- 4 months ago
In the third episode of Game Improved, Nick Dougherty offers a lesson to 18-handicapper Andy Edom
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the final episode in our three-part
00:05series in which we're going to try to help some amateur golfers shoot lower scores. In this
00:10episode we have Andy Edom who plays off a handicap of 18 and he's going to get the chance to play
00:15some golf here at Wentworth with Nick Doherty and then head to the range for a one-on-one lesson.
00:21Hopefully there should be some advice both on how to play, how to build a strategy for the golf
00:25course, but also some tips on how to practice and how to swing it a little bit better that will help
00:30Andy but also might help you too. Right, let's get started.
00:47Okay, so Andy, thanks for joining us here at Wentworth. What's your handicap and just give us
00:52a sense of where your golf is at right now? My handicap's 18. It's a little bit variable because
00:57I don't get out that often and play that often so I tend to feel that I manage the ball around the
01:02course more than anything else. Okay, so then what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses in your
01:08golf game? Definitely strengths would be wedges and short irons. Generally speaking, the longer the
01:14club, the more wayward I can get. Right, and when we're talking wayward, are we talking right or left?
01:19A little bit of both, to be true. Right, okay, so what are you looking then? So you've got access to
01:24Nick, what are you looking for in terms of advice to help you play? Just to basically straighten me
01:29out a little bit, help me hit the ball a little bit straighter. I know I can feel there's certain
01:33parts of my swing that aren't right, it's just the order in which to correct that. Yeah, okay.
01:38Great. Well, I think you're with the right person today. Right, let's head out onto the golf course
01:42and meet Nick.
01:50So
01:52so
02:01so
02:03be in the balls of the feet, wouldn't it? Certainly in that more forward side, the top corner, I'd kick out that way, wouldn't I?
02:11I'd put the spin on the ball and if I was trying to bend it the other way, even as a right footer, I'd kick this side of the ball and then let me just see that.
02:21So now, now just feel that path of the other line. Make me work this way and see how much more turned through the ball I am.
02:29One way, so actually you really got to feel like you're going to drive forward. Ah!
02:34This way, and then you have to find a way to get onto-
02:38Okay Nick, so let's talk about Andy's golf game. So first time you've seen a golf course and one of the ones you've seen was about your golf course and when you're going to be careful of your golf course and got the golf course, so let's happen.
02:41And then you've just in the golf course, you've got to roll off your golf course.
02:46You've got to try to see a golf course and get a golf course again.
02:51Right.
02:53Okay Nick, so let's talk about Andy's golf game.
02:57golf game so first time you've seen him play today we played three holes here on
03:00the west course what does Andy do well what does he need to work on you think
03:04well he's diligent with how he goes about his game he's the club I can relate to
03:09Andy in terms of he's an overthinker with his game because he tries so hard
03:12right yeah and I think that's it's an admirable quality it's a noble pursuit
03:16but one that's thwarted unfortunately with this game because the more we get
03:20invested sometimes consciously with it the more we get in our own way I think
03:24Andy had a little bit of that going on you could see there was to me that the
03:27nature of how he stood to the ball it was not over coached but over thought you
03:32know I mean he was it was just like he's ticking boxes in his mind and and I know
03:36what that feels like because that's what I've done and and ironically it took away
03:40a little bit of the flow of him just getting out of his way and playing golf
03:44right so I think for me a little bit with Andy is and it's a challenge I think
03:47sometimes with coaching is help someone get better without making them turn
03:51inwards you know in terms of their thoughts because the last thing I need
03:55to do is to give Andy ten different things to go and think and the problem
03:58for Andy was with what we talked about with his swing it wasn't one of them was
04:03a pre pre swing thing but the the sensation I wanted to feel was in the
04:07swing they're always tougher because it's happening and as we're doing it you
04:11know so I think for him there's a very simple fix that was really important
04:16which was aim straight right okay you know it's fun for him that was shoulders
04:22so he sets up beautifully every time and then right before he pulls the
04:25trigger trigger he decides to make it more difficult for himself right and gives it
04:28one of these with the shoulders so closing the shoulders what does that do
04:31well it completely shifts the way that the club wants to move for starters so from
04:35that very moment then Andy swing is always working this way and ironically he we
04:40tend to build compensations in our swing to make whatever we've got going on
04:44work to him he's not shot though yeah in his head he's dead square he's not though
04:49he's way right with his shoulders because then when I went on when work
04:52with him on the range and squared him up of course he feels why it was weird yeah
04:56even though he stood like that naturally and it was only right before he pulled
05:00the trigger he gives it the bump with the shoulders like that so he felt fine to do
05:04that first they don't know come on we need to get these shut off so again it's
05:08that classic feel versus real thing in the golf swing and and we all again have to
05:12deal with this where what we feel very often isn't what is real out there and so just him
05:18seeing of me going across his shoulders there with the alignment stick and saying right come
05:23and step away and see where it is we can immediately come and check on me you need
05:27that feedback because I'm asking him to buy into something that everything inside him
05:32intuitively saying that is not right man you got me stood like this now how the hell am
05:36I going to propel the ball down there when you've got me stood this way
05:38he needs to buy you need the buy-in first of all like this is definitely what's happening mate
05:43so then how do you then make those adjustments without becoming too technical without then
05:47talking about it's hard all of those things that can get you quite confused I think you
05:51you first of all explain that the journey is not one of pure joy and ecstasy in terms of like
05:56and I think that's one thing so I can relate to Andy in terms of I've played four times this year
06:01so even when I go out there today there's a real mixed bag yeah making peace with the fact that
06:05there's going to be inconsistency is one of the greatest freedoms in our game that actually
06:11allows me to play way better golf because when I hit a bad shot I don't do what I used to when I
06:15was a tournament professional and delve in there why do you what oh this was oh this needs a bit
06:19and of course it's little things like this which no one notices it's very often we overcomplicate in
06:25that issue so one of the things obviously that happened with the movement was that his path
06:29was very much inside out and it was reflected in obviously you see some early extension in there
06:35club drifting from inside out as well and you see the release pattern as well sort of this way over
06:40his shoulder so what leading to pushes and hooks yeah so if the face matches up to that direction
06:44that he's swinging it it's a block to the right and of course if the face is actually square it's the
06:48hook which is going to make him want to swing even more to the right hand side which of course we know
06:52it's welcome to golf so in essence we have to get a feeling for let's be square that's going to feel
06:58rubbish make peace with that feels rubbish today not forever just today I know it takes huge
07:03discipline go on the range do the reps ignore where it's going you have no right to care where
07:09that's going because one you're not really focused on it because you're not playing golf you're playing
07:12pretty swings but we're practicing pretty swings that's what we're doing at the moment with this
07:16and you're just going to go drill it in that's what it feels like that's what it feels like that's
07:20what it feels like and you can break that up with then going right I'm going to hit a normal shot
07:23I'm going to play to this flag and go through my normal routine because what we want to do is
07:27do the stuff that requires us to step outside of the way because if I get used to practice a swing
07:32but then also say yeah but I need you to hit it close as well yeah it's not going to work so well
07:36whereas if I say to you all you have to do and we did this with him I wanted to try and feel hitting
07:41these nice little low fades because it was forcing him to want to have to move better with his lower
07:46half which again was something we talked about synchronization trying to feel so it's a nice
07:50simple drill as you take it halfway back you step forward which gets you using to feel and of course
07:55you don't get halfway back people tend to get up here when they actually do it which is like the
07:59goal swing because in essence with every good player it starts with a move as this is finishing
08:04off into that left side you don't want him thinking about that and then from there from having that
08:09better feeling of being into that left side a little earlier rather than he was more back here
08:14and this way and we're almost feeling like we're moving a little earlier into that left side you
08:19wanted to try and feel that nice little feeling of hitting a low cut and I like things like that
08:23because if I say to you how would you hit a low cut we've all got a feeling of I'd be like
08:27I'd be like that I'd just I'd hit it that way and so it provides a feeling rather than a right so
08:33we need to get the club there and then in this position then you want to feel like a you know I
08:37think that stuff makes it way too complicated so we hit some horror show shots which is good
08:42because it shows me he's really tapping into that so for me it's sort of let's get in amongst the
08:47weeds get really ugly spend a bit of time doing that on the range get really comfortable being
08:52uncomfortable and then we go right done we get in we do the work then we leave and we go and play
08:57the game so then Nick let me ask you somebody of Andy's level in the game what strategy advice
09:03would you offer having a plan for what you're going to be all about in the golf course is more
09:06important I think for players of the handicap when you're at 18 you're in that beautiful zone where
09:12some days you can it can be a game changer of a day but you always have the chance of going and have
09:17one of those shocker days as well so I think making it nice and simple have a plan with your coach is
09:22really good so Andy's a great example of this have a plan for how you're going to make the
09:26improvements but when you go out go out to play well yeah there's so many things at 18 handicap
09:31you can dabble with and play with and try this and try that my experience is most of the time we get
09:37worse too much going around our heads and then we end up going oh god I'm thinking about too much
09:41how many times you heard oh I'm thinking about too much well don't have your plan stick to your plan
09:46and strategy you know you save so many shots around take a joy from thinking like a top level pro
09:51you might not be able to hit Rory's shots but you can think like you know so that means like when
09:56you go in there with your three wood in this stuff is Rory going in there with his room because if he
10:01ain't you shouldn't you know and I think that's one of the things we can see is that you know you
10:05won't necessarily always be able to hit the shot you want to but we can make the right decision about
10:09it and knowing where your strengths are as well picking being more responsible in what we pick
10:14having a good strategy that takes some of the risk away and for an amateur golfer at 18 handicap that
10:19could be like let's not hit the hero shot because that's screaming an eight if it doesn't come off
10:23let's play it smart let's make a nice five and it takes discipline that because of course we all
10:28want to hit the shot that allows us to you know the shot that makes us feel a million dollars but
10:32if it's in a comp if you haven't met me mates whack away yeah if you're in a comp and you're serious
10:37about wanting to improve your handicap do that do the right thing and start making the right
10:41decision because it's what the top players will do yeah yeah so there you have it if you want to get
10:45better at golf and who doesn't then you've got to commit to it you don't have to be technical but
10:49you do have to commit to what you're trying to do hopefully that helps okay so there you have it
10:53that's our look at Andy's game and Nick's tips to help him improve obviously with Andy he needs to
10:59make some technical improvements but what's great about the advice that Nick is offering is that yes
11:04it's clear to see those technical improvements that need to be made but the advice needs to be as
11:09simple and practical and usable as possible hopefully that's what Andy got from it if you're in a
11:14similar category with your golf game then using some of that advice to help you as well should
11:19really make a big difference but that's it for now for Wentworth thanks very much for watching
11:23we'll see you next time
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