go through your entire routine.  Wherever the shot goes and how you hit it imagine your second shot and the club you now would hit. Do the same for every shot and so-on.  Maybe you missed the green, I challenge you to pull out your wedge and hit a little pitch shot maybe over a bunker!  You get the picture; do this little exercise for a few holes.  The more you can use your imagination the more realistic and it will translate to better play when you get over to the first tee.  

Spring/Summer golf

First thing to do is to healthcheck your clubs with myself or a qualified PGA professional. Are the grips in good enough condition (and the right size)? are the loft and lies right for you?Are your gooves on the wedges suitable ? If you been putting off purchasing some clubs now is the time really before the season really "kicks in"!

Winter Golf

Once you are on the course, you will find that your ball will not travel as far in the cold weather. So you must use more club and a lower trajectory club to obtain the same result you would expect to see in the summer months. You may want to use a harder ball (one that will spin less), to add additional distance.

Swing Changes

Anytime an amateur makes a swing change they tend to miss-hit shots. Then they discard what they are trying to change or what a teacher has been working on with them. What golfers need to remember is that anytime you make a swing change, it changes the timing and synchronicity of the golf swing. This takes time to get it back and it only comes back with practice.

Left arm straight ???

"Keeping the left arm straight at the top is not a requirement for a good swing, but the left arm must absolutely be straight at impact !" Harvey Penick

Bunker Skills

A simple exercise to train your bunker play is to place your foot in the bunker in the direction you want the ball to go in and then place a ball in the centre of the footprint. Quite simply practice entering the sand at the heel and exiting at the toe. This encourages a shallow angle of attack taking the correct amount of sand !! Good luck

The famous American coach Harvey Penick said "Nothing you do in the swing should be at the sacrifice of balance". I love this quote, and believe the following exercise will test your balance and with practice really improve this important area of the swing. Try this:

• Use a 6-iron at first with the ball on a tee peg
• Stand with your feet touching with the ball in the middle of your stance (Pic1)
• Make a 3/4 swing back and through maintaining perfect balance throughout (Pic2 & 3)

The object of the drill is to not fall over or topple one way or another !! Once you've done this then widen your stance to shoulder width and feel the same centred balance point as you hit balls. A true test of a swing is the ability to hit the ball hard while keeping balance !! Can you ?