It is US Masters week very soon and it is my favourite tournament of the year, the golf course is stunning, the weather is great ,its the first major of the year, and it usually has an exciting finish.

What more could you want?

Well when I think back over all the Masters tournaments I have seen, for a european, seeing Seve striding the fairways, playing sublime golf in a matador style, hitting iron shots, drives echoing through the trees, putts holed, recovery shots, it was fantastic to see, here was a golfer that was not afraid to win, believed he could win, and he was just so good that he could win anywhere!

Seve led the way for the europeans making a huge impact at Augusta and beyond.

Here is my recollection of a great day at Wentworth in the early eighties.

Back in the 1980s Seve Ballesteros was the most exciting player on the planet, and your best chance of seeing him in the UK was at the OPEN or at the World Matchplay tournament in October held at Wentworth.

i had been going to the World matchplay for over thirty years and seen Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin, Tiger Woods,Ernie Els, the list goes on and on.

But Seve was different to them all, not just in the way he played the course, there was a magic a charisma about him, you just had to watch him play golf to understand., you never new what was going to happen next, and even the impossible seemed possible back then.

I was there on a practice day so you could get much closer to the players, and on this occasion I had brought my video camera, and low and behold here was the master just arriving on the the east course eighteenth hole to start his warm up and practice.

There were only a handful of people there at the start and I thought here is a great opportunity, so I just asked Seve if he would mind if I filmed him practicing!

He said it was OK in his spanish accent and I was their like a bullet, right down the line, I was there with a friend and there are some classic comments on the video , such as,” it makes a different sound to the others”, “look at how square his divots are”, “pure”,” it makes me want to clap” “all I need to do is watch this video all night and tomorrow I will play great ”

This is what effect Seve had on us , I was frightened to take my camera of him for a second, because I knew this was very special, you might see the camera move left slightly as I was getting distracted , but a nano second of thought told me STOP you are kidding THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE!

I was so right.

I hope you take a look at the gracefull, flowing swing, his great rhythm, balance, power, a real genius of golf, he was an inspiration to many professional golfers who are playing right now and SEVE will rightly go down down as one of the greatest players in history.

I had heard that Tiger was going to leave Haney, but although the news has a different twist, a reversal of what we thought would happen, the end result is the same.

With all the upheaval in the last several months regarding Tiger, and even though he has not played or practiced that much at all, we all realised that the way Tiger was swinging the club it was not going well.

His last round at the Masters was amazing, he was all over the course, but his recovery powers were truly incredible,  he turned a probable 77 into a 69, his desire kept him up there.

But you cannot keep fighting your swing every round, you might get away with it a few times, but at the level of the PGA tour you will come up short.

He has gone from winning the US OPEN by 15 shots in 2000 and holding all four majors in one year, to fighting his swing and digging deep to finish in the top four.

Let me say that Tiger won several majors with Hank Haney, as he did with Butch Harmon, but sometimes a particular pattern of swing suits you more, and Tiger is so talented he can make almost anything work and be successful!

I believe he has his next swing coach in the wings, his name is Sean Foley, he is Canadian, works with Sean O`Hair, Hunter Mahan, and just recently our own Justin Rose has joined up. Tiger could work with anyone and be really good, we all know that, he must know by now what swing works best for him, he needs to clear his mind and refocus on getting HIS best swing back, not trying to model a way of swinging onto him.

What I see is Tiger fighting the swing, losing more distance, playing a lot of fades, in order to keep his ball in play, that is not the Tiger we saw earlier in his career, he was free flowing, attacking, I believe he is the greatest golfer in the history of the game, even though he is behind Nicklaus in the majors, he has played the most amazing golf shots throughout his career, shots that other players can only dream of, plus he has an incredible will to win, amazing fitness levels, an intimidation factor that was there for all to see, and if you were in the last group with Tiger you were going to lose! That is not the case right now.

I look on with great interest, to see what is going to happen next, I really hope we see Tiger back to his supreme best, there is a lot of work to do, with his divorce, his fitness, his swing, there are a lot of things against him, most of which he brought on himself,   but if anyone can do it he can, and if he does it will be a lot of fun to watch. Tiger we want you back to your best, we want the REAL TIGER back.

Welcome to my feature on the latest happenings at BOWNGOLF 2011.

It promises to be an exciting year, as already I have various things in the pipeline.

Coaching has entered the new age with biomechanics, 3d imagery, trackman, hi speed cameras etc, why settle for old ideas and myths when you can use science to deliver the facts about your golf swing !

I have great pleasure in announcing that BOWNGOLF is expanding its reach in the golfing world, through a careful choice of quality golf instructors.

In our effort at BOWNGOLF to provide golfers with top class coaching, innovation and technology, I am pleased to introduce to you Mr BJ.Hathaway, one of the most highly qualified golf instructors in the USA, he is the owner of  AUGUSTA Golf Instruction in Georgia USA and will be linking with BOWNGOLF Academy to offer top class golf instruction.

BJ is an excellent golf coach who never rests on what he knows now, he does not stay in the comfort zone world of I am a qualified coach, I know enough now mentality because I am qualified. Like me he is always looking to improve his teaching expertise and expand his knowledge of the golf swing by keeping up with the latest technology and seeking out the very best golf instructors in the world

BJ Hathaway is a highly qualified golf instructor and has many certifications, including an authorized instructor of The Golfing Machine, a  Hank Haney certified coach and  is a Mind Factor certified coach, the only one in the USA.

When a student of mine hits a thin shot or tops it, at the beginning they say, “I lifted my head” or “I wasn`t watching the ball”

Now I have never seen that happen myself, but that is such a typical reaction of so many, their friends told them “you looked up”  other advice is “keep your head down” etc etc. They soon learn the TRUTH ! 

They commit the cardinal sin of working on wrong information, its well meaning but wrong ! 

So what am I saying here, well its simple YOU MUST GET A DIAGNOSIS FROM A GOLF PROFESSIONAL, someone who has spent years, studying the golf swing, and knows how to impart the neccesary information, I did say neccesary, not just lots of information, because that will cause the ”Paralysis by Analysis” syndrome and the student will just freeze.

So how do you change your game, or learn the game? R. M. P. G.

You must RECOGNISE your errors or RECOGNISE what you have to learn.

MONITOR what you are changing thoroughly, don`t just rely on your FEEL, look at precisely what you are REALLY doing.

Do it slowly and get it right, developing  a new swing pattern takes time, it takes CORRECT  PRACTICE.

Do enough CORRECT repetitions and you will GROOVE IT in. 

If you carry out these straightforward steps you will IMPROVE your golf and you will get much more satisfaction out of this great game.

ARE YOU READY TO FINALLY IMPROVE YOUR GAME ?

While playing the 18th hole in a sudden death playoff with Jim Furyk he called a penalty on himself of two shots because his club touched a piece of grass on his backswing, which was in fact a loose impediment, had it been growing naturally he would have been ok. No body else saw the incident, not even the rules official that was there.

This was a huge chance for Davis to get his first PGA tour win, he had earlier made a birdie three at the same hole to make the play off.

This is the attitude other players in  sports should display, get back to the integrity of the game, and play all our great sports with  respect, honesty and the right attitude, then we will see who are the true champions.

How many can you get right?

 QUESTIONS

1.If you want to hit the ball straight should you keep the clubface square to your target as long as possible?

2.. Should your impact alignment be the same as your address alignment.

3. Should your golf swing be a pushing or a pulling motion?

4. Should you lift the ball of the grass or hit  the ball on a downward arc when playing an iron shot?

Answers

General guideline and playing a standard shot.

1. WRONG. Your golf swing is on an inclined plane, eg think of a sloping roof, you stand to the side of the ball and your club moves on an arc . So after you strike the ball the club will travel on a path to the left of your target line. Here is a great example.

 BEN HOGAN      Showing how he has not tried to keep the clubface going down the target line, the club is staying on plane, MOVING INWARDS AND UPWARDS ON AN ARC AFTER IMPACT.

2. ANSWER  NO

Most golfers try to get their impact alignments the same as their set up alignment.

How it should look 

SET UP                        IMPACT   Lower body has moved to target, hands, arms and clubshaft moved forward, shaft is leaning forwards. 

3. ANSWER. A pulling motion, not a pushing motion.

Pulling forces transport the angles created during the backswing, the golf club will align itself and follows the direction of a pulling force.

Pushing forces the club to release the angles created prematurely, this is why most amateurs get back to their set up at impact and lose power and accuracy, they throw they club at the ball.

4. I ask all my beginners this question and around nine out of ten say lift the ball. WRONG Strike the ball on a downward arc for your irons.

So they start their golfing life thinking they must lift the ball into the air, they scoop , they throw the club to try and get the club to lift the ball!

Learn that you need to compress the ball, let the loft of the club get the ball in the air, have a forward leaning shaft at impact, the lowest point of your swing is AFTER the ball with your irons, not before.

So how many did you get right? 

If you can, please state how many years you have been playing or your handicap.

My tribute to Seve is to show again my video that I took of Seve at Wentworth practicing, it was a great experience to watch the master at work.

Here is my post on Seve and my video.

It is US Masters week very soon and it is my favourite tournament of the year, the golf course is stunning, the weather is great ,its the first major of the year, and it usually has an exciting finish.

What more could you want?

Well when I think back over all the Masters tournaments I have seen, for a european, seeing Seve striding the fairways, playing sublime golf in a matador style, hitting iron shots, drives echoing through the trees, putts holed, recovery shots, it was fantastic to see, here was a golfer that was not afraid to win, believed he could win, and he was just so good that he could win anywhere!

Seve led the way for the europeans making a huge impact at Augusta and beyond.

Here is my recollection of a great day at Wentworth in the early eighties.

Back in the 1980s Seve Ballesteros was the most exciting player on the planet, and your best chance of seeing him in the UK was at the OPEN or at the World Matchplay tournament in October held at Wentworth.

i had been going to the World matchplay for over thirty years and seen Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin, Tiger Woods,Ernie Els, the list goes on and on.

But Seve was different to them all, not just in the way he played the course, there was a magic a charisma about him, you just had to watch him play golf to understand., you never new what was going to happen next, and even the impossible seemed possible back then.

I was there on a practice day so you could get much closer to the players, and on this occasion I had brought my video camera, and low and behold here was the master just arriving on the the east course eighteenth hole to start his warm up and practice.

There were only a handful of people there at the start and I thought here is a great opportunity, so I just asked Seve if he would mind if I filmed him practicing!

He said it was OK in his spanish accent and I was their like a bullet, right down the line, I was there with a friend and there are some classic comments on the video , such as,” it makes a different sound to the others”, “look at how square his divots are”, “pure”,” it makes me want to clap” “all I need to do is watch this video all night and tomorrow I will play great ”

This is what effect Seve had on us , I was frightened to take my camera of him for a second, because I knew this was very special, you might see the camera move left slightly as I was getting distracted , but a nano second of thought told me STOP you are kidding THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE!

I was so right.

I hope you take a look at the gracefull, flowing swing, his great rhythm, balance, power, a real genius of golf, he was an inspiration to many professional golfers who are playing right now and SEVE will rightly go down down as one of the greatest players in history.

How many times have I heard this, a student wants to improve their golf swing but is frightened of making any changes.

Well it is quite normal to dislike change in our lives anyway, but if you are not succeding in what you do in your life, you had better start looking to change some things.

It is the same in golf.

What I would be very careful of is making wholesale changes to your golf swing all at once, in a desire to get things right.

 Even if the student has several areas that need improvement, I make sure I know which areas to work on first, and I do not want my students to be overloaded and weighed down with lots of technique, that will only stall our progress.  

I need to plan what to change , when to change, and feed these changes into their golf swing over a period of time.

Can a student do this on their own?

Are you kidding, NO WAY.

You will need help from an expert, a PGA professional who has been recommended to you, or go online and look in your area and see what golf professionals are out there, check out their website, get a feel for their enthusiasm, what  training have they done, their experience. Give them a call, tell them what you want from them.

They will be happy to help you.

When a student comes to me , I always ask them two things.

1. What are you doing at the moment to improve your golf?

2. What is the most important thing to you about your golf?

This gives me exactly what I need to know, what they are doing now, and what really matters to them in their golf game.  

When working with a new student who wants to really improve I  make sure I really understand their swing, their pattern of movement, how this effects their ball flight, and what corrections need to be implemented.

They need to be made aware that they need time to implement some changes and they may feel a bit awkward, this is perfectly normal.

How can you change something in your swing and have it still feeling the same!

The real key here to improvement is only working on a couple of things at once, sticking with them, being patient, making sure the student REALLY understands that, and that you are a team and working to a  plan.

For example.

It could be posture, maybe the student cannot turn because their posture will not allow it, or maybe they have a misconception about how to move in their swing, which is creating the problem.

So I look at the core issue that is making this golfer inconsistent and work from there.

This approach of being a team and working to a plan will create the right learning environment for the student and the coach.

It breeds confidence because the student knows exactly what to do, and why it effects the flight of the ball.

When your student has clear precise targets to aim at it really helps their focus, they are not distracted by their golfing buddies offering tips on every swing, they know their swing, they know how to improve it.

The results will be rewarding.