Pre-set for perfect impact

Continuing the pitching theme in order to strike your pitch shots solidly your body MUST be open to the target, while your hands should be ahead of the ball.

The best way that I know to ensuring that these conditions are met on a regular basis is to pre-set them at address.
Accordingly, take a fairly narrow stance, and set your lower body a little open with the ball in about the middle of your stance.

This set up is essentially the position that you want to achieve at impact. Rehearse it in front of a mirror, get used to the feeling of impact. Taking it from here you can then swing confidently and hit quality pitch shots.

Add distance

As a draw can add distance to a shot, a few other simple changes can also help.
- Tee the ball a little higher than normal.
- Widen your stance slightly, and settle at least 60 per cent of your weight on your right side. Your head and hands should be placed slightly behind the ball.
- Maintain a light grip pressure - relax your body, and don’t ground the clubhead.
Combined, these adjustments will make it a lot easier for you to make full and free shoulder turn, create a wide arc and get your body fully turned behind the ball at the top of your swing. You should be aware of an increase in the amout of coil you create.

Longer putt, longer stroke

One of the golden rules in putting is that the length of your stroke should always control the distance you hit the ball.

A relatively long putt requires a relatively long stroke, and vice versa. But there’s a clause that you must adhere to: no matter what the length of the putt your tempo – that is, the time it takes you complete your stroke – should remain constant.

Thus, the pace of your stroke on the short putt will appear appreciably slower than on a longer putt.

Good putters who seem to regularly hit their putts the proper distance have great tempo. With this in mind practice putting to random targets to increase awareness for the length of the stroke.

Take extra club = better results

Good players always seem to swing within themselves. They are in control of their actions, and thus maintain control of the clubhead.

One of the reasons they are able to do this so consistently is that they know exactly how far they hit each and every club in the bag (usually about 10 yards increments between irons).

So they never have to hit an iron shot too hard. If they need a little extra distance, they simply take an extra club. Thus, the first rule of good course management is know how far you hit your clubs.

Get that information to hand, and make good use of it out on the course.

Focus on your spine angle

One of the biggest keys to repeating swing, and a fairly steady head, is to focus on maintaining the spine angle (as established at address) until just past impact. In order to facilitate the correct rotation of your trunk, your head must be allowed to rotate a little as well.

If your head position were to remain static, your ability to turn your body and subsequently transfer your weight would be greatly inhibited.

- First, place a cushion between your head and a wall, then fold your arms across your chest and adopt you normal address posture. Sense that your trunk rotates around a fairly steady head, but allow your head to swivel slightly to help rotation.

- Now turn around, adopt yout normal posture, but this time rest your rear-end against the wall. Keep it fixed in place as you repeat that pivot motion back and through.

Control the acceleration

To achieve consistent results from a greenside bunker, you must understand that virtually every shot you play requires that you take a similar amount of sand – a slice of about six inches long and three inches wide is your objective.

Given a reasonable lie, aim to make contact with the sand a couple of inches behind the ball – that’s a good guide. Then, to determine the distance you hit the ball, the only variable you need to worry about is the speed which you swing the club to displace the sand, thus controlling the force with which the ball is thrown on to the green.

Slow your tempo for short shots; quicken it to hit the ball further. To regulate the speed at which you release the club, aim to make the same length backswing on every shot, but vary the length of your follow-through.

Get set for a rock steady stroke

I believe that the shoulder controlled, pendulum-type stroke is the most effective for consistent putting. But for this method to work, your posture must allow your arms complete freedom of movement.

Let’s build it from the ground up. In front of a mirror, take a comfortably wide stance, and flex your knees a little, as if you were just about to sit down. Feel that your weight favours your left side a touch, and keep your elbows relaxed and spreadto the point where your upper arms rest lightly on your rib cage. Your eyes should be directly over – or slightly inside – the ball to target line; the ball itself should be opposite your left eye.

Aim the putter face squarely to your target line, and then try to align your body parts – ie. your feet, knees, hips, forearms, shoulders and eyes – parallel to it.

Improve your touch

On facing a putt of up to 40ft make the most of positive mental imagery – not only the line of the putt but also by visualising a bigger final target.

Imagine a circle with about a two-foot radius painted around the hole, and simply try to roll your approach putt within that circle. If you do, the longest putt you can have left will be two feet. Be conscious that pure technique here on these lengthy putts is not a prerequisite for feel.

Stand a little taller at address and encourage a long, free stroke back and through, and allow a little wrist action to help with acceleration. Your left wrist should, in fact, be a little cupped at the completion of the stroke.

Feel the benefit of a firm left side

In order to hit the ball solidly and consistently, it is important that through impact you hit into what we describe as a firm left side. In other words, for the position that you achieve at impact to be effective, the left side of your body must be firm enough to support and resist the release of the clubhead as your trunk unwinds. A weak or ‘soft’ left side affords no resistance as there is nothing to hit against.

Although you feel inhibited at first, turning your left foot slightly inwards when you practice will serve to eliminate any tendancy that you have to slide your left side through impact, and encourage a much better rotation of the upper body.

Create and maintain good angles

To start with stand upright then turn your feet outwards slightly (for most clubs, the distance between your heels should be no greater than the width of your shoulders). Now flex your knees a little until you can feel your weight moving forward on to the arches of your feet; stick your rear end out – keeping your lower back straight – and keep your chin up.

Now let your arms hang down as if holding a club, and feel your upper arms resting lightly on your chest. Finally, tilt your left hip and left shoulder up slightly, and at the same time relax your right side, dropping your right shoulder a fraction.

That’s it. Your spine angle and centre of gravity are now correctly positioned.

Learn the value of linkage

Learn to apprecitate the value of linkage – My hope is that now you appreciate that successfully linking your arm and body motion together is the ultimate in building a co-ordinated, rhythmical swing.

To that end, the sensation you must strive for is that of the pressure being maintained between your upper arms and your chest, at least to the halfway stages in your backswing and follow-through. The left arm should lie diagonally across your chest on the backswing; the right arm in a mirror image position across your chest on the backswing.

1.Tuck a headcover under each armpit, and work on keeping them both in place as you make easy, three-quarter-length swings with a nine-iron. Concentrate on rotating your body and swinging your arms in unison; synchronize your overall movement, and pretty soon you’ll be striking the ball consistently.

Learn to free up the hinge

From a free standing position, bend forwards – allowing your arms to hang freely in front of your body – and notice the way in which your palms naturally tend to point inwards. Now, maintaining this arm position, take a club and place it in your left hand, making sure that the leading edge of the clubface and the back of your left forearm are parallel.

As you do this, try to position your left thumb so that it points straight down the shaft, slightly to the right of centre, and also keep it short on the shaft.

1. Having taken this new grip, hold the club out in front of you and look down at it.
You should be able to see two to three knuckles on the back of your left hand and generally be aware of a increased sense of feel for te clubhead.

2. The real difference, however, lies within. Open your grip again and you’ll see what I mean. This time the shaft should run diagonally from the base of your little finger through to the middle of your index finger.
Although still primarily a ‘palm’ grip, you will sense that it’s more in the fingers. This improved hold on the club will increase the flexibility in your left wrist, and so encourage the free-hingeing motion that is necessary to create the maximum clubhead speed through impact.

Create dynamic tension

‘Bump’ to the right – Ideally, at the top of the backswing your upper body should have turned on top of your lower body. That’s what creates dynamic tension and a powerful coil as Kane is demonstrating (below).

But a little lateral movement can be of benefit.

To measure this, you need a point of reference. Stick an umbrella in the ground just outside your right foot, and angle it toward you just a little.

1. Now, as you start your swing, shift your weight across so that you bump the umbrella with your right hip.

It’s exactly that – a bump not a sway to the right, which as we have mentioned can be disasterous. Now complete your turn.

2. At the top you should find that you have moved away from the unbrella again. In the correct position you should feel more centered at the top of the backswing – both the upper and lower halves of your body now more closely in line, the spine close to vertical.

This simple exercise will give you the proper feel: making sure that your left knee resists a little – and the the right – hold your left hip with your right hand and pull it in and across. You’ll feel your hips move underneath you.

Free up your head, encourage rotation

Allowing your head to turn to the right as you swing the club back encourages your spine to rotate, and gets your weight moving in the right direction.
In the proper backswing movement, your left shoulder should then turn comfortably beneath your chin, so that your chest is aligned more on top of your right knee. As long as you keep your left arm “soft” and relaxed you should find that you swing easily into a powerful position at the top.

A good tip to get the hang of this move is to look at the ball out of your left eye at the top of the swing. Take a look in a mirror – it doesn’t look as bad as it feels does it?
At first you may feel as if you are swaying, or moving off the ball, but don’t worry about it. As long as your weight remains supported on the inside of your right foot (see picture) you’re okay.

Test yourself: at the top of your backswing, try to lift your left foot off the ground for a fraction of a second. If you can do this fairly easily, your weight is moving correctly. If you can’t you are still reverse pivoting.

- As an exercise adopt your address position, then place a club across your shoulders. As your turn back allow your head and spine to rotate and sense your balance.

1. Ensure that shoulders have turned 90 degrees

2. Ensure that hips have turned 45 degrees

3. Keep right knee flexed to create resistence in the swing

4. Majority of the weight remains on the right foot.

Building a solid grip

The legendary champion Ben Hogan summed up perfectly the importance of the grip when he said: “A player with a bad grip does not want a good swing.” The way the hands are place on the grip determines the shape of the swing and, more importantly, precisely where the clubface is pointing at impact. And that dictates the direction in which the ball flies. To hit accurate golf shots, it is essetial to build a good grip.

1. The hands must be in a neutral position on the grip; palms facing one another, square to the taret line. Bring the left hand from its natural hanging position and, holding it flat against the grip with the back of the hand facing the target, lay the club diagonally across the palm.

2. Close the hand around the grip so that the butt of the club rests against the fleshy pad in the palm of the left hand. Looking down it should be apparent that the left thumb is sitting fractionally to the right of centre on the grip. Once in place, waggle the clubhead back and forth to ensure a snug, secure fit.

3. Now place the right palm on the grip which should face the target. Check in a mirror that the ‘Vs’ formed by the thumb and forefinger on each hand point up somewhere between the right shoulder and right eye. Ideally, two knuckles should be seen on each hand.