We have devised a Short Game Skills Test here at BHSG to get to the root of any underlying deficiencies in student's short games. The basics of the test are that there are twenty shots to twenty different locations around the green. The students hits two balls from each of the twenty spots and we measure how far each one of the shots is from the hole in inches using a meter wheel. The longest shot is fifty-five yards and the shortest is around 5 yards and players can use whichever club they want. There are some sloping lies, rough and bunker shots to contend with and there are no practice shots or re-takes because your short game is your short game!! If a player misses the green, we add four hundred inches onto the total score and if a player holes a shot, we subtract four hundred inches from the total.
Now for the cool info. We have had around a thirty players take the test so far- Wallace Booth has had the best score with 2,685 points. When you take this total, divide by forty and by twelve you get the average distance which Wallace was from the hole on each of his shots- 5 feet and 6 inches. Wallace plays from a handicap of plus 4.
The average of the other players who’s handicaps range from 8-14 is 7,258 points. I make the same calculations and the average distance which these other players were away from the hole is 15 feet and 1 inch. The common sense about the skills test and how we then can help to make players better is glaringly obvious; in doing so, we can knock shots off their games.
Short Game Skills Test League Table and Average Distances from the hole.
1. Wallace Booth 2685 (5"5)
2. Mads Vibe-Hastrup 3109 (6"4)
3. Johan Edfors 4343 (9"0)
4. Stephen Reid 4500 (9"3)
5. Khalid Yousuf 4534 (9"4)
6. Ferdinand Mueck 4942 (10"2)
7. Scott Kerrins 5422 (11"2)
8= PeterBoland 5996 (12"4)
8= David Sykes 5996 (12"4)
9. Faruk Roked 7138 (14"8)
10. Irving Underwood 7148 (14"9)
Lee Westwood was at the BHSG recently tuning up his game for the Masters. We worked on trying to get Lee more into his right side at the top of his backswing, which shortens his arm swing. This allows the club to be very stable at the top and Lee can fire his arms right down his target line.
The best putters in the world stick to their style of putters throughout their careers and I believe that this is something that we can all learn from. When I think of the best putters in the world I think of Ben Crenshaw, Brad Faxon and Tiger Woods. Ben Crenshaw used a simple Wilson blade throughout his career, Brad Faxon a Ping Zing design and Tiger had basically used a Ping Anser design all of his life. These players have, I am sure, had days when they have not putted all that well but they have not questioned their abilities as good putters or their trusted equipment. If you look at players who have struggled with their games on the greens, you see that they are using different putters all the time. Now as a coach, I know that it is important to look for ways to get better, but in my opinion, changing equipment constantly is not the right answer. On the greens it is vital to use something tried and trusted and stick to your guns. Butch uses a Bullseye style of putter and has done all of his life and I have heard a good few stories of him winning some ‘friendly’ competitions against his more famous students in Vegas!!
Wallace Booth, aka Bravehart, rolled through the BHSG recently to work on his game. Wallace helped Scotland win the 2008 Eisenhower Trophy in Australia. This kid can bring it on the course and in the gym. Do you have this kind of explosive power?!
A lot has been said and written about the importance of maintaining a stable core and lower half when making a full swing. In my experience, one of the reasons why players fail to maintain stability is weakness in their core which is magnified when there is a large amount of nervous energy in their bodies.
As anyone who has had problems with their pitching and chipping can tell you, nerves can get in the way very quickly!! If you suffer from problems with your chipping and pitching, ensure that you have a stable and supported lower body from the beginning to the end of the swing and you will find that the precision with which you can strike the ball will go up resulting in the nervous energy going down.
Get this feeling by gripping the legs to the floor at address and engaging your abdominal muscles and glutes. Keep your forearms and hands soft and begin your practice with short chip and run shots. Build to more advanced chips with a sandwedge maintaining the same stability in the lower half. If you can build to 40-50 yard pitch shots with the feet a little wider but solid and on the floor throughout to your finish, your short game will be on the right track.
I first met Lee Westwood in 2005 when he and Darren Clarke came to The Montgomerie to practice prior to heading to Qatar for the Qatar Masters. It was a treat to have two of the finest players in the world at our facility and find out more about what they were working on. At that time Lee was playing quite well but his body was a very different shape to what we see now.
Fast forwarding to 2009, Lee has been with us at the golf school practicing and opitimizes the modern golfing athlete as you can see from some of Claude’s great high def images. I asked him what drove him to work on his fitness so hard and his answer went something like this-
I had been to see the best coaches in the world and they were all basically telling me the same thing- I was losing posture in the downswing. Now I was also aware that at points in my career, I had been one of the best golfers in the world so I knew that I had the ability and coordination to achieve technical results. My conclusion was that if all of these people were saying the same thing and I was trying to do it but couldn’t, something else must have been in the way. The answer lay in my body and through work with Dr. Steve McGregor I was able to identify the areas which were letting me down in my swing, strengthen them and then work on the areas as mentioned only this time, I was able to see results.
This story confirms what we here at BHSG know about the link between the body and the swing and through our knowledge and technology, we will be able to identify whether your body is to blame for an annoying swing fault. Sometime it is not the answer, but in Lee’s case it was.
We are all looking for more power in our golfswwing. The common thing I hear from all my students is that they want to hit the golf ball further. Take a look at this high speed video of Adam Scott hitting a driver. Notcie how stable his lower body stays throughout his swing. If your want to gain more speed and power in your swing try to stabilize your lower body.
Just how does the club work during a short chip? Check out this video of Adam Scott, during a recent visit to the BHSG short game area. The video is shot a 600 frames per second with the Casio EX-F1 camera. Notice how sqaure the face of the golf club stays through the impact zone. There is very little, if any hand or club face manipulation. Adam basically uses his arms and shoulders to keep the face square through the hitting area. If you are struggling with your chipping, try to keep your hands out of this shot.