Darren Steels PGA Professional - Mel's 5th Lesson

 

Hi All,

           Well we are well and truly into the summer now and with the good weather we are having and the long days there's no excuse to not get out on the course to practice. That's what I've been doing, remembering all the advice from Darren and trying to produce it on the course.

 I had a bit of a disaster with my driver last week. I was lifting my clubs out of the car and heard a crack, on investigation I found the shaft had broke. So it looks like I'll be purchasing a new one. I spoke to Darren about it and he said he would help me get fitted for a new driver. So for my   penultimate lesson with Darren this week he has had me on the latest piece of equipment which the club have purchased. The' Foresight golf performance simulator' is a machine that measures how you strike the ball. It accurately collates data when you hit the golf ball measuring the speed, loft , distance ,side and back spin of the ball and by altering the different shafts and heads  of the club  it can pick the right one to suit your swing.  I have been having a bit of trouble getting off the tee with my driver so perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that I broke it.  I started off very poorly not getting much distance at all so Darren told me to put more weight on my back leg and instead of hitting down  on the ball  he said get the feeling of hitting up. After a couple of tries I got the idea and finished up hitting the ball further and straighter. The club I was using was the latest Titleist 913 10.5 degree which has the technology to enable you to alter the head to give 1.5 degrees more loft (12.0) or 0.75 degree less loft. As I tend to slice the ball setting the club with more loft takes out the side spin thus giving you more chance of hitting the ball straighter. I really like the club but I'm going to try other makes before I make up my mind. Still I took the driver on the course on Saturday in a Stableford competition and guess what I got 21 points on the front nine. Unfortunately I didn't score on two holes on the back nine but shot a score of 36 points playing to my handicap. Seems like all the hard work is at last paying off.

Cheers

Mel     

Darren Steels PGA Professional - Lesson Number 4 Mel Oates

Hi All,

               Well my game is definitely improving   after my fourth lesson with Darren. I entered a medal competition on Wednesday on the Moorland course at Breadsall Priory and shot a net 72. Looks like the lessons are starting to pay off. I feel as I'm definitely striking the ball better and with more control.

On the last lesson we talked about the psychology of the game, as you most likely know sixty percent of the game is all in the head. An interesting point Darren made was imagine you're on a golf course and standing on the tee looking down at the hole. On the right is a big lake, and on the left side its all out of bounds. What are the two thoughts you think about first?

 1, I don't want to hit the ball into the lake and

2,    I don't want to hit the ball out of bounds.

Wrong... what you should be concerned about is none of the above. Your thoughts should be, what I'm going to do, not what I don't want to do. It sounds obvious doesn't it but how many of us high handicappers think about the negatives when we should be thinking about the positives. So what Darren said was focus on a spot on the fairway, Try to imagine the shape and flight the ball will take, keep that thought and only that thought in your head, because once you have that thought in your head you're more likely to hit the ball towards that spot and not into the lake or out of bounds. Well I tried it out and guess what it seems to work. When playing your local course is there a hole which you always dread because you never seem to score well on it? Most of us have that problem because we are thinking too negative. We're thinking about how badly we played the hole last time  when the way to over come the problem is to think positively about the hole, try to remember the time when you actually  played that hole well and the feeling you had when you did. Don't let bad shots get you down, put them out of your head straight a way and have positive swing thoughts for the next shot. Yes it sounds easy and I know lots of readers might think it's all a waste of time but I'm giving it a go because if it helps my game it's got to be good.

Cheers for now

Mel       

Darren Steels PGA Professional - Lesson 3 Mel's update

Hi Folks,

 

                Here I am  again on my third month of tuition with Darren Steels. I Must say the work in the gym is starting to pay off as I feel a lot more supple.   

Doing the stats is also helping to pin point weak areas in my game. Looking at the stats Darren thought it was time for a putting lesson. First thing he noticed was how I was standing to putt the ball. Just like the set up for my iron's I was standing with my legs parallel to the ball but my top half was twisted and open towards the hole. This made the putt slice slightly  as I hit the ball. Standing correctly and using a sweeping movement to hit the ball gave a  more accurate shot towards the hole. We also discussed how to read the green before putting the ball. I will use this advice in my practice sessions.

 

To help to get the correct upward strike on the ball we used a lob wedge to putt with as a practice drill. If I struck the ball correctly it rolled true across the green.

 

 Each month he checks my swing to make sure no bad habits are returning. I told him usually it was my second shot ( on a par 4/5 hole ) which was letting me down as I either miss hit the shot or was not accurate enough to get to the green or within a pitching wedge away. He looked in my golf bag and ask me what club I normally took for my second shot. This was either a rescue wood ( 21 degrees ) or a five wood ( 19 degrees ).I have also started to use a four iron which I find more accurate than the rescue. He said the rescue and the four iron were about the same club as regards distance so he advised me to use the four iron if I was on the fairway and the rescue if I was in semi rough. But mainly I have to practice more with the five wood as that would give me more distance. He watched me hit a few shots with the five wood and said I was coming down too steep on the ball  not sweeping  it like you should. To correct this he put the ball on a small tee and asked me to hit the ball again. He told me to use the same movement  that I use when hitting  my driver. This seemed to work well and I started to  hit the ball better. I will now try this in my practice sessions. .

So plenty of things to keep me occupied for the next month.

cheers

Mel               

Darren Steels PGA Professional - Golf Academy Questionaire

Golf Academy Questionaire Results - Mel Oates

To start the 6 month training plan a questionaire was completed by Mel to highlight areas for improvement. Information was collected about strengths and weaknesses with particular shots along with an equipment review. Answers were also collected regarding fitness and psycology.

The idea of the questionaire was to show that to make improvements in golf it is not only a case of hitting a lot of golf balls on the driving range. To improve targetting practice in particular areas and also looking at all aspects of the game from recording stats to fitness will help to achieve those goals.

We have started working on a fitness plan with the help of Simon to improve core strength and flexability (each session is 45 mins and we are looking to do this 2-3 times a week).

Lesson 2 is planned for 24th April and we will be using video footage to address and explain any swing issues along with explaining how we are going to use stats for more productive practice.

Congratulations on reaching the semi finals of the winter league Mel and good luck with your match.

Darren Steels
Head Golf Professional