Fair Weather Golfer - Too Right

Welcome to the latest instalment in my humble blog offering. You find your narrator in somewhat of a holding pattern courtesy in the main to the vagaries of the British weather at this time of year. Royal Ascot Golf Club has over the last two weekend had Dickensian pea soup fog that made it impossible to see more than fifty yards at time and caused the course to be shut, and last weekend was subjected to a deluge of rain and winds touching gale force at times on the Saturday.

So what you may say, aside from an out of depth weather report. Well call me a fair weather golfer but I see no merit in getting wrapped up in a set of waterproof, struggling with an umbrella in the winds, going through numerous towels and gloves to keep my grips dry to play a social round of golf. Don't get me wrong, there were some in our usual Saturday roll up that did just that. Brave, dedicated, fools, martyrs or plain insane. I think you're best left to decide that one yourself. Definitely not for me I'm afraid. Clearly no-one can play when there's fog and so the decision is made for you.

However I've not been idle. I've said on here over the last few weeks that my focus is going to be on short game, short game and short game. However regular followers will also know that this hasn't been without incident and I'd been suffering a worrying dose of the shanks with my wedges on all my pitch shots. It had led me to re-visit a different tack, the linear method to try and resolve this. However, this has also been not without it's issues and a fortnight ago even this method wasn't working as planned. Back online and looking at more Gary Smith (advocate of the linear method) for help. I know the method I just couldn't get it to transfer to my practice (Gary Smith pitching video)

I assumed that given the biblical rain last Saturday that the course would be sodden and opted to get back out there and work on the pitching from a number of stations on the practice ground at 25, 40, 50 and 60 yards. It started off, from the closest distance, well. The poor shot was a thin but the majority grazed the ground properly. The week before amidst the shanks. the contact was heavy with huge divots which was definitely not what the linear technique encourages. However as I moved further away from the target, the linear method started to fall apart and was inconsistent. Not great but fear not dear reader for an unexpected twist in my tale materialised. I started, born out of a hint of desperation to go back once more to a more standard method. This video by Peter Finch shows what I'm getting at (Peter Finch pitching video)

I can see that the doubters and naysayers will be on here saying I'm dabbling too much, falling between two techniques and getting paralysis by analysis. What I will say, simply and without apology is that the more traditional method has less moving parts and while I love the linear method and the way it utilises the bounce more, it's something I can't seem to get it to work as I want it or can trust on the course. Back to basics worked. The twist I hinted at, was that the linear method promotes a turn onto the target and I've found that I'm now doing so with the traditional pitching style. This has stopped the hosel shots and my pitching is back on song.

Aside from the technical aspects (and are you still with me) I've worked very hard on distance control. With a method I trust now (and working) I was able to really dial in some control. From the 25 and 40 yard areas I was getting most inside a fifteen foot circle and many were much close and definitely in up and down range. That's exactly what I need to be doing. It isn't just with one club. I've been playing with my PW (46 degrees) 52 degree gap wedge and 58 degree sand wedge. I've played about with opening the face, moving ball position and generally found out what I can and can't do with a wedge.

As I moved further out to the 50 yard area, I started to lose some control especially with my most lofted club, swinging a little longer (almost to ten o'clock). Going back to a lesser loft and a more controlled (nine o'clock) swing, accuracy was still very good. Contact was still good. There were more divots and I've concluded I'm a digger. It may be something I need to look at with my next wedge purchase. I tested the Vokey range with Golf Monthly at Silvermere Golf Centre back in March. They have a huge range of loft, bounce and grinds (Vokey Wedges). Very insightful especially the type of grinds as I'm sure you'll agree if you go through the options. However, my preference would be to keep to Ping as my other clubs in the back are all that make (and I'm a tad OCD that way). Not sure they quite have the same options but that's a quandary for another time. When I reached the 60 yard area, I'm getting very close to my maximum distance for my sand wedge. I wasn't pitching but hitting full shots. However this is where my gap wedge and pitching wedge come into their own as I was hitting three quarter shots with more control. Naturally my dispersion and control wasn't what I wanted but this is why I'm dedicating the winter to improving. Hard work and the right technique is the only way forward.

Of course short game isn't just pitching. I've been working equally hard on my chipping. I've been using the linear method again. This has been far more successful and is a technique that has served me well in the last few weeks (Gary Smith chipping). However, as with the pitching, I had taken lessons with my teaching professional Andrew Piper at Lavender Golf Centre in the summer and we'd simplified my technique (closed shoulders, open feet and hips was a recipe for disaster). Aiming square, weight forward and back and a turn through was working up to a point. However a few bad rounds had me scrambling for the lifeboat I call the linear method. While I can't get it working on the pitching, on the chip shots I have been getting better and better. And here is the crux again. In my golfing brain, warped as it undoubtedly is, now wants to have the same traditional method for both pitches and chips. With that in mind, it was back to the chipping green on Sunday. Back to a proper set up (Peter Finch basic chip shot) and the results were very good.

It shouldn't have been a surprise as Andy Piper has a very good reputation as a short game coach and he and I had worked hard on pitching and chipping (and bunker play) and so I've found it a source of huge frustration that my hard work hasn't produced the results on a regular basis and that I've had issues which has prompted the reversion to all things linear. And here I have a conundrum and while I want to square off all things short game under one technical umbrella, there is a nagging voice that says linear, using the bounce, gives wider margins of error. Offset that is the traditional way where I can play with spin, loft and ball position. More options against a bigger safety net. Issues, confusion and questions. I thought short game was easy.

As it happens, the traditional method produced satisfactory results and so the pitching and chipping session was three hours well spent. I was pleased with how I chipped using the conventional method and from a range of lies including heavy, wet and deep, clover filled lies, and those fiddly ones where the ball is lying on top of the deep grass and the risk is that the club will slide underneath. The whiff enters the equation.

And so dear reader where am I in all this? I'm having issues squaring methodology in my mind but the results I've seen in the far simpler to execute traditional method convince me I am on the right path and just need to square it all mentally. What I do know is that I am definitely happy to become a fair weather golfer and that spending time on the short game rather than smacking ball after ball at the range, or traipsing around the course in pouring rain and strong winds will pay rich dividends. Of course, I need to take it out onto the course. I need to know I can do it under pressure. I have to play and reconcile practice with scores. Common sense n'est-ce pas?

However, dear reader, you find your narrator in a happy golfing place if truth be told. I did some long game work at the range while the wind and rain did its thing. Posture and tempo was the order of the day and things are shifting slowly into place. I had a very productive session and so tie that in with the good short game work and I'm raring to go.

I'll be coming back to pitching, chipping, as well as bunker play and putting as Winter progresses and keeping you up to speed on how it is developing, how it's impacting my golf and what it is doing to my scores and statistics. Of course, I understand that Winter isn't ideal to be shooting my best scores and all I am looking for is a higher level of consistency throughout my game but from one hundred yards and closer in particular. A stellar short game can mask a host of issues with the longer game. That's where I feel my avenue to single figure lies. For the most part, if I can halt the car crash holes I seem to throw in with wild abandon in most competitive rounds (and that is another thread altogether) I can get my ball round in a reasonably competent fashion most of the time. It's when competency goes out of the window a tad that I'm going to need the short game more than ever. If I am playing nicely, getting up and down will get the cuts I crave and who knows, maybe a win or two along the way. All in all I'm happy with the work and progress has been made. Good times.