- 1 day ago
In the third episode of Game Improved, Nick Dougherty offers a lesson to 18-handicapper Andy Edom
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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
01:59so
02:01so
02:03in 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
02:19and then let me just see that.
02:34So now, now just feel that path of the other line.
02:39half of the other line. Make me work this way and see how much more turned through the
02:44ball I am. Long way so actually you really got to feel like you're going to drive forward
02:52this way and then you have to find a way to get into it.
02:55Okay Nick so let's talk about Andy's golf game. So first time you've seen him play today
02:59we played three holes here on the west course. What does Andy do well? What does he need
03:03to work on do you think?
03:04Well he's diligent with how he goes about his game. I can relate to Andy in terms of
03:10he's an overthinker with his game because he tries so hard. I think it's an admirable quality
03:15it's a noble pursuit but one that's thwarted unfortunately with this game because the more
03:19we get invested 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 the nature of how
03:28he stood to the ball it was not over coached but overthought. It was just like he's ticking
03:34boxes in his mind and I know what that feels like because that's what I've done and ironically
03:39it took away a little bit of the flow of him just getting out of his way and playing golf.
03:44Right.
03:44So I think for me a little bit with Andy is and it's a challenge I think sometimes with
03:48coaching is help someone get better without making them turn inwards you know in terms
03:53of their thoughts.
03:53Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:54Because the last thing I need to do is to give Andy 10 different things to go and think
03:57about.
03:57And the problem for Andy was with what we talked about with his swing. One of them was
04:03a pre-swing thing but the sensation I wanted to feel was in the swing. They're always tougher
04:08because it's happening as we're doing it.
04:10As you're doing it.
04:11You know. So I think for him there's a very simple fix that was really important which
04:17was aim straight.
04:18Right, okay.
04:19You know, for him that was shoulders. So he sets up peacefully every time and then right
04:24before he pulls the trigger he decides to make it more difficult for himself and gives
04:28it one of these with the shoulders.
04:29So closing the shoulders, what does that do?
04:32Well it completely shifts the way that the club wants to move for starters. So from that
04:35very moment then Andy's swing is always working this way and ironically we tend to build compensations
04:42in our swing to make whatever we've got going on work. To him he's not shot though.
04:47In his head he's dead square. He's not though. He's way right with his shoulders. Because
04:51then when I went and worked with him on the range and squared him up, of course he feels
04:55wide open.
04:56Feels weird.
04:57Yeah. Even though he stood like that naturally and it was only right before he pulled the
05:00trigger he gives it the bump with the shoulders like that. So he felt fine to do that first
05:04and then he thought no, come on, we need to get these shut off. So again it's that classic
05:09feel versus real thing in the golf swing and we all again have to deal with this where what
05:14we feel very often isn't what is real out there. And so just him seeing of me going across
05:20his shoulders there with the alignment stick and saying, right, come and step away and see
05:24where it is. He can immediately come and check on me. You need that feedback because I'm asking
05:29him to buy into something that everything inside him intuitively saying that is not right man.
05:34You got me stood like this now. How the hell am I going to propel the ball down there when
05:37you've got me stood this way? He needs to, you need the buy in first of all. Like this is
05:42definitely what's happening mate.
05:43So then how do you then make those adjustments without becoming too technical, without talking
05:48about all of those things that can get you quite confused?
05:51I think you first of all explain that the journey is not one of pure joy and ecstasy
05:56in terms of, and I think that's one thing. So I can relate to Andy in terms of I've played
06:00four times this year. So even when I go out there today, there's a real mixed bag. Making
06:04peace with the fact that there's going to be inconsistency is one of the greatest freedoms
06:10in our game. That actually allows me to play way better golf. Because when I hit a bad shot,
06:14I don't do what I used to when I was a tournament professional and delve in there. Why do you,
06:18oh this was, oh this needs a bit, and of course it's little things like this, which no one
06:22notices. It's very often we overcomplicate in that issue. So one of the things obviously
06:27that happened with the movement was that his path was very much inside out and it was reflected
06:32in, obviously you see some early extension in there, club drifting from inside out as well
06:37and you see the release pattern as well, sort of this way over his shoulder. So what leading
06:41to pushes and hooks? Yeah, so if the face matches up to that direction that he's swinging it,
06:45it's a block to the right. And of course if the face is actually square, it's the hook,
06:48which 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 had 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,
07:12you're playing pretty swings, but we're practicing pretty swings. That's what we're doing at the
07:15moment with this. I'm just going to go drill it in. That's what it feels like. That's what it feels
07:19like. That's what it feels like. And you can break that up with then going, right, I'm going to hit
07:22a normal shot. I'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. It's not going to work so well.
07:37Whereas 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 goal swing
07:59because in essence, with every good player, it starts with a move as this is finishing off into
08:04that left side. You don't want him thinking about that. And then from there, from having that better
08:09feeling of being into that left side a little earlier, rather than he was more back here and
08:14this 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,
08:33so we need to get the club there. And then in this position, then you want to feel like,
08:36you know, I think that stuff makes it way too complicated. So we hit some horror show shots,
08:41which is good because it shows me he's really tapping into that. So for me, it's sort of,
08:46let's get in amongst the weeds, get really ugly, spend a bit of time doing that on the range.
08:50Get really comfortable being uncomfortable. And then we go, right, done. We get in, we do the
08:56work, then we leave and we go and play the game. So then Nick, let me ask you, somebody of Andy's
09:01level in the game, what strategy advice would you offer? Having a plan for what you're going to be
09:05all about in the golf course is more important. I think for players of the handicap when you're at 18,
09:10you're in that beautiful zone where some days you can, it can be a game changer of a day,
09:15but you always have the chance of going and have one of those shocker days as well. So I think
09:20making it nice and simple, have a plan with your coach is really good. So Andy's a great example
09:25of this. Have a plan for how you're going to make the improvements, but when you go out,
09:28go out to play well. There's so many things at 18 handicap you can dabble with and play with
09:33and try this and try that. My experience is most of the time we get worse. Too much going around
09:38our heads and then we end up going, oh God, I'm thinking about too much. How many times have you heard,
09:42oh, 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
09:51pro. You might not be able to hit Rory's shots, but you can think like, you know, so that means
09:56like when you go in there with your three wood in this stuff, is Rory going in there with the three?
10:00Because if he ain't, you shouldn't, you know, and I think that's one of the things we can see is that,
10:04you know, you won't necessarily always be able to hit the shot you want to, but we can make the right
10:08decision about it. 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,
10:19that could be like, let's not hit the hero shot because that's screaming an eight if it doesn't
10:23come off. Let's play it smart. Let's make a nice five. And it takes discipline that because of course,
10:27we all want to hit the shot that allows us to, you know, the shot that makes us feel a million
10:31dollars. But if it's in a comp, if you're having a mark with your mates, whack away. If you're in a comp
10:36and you're serious about wanting to improve your handicap, do that, do the right thing and start making
10:41the right decision because it's what the top players would do. Yeah. So there you have it.
10:44If you want to get better at golf and who doesn't, then you've got to commit to it. You don't have to
10:49be technical, but you do have to commit to what you're trying to do. Hopefully that helps.
10:52Okay. So there you have it. That's our look at Andy's game and Nick's tips to help
10:57him improve. Obviously with Andy, he needs to make some technical improvements. But what's great about
11:02the advice that Nick is offering is that yes, it's clear to see those technical improvements that need
11:07to be made, but the advice needs to be as simple and practical and usable as possible. Hopefully
11:12that's what Andy got from it. If you're in a similar category with your golf game, then using
11:16some of that advice to help you as well should really make a big difference. But that's it for
11:21now for Wentworth. Thanks very much for watching. We'll see you next time.
Be the first to comment