50 FASTEST FIXES
Is generally accepted golf, to make genuine strides forward with your game you have to invest a huge amount of time effort and expense. Nonsense. Any coach will tell you that five minutes working on the right things is better than five hours of directionless range work. The trick lies in sifting through the bajillion morsels of ‘wisdom’ available to us all these days to uncover the truly effective fast fixes… and that’s exactly what we’ve done for you here. Targeting your swing, your gear and your mental approach, each one of these 50 golden nuggets represents a proven and expert-selected segue to speedy and lasting improvement. So, in the spirit of the moment, let’s get straight to them.
SHORT GAME
STRIKE CLEANER CHIPS AND PITCHES
ALAN WHITE
Stick an alignment stick into the butt of your wedge. Address the ball normally, making sure there is a slight gap between your lead side and the stick. Hit chip shots with the stick in place. Your simple goal is to make sure you never let the stick touch your side during the shot. This proves your body is contributing to the strike through rotation. If your body stops and the hands flick, you’ll feel the stick against your side.
DRIVING
ADD POWER TO YOUR TURN
LEE COX
The age-old “shoulder-turn” drill – club pinned to shoulders – creates some basic mobility through the core, but it fails to engage the shoulders with any dynamism. To feel the difference, take your address without a club and form fists with both hands. Now punch powerfully behind you with your gloved hand. As you do so, allow your trail elbow to push forwards, towards the target. This move helps you feel how your two shoulders can work separately to increase turn. Make this move and turning past 90º becomes much easier.
PUTTING
IMPROVE YOUR LAG PUTTING
DARREN PARRIS
On longer putts, many club players try to create extra speed through the hands and wrists. This creates inconsistencies with path, attack angle and strike. Even out the contribution of your lead and trail hands and your stroke becomes more rhythmic and your pace control improves. To practise, take your putter and a wedge. Grip the first in your lead hand, the second in your trail hand. Adopt your putting stance, keeping the two shafts parallel and a few inches apart. Swing back and through with a sole objective to keep the shaft angles matching. When both hands are making a matching contribution to the stroke, your strike, energy transfer and distance control will improve.
BUNKERS
HOLD SAND ON THE FACE TO MAINTAIN LOFT
GARETH JOHNSTON
Play bunker shots
