Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Throughout our five recent golf lessons, Editor Stan Szecowka was able to refresh his knowledge of the full swing with irons and woods, pitching, chipping, bunkers and putting, writes Awali Golf Club’s teaching professional Matt Chalmers.
For our final session, we headed out onto the golf course to put these skills to the test!
In my experience, the biggest difficulty learner golfers experience when transitioning from the relative comfort of the driving range to the golf course is relaxing, and executing shots to the level they do in practice.
On the driving range, it is relatively easy to relax and focus closely on the task at hand. Contrastingly, on the golf course, we are often distracted by external influences such as worrying about the speed of the group behind us or worrying about where the hazards are.
Naturally, focusing on these distractions can negatively influence our ability to execute our shots properly. In order to give Stan the tools to battle these external distractions, we had been working on establishing a sound pre-shot routine that he could rely on.
The routine included picking a very specific target each time, checking that his grip was correct, one practice swing and then committing to the shot 100 per cent.
I would love to be able to write that Stan completed his pre-shot routine correctly each time and played flawless golf for the entire round, but considering not even the best players in the world can do that, I’m sure we can agree that that would be setting the bar a fraction on the high side!
In truth, Stan played some excellent shots; a great escape from a deep fairway bunker, a long drive down the ninth hole and a beautifully-judged approach into the final hole to name a few.
However, there were also a number of not-so-good shots to report on. Unsurprisingly, from my point of view, these poor shots occurred when Stan forgot to carry out one element of his pre-shot routine. For example, the sliced shots happened when Stan forgot to strengthen up his left hand grip. The topped shots happened when he didn’t do a practice swing.
The bottom line is, you must stick to your pre-shot routine if you are seeking consistency.
I feel Stan has the ability to improve considerably as a golfer and lower his handicap moving forwards, if he is able to focus tightly on the correct things.
Setting up to the ball correctly is not something that Stan can’t do, it is just something that he sometimes doesn’t do!
Equally, sticking to his pre-shot routine and trying to execute each shot in a consistent way is vital to his progression. Finally, getting down to the practice range on a more regular basis is a prerequisite!
Good luck Stan, hope to see you down on the driving range this week prior to the American Mission Hospital’s Island Classic on the King’s Golf Course next week!
For more information on golf instruction at Awali Golf Club, contact Matt Chalmers on 38890246 or email mwsc23@hotmail.com
