Just in time!
I hope you had a good week last week! So golf returns on the 29th March, assuming everything goes to plan! Just in time for the golf season so I’m sure the club will be busy from then on!
Just a quick reminder that when we do get back, there will of course be restrictions in place to make the club safer for everyone. However, I’m sure you are all used to it by now! Read on to see my “tip of the week”, plus a bit more information on some of the products we are stocking in the pro shop this year... Tip of the week
Now I just want to remind you before I share this tip that my tips include drills that have helped my personal golf game in the past. So if they are a little unusual then it may be something that I have come up with.
The tip this week is to learn to putt with different clubs! Obviously, it doesn’t need to be every single club, but for me, it was a wedge, an iron, and my woods. This is of course something you can do at home, but just note that your woods tend to have a trampoline effect, meaning the ball may come off the face quicker than you might expect! So, even though you are just doing a putting stroke, I think you would be best putting something behind your target so that you don’t damage any skirting boards or anything.
Now here is my thinking behind this drill and why I think it improves not only your putting, but your feel and rhythm too: A couple of years ago I was part of the Lee Westwood golf school, just for a couple of months as something to do in my year off after A-levels. Although I wasn’t too keen on their methods, I did get to play with some great low handicappers and learnt a few things from them. While on our trip to Spain, we were all playing on a small par 3 course for fun using only one club, which for all of us was some sort of wedge. This obviously meant we needed to putt with our chosen club as if it was a putter. What I noticed was that all the golfers with the best putting and short game also putted really well with their wedge!
Those who weren’t great putters struggled to putt with anything but a putter. I thought this couldn’t be a coincidence so I decided to practice with my wedge. As soon as I got better with that, I moved onto my other clubs. What I found was that by using all these different clubs to putt, I was forced to understand more about each club, for example, the length and weight of the club and how it affected the small putting stroke. For me I believed this improved my feel with clubs, allowing me to be more versatile with the shots I wanted to play. In terms of this helping your putting, I became a lot more focussed on the golf ball and my target than I used to be. In other words, I wasn’t getting distracted by the putter head, nor obsessing about lining up the line on the putter with the ball (although lining up is important, it’s obsessing about it over the ball just slows you down and makes you nervous, usually resulting in a mistake).
All this resulted in smoother, more confident putting stroke with fewer nerves, even in front of a crowd or on ‘must make’ putts. My rhythm also improved as a result, allowing me to sink longer putts more often. Just ask anyone who has played with me on a good putting day...when I’m on it I can hole a putt from anywhere! And part of my secret is this drill!
It might not work for everyone, but I think it’s worth a try...especially if you are stuck at home! New FootJoy shoe range As you may have seen, FootJoy has come out with new shoes for 2021. I have read a little on all the shoes and I like the look of the “FJ Flex Coastal” as a summer shoe, and the new Pro SL as an all-round performance shoe (I currently have the Pro SL shoe from last year).
Here is FootJoy’s tag line for the new Pro SL golf shoe: "Pro SL men's golf shoes provide superior feel with Fine Tuned Foam (FTF+) for supple cushioning and a perimeter weighted outsole design for superior stability. They are also 100% waterproof!" Golf shoes are not just there to look good, but to enhance your golf performance! For example, here is FootJoy’s explanation (with a picture) of how the Pro SL’s “infinity outsole” shoes help improve your golf: Infinity Outsole - Focus on your swing and not your feet. The Infinity Outsole is the most stable spikeless golf shoe we’ve ever built, with 189 points of traction and 17% more surface area in the heel to provide the perfect grip and ground contact, no matter the ground conditions.
I can’t wait to try out this new golf shoe for myself! |