| Friday, April 19, 2024 | Club Website | neilmarrgolf.greensidegolfer.com | Tel: 01651 873 553 |
| Slumber party is over!
It’s still a while till the season starts so you haven’t missed the boat in using the off season to improve your golf (or hit your new year resolutions) without the distractions of competitive golf. It’s easier and quicker to make changes to your game in the winter in my experience. A swing change in July is so much harder than in mid-winter. The problem is the weather and motivation. Splitting the time from now until the start of your season will make it easier for you to organise.
Get in shape this winter I’m going to use a system that the great Scottish golf physio, Ramsay McMaster, used when programming exercise plans for golfers. It’s simple and is called the Traffic Light System. This means that the red zone is for focusing on fundamental changes that may not help you with performance right away. Amber is when you begin to use what you’ve been working on to get comfortable in a performance type situation and green is when you are really taking all of it to the course and getting into the scoring frame of mind.
If we've got 3 months till the season starts, you need to make sure you aren’t still trying to perfect your grip in April. The hard-technical stuff should be worked on first and then in the run up to the season is the time to be getting your scoring head on and figuring out your way round the course.
An example of the Traffic Light System might look like this:
| | | | Red Phase (Jan-Feb):
- Assess game's strengths and weaknesses.
- Work on posture, grip and takeaway.
- Get putting basics better.
- Improve chipping mechanics. - More of a repetitive type practice.
| Amber Phase (Feb-Mar):
- Hit to targets on the range using your new posture, but implementing a pre-shot routine in there.
- Check putting accuracy from 3 feet, 6 feet and 15 feet.
- Use chipping drills to develop feel with new method.
- More random practice. | | | | | | | | Green Phase (Mar-Apr):
- Play a few nine holes with your card in hand.
- Count how many putts you have.
- Count how many chips you hit to within 3 feet.
- Get on course situational practice. |
I think if you look at it this way, you’ll have a structure in how you prepare for the season and give yourself the best chance of hitting the ground running.
Plan of action
If you’d like to discuss how your own traffic plan might look, let me know. Here are a couple of packages that you might be interested in:
| | | | - 6 half hours (2 Red, 2 Amber, 2 Green) £ 175
- 6 hours (2 Red, 2 Amber (1 on course and 1 on range), 2 Green on course) £ 299
- 9 hours (3 Red, 3 Amber (1.5 on course and 1.5 on range), 3 Green ( 2 on course and 1 on range) £ 399
These lessons must be used by the end of April. | |  | | | | | | | Playing the wind | | | | “When it’s breezy, swing easy” | | | | When we set up on that tee on a long par 4, playing into the wind, there’s almost a natural inclination to swing harder,
even lunge at the ball. Be careful, as counter-intuitive as it is, you might be making a tough situation worse. | | |  |  |  | | | | | | Increasing clubhead speed will put additional spin on the ball | Backspin creates lift, and that’s exaggerated into the wind.
The ball climbs and dies. | In an effort to swing hard at the ball,
many golfers change their angle of
attack and create even more spin. | | | |  | The saying goes “when it’s breezy, swing easy”.
When we say “swing easy”, we don’t want you
reducing your shoulder turn and just using the arms.
Fully rotate your upper body, but possibly feel a little
less aggressive with your arms. | | | | | This also helps with consistency | | | Whether you’re going to play in the wind or not, if you want to add consistency to your ball striking,
practice a good swing tempo. With your driver, at the range, practice with the “full shoulder turn, swing easy” thought.
Do you lose any distance? Do you actually gain distance? If we can help
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Happy golfing!
Neil
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