- 11 hours 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
00:15play
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
00:30help
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
01:01around the
01:02course more than anything else. Okay, so then what are the sort of strengths, what are the weaknesses
01:07in your golf game? Definitely strengths would be wedges and short irons. Generally speaking,
01:14the longer the club, the more wayward I can get. Right, and when we're talking wayward,
01:18are we talking right or left? A little bit of both, to be true.
01:21Right, okay, so what are you looking then? So you've got access to Nick, what are you looking
01:24for in terms of advice to help you play? Just to basically straighten me out a little bit,
01:29help me hit the ball a little bit straighter. I know I can feel there's certain parts of my swing
01:33that aren't right, it's just the order in which to correct that. Yeah, okay. Well, I think you're
01:40with the right person today. Right, let's head out onto the golf course and meet Nick.
02:23See in the balls of the feet, wouldn't it? Certainly in that more forward side. The top corner,
02:26I'd kick out that way, wouldn't I? I'd put the spin on the ball and if I was trying to
02:29bend
02:29it the other way, even as a right footer, I'd kick this side of the ball and then let me
02:34just see that.
02:37So now, now just feel that path of the other line.
02:41Make me work this way and see how much more turned through the ball I am.
02:47One way, so actually you've really got to feel like you're going to drive forward this way and then
02:53you have to find a way to get into it. Okay, Nick, so let's talk about Andy's golf game. So
02:58first time
02:58you've seen him play today, we played three holes here on the west course. What does Andy do well?
03:03What does he need to work on, do you think? Well, he's diligent with how he goes about his game.
03:07He's the club. I can relate to Andy in terms of he's an overthinker with his game because he tries
03:12so
03:12hard. Right. Yeah, and I think that it's an admirable quality. It's a noble pursuit, but one that's
03:17thwarted unfortunately with this game because the more we get invested sometimes consciously with it, the more we get
03:23in our own way. I think Andy had a little bit of that going on. You could see there was,
03:26to me, the nature
03:27of how he stood to the ball. It was not overcoached, but overthought. You know what I mean?
03:33It was just like he's ticking boxes in his mind and I know what that feels like because that's
03:38what I've done. And ironically, it took away a little bit of the flow of him just getting out of
03:43his way
03:43and playing golf. Right. So I think for me, a little bit with Andy is, and it's a challenge I
03:47think
03:47sometimes with coaching, is help someone get better without making them turn inwards, you know,
03:52in terms of their thoughts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the last thing I need to do is to give
03:55Andy 10 different things to go and think about. Yeah, okay. And the problem for Andy was with what
03:59we talked about with his swing, it was, one of them was a pre-swing thing, but the sensation I
04:06wanted to feel was in the swing. They're always tougher because it's happening as we're doing it.
04:10As you're doing it. You know, so I think for him, there's a very simple fix that was really important,
04:16which was aim straight. Right, okay. You know, for him that was shoulders. So he sets up beautifully
04:23every time. And then right before he pulls the trigger, he decides to make it more difficult
04:27for himself. Right. And gives it one of these with the shoulders. So closing the shoulders,
04:30what does that do? Well, it completely shifts the way that the club wants to move for starters. So from
04:35that very moment then, Andy's swing is always working this way. And ironically, we tend to build
04:42compensations in our swing to make whatever we've got going on work. To him, he's not shut though.
04:46Yeah. In his head, he's dead square. He's not though. He's way right with his shoulders.
04:51Because then when I went on and worked with him on the range and squared him up,
04:54of course he feels wide open. Feels weird. Yeah. Even though he stood like that naturally,
04:59and it was only right before he pulled the trigger, he gives it the bump with the shoulders like that.
05:03So he felt fine to do that first. And then he thought, no, come on, we need to get these
05:06shut off.
05:07So again, it's that classic feel versus real thing in the golf swing. And we all, again,
05:12have to deal with this where what we feel very often isn't what is real out there. And so just
05:18him seeing me going across his shoulders there with the alignment stick and saying, right,
05:23come and step away and see where it is. He can immediately come and check on me. You need that
05:27feedback because I'm asking him to buy into something that everything inside him intuitively
05:32is saying, that is not right, man. You got me stood like this now. How the hell am I going
05:36to
05:36propel the ball down there when you've got me stood this way? You need the buy-in first of all.
05:42This is definitely what's happening, mate. How do you then make those adjustments
05:46without becoming too technical, without then talking about all of those things that can get
05:50you quite confused? I think you first of all explained that the journey is not one of pure joy
05:55and ecstasy in terms of, and I think that's one thing. So I can relate to Andy in terms of,
05:59I've played four times this year. So even when I go out there today, there's a real mixed bag.
06:03Yeah. Making peace with the fact that there's going to be inconsistency is one of the greatest
06:09freedoms in 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,
06:17what do I, oh, this was, oh, this needs a bit. And of course, it's little things like this,
06:21which no one notices. It's very often we overcomplicate in that issue. So one of the things
06:27obviously that happened with the movement was that his path was very much inside out and it was
06:31reflected in, obviously, you see some early extension in there, club drifting from inside
06:36out as well. And you see the release pattern as well, sort of this way over his shoulder.
06:40So 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,
06:47it's the hook, which is going to make him want to swing even more to the right hand side,
06:51which of course we know is welcome to golf. So in essence, we have to get a feeling for
06:56let's be square. That's going to feel rubbish. Make peace with that feels rubbish today,
07:01not forever, just today. I know it takes huge discipline. Go on the range, do the reps,
07:06ignore where it's going. You have no right to care where that's going because one,
07:10you're not really focused on it because you're not playing golf, you're playing pretty swings,
07:13but 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.
07:19That's what it feels like. And you can break that up with then going, right,
07:22I'm going to hit a normal shot. I'm going to play to this flag and go through my normal routine.
07:25Because what we want to do is do the stuff that requires us to step outside of the way.
07:30Because if I get used to practice a swing, but then also say, yeah, but I need you to hit
07:34it close
07:34as well. It's not going to work so well. Whereas if I say to you, all you have to do,
07:39and we did this with him, I wanted to try and feel hitting these nice little low fades,
07:43because it was forcing him to want to have to move better with his lower half,
07:47which again, was something we talked about synchronization, trying to feel.
07:50So it's a nice, simple drill. As you take it halfway back, you step forward,
07:53which gets you using to feel. And of course, you don't get halfway back.
07:56People tend to get up here when they actually do it, which is like the golf swing,
07:59because in essence, with every good player, it starts with a move as this is finishing off
08:04into that left side. Don't want him thinking about that.
08:07No. And then from there, from having that better feeling of being into that left side
08:11a little earlier, rather than he was more back here and this way, and was almost feeling like
08:16we're moving a little earlier into that left side, you wanted to try and feel that nice little
08:20feeling of hitting a low cut. And I like things like that, because if I say to you, how would
08:24you
08:25hit a low cut? We've all got a feeling of, I'd be like, I'd be like that. I'd just hit
08:29it that way.
08:29And so it provides a feeling rather than a right. So we need to get the club there. And then
08:34in this
08:34position, then you want to feel like, you know, I think that stuff makes it way too complicated.
08:39So we hit some horror show shots, which is good because it shows me he's really tapping into that.
08:44So for me, it's sort of, let's get in amongst the weeds, get really ugly.
08:49Spend a bit of time doing that on the range.
08:51Get really comfortable being uncomfortable. And then we go, right, done. We get in,
08:55we do the work, then we leave and we go and play the game.
08:57So then Nick, let me ask you, somebody of Andy's level in the game, what strategy advice would you offer?
09:03Having a plan for what you're going to be all about in the golf course is more important.
09:07I think for players of the handicap, when you're at 18, you're in that beautiful zone where some
09:12days you can, it can be a game changer of a day, but you always have the chance to go
09:17and have one
09:17of those shocker days as well. So I think making it nice and simple, have a plan with your coach
09:22is
09:22really good. So Andy's a great example of this. Have a plan for how you're going to make the improvements.
09:27But when you go out, go out to play well. There's so many things at 18 handicap you can dabble
09:32with
09:32and play with and try this and try that. My experience is most of the time we get worse.
09:37Too much going around our heads. And then we end up going, Oh God, I'm thinking about too much.
09:41How many times have you heard? Oh, I'm thinking about too much. Well, don't have your plan,
09:45stick to your plan and strategy. You know, you save so many shots around, take a joy from
09:49thinking like a top level pro. You might not be able to hit Rory's shots, but you can think like,
09:55you know, so that means like when you go in there with your three wood in this stuff,
09:59is Rory going in there with his roof? Because if he ain't, you shouldn't. You know, and I think
10:03that's one of the things we can see is that, you know, you won't necessarily always be able to hit
10:06the shot you want to, but we can make the right decision about it. And knowing where your strengths
10:11are as well, picking, being more responsible in what we pick, having a good strategy that takes some
10:16of the risk away. And for, for an amateur golfer at 18 handicap, that could be like, let's not hit
10:20the hero
10:21shot because that's screaming an eight. If it doesn't come up, let's play it smart. Let's make a nice five.
10:25And it takes discipline that because of course we all want to hit the shot that allows us to,
10:30you know, the shot that makes us feel a million dollars. But if it's in a comp,
10:33if you're having a mark with your mates, whack away. If you're in a comp and you're serious about
10:37wanting to improve your handicap, do that, do the right thing and start making the right decision
10:41because it's what the top players will do. Yeah. So there you have it. If you want to get better
10:45at
10:46golf and who doesn't, then you've got to commit to it. You don't have to be technical, but you do
10:50have to
10:50commit to what you're trying to do. Hopefully that helps. Okay. So there you have it. That's our
10:54look 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,
11:05it'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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