Mark Wood Golf Academy

Posts Tagged ‘Golf Lesson Tunbridge Wells’

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.

Ben Hogan had a similar laserlike approach to problem solving. He believed in breaking the problem down to its simplest form. Late in 1992 he sat down for lunch with one of his greatest admires, Nick Faldo, who had recently won
his third British Open. Both men realized they had similar attitudes to hard work, practice and determination. For his part, Faldo was fascinated by Hogan. He found himself in total agreement with everything the Hawk said. At one point during lunch, Faldo asked Hogan for any advice he might have on how to win the US Open. Hogan remained silent. As their meeting was about to end, Faldo again asked if there was one secret that could help him win that elusive US Open. “Shoot lower scores,” responded the great champion.

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

Gene Sarazen Wedges

Before Gene Sarazen invented the sand wedge, most golfers played recovery shots from sand with a 9-iron. Because the blade was so sharp this required enormous skill, leaving little or no margin of error for any but the most talented player. Sarazen came up with his idea for a sand wedge while he was a passenger on an airplane one day. He noticed how the wing flaps affected the flight of the ’plane when they were extended. When the aircraft landed, he called the Wilson sporting goods company and asked them to send him six niblicks (9-irons). Then he went to the local hardware store and bought all the solder they had in stock. For the next few days Sarazen spent all his waking hours experimenting with the 9-irons by adding mass in different shapes and amounts to the sole of the club. He realized immediately he was on to something and he kept on soldering and filing and trying again until he got it right. The result was the world’s first true sand wedge and, so far as bunker play was concerned, a greatly improved Gene Sarazen.

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

PITCHING STANCE “SQUARE OR OPEN”

A way that pitching is still commonly taught is to stand way open with the ball deep back in your stance to promote a descending blow resulting in a ball turf strike.

If this is your way of pitching be careful as this will more often than not cause you to swing left down your body line, cutting across the ball promoting excessive side spin. I often find that golfers who pitch with the ball deep back in there stance will tend to favour the weight back too, resulting in a scooping action creating thin and very heavy shots.

“With the help of flightscope launch monitor and video we can now work closely with the player to get the maximum accuracy and control on these shots”

The modern approach to playing pitch shots is to stand square to the ball as this promotes many good qualities that good pitchers have –

• They use the bounce of the club so the leading edge does not dig in creating heavy shots.
• They stand square to the target line to promote a good swing path for greater accuracy.
• They play the ball forward in their stance to promote the correct angle of attack to maximise spin control.
• Their weight favors their target side and stays there throughout the shot creating the good ball turf bruising strike.
• They have a shallow angle of attack.

Ball forward in stance for a good angle of attack with the weight
on the left side.

Body Alignment parallel to target line for a better swing path.

A great way to practise pitching is to put a work station down so you can practise more effectively from a good square set.

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

One of Mark’s most promising upcoming clients Laird Shepherd (age 13) shot an impressive gross 72 nett 57 to win the Littlehampton junior open yesturday. This will bring Laird’s handicap down to 10. He will be playing tomorrow for Sussex against Essex and Kent at Holtye.

Keep up the good form Laird and great lesson today on chipping and distance putting.

Well done to Mark’s following clients with there recent wins and scores.

Bill Shelley won the May Stableford with 39 points.
Phil Parkman and Brian Pennels both scored 40 points this week and Brian won on countback.
Andrea Pilcher scored an impressive 39 points in the ladies this week.

Well done to all and keep up with the great progress.

Golf Lessons do produce winners

Well done to Mark Wood Golf Academy client Andy Stevens on his recent Monthly Medal win with a nett 66.

Andy had a lesson prior to his round and we worked on his swing plane and address position. This resulted in Andy winning the Monthly medal and reducing his handicap.

More Wins for Mark Wood Golf Academy clients

Well done to the following clients who have won competitions this week at Dale Hill golf club.

Ann and Eric Clark won the Douglas Barder with 42 points.

Yoko Nitta – Martn won the ladies div 3 medal with a nett 66 and has had her handicap reduced by 3.

Lesley Chipperfield won the ladies div 1 medal with a nett 72 and reduced her handicap by .3.

Christine Gibbons has also been winning and has her handicap reduced by a couple of shots as well.

Well done all and keep up with the progress of improvement.

Ron Stevens secures another win.

Well done to Ron Stevenes with his win on Tuesday with 40 points. Ron’s regaular coaching slot on a Wednesday Morning with Mark and the Tams/Seniors group has played a big roll in his win.

Two more wins for Mark Wood Golf Academy Students

Well done to Lynne Novis for scoring 40 points in the ladies stableford last Saturday, not only did Lynne win but she also got her handicap reduced by 2.

Well done to Malcom Forrest on winning the Tams Stableford with 36 points on the Woosie course on Tuesday.

Keep up the good work all.

Giles Gill Wins Junior Stapleford with 41 Points

MWGA player Giles Gill had a lesson with me yesturday morning and we worked on some things in his set up and then his early take back from the ball. After a short time in the lesson Giles was hitting it great and then went on to play and win the Junior Stableford at Dale Hill golf club that afternoon.

Wow!! results can happen that fast.

Keep up the good work Gilly.