Tuesday 20 October 2015
The Goal
My goal is simple; to obtain a UK handicap certificate stating I have a playing handicap of 0. Along the way I hope to learn about the golf swing, scoring, the improvement process, and most importantly myself. Using what I learn I hope to be able to offer advice to others about how they can get the most out of their golf games. In particular I hope be able to find methods that increase the speed at which we can all improve.
These Guys Are Good - Part Two
Although possibly not as impressive as their long games, the short games of tour pros are every bit as good.
When it come to putting, three putts are incredibly rare. The reasons for this are good distance control and solid short putting. These guys hardly ever miss from inside three feet so a two putt is pretty much guaranteed if the first putt is within that range. The importance of distance control is obvious when given some thought. It is far easier to hit a putt four feet too far than it is to misread a putt by four feet. When on the practice green before the round most players tried to stay to the flatter parts of the green. I believe that this is to help them get a better sense of the speed of the greens. The short putts are generally hit firmly and the players look confident over these putts. Rolling short putts in with some pace is advantageous because it reduces the amount of break the player needs to allow for. It also has few downsides because in the worst case scenario where the putt is missed, the return putt is still only around two feet.
While difficult to observe without following a group, course management is also worth a mention. The twelfth hole on the Marquess' course at Woburn is a classic risk and reward short par four. It is drive-able for many players but water short and on the right means many golfers elected to play the lay up with a shorter club. Watching on the Friday, I noticed that the majority of the players taking a shot a driving the green needed to make some birdies to make the cut. This shows just how many golfers felt it was not worth the risk, particularly with their fantastic wedge games. Of those who elected to lay there were many different distances of shots left to the green. Very few left themselves under sixty yards to the green while some left more than one hundred yards to the pin. This comes down to what shot they are most comfortable playing where as most amateurs would be tempted to get as close to the green as possible.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat taught me the lesson of taking your medicine. On the par three seventeenth he was left with a chip shot that was almost impossible to stop near the hole. I feel that in this situation many amateurs would get too greedy and leave the shot in the rough just in front of them trying to get as close as possible. Aphibarnrat on the other hand made sure of getting onto the green. While his shot ran some thirty feet past the hole he almost eliminated the chance of making a five by leaving the ball in the rough. This demonstrates how confidence in putting can affect your decision making around the green because without the belief he would two putt he may have tried the more risky shot.
While this is the last post exclusively about my trip to the British Masters I learnt so much from the experience I am sure I will refer to it many more times. Finally, I will leave a link to the results of the tournament where you can also view the stats for the week.
British Masters Leaderboard
When it come to putting, three putts are incredibly rare. The reasons for this are good distance control and solid short putting. These guys hardly ever miss from inside three feet so a two putt is pretty much guaranteed if the first putt is within that range. The importance of distance control is obvious when given some thought. It is far easier to hit a putt four feet too far than it is to misread a putt by four feet. When on the practice green before the round most players tried to stay to the flatter parts of the green. I believe that this is to help them get a better sense of the speed of the greens. The short putts are generally hit firmly and the players look confident over these putts. Rolling short putts in with some pace is advantageous because it reduces the amount of break the player needs to allow for. It also has few downsides because in the worst case scenario where the putt is missed, the return putt is still only around two feet.
While difficult to observe without following a group, course management is also worth a mention. The twelfth hole on the Marquess' course at Woburn is a classic risk and reward short par four. It is drive-able for many players but water short and on the right means many golfers elected to play the lay up with a shorter club. Watching on the Friday, I noticed that the majority of the players taking a shot a driving the green needed to make some birdies to make the cut. This shows just how many golfers felt it was not worth the risk, particularly with their fantastic wedge games. Of those who elected to lay there were many different distances of shots left to the green. Very few left themselves under sixty yards to the green while some left more than one hundred yards to the pin. This comes down to what shot they are most comfortable playing where as most amateurs would be tempted to get as close to the green as possible.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat taught me the lesson of taking your medicine. On the par three seventeenth he was left with a chip shot that was almost impossible to stop near the hole. I feel that in this situation many amateurs would get too greedy and leave the shot in the rough just in front of them trying to get as close as possible. Aphibarnrat on the other hand made sure of getting onto the green. While his shot ran some thirty feet past the hole he almost eliminated the chance of making a five by leaving the ball in the rough. This demonstrates how confidence in putting can affect your decision making around the green because without the belief he would two putt he may have tried the more risky shot.
While this is the last post exclusively about my trip to the British Masters I learnt so much from the experience I am sure I will refer to it many more times. Finally, I will leave a link to the results of the tournament where you can also view the stats for the week.
British Masters Leaderboard
Monday 19 October 2015
These Guys Are Good - Part One
Last week marked the return of the British Masters to the European Tour, and as this it is the nearest event to where I live I decided to make the trip to spectate at Woburn. The first thing most people notice is the length of tour courses, with the Marquess' course at Woburn playing at around 7200 yards. However the length of the Marquess' course is not the only challenge, it is tree-lined putting a premium on driving accuracy and the greens are undulating. This makes it a test of all components of a player's game.
The main lesson I learnt from watching some of the best players in the world was just how accurate these players are. The winner of the tournament, Matthew Fitzpatrick, hit 80.4% of fairways throughout the week, the equivalent of just over 11 per round. I was even more impressed with the players' accuracy with the irons as I watched them fire right at pins I for now can only imagine going straight at.
Something I have never been able to pick up on television is the shot shaping of tour players. We are so used to hearing that certain players prefer hitting a draw or a fade but I had not realised what this meant in reality. When a five handicap player says they hit a fade, they normally mean about 20 yards of movement in the air, whereas when a tour player says they hit a fade they mean 5 or 10 yards of movement. This gives them far more choices in terms of shot selection. For me the dogleg left second at Woburn looked like it had to be a draw off the tee. The reason for this is I while I can hit a draw or a fade, I struggle to control the amount of draw or fade and I would be worried about losing the ball too far right with a fade. However some touring professionals who are more comfortable working the left to right still hit a fade on this hole because they are only moving it a relatively small amount from left to right.
While watching on the practice range I saw first hand the many different techniques and ball flights from tour players. Peter Hanson could be seen hitting the ball long and straight, while Johan Edfors was working a high draw. Miguel Angle Jimenez has a much flatter swing than others and Luke Donald looks far more controlled in his tempo. The common factor with all the players is they have consistent swings in which they trust. They are all comfortable with their swings are trust that they work for them. From the point of a consistent swing they can then use small changes in equipment to fine tune their performance. This is in contrast to most amateurs who are often trying to make swing changes and wishing their swing was different to how it currently is rather than trusting what they have.
These are some of my observations of the long game of the best players' around and I will continue tomorrow with some observations on their short game and course management.
British Masters Leaderboard
The main lesson I learnt from watching some of the best players in the world was just how accurate these players are. The winner of the tournament, Matthew Fitzpatrick, hit 80.4% of fairways throughout the week, the equivalent of just over 11 per round. I was even more impressed with the players' accuracy with the irons as I watched them fire right at pins I for now can only imagine going straight at.
Something I have never been able to pick up on television is the shot shaping of tour players. We are so used to hearing that certain players prefer hitting a draw or a fade but I had not realised what this meant in reality. When a five handicap player says they hit a fade, they normally mean about 20 yards of movement in the air, whereas when a tour player says they hit a fade they mean 5 or 10 yards of movement. This gives them far more choices in terms of shot selection. For me the dogleg left second at Woburn looked like it had to be a draw off the tee. The reason for this is I while I can hit a draw or a fade, I struggle to control the amount of draw or fade and I would be worried about losing the ball too far right with a fade. However some touring professionals who are more comfortable working the left to right still hit a fade on this hole because they are only moving it a relatively small amount from left to right.
While watching on the practice range I saw first hand the many different techniques and ball flights from tour players. Peter Hanson could be seen hitting the ball long and straight, while Johan Edfors was working a high draw. Miguel Angle Jimenez has a much flatter swing than others and Luke Donald looks far more controlled in his tempo. The common factor with all the players is they have consistent swings in which they trust. They are all comfortable with their swings are trust that they work for them. From the point of a consistent swing they can then use small changes in equipment to fine tune their performance. This is in contrast to most amateurs who are often trying to make swing changes and wishing their swing was different to how it currently is rather than trusting what they have.
These are some of my observations of the long game of the best players' around and I will continue tomorrow with some observations on their short game and course management.
British Masters Leaderboard
Wednesday 7 October 2015
My Current Range Routine
In my quest to improve I plan to address every element of my game and how I practice it. Here I will go through how I currently practice my long game in order to analyse how I can improve my practice.
When I get to the range I always spend around 5 minutes stretching and for me the most important stretches to do are ones for my thoracic spine. Before I started doing these I was always stiff for the first few shots of my practice session which I am sure only increased my chance of injury. Now I am almost ready to go straight from the first shot.
I usually start hitting with an 8 iron and for the first 2 or 3 shots I pay very little attention to the result. Regardless of how loose I feel my first shots are never going to be my best so I almost completely disregard the result of these shots. Also, for this reason I always make sure I hit at least a few shots before I go out to play. Following a few shots with my 8 iron I move into a 6 iron and begin to pay more attention to the results. After a few shots with a 6 iron, I hit a few shots with one of my hybrids, then a few shots with my driver.
I am now fully warmed up and am ready to begin the real part of my practice session. What I work on depends on if I am trying to make a swing change, get ready for a competition, or just generally sharpen my game. I try to hit as many different clubs as I can. I have never been one for spending hours using just a 6 iron to make a change because I have found I learn more quickly if I hit as many different shots as possible. If I am trying to just sharpen my game I try to hit as many different shots as possible. I find it has helped my skill level incredibly since I have started hitting draws, fades, high shots, and low shots on the range. To do this I generally do not generally focus too much on technique. I just check my setup is how I want it to be and let my body work out how to get the ball to the target in the way I want to. If I am getting ready for a competition I will often try to hit the shots I know I will need in the event. For example, if I am play a short course I may practice more with my hybrids because I know I will not always need a driver off the tee. Or if I know it is likely to be windy for the event I will practice hitting more low shots than normal.
For me, part of the point of this post is to be able to look back in one year's time and see how my routine has changed. I will be very interested to see how my practice changes as my handicap drops.
When I get to the range I always spend around 5 minutes stretching and for me the most important stretches to do are ones for my thoracic spine. Before I started doing these I was always stiff for the first few shots of my practice session which I am sure only increased my chance of injury. Now I am almost ready to go straight from the first shot.
I usually start hitting with an 8 iron and for the first 2 or 3 shots I pay very little attention to the result. Regardless of how loose I feel my first shots are never going to be my best so I almost completely disregard the result of these shots. Also, for this reason I always make sure I hit at least a few shots before I go out to play. Following a few shots with my 8 iron I move into a 6 iron and begin to pay more attention to the results. After a few shots with a 6 iron, I hit a few shots with one of my hybrids, then a few shots with my driver.
I am now fully warmed up and am ready to begin the real part of my practice session. What I work on depends on if I am trying to make a swing change, get ready for a competition, or just generally sharpen my game. I try to hit as many different clubs as I can. I have never been one for spending hours using just a 6 iron to make a change because I have found I learn more quickly if I hit as many different shots as possible. If I am trying to just sharpen my game I try to hit as many different shots as possible. I find it has helped my skill level incredibly since I have started hitting draws, fades, high shots, and low shots on the range. To do this I generally do not generally focus too much on technique. I just check my setup is how I want it to be and let my body work out how to get the ball to the target in the way I want to. If I am getting ready for a competition I will often try to hit the shots I know I will need in the event. For example, if I am play a short course I may practice more with my hybrids because I know I will not always need a driver off the tee. Or if I know it is likely to be windy for the event I will practice hitting more low shots than normal.
For me, part of the point of this post is to be able to look back in one year's time and see how my routine has changed. I will be very interested to see how my practice changes as my handicap drops.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Why Is This Possible?
A quick search of the internet will show how many people out there are trying to get to scratch. There are many people blogging with a very similar goal to me, some will achieve it, some will not. To show the size of the challenge here are some statistics. In the USA 1.6% of golfers with a handicap are at 0.0 or lower according to the USGA website. However this only includes golfers with a handicap, this does not include the many people who play regularly but not in competition. The actual percentage of golfers with a scratch handicap no one can know.
The main reason I feel I can achieve my goal is I plan to work in the most efficient way possible. I feel the main reason the vast majority of golfers are not close to scratch, 10% in the USA are off 4.9 or less, is a lack of time to practice. While at the moment I have far more time available to me to play golf than most people, I still feel that the key is getting the most out of my practice time. I have some ideas of ways in which I can improve my efficiency while practicing but I do feel more testing is needed before I share these methods.
Another reason I feel people do not reach scratch is that they do not understand what a scratch golfer does differently to them. I have been fortunate enough this year to play golf with some very good players and I have realized that scratch golfers are all different. They all have different swings, different pre-shot routines, and different personalities. However, the one thing I think they all have in common is that they all know their games. By this I mean that they know their strengths and they play to them, while at the same same time they work around their weaknesses. I know one player for example who would regularly lay up to between 90 and 110 yards on par fives even if there was a chance he could get near in two shots. This is because he was far more confident in his distance wedge game than his chipping.
While playing with different scratch and low handicap golfers I have also learnt that a scratch player is not perfect. Even Ben Hogan said "Golf is not a game of good shots. It's a game of bad shots." This comes from possibly the greatest ball striker ever, and yet people have the idea of scratch golfers never hitting bad shots. While a scratch golfer's mistakes are not as significant as most other players' mistakes, they still make them.
I believe that it is because of this that people do not believe they can get to scratch. They do not think the idea of playing perfect golf is possible, and they are probably right. The lowest round I have witnessed in person was 5 under par and even that round included a shot into a hazard and a hook that nearly went out of bounds. Perfect golf is not needed to become a scratch player and because I believe this, I feel I have made the task of getting there much easier.
The main reason I feel I can achieve my goal is I plan to work in the most efficient way possible. I feel the main reason the vast majority of golfers are not close to scratch, 10% in the USA are off 4.9 or less, is a lack of time to practice. While at the moment I have far more time available to me to play golf than most people, I still feel that the key is getting the most out of my practice time. I have some ideas of ways in which I can improve my efficiency while practicing but I do feel more testing is needed before I share these methods.
Another reason I feel people do not reach scratch is that they do not understand what a scratch golfer does differently to them. I have been fortunate enough this year to play golf with some very good players and I have realized that scratch golfers are all different. They all have different swings, different pre-shot routines, and different personalities. However, the one thing I think they all have in common is that they all know their games. By this I mean that they know their strengths and they play to them, while at the same same time they work around their weaknesses. I know one player for example who would regularly lay up to between 90 and 110 yards on par fives even if there was a chance he could get near in two shots. This is because he was far more confident in his distance wedge game than his chipping.
While playing with different scratch and low handicap golfers I have also learnt that a scratch player is not perfect. Even Ben Hogan said "Golf is not a game of good shots. It's a game of bad shots." This comes from possibly the greatest ball striker ever, and yet people have the idea of scratch golfers never hitting bad shots. While a scratch golfer's mistakes are not as significant as most other players' mistakes, they still make them.
I believe that it is because of this that people do not believe they can get to scratch. They do not think the idea of playing perfect golf is possible, and they are probably right. The lowest round I have witnessed in person was 5 under par and even that round included a shot into a hazard and a hook that nearly went out of bounds. Perfect golf is not needed to become a scratch player and because I believe this, I feel I have made the task of getting there much easier.
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