Posts Tagged ‘Golf Lessons Kent’

Simple Changes – Huge Improvements

 

 

Today I had a  client in for a lesson who had been struggling with his game for a couple of months. He had been putting off the lesson for a couple of reasons, one of which was the weather, I must admit it has not been to warm recently..

Within 5 minutes we had him hitting the ball so solid he said “I wish I had come to see you sooner. I have been struggling on for a few weeks now, trying to adjust things myself, but just could not put my finger on it”.

Let’s look at the improvements that we made.

Nev 1

THE PROBLEM

As we look at the photo above we can see that my client was over reaching for the golf ball (left photo). His hands were to far away from his legs and this was encouraging his weight to be to much on his toes at the address. The ball position was to far forward in his stance (right photo) causing him to hit the ground before the ball, heavy contact and very little distance.  As he made his backswing the natural tendency was to lift his body up out of his posture. He did this to move his weight into the center’s of his feet to enable the body to turn in some kind of balance. With all this movement in the backswing the downswing resembled the same, with his body dropping down towards the ball in an aid to get back to his original set up position. The outcome of all of this was very weak strikes lacking distance.

THE IMPROVEMENTS

Nev 2 (2)

We worked on a posture drill to get him standing closer to the ball. This allowed for the arms to hang down freely from the shoulders and the weight was nicely balanced in the feet 50/50. We also moved the ball back a fraction in the stance so that the angle of attack would be a lot more consistent and this would improve the consistency in the strike. Now as he made his swing the body stayed in shape as he turned his body in the backswing and forward swing. There was no lifting and dropping of the body during the swing and the nett result – much better contact on the ball and full distance was regained in a matter of minutes.

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

 

 

 

Golf Quiz

Golf Quiz

So how good is your Golf Knowledge, try this quiz from www.paulsquiz.com

  1. What is the name of the Amateur golfer who set the 1998 British Open golf tournament alight and has since gone to obscurity?
  2. Which golfer is known as the Walrus?
  3. Which course is the traditional home of the Masters?
  4. What is the name of the resort in Southern California that is generally recognised as the American Golf capital, due to the high number of golf courses and year round sun-shine?
  5. what is the maximum amount of time allowed to look for a lost ball?
  6. In 1967 which golfer made the first televised hole in one?
  7. Who won his only British open Golf Championship at Royal St Georges, Sandwich in 1985?
  8. Over how many holes is the British Open Golf tournament contested?
  9. Who did Nick Faldo sensationally beat to win his third Masters?
  10. In August 1996 who made his surprising debut as a pro in the Czech Open
  11. Which South African won the British Open in 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1957?
  12. Which trophy is played for by women golfers from the United States in competition with Britain and Ireland?
  13. Which US golfer had 11 successive tournament wins in 1945?
  14. Which US president’s home was alongside the course on which the US Masters is played?
  15. Who captained the European team to victory in the 1995 Ryder Cup?
  16. Who headed the European Order of Merit between 1971 and 1974?
  17. Who is nicknamed ‘The Great White Shark’?
  18. Who is ‘The Golden Bear’?
  19. Who opposed the US in the Ryder Cup between 1973 and 1977?
  20. Who was involved with John Daley in the 1995 British Open play-off?
  21. Who was the first Englishman to win the US Open after World War II?
  22. Who was the first German to win the German Open?
  23. Who was the first non-American post-war winner of the US Masters?
  24. Who won the English Amateur Championship in 1975 aged 18?
  25. Who won the US Masters in 1986 for a record sixth time?

ANSWERS POSTED TOMORROW.

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

 

Great Improvements Made

Gab 1

Had a client of mine pop in for a lesson today and we made some tremendous upgrades to her swing. The key thing we focused on was improving her body turn/pivot.

As you can see in the above image (left picture) the swing before we made any changes. The hip turn was poor and as a result the swing had got long with a cupped left wrist which caused a very open clubface.

The main focus was incredibly simple; we focused on letting the right leg straighten a little in the backswing (right picture above). This in turn naturally shortened the golf swing as the core was more engaged.  This also made it easier to get the left wrist in a much flatter position at the top of the backswing. Having the left wrist set better in the backswing ensured a square clubface which made it so much easier through impact which resulted in soft baby draws!!

Gab 2

The left picture above shows that the club was over plane in the downswing, this was a direct result all stemming from a poor body pivot which lead to a long swing with an open clubface. This makes it hard to control the accuracy of the golf shots and also lacks power and distance was being lost.

The right picture above shows the swing being on plane and in balance with a square clubface. Once again the swing thought was very simple, just let your right leg straighten a little in the backswing and hay presto we upgraded the left wrist position, clubface position and downswing plane which all lead to much greater accuracy and powerful iron shots.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Improve Your Chipping Around The Greens

IMPROVE YOUR TOUCH AROUND THE GREEN

A lot of golfers struggle when it comes to the close shots around the greens, this is an area that will improve your scores significantly if you become very good at chipping.

In this video tip PGA Golf Coach Mark Wood talks about the importance of distance control when chipping and how you can go about improving it.

If you practise this you will become a better chipper of the golf ball.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

HOW TO STOP THINNING YOUR WEDGES

HOW TO STOP THINNING YOUR WEDGES

It is so frustrating after you have hit a couple of reasonable shots on a par 4 or par 5 and are left with a nice 70 yard pitch into the green and then it happens, you skull it right across the back of the green!!

On minute you are looking to finish the hole off in a tour pro like fashion and the next minute you are searching for your ball in the long grass….

Lets stop this pain and watch the video as PGA Golf Coach Mark Wood explains the main common reasons as to why you might be thinning your wedge shots and how to fix it instantly.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

HOW DANNY WILLETT DOES IT

This is it, the final tournament of 2015 on the European Tour. Danny Willett is just 1613 points behind current leader Rory McIIroy and a good finish from either player this week will more than likely be crowned European Number 1. They do need a good finish though as there are a handful of players that could do the business if they both missed the cut.

The thing I like about Willett is his ability to work around his limitations given his physical condition. Willett has a long term injury that affects the amount of hip rotation he can produce. The team that surrounds Danny Willett have worked hard to help him develop a technique to work to so that the injury does not affect how he plays and scores around the golf course.

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

Danny Willett Swing Sequence

 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Explosive Distance

smash

Explosive Distance from the Tee

One way of creating energy in the golf swing is to increase the pressure point between your feet and ground in a backswing. Many golfers as they swing back pull the force up away from the ground and this creates a negative effect on creating power. Think of jumping up into the air if you kept your pressure of your feet very light on the ground and then jumped you will not get very high. If you increase your pressure down into the ground before you jumped you would jump much higher as it gives you more energy from a solid base.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Mark’s 5 Top Tips for Great Golf

Mark’s 5 Top Tips for Great Golf

  1. Know your iron distances. Just by knowing how far you actually hit each club in the bag can save you up to 5 shots in a round of golf. Make it a priory to know exactly how far each club carries, use launch monitors and range finders as this will quickly and easily identify your yardages for you.
  2. Love your wedges. Carry 3 wedges in your golf bag, an example of lofts might be 47 degree, 53 degree and 58 degrees. This will give you more variety on playing your short game shots. Learn 3 distances with each wedge for pitching. Hip to Hip, Chest to Chest and full swing as this will really sharpen up the pitching game. Have different lofts also helps in the bunkers and a lot of the time you can you your 58 for short greenside bunker shots and your 53 degree for longer greenside bunker shots.
  3. Get your driver fitted. Most of the time golfers will just buy the driver from off the pro shop shelf. This will cost you distance as you will most likely end up with the wrong shaft and loft combination. Spend some time with a PGA Professional and get them to fit you on a launch monitor. This way you will get a driver fitted and suited to you and your golf swing helping you maximise your distance and accuracy.
  4. Good Rhythm is Key. “My swing just does not feel good”. This is a lot of comments I sometimes get from very good golfers. Quite often they have just lost the rhythm of their golf swing. The recipe for finding that silky rhythm is to hit lots of short irons making half swings, then three-quarter length swings and really slowing things down. It is amazing how the swing mechanics then take care of themselves and all of a sudden they comfortable again. The best quick tip in golf is to focus on your rhythm and balance.
  5. Think before Teeing Off. One key strategy in playing any golf hole is to focus on where you would like to be playing the next shot from. If that means on a tight treeline par 4 that a hybrid off the tee would work better than trying to steer a driver up the fairway then play the hybrid. If your second shot is a tough one over water and you are not sure if you can carry it then lay up to a distance that you like for your third shot into the green. The key here is to play within you and have a strategy (game plan) in playing each and every hole. It is what the Pro’s do!!

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

One for the Bucket List

One to add to your bucket list this year……………………………….

The World’s Most Dangerous Golf Course!

I have discovered a great website called www.guy-sports.com

Which has some great funny golf stories and jokes and the following article describing in their opinion the world’s most dangerous golf course, this is defina

Play with Care!

Will and Guy feel that we have found the world’s most dangerous and frightening golf course. It can be found in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea at Panmunjom.

The course is in Camp Bonifas and sadly only offers one hole: a 192-yard par 3. We can add that it provides the US soldiers, some 50 strong, with fun activity.  We ought to include the fact that it has live landmines scattered throughout the rough!

“Danger! Do not retrieve balls from the rough; live mine fields” greets visitors before they step onto the course, which contains an AstroTurf putting green and, for some reason, a gun tower. The minefields surround the hole, and at least one mine is said to have exploded due to an errant slice.

The course was named after the late U.S. Army Captain Arthur Bonifas.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

 

 

 

 

 

How to BOMB your Driver

Bomb the Driver

How to BOMB your Driver

WIDEN YOUR STANCE TO SET YOUR SPINE ANGLE
For a normal set up to the ball we have our feet shoulder width apart, this gives you mobility and balance for the full swing. But when you really want to notch it up a gear to hit the long BOMB from the tee, I want you to widen your stance a few inches. Keep the ball opposite the left heel and widen out the stance with the right foot. This will tilt your spine more behind the ball and will naturally drop your head more behind the ball as well. More weight will be felt down your right leg and into your foot; this is absolutely fine – just go with the feel of it.

TURN YOUR SHOULDERS FULLY
A typical fault that most golfers do when they are trying to generate more distance is to generally make the swing quicker- quicker in the backswing!!
If this happens you rush to the top of the backswing, arms and body out of sync and a real poor short body rotation. This is a big power lose in a golf swing.
Just concentrate on making a smooth backswing turning your shoulders fully, a good thought to have is to get your left shoulder behind the ball at the completion of the backswing.

LET’S RIP IT
Now you are fully coiled in the backswing now is the time to let rip……
You need to shift your weight into your left side with a slight lateral movement before you start your rotation, this will drop your club on the perfect plane on the downswing, just slightly on the inside. Keep the body turn speed up and focus on keeping the clubhead accelerating into the back of the ball and all the way through to the finish of the swing.

Enjoy the extra distance and enjoy bombing it past you’re playing partners.

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent