Archive for April, 2013

Define the Problem

Define the problem

The first step in championship problem solving is to make sure you determine the exact nature of your problem. Many a tournament has been lost by the player who attempts an impossible shot from the rough in the vain hope of making birdie where bogey will win the day. The six or seven he winds up making takes him right out of contention. Precisely defining the problem is an art in itself.

Golf teacher Tommy Armour, author of the timeless masterpiece of instruction, How to play your best golf all the time, was a master at finding a player’s problem and no one was better at accurately defining it. One day a club member approached him to schedule a lesson.

“What seems to be your problem?” questioned Armour.
“I can’t get backspin on my long-iron shots, like the pros do,” he said.
“How far do you hit your 3-iron?” asked Armour
“About 175 yards,” replied the member.
“Then why on earth would you want to put backspin on the ball?” asked Armour.

What’s your problem?

Is it lack of consistency, distance, three putting or you just want to improve but not sure how to?

Let me help you!

So stop focusing on back spin and move your golf game forward…
book a lesson now http://www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk/booking/ or call 07796 271661

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

The UK’s No1 Golf Coach where it counts – Results!

Five effective ways to improve the quality of your practice part one by Andrew Wood

Five effective ways to improve the quality of your practice part one 

Playing round after round, without intervening practice sessions, does little to improve your game. You may have a few real life experiences that prove you should have taken a penalty shot and dropped out of trouble, instead of hitting it deeper into the woods, but that’s learning the hard way. Here are five keys to quickly and dramatically improving your performance in your game, your business and your personal life.

1.         Record, shoot video or take notes

Keep a record of your actions and the results they produce for you. By recording your performance, on videotape if you are golfing, or by using audiotape or notes if you are at work, you can start to look for helpful or harmful patterns.

  • How many putts a round do you average?
  • Do you hit all your drives in the right rough or are most of your bad shots pulled?
  • What percentage of prospects do you close?

This type of self-evaluation will indicate clearly to you the areas most urgently in need of improvement? As you collect this valuable information, continue to take notes, writing down both the problem and solution. Chart your progress and monitor your results frequently, even daily.

In the heat of battle, it is amazing how even the most proficient among us tends to forget the simplest of fundamentals, like keeping our heads still, taking the clubhead away slowly or remembering to ask for a sale. Brief notes in a diary, on scraps of paper or even on table napkins have provided a written reminder of a key fundamental and resulted in victory in many a tournament. For some champions the secret is contained in a single word or phrase taped inside their locker door.

When Britain’s Tony Jacklin arrived at his locker on the final day of the 1970 US Open Championship, he found his good friend Tom Weiskopf had taped a message to the door. The message was short and sweet. There were only two words. “Tempo, Jacko.”

Now who would have thought the reigning British Open Champion, a man going into the final round with one of the biggest leads in US Open history, would need such basic advice. As it happened, Jacklin gave much of the credit for his victory to those two little words. The difficult Hazeltine National course made some of the big name players of the day pay a severe toll. Dave Hill, who finished second, said, “All this course lacks is 80 acres of corn and some cows.” Well, in spite of Hill’s lack of affection for the venue, Jacklin maintained that smooth tempo and became the first Briton to win the US Open since Ted Ray in 1920, and by seven shots, the second largest margin in history. Weiskopf’s little reminder helped him achieve his victory.

As you know, we may not always need to be told, but we do need to be reminded from time to time.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

The Greenside Bunker Shot Set Up

The Greenside Bunker Shot Set Up

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When setting up to play a regular greenside bunker shot there are a few important things to get right as this will go a long way in helping you to execute the shot.

Firstly I want to briefly describe the bounce of the club and what it does. The bounce of the wedge is there to help you and it will guide through the sand if used correctly.

As the bunkers have become better over the last few years, with the quality of the sand and drainage, manufactures have improved there wedges with varying degrees of loft’s and bounce angles. With this in mind you have all the correct tools to be playing this shot well. The only thing that is still “old school” is the way golfers set up to these shots, so I am going to explain the modern way of escaping the sand with ease.

“If the leading edge digs in, poor bunker shots will be the result. Remember the bounce of the wedge is your friend, so please use it”

Open the clubface a little as this will help encourage you to use the bounce of the wedge. Grip the club after you have opened the clubface a little and use your normal neutral grip. 

Take a nice wide stance a wriggle your feet into the sand a little as this helps you to feel the texture of the sand with your feet. It also lowers your centre of gravity ensuring sand is struck from under the ball.

Keep at least 70 percent of your weight on the left side as I want you to turn around your left side in the swing. Setting your weight forwards also helps create a consistent strike pattern in the sand. The feeling here is that you are braced into the left side.

Keep the ball position forward in the stance, just inside the left heel as this will help create a consistent strike pattern in the sand, forget the old cliché of looking 2 inches behind the ball as this set up will promote the strike pattern required, one less thing to worry about!!

The shaft angle should be leaning back just behind the ball as this will ensure the bounce of the wedge is being used. If you lean the shaft forwards you will start to dig in too much with the leading edge creating poor quality bunker shots.

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Keep the body alignment parallel to the target line as this will encourage you to swing the club down the target line and not across it, promoting pure backspin and not slice side spin.

Keep your posture angles nice and engaged as stranding slumped is a sure way to hit bad shots!!

I also like to feel that I am stretching out towards the ball a little with my arms as this lowers the shaft a little and helps create the soft swing arc required to play these shots well.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

 

Seve

Severiano Ballesteros was born on 9 April 1957 in Pedreña (Cantabria), a small village on the southern shore of the Bay of Santander in the north of Spain.

Baldomero, his father, had formed part of one of the best rowing crews in history in Spanish “traineras” (fixed bench fishermen’s boat). In Pedreña there is a great tradition for this type of tough sport, although golf also formed part of the atmosphere at that time-the 50’s and 60’s. if, in all the Pedreña homes one could always find a member of the family who had caddied at the Royal Pedreña Golf Club – a prestigious club inaugurated in 1928 by de King of Spain – in the Ballesteros family this was more than a customary as Seve’s older brothers Baldomero, Manuel and Vicente were all professional golfers, as was his uncle Ramon Sota, his mother’s brother, one of the best golfers in Europe in the sixties, winner of four Spanish Professionals Championships, sixth in the 1965 U.S. Masters and a member of runners-up teams at two World Cups, in 1963 and 1965 (behind the USA and South Africa, respectively), in addition to other important victories all over the world.

With this background, plus of course, impressive natural talent and his tremendous love of the game and enthusiasm for work, Seve, with a 3-iron his brother Manuel had given him as a present, invented a huge variety of shots that bestowed his game with enormous versatility.

At the age of 10 he took part in his first caddies tournament. He recorded a score of 51 over the 9 holes, beginning with a 10 on the first hole – a par 3. The following year, he came second with 42. At the age of 12, then playing the full 18 holes, he won the tournament with a score of 79. His made progress at lightening speed – at 13 he was already finishing with 65 – and he picked up everything he saw. In 1971, when the La Manga Club was officially opened, he was able to watch the great golfers in action. The golfing star that most impressed him was Gary Player and his spirit of sacrifice on the practice ground.

Seve din not have much chance to play at the Pedreña (Golf Club and for that reason he sharpened his skills mainly on the beach and only on nights with a full moon did he tiptoe down a play the course. Of course, he was caught out more than once and punished for his misbehaviour, which made him think seriously about his future.

Despite these obstacles, on 22 March 1974 he turned professional (he was not quite 17). His first tournament was the Spanish Professionals Championship at San Cugat. He came 20th, causing his great disappointment as his objective was no less than outright victory. His first triumph came in Pedreña when he won the under -25 Championship of Spain and the following week he vas runner – up at the Santander Open, al the North of Spain Circuit. At an international level, his best performance was at the Italian Open where he came 5th.

1976 was witness to his definite launching. Not as mucho for winning the Order of Merit with victories in the Dutch Open or Lancôme Trophy, catching up on the 4 shots Arnold Palmer had over him with 9 holes to go, or his triumphant World Cup Team win in California but for his performance, which catapulted him to world fame when he came second in the British Open at Royal Birkdale, sharing the honours with Jack Nicklaus as runners up to an unsociable Johnny Miller. Seve was leader of the tournament for the first three days, surprising everybody with a chip that he shot clean as a whistle between two bunkers, rolling too little over a metre from the pin, giving him a birdie on the last hole. The intense look on his face and his courage from that day onwards mesmerise the masses.

In 1977 he again came first on the Order of Merit and in 1978, with victories in the USA, Kenya and Japan; he became a truly international golfer. The truth is he achieved six consecutive tournament victories which, in addition, were over the remaining four continents after Europe. Seve won his first British Open in 1979, becoming the youngest winner of the century

His next appearance in a major was at the US Masters where, in 1980, he gain amazed everyone. With 9 holes to go he was 10 ahead of the player in second place… Seve holed 23 birdies an eagle. Augusta already had its winner. At 23 he became the second non-American and first European to wear the green jacket. It was really an incredible success. The church bells in his home town rang out in joy, however, in the rest of Spain little interest was roused.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex

 

Golf Chipping Tips – Chip it close every time!!

Chipping Address Position

A lot of golfers struggle in getting the chipping set up correct, which can lead to a lot of poor shots from around the green. Many golfers who come along for chipping lessons are under the impression of ‘the stance must be open, ball must be back in the stance and the hands must be way forward’. This unfortunately leads to poor swing paths, steep angles of attack and utilising the leading edge of the club rather than the bounce leaving no room for margin of error. This will lead to a lot of inconsistent shots, thin and heavy and off centre strikes.

How I like to see golfers set up to the ball for a straight forward chip shot from around the green is as follows –

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Keep the ball position just inside the left heel with the shaft angle almost straight up from the ball, I don’t mind if it leans a tiny bit towards the target, but not excessively. I would be happy if the top of the grip was in line with the centre of the ball. Keep your weight 60% on the left side and pivot around that point.  Your spine angle should be straight up, not tilting away from the target which is another trait of a poor chipper.

CIMG4628

The body alignment should be parallel to the target line as we want to promote a swing path that goes down the target line, not cut across it!! An open stance would promote you to cut across the ball, putting side spin on the ball. A stance that is parallel will help you swing the club down the target line promoting pure back spin so the ball will check a little then roll out on your desired line. Posture should be athletic and your distance to the ball should be quite close to help with the down the target line swing path. Keep the clubface square throughout the shot even long into the follow through as this will help achieve a great consistent ball roll.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex
Best Golf Chipping Tips from the UK’s No1 Golf Coach where it counts – Results!