Nick's tip of the week
What to do with mud on your ball
If you can't lift, clean and place, mud balls can be a real pain at this time of year. It can have a significant effect on trajectory, distance and curve - but no-one can really predict what effect that will be. Nike's golf ball guru, Rock Ishii, said: "It all depends on how much mud is on the ball, adding distance loss on a 200-yard shot might be as much as eight yards."
So as a rule of thumb:
- If there's mud on top of the ball, a shot will tend to spin too much and balloon up.
- If there's mud on the side, it will tend to curve in the opposite direction of the mud.
Sam's tip of the week
One club, two distances
In order to become a genius from 100 yards and in (the scoring zone), you need to develop your feel.
A great way to practice feel is to hit the same club several distances (you can try this with your long game too). With this drill the aim is to make it instinctive how far the pin is away from you (from within 100 yards), something you'll need to do to get to low single figures.
1. Start at 125 yards and hit one ball to the target
2. Move to 115 and use the same club to hit to that same target
3. Move to 105 and change to whatever club you hit from this distance
4. Move to 95 and hit the same club as you did from 105
5. Move to 85 and hit whatever club you would from this distance
6. Finish by hitting your 85 yard club from the 75 yard position.
So…you'll have played from 6 distances and used your 3 wedges twice each, to 2 different distances.
Some players choke down on the club and change their ball position for distance control and others use swing length and tempo. Experiment with both and see what works for you. You can also repeat this drill and create more distances by using 5 yard increments.
This is great drill for improving your chipping quickly and works on using a variety of clubs from the same distance, so you can see the benefit of using less lofted clubs from around the green.
1. From the edge of the green, pick a hole on the practice green that's about 20-25 ft away.
2. Take your 6-iron and go through your pre-shot routine
3. Your pre-shot should have 3 main steps: Visualization, Feel and Trust. When you're visualizing your shot ask yourself, where the ball will land and how it will roll out to the hole and where on the hole it will go in. When you've seen the shot in your mind's eye, feel the swing you need to produce that shot. When you're standing over the ball, say to yourself "trust it" and do exactly that.
4. When you've holed your 6-iron, repeat the process your 7-iron and move all the way through to your PW. That's a minimum of 5 shots, so see how close you can get to a score of 5 each time.
If you have any questions about the tip above or would like to book a lesson please click here to get in touch.
