It seems on a weekly basis my clients bring in a revolutionary piece of equipment recently purchased from Ebay, asking me what I think of this latest gadget which is likely to be taking up floor space in an attic or garage sometime in the future. You probably see where I am going with this already. However, I will, as this article develops, give you my insight into the best tools and pieces of equipment out there which will grace any Tour Pro’s bag and should be in yours too. The good news is that neither of the gadgets will set you back more than €20 total.
The good news about the ‘gadget’ situation is that it helps the player reinvigorate his/her enthusiasm for practice. It has a good chance to getting you out of the house and working on your game. Great stuff, no issues there at all. Remember though, it is more likely to be a ‘band aid solution’ than a ‘cure all situation’. Meaning that after you have followed the advice and instructions, then vigorously worked on the method for more than ten minutes, there is a healthy chance that you don’t see any improvement at all.
The first must have in the bag for the dedicated follower of golfing practice are alignment sticks. I rarely see a player with poor alignment when they have ready access to them. If they have poor alignment, then shame on them. Your ability, and I stress ability, because it is a learned skill to use these, is central to your development. If you can’t line yourself up to the ball-to-target-line accurately, then you are guessing and have little chance of dispatching the ball target bound. It’s all about using parallel lines whilst committing to put your feet facing away from the target yet parallel to the ball-to-target-line.
This why you see the Tour Pros always stand directly behind the ball, looking at the target before every shot. They are setting up the ball-to-target-line so that when they set the club behind the ball they can point it accurately to a point about two to five metres ahead of them.
The second must-have in your bag, are two nine-inch nails and a piece of string connecting the two. This is to be used on the putting green, with your alignment sticks too. How? Bear with me and all will become clear. One of the most common mistakes made by amateurs is that they rarely read enough break into a putt. So what you do is, find a putt with some break, left to right or right to left, it makes no difference. Just so long as it doesn’t have too much break on it. Start here and then work up to putts which have more break. Make sure the string (attached to the nails) is at least two and a half metres long and can be pulled taut so that any wind doesn’t move the string.
Now, put the ball on the green, directly underneath the string. One nail should be the indicator of the line and be pushed into the ground just past the hole, and the other end should be about half a metre behind the ball, or enough so you have a comfortable backswing. The purpose is to be able to train yourself to line up to any breaking putt with confidence. If the putt has been read as a ball outside right lip then the line of string should be set up to go towards that point. Hit the ball along that line and if the pace is good and the ball starts off along the string and goes in the hole, you have read the putt correctly, and just as importantly, you have hit the ball along that line.
Chances are you will need a couple of adjustments to get the line and pace perfectly set up. When you do you will be surprised how many putts you hole. You may also be surprised that the break of the putt was significantly more severe than you first thought. Good luck with these aids and if you need any more help, get in contact with us at the Golf Integrated Academy at Vila Sol – 912 263 555.
Golf gadgets
By Neil Connolly, in Sport · 15 Feb 2018, 15:15 · 0 Comments