I have been around professional golf since a small boy and was priviledged to grow up watching the best golfers play and practice. My first coach Peter Mitchell was a European Tour player who won a number of events. 

He taught me so much about golf and how to study the game to improve. In recent years I have worked with many top rated coaches from around the world in search of improvement and a greater understanding of the game. 

I have been keeping notes on golf for the last twenty years, they include every lesson I have taken, and every book I have read. I’m not sure this is entirely normal :) but instead of them gathering dust I have decided to share the lessons I believe will be most useful. 

Every week I will post a new blog with articles that cover every aspect of the game, from technique, shot making and the short game. To the mental game, fitness and how to practice.

Thanks for Reading

Matt

In 2011 I spent the winter playing in Australia and based myself in Melbourne. While there I took lessons at the Bann Lynch Academy based at Yarra Bend. My main reason for going there was that its founders Steve Bann and Dale Lynch had established a golf program at the Victoria Institute of Sport which produced more P.G.A tour players than any other program of its kind. Graduates include Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Jeff Ogilvy, Brett Rumford and many more. In this Blog I am going to share some of my notes which I took while there.

Improvement Cycle Vs Reactive cycle 

The coaching system is based on a one month improvement cycle, it was explained to me that many players go wrong when they make changes based on reacting to a score, shot or event rather than ....

1. Assessing what needs to be worked on with the coach 

2. Setting some realistic and achievable goals 

3. Carrying out specific tasks and drills

4. Re-evaluate.

Improvement cycles will vary from player to player some will prefer a shorter cycle while others a little longer depending on a number of variables.

The Confidence Cycle 

Many players confidence is based on having good technique this is often called ''swing confidence'' golfers relying solely on swing confidence think that if they can just get their technique right they will be more confident. 

As technique improves  your level of confidence will increase but it is still often short of where it could. Once the base technique is established we must move onto skill, this is the ability to hit lots of different shots with that technique off different lies, slopes, creating different trajectories in different weather conditions. Based on what your technique can and can't do confidence will either increase or decrease. If the new found competence results in better shot making skills confidence will be improved but you still won't be totally confident until you can test it. 

Testing is the final stage but often missed as this is where ego can be effected. Bann describes building confidence as ''I have the technique, I have practised the skill now I'm going to test it.'' During testing you should go through your full Pre- shot routine and not leave until a certain level is achieved. Gary Player used to hit bunker shots and wouldn't leave the bunker until he had holed 2 shots.

Regularly working on skill and testing technique by placing it under competitive stress will allow confidence to be based on results.

I hope these thoughts help

Matt

Out of all the attributes of Seve Ballesteros game his shot making and short game will go down as one of, it not the best in history. Many of the players and coaches today learnt their short game knowledge and skills from either conversations with Seve or by watching him. As a child I got to meet him and watch him play a number of times but unfortunately I never got a short game lesson :)

Below is an excerpt of Lee Trevino, another golfing 'great' talking about why Seve was able to spin the ball so much around the greens. 

Over the last two years I have learnt a lot about the golf swing from Sean Hogan. He has acted as David Leadbetter assistant for the last twenty years working with the likes of Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Nick Price. Today he coaches a number of top players in his own right to include Suzanne Petterson and Fredrick Jacobson. 

An area of the swing he has really helped me to understand is concerning shoulder alignment at impact. There appears to be two distinct shoulder alignments commonly seen in great ball strikers, one where the shoulders are square or parallel to the intended target line the other where the shoulders are open or looking left. 

As a general rule if the player prefers to fade the ball a slightly open shoulder pattern is going to be more desirable and to draw the ball the opposite. The key is to match the players standard ball flight preference with a swing plane, shoulder alignment and release that complement one another. 

1. Open pattern/ Open shoulders at impact

The open shoulder position is usually more associated with a fade and an in to out club movement. It is common to see players with open shoulder alignments at impact to have a relatively strong grip. 

Tour players tend to match their body rotation through impact with their grip. I have observed that usually the more open the chest at impact the stronger the left hand grip of the player and as a result you will tend to see the face looking relatively down coming into impact with an open and active chest. These players will then use a release often referred to as the under release or stable release. The release of the golf club is often misunderstood and many think to square the club face at impact there must be some rolling of the forearms through impact in order to square the face. The reality is that many great ball strikers actually try and feel the opposite and reduce forearm and wrist rotation to a minimum.

Many believe that in order to implement an open shoulder alignment at impact they need to overly lean the shaft or hold off the release but this just isn't the case. The key is to remain a high body speed through impact as it is the speed of the pivot and the chest in the downswing that is actually holding the face open. The faster the pivot the more this effect occurs. If the body begins to slow up through impact the face will close causing shots to the left.

In the best ball strikers the more you see the club passing the hands through impact the less rolling will occur and vice versa. I was taught at a very young age by my first coach and European Tour winner Peter Mitchell that you are best to have a grip that is a little to strong than weak. David Leadbetter is certainly an advocate of this as their have been very few great ball strikers throughout history that have had overly weak grip. As a general rule a stronger grip allows for less face rotation through the impact interval. The more the club face is rotating through impact logic would say the harder it is to return to the same position.

If we were to refer to putting for a minute there appears to be a strong relationship between the ability to start the ball consistently on line and the amount of rotation in the clubface through impact and I see no difference in the golf swing.

2. Square shoulder position at impact

If you prefer a squarer shoulder position you will want a slightly weaker grip and to adopt more of a roll release. This is a release where the club face goes from more of a toe up position in delivery or where the shaft in horizontal to the ground coming into impact and then rotates to mirror the position in the through swing.

In order to give the club time to square a larger forward or lateral movement of the hips is required in the downswing with the hips rotating slower. The shoulder position at impact is a key determinant on club path and so we tend to see more of an into out path and a draw ball flight.

With this type of body alignment it is going to be difficult to consistently fade the ball with the resulting shot type often a push fade.

In my coaching if I see a player with a very fast natural pivot I tend to work with this as much as I can and would teach a more open shoulder alignment if a player has a much slower pivot a more closed shoulder position may suit.

When developing players I tend to lean towards a more open shoulder alignment at impact with modern technology I feel I can create more power and consistency on average in my students. I believe in a swing where a lot of the force in the swing is created with chest speed over a lateral then turning supportive hip segment. Too much hip speed makes synchronisation extremely difficult and even though for the amateur they would love to be able to activate this area more the the elite golfer it is usually the opposite.

Thanks for Reading 

Matt

If you are aspiring to improve in golf the information you receive, then how you interpret and practice that information is largely going to determine your rate of development. Over the years effective practice procedures is something that I have spent a lot of time researching and thinking about. The amount of time you can dedicate to practice is certainly important but how you practice is of much more significance. 

There are very few that have put more effort into understanding this game more than Dave Pelz and his short game books are a must for all avid golfers. Pelz talks about practising proportionally to the shots importance in a round. His work has shown that certain shot distances during a round occur much more often than others and how some shot distances have a greater effect on our ultimate score. In future articles I will go into a lot more depth on this subject to what I believe is the best practise mix but for today I will introduce you lightly to the subject.

Dave Pelzs recommendations:

1. Short Game (100 yards and In) 30% of time 

Start with a fifteen yard pitch shot, then wedge shots from twenty to eighty yards followed by chipping from the fringe and finally bunker Play.

2. 30% Putting

Divide evenly between stroke mechanics, distance control and green reading.

3. 30% Power Game

Dave Pelz has focused on coaching the short game and so has given no recommendation in this area. This is something that I will cover in a future blog.

4. 5% Course Management, 5% Mental Game

Pelz believes you should always practice skills which have most effect on score first. He would recommend to start with short game followed by putting, the long game, finally psychology and course management last. 

Each area is be broken up and practised in order of importance. I believe in proportional practice but from the same extent every players optimal learning mix will vary. I think Pelz recommendations is a good starting point, it is then down to the player and coach to find what is best for the individual. I have seen huge gains in using very different practice mixes but this doesn't devalue the point Pelz made.

Thanks for Reading

Matt

Paul Azinger played his whole career with an extremely strong grip and closed club face position at the top of his swing. When he learnt how to hit a power fade using a more open shoulder position at impact and reducing the amount of face rotation through the ball he became a very successful player winning twelve P.G.A tour events and the P.G.A Championship.

Paul Azinger thoughts on Pulling the ball or Pull Hooks '' When players are hooking or pulling it usually down to excessive face rotation through impact''. 

Azinger: Top Three Drills to Stop a Hook

1. ''Hit balls letting go at impact with your right hand, often the club face closes at impact due to the right arm dominating too much.''

2. ''Practice with a double overlap Jim Furyk grip, this takes the right hand out of the swing.'' In this grip the ring finger overlaps the index finger of the opposite hand with two fingers overlapping the other hand instead of the usual one. 

3. Feel the knuckles of the lead hand point to sky at impact as the chest keeps moving through. 

If you feel your club face is closing too much at impact why not give Paul Azinger drills ago.

Thanks for Reading

Matt

There is one universal peace of advice that most club golfers can't resist inflicting onto their playing partners and that is keep your head down. This swing advice seems the fix for pretty much every bad shot. Most advanced level players understand that keeping the head down is some what undesired and once they have hit the shot allow the head to release freely. 

Few even advanced players however really understand the importance of this move and the effect it can have on ball flight. An inhibited head movement in the follow through restricts shoulder rotation, weight transfer and then ultimately club path through impact. It will also effect the release of the forearms and club head. Jim Mclean and Hank Haney are usually rated in the top five coaches in America check out their thoughts.

Jim McLean : '' Many top players never see the ball at impact or even in the downswing. Players that do this include - Annika Sorenstam, David Duval, Jim furyk, Steve Elkington and Paul Azinger. You must almost consciously look up at the target quickly after impact or risk hanging on the right side too long and restricting the movement of the body.

Hank Haney : ''I Worked on with Tiger to look up very quickly almost before he hit the shot like David Duvual and Annika Sorenstam. Releasing the head early really helps to stop the body from working underneath and back in the downswing.'' (Excerpt from The Big Miss)

Haney went on to state that a lot of good drivers of the ball tend to look up very early including Joe Durant the perennial leader of driving accuracy and greens in regulation. It is certainly a move I have observed in Tiger and Adam Scott, next time you go to the range it may be something worth baring in mind.

Thanks for Reading

Matt

​Nick Faldo describes his sensations from the top of the backswing into the downswing and then impact. The sequence of movements that occur as you reach the top of the backswing into the start of the downswing is usually referred to as the transition. Ultimately every players transitional sequence will vary slightly but I think Nick Faldo does a great job in describing his feelings.

'' I liked to feel the left shoulder and left knee move away together and pull away from a resisting right side.'' He describes the movement as the moment of separation and states that ''it's crucial to unwind correctly.'' ''Once the weight has flowed back to the left the right shoulder, right hip and then right knee in that order can fire. If this separation is created at the beginning of the transition it gives the body room to rotate hard through impact. At the very last second the right shoulder, hip and knee fire through impact.''

Thanks for Reading 

Matt

In 2011 I spent the winter in Australia and while living in Melbourne I took some lessons with Dennis Mcdade at the Bann Lynch golf academy. Dennis worked as part of the coaching team at the Victoria Institute of sport program for eleven years with graduates including Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Jarrod Lyle and Marc Leishman. He was also an Advisory Board member of the TPI program and had previously been rated Australian Teacher of the year. 

I wanted to learn how these players were development from practice routines, daily schedules, gym routines, psychology and golf technique. I wanted to learn from a coach that had developed a number of these great players from the beginning. Find below a couple of the points from my notes that I wanted to share with you from my sessions with Dennis.

1. It is Important to not swing in a  'contrived' mannor. I understood this as he didnt want me to not force the body or club into positions. With video cameras and Trackman it is becoming easier to be able to spot areas for improvement. In order to make change sucessfully however the club must flow through a series of positions and cant be forced.

2. ''Dont make technical changes too quickly'' At times drastic change is not a bad thing but it should be used with caution. He especially emphasised this concerning elite players and liked to see small gradual improvement. In a world where everyone wants to see quick results the players that I have known personally to achieve the most as players have made steady gradual improvement month after month year after year.

Thanks for reading

Matt