So I went for my playing lesson on Friday. 18 holes of golf with the Head Professional at Royal Portrush. I was really psyched about this opportunity and not sure what to expect. I am hitting the ball really well right now so I really didn’t want this guy messing too much with my swing but at the same time I wanted to learn as much as possible from him.
So I pitched up at 9am and we made our introductions. He is a really nice down to earth guy. In his amateur career he played in a lot of events with Harrington and Clarke and he had lots of cool stories to tell.
So anyway we got up to the first tee and he asked me to hit first. The opening hole is a 370 yard tight driving hole. It was down the breeze so I opted to hit the 2 iron and luckily I managed to drill one off the first in front of a large (corporate day) crowd leaving myself a soft wedge approach. Nice feeling as that is one tough tee shot!!
Turns out my wedge was a little too soft and I left on the front of the green, giving me a tricky uphill curler that I left 4 feet short and missed the par putt.
Despite catching a fairway bunker at the par 5 2nd, I managed to make par and feeling good about the day and my swing I stood on the 3rd tee, 150 yard par 3 with a generous pin position feeling confident. What followed was horrible! A full blooded shank into complete crap on the right. Out of nowhere!!!
There was an eerie silence, tumble weeds etc. I teed up another and put a good swing on it this time. Hit it to 15ft and nearly made the putt, but walked off with a double to be +3 after 3!
Outside a comment on the line for my putt on 1, the pro had made no comment and after that tee shot still nothing!! What’s going on? Another 3 putt and a pulled tee shot on par 3 6th left me +5 after 6 and starting to get a bit worried. No help from this guy!
After my tee shot on 7 he then speaks!! He told me that I had been dropping my right shoulder far too early and coming in on the inside, causing me to hit a bit behind it and a bit of a block or hook. He cited my approach to 4, tee shot on 5 and 6 and 7. None were terrible shots, just not great. So he was watching after all!!
This is a perennial problem with my swing and one that he quickly identified and sorted out. But the best news of the day came on the 7th green. Unknown to me I “have a loopy follow through” with the flat stick. He first mimicked my action (a bit embarrassing) and he then went on to rip my putting stroke to shreds.
Firstly he questioned my pre-shot routine as doing nothing more than loosen me up. He suggested that I make it an exact replica of what I intend to hit. He also wanted me to shorten my follow though and hold it on the line. This “accelerate and hold” made me feel that I had to almost jab it and it felt a bit unnatural. He also pointed out that my putter ws too far off the ground during my stroke causing me to almost top my putts. By keeping the putter closer to the turf I would considerably improve the quality of strike.
As soon as he had me dialled in I almost instantly starting making a few putts. Of course it will take time to build up some confidence with this, but it is the first time someone has ever given me professional advice on my putting. Given that I bitch and moan so much about it as the Achilles Heel in my game I am starting to think that I should have done this sooner.
I found this link which shows exactly what I should be doing.
Anyway, he helped me with a few other small things during the round and I finished off shooting a 82 (+10) with 2 lost balls and without really capitalising on any good shots. Not the best round of my life, but a very enjoyable one nonetheless. The highlight of my day was a 4 iron on Calamity (famous par 3 signature hole) to 4 ft. Missed the bloody putt, would have been a tremendous birdie.
Afterwards he suggested I go to the putting green and work on it for a while, and that he would be more than happy to look at it in a few weeks time again, which I will probably do.
Oh and he knocked it round in ~ +2, despite having a cold. Surprisingly I was knocking it well outside him on a number of holes. He seemed to be playing a high cut all day long and I typically hit a low draw. On the hard fairways I was running a mile. Still surprised me though, he’s a big lad and I though he would have hit the snot out of it. As expected his putting was excellent, not missing from inside 5 feet, really impressive.
Given the fact that this cost me nothing it was a great experience. Woulkd I pay for this myself again? Probably not, but I will be going for a putting / short game lesson very soon.