Pete's Programme (Single Digit to Tour Player)

[Nosevi]

Another aspect that's quite recent is trying to get this performance from the practice ground (or sim in my case) to the course and this is something we're working on now. To do this (or start to do this) we've really turned a traditional way of looking at this problem on it's head - while I've repeatedly heard about trying to make practice more like playing on the course in order to help the transition, we're not trying to get my practice performance to be more like on the course, we're trying to get my on course performance to be more like my performance in practice.

We did an analysis of how I go about practicing, right down to my preshot and what I am focusing on just before and during a shot. We then did the same while I was on the course and the two were very different. While I'm practicing and hitting some pretty tight groups I'm very 'process focused', I'm concentrating on making a good swing and the result is a good shot. On the course I was concentrating on a good shot ie very target focused, and kind of trusting the good swing would follow....... which it often didn't.

Armed with this info I was sent onto the course and told to be engaged in the process, not the outcome. Before each shot I decided on the shot I wanted but then (possibly a tad bizzarly) I visualised it as I saw it on the sim where I practice all these shots for hours very week. Right down to which tree on the sim (clearly not there in real life) I wanted to start the ball at and how much curvature I wanted to put on it. I glansed up to check I was at least pointing at the target but when I looked down I was back in the sim in my mind's eye, making a slight draw into a pin balls at thousands of times.

Sounds utterly mad but I walked off really drained. No competition on the line, no more effort than normal but the concentration require to get in the zone (and a zone that wasn't really there) was actually pretty tough to do.

The result? I missed one green in reg in the entire round........ which I failed to get up and down from - 0% scramble stats - but that's not really the point. Feeling like I was hitting shots in the cosy confines of my practice area (my sim in my case) rather than out on the course somehow transformed my performance in that aspect of the game. Mentally it was hard work, sounds like I'm being a woose but it was, but it's something I'll be working hard on over the coming months.

[Nosevi]

The biggest breakthrough with short game was quite recently. I've said I've started to work with a couple of Tour pros, one male one female and both of who play at the level I'm aiming at, well the lass had an appointment so the male tour pro and I went for some short game practice - more his forte he said, which had me worried baring in mind my plan. He asked what I wanted to do and I said basically challenges or competitions - he call a shot or position around the green and we both try to get up and down from it. If I win I call the next challenge, draw or he wins and he keeps 'control' and calls the next challenge. The proviso was if I was struggling with a certain shot we stop and he gives me some instruction. Not sure that was what he was expecting but I know me - I'm massively competative and if anything will spur me on to the next level, trying to win will.

It was great fun and really useful to see how good this guy was. I did win a few though and towards the end was winning a few more than at the beginning. At one point he commented that my short game was far better than I had said it was. It gave me an insight into how a guy like that plays but also into his mindset. When I won one and said the next 'challenge' was the closest "lag putt" from maybe 60 feet he instantly said "There's no such thing a as a lag putt - you're trying to hole it not lag it close to the hole." I don't think he thought about it, it was a natural response and instantaneous. That kind of attitude rubbed off and when he chipped in shortly afterwards my attitude was I was going to follow him in to tie the hole, in fact in a starange way I expected to, had no doubt my ball was going in. I left it bang on line and an inch or 2 short, literally hanging on the edge of the hole. Rather than pleased it was a good chip I was gutted I hadn't had the confidence to bang it in.

The challenges got harder and harder, I chose some of the hardest - flop shot over a bunker to a tight pin sort of things, I wasn't going to learn anything doing easy chip and runs which we drew each time. The last challenge was a shot he set up - 3 shots of about a 25 yard pitch that had to hit the green....... but stop short of a flag 3 or so yards on, closest to the pin but short of it wins. We both 'scored' with 2 out of 3 (ie hit the green and stopped short of the pin) and we both drew ie our closest was bang on the same distance from the flag (about 2 feet). At that point I called it quits ....... and it was time for the school run anyway (have 2 kids).

I learned more about the short game and the sort of mind set to have in that 2 hours than I have in the past year. And mind set is massively important around the green - as I got more confident the shots got better, it really is that simple.

[14ledo81]

Pretty cool. It seems to me you are going about it the right way.

[Nosevi]

And that more or less brings me up to date. I've got the set up I need having thought this thing through a great deal and a detailed programme with specific performance targets constantly assessed for every facet of the game; after a year or so of the programme I'm not really still a 5 handicapper but probably not quite as good as some of my stats seem to suggest - scoring average of 2.something over is true if 'generous'; I've put in the effort required to hit the ball far enough off the tee; I've spent a huge ammount of time learning to hit the ball where I want it to go; my tour pro playing partners are showing just how much further I need to go.......... and my first real 'test' is in a week.

I said that my coach insists I get out there right away even though I've effectively just got my handicap? Just got a message this evening saying I'm entered in a matchplay competition against another golf club the weekend after next. Should be interesting. First time in a proper competition - anyone willing to place a bet :)  (got to say it's matchplay fourball so it's not utterly on my shoulders)

[Nosevi]

Pretty cool.

It seems to me you are going about it the right way.

Thanks.

We'll see. There are no guarantees, I can only do as well as I can do, and I'm sure there'll be ups and downs but right now, if I'm honest, I'm ahead of where I expected to be. I think where other similar quests maybe fall short is in assessing the enormity of what they are trying to achieve. They think playing on tour is a bit like playing on their home course only a bit better and with cameras there. IMO it isn't. The courses are beasts - you need to be long off the tee, accurate into the greens and have a short game like the guy I now practice with. Harsh but if you don't then you can forget it. Chatting to tour pros about what it's really like behind the scenes as well has been hugely useful.

I'm not kidding myself about how far I have to go but I've worked hard before and in far worse conditions (numerous operational tours in the middle east for one thing) and I'm kind of hoping that a previous life as an Air Traffic Controller will have given me some insight into operating under pressure - 3 foot putt to make the cut vs airlinner in thick fog with an engine failure, which would you pick? I'm hoping it'll at the least give me a minor advantage...........

[iacas]

When I won one and said the next 'challenge' was the closest "lag putt" from maybe 60 feet he instantly said "There's no such thing a as a lag putt - you're trying to hole it not lag it close to the hole." I don't think he thought about it, it was a natural response and instantaneous. That kind of attitude rubbed off and when he chipped in shortly afterwards my attitude was I was going to follow him in to tie the hole, in fact in a starange way I expected to, had no doubt my ball was going in. I left it bang on line and an inch or 2 short, literally hanging on the edge of the hole. Rather than pleased it was a good chip I was gutted I hadn't had the confidence to bang it in.

On a 60-foot putt (or, really, any putt from about 30 feet or longer), I'd say your goal should be to hit the ball the exact distance of the hole.

Pros three-putt as often from 33 feet as they one-putt. They average 2.0 strokes.

If you can hit the ball the exact distance of the hole, and your +/- is three feet, you're never going to three-putt and so you'll be gaining strokes on the 2.0 average of PGA Tour pros.

Yes, you'll leave some short. That's good (so long as a roughly equal number go a bit past the hole).

What you won't be doing is hitting any five feet long, and then missing the come-backer.

---

It's funny too since you talked just above about being "process oriented" and then you kind of "fell for" the "results oriented" approach to your short game or lag putting.

I think you can get tremendous satisfaction from a putt that slides just by the hole and stops 18 inches beyond it if your process was good (never mind that you then have a tap-in from 42 feet or whatever).

[Roblar]

Thanks for posting - this has been fun to read.  I hope you'll discuss the 'competition' experience too. One of the (many!) problems I have with the game is that I keep forgetting what I *should* know -- especially when I'm eager to perform better.  (Put another way, repeated mistakes frustrate me because it seems like I have only myself to blame...)

[Nosevi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nosevi

When I won one and said the next 'challenge' was the closest "lag putt" from maybe 60 feet he instantly said "There's no such thing a as a lag putt - you're trying to hole it not lag it close to the hole." I don't think he thought about it, it was a natural response and instantaneous. That kind of attitude rubbed off and when he chipped in shortly afterwards my attitude was I was going to follow him in to tie the hole, in fact in a starange way I expected to, had no doubt my ball was going in. I left it bang on line and an inch or 2 short, literally hanging on the edge of the hole. Rather than pleased it was a good chip I was gutted I hadn't had the confidence to bang it in.

On a 60-foot putt (or, really, any putt from about 30 feet or longer), I'd say your goal should be to hit the ball the exact distance of the hole.

Pros three-putt as often from 33 feet as they one-putt. They average 2.0 strokes.

If you can hit the ball the exact distance of the hole, and your +/- is three feet, you're never going to three-putt and so you'll be gaining strokes on the 2.0 average of PGA Tour pros.

Yes, you'll leave some short. That's good (so long as a roughly equal number go a bit past the hole).

What you won't be doing is hitting any five feet long, and then missing the come-backer.

It's funny too since you talked just above about being "process oriented" and then you kind of "fell for" the "results oriented" approach to your short game or lag putting.

I think you can get tremendous satisfaction from a putt that slides just by the hole and stops 18 inches beyond it if your process was good (never mind that you then have a tap-in from 42 feet or whatever).

I see where you're coming from at the end there, Erik, and I guess it's all about being a bit detached and perhaps 'realistic'? What struck me was his mindset was (or at least seemed to be) that everything was going in around the greens. It clearly didn't (neither of us one putted the 60 footer for example but we were both close enough for a pretty easy 'par') but he was far more positive than me. Admittedly that was with good reason - he was a darn sight better than me too - but that kind of positive approach around the green 'rubbed off' quite a bit and I found myself being more positive in my shots.

Strokes gained, especially in putting, is something that the guy looking at my stats has opened my eyes to. He's started having me fill in spreadsheets that track my strokes gained (or lost ) against the PGA Tour guys. It's obviously winter here so when we're on the full greens they don't roll as true as they might (they spike the greens in winter) and we're often on temporary greens (close mown patch of fairway) if the greens aren't fit which are a total lottery so no point in tracking it, but on a good round I'm not as far off as I thought I'd be. What I need is for a good putting round to become my normal putting round - I need to drop the average. One of my courses has pretty easy greens but the tougher of the two has some greens with great undulations which run pretty fast in summer for greens over in the UK. The pin positions are often more challenging too - had to putt off the green onto the fringe and back on again to get close on my first putt again day before yesterday. Be interesting to see how I do when we hit spring.

There's a lot of this stuff such as strokes gained that is new to me. It seems like a powerful tool, not just to see where I am but also to focus my practice. Think I may need to do some reading on the subject just so I can keep up with what the guy doing my stats is talking about to me (he has a name but haven't asked if it's ok to say who it is, when I get in touch with him I'll quit calling him "the guy doing the stats"! :)  ) Take it this stuff is covered in your book?

[Nosevi]

Thanks for posting - this has been fun to read.  I hope you'll discuss the 'competition' experience too. One of the (many!) problems I have with the game is that I keep forgetting what I *should* know -- especially when I'm eager to perform better.  (Put another way, repeated mistakes frustrate me because it seems like I have only myself to blame...)

I will do, no matter how it goes. As I said to Lihu, I really don't want to do a daily, blow by blow blog, mostly because a lot of what I do is pretty repetative and dull at the moment, but my first competition probably warrants a mention if people are interested. It'll be a teams matchplay event, each club has 6 teams of 2 players and it's 4 ball (think you guys in the states call it the same thing - each player plays his own ball, best score is used for the hole and it's matchplay against the other team?). We're playing in our county 'handicapped' league so it's important to get off to a good start. Our team won last year (my big club won the scratch league which will be a step up and I intend to go that way next year) and are keen to retain their title. On the plus side there's someone to 'help me out' if I find it's different playing with a bit on the line for the first few holes. On the downside we need to win or it's an uphill struggle for the rest of the season trying to catch the teams who got off to a good start. Playing where the outcome directly affects others will be interesting but I think I'll just have to try to stay in the process and not think too much about that stuff.

When it comes to performing in competion, one of the tour players I practice with said something last week that struck a chord. He said "Practice your weaknesses then play to your strengths." Not sure if he was quoting someone but I guess it boils down to knowing your game. It's something I plan to keep in mind in a couple of weeks time.

[DrvFrShow]

Great read. Thanks. It's a lot of work to get where you are. And it's a lot to get to the next level. I wish you the best.

[Nosevi]

Great read. Thanks. It's a lot of work to get where you are. And it's a lot to get to the next level. I wish you the best.

Thanks.

Yep it has been a fair amount of work but in reality I'm just starting out - the really hard work lays ahead. I have an idea of how quickly I'd like to progress and that curve is an exponentially shallowing one - it's been pretty steep so far but it'll shallow further and further as I go in terms of scoring average etc. I also have an idea of how hard I'll have to work to maintain on that curve and the 'work required' curve is definitely a steepening one - I'll have to work harder and harder to keep progressing. Perhaps that's something some people don't understand - I think everyone gets the exponentially shallowing progress curve but I think many underestimate the fact that as you pass scratch and better the work required just to keep improving gets harder and harder.

[Nosevi]

While I'm saying where I am now I may as well show the setup I have. I combined building a garage with making it big enough to fit a golf sim in. I went for a Net Return Simulator Series as I needed to be able to dismantle the setup if I want to use the space for something else. You can see the car is protected by what is called a 'carcoon' on the left - an inflatable bubble just in case! The garage pics show my pitching practice area at home, guessing it'll develop over time....

I've told my wife not to be surprised if one day she comes home and finds an artificial putting green in her small wildflower meadow - not sure if she thought I was joking ....... It's not a bad place up here to think about today's round and plan tomorrow though, although think I'm going to have to lose the glass of wine more times than not :)

Lastly a tad off topic but upstairs was supposed to be my wife's office:

But I pointed out that her desk really didn't take up that much room and, well.......... bit of persuading but in the corner of that shot it gives away that I won :)

[Abu3baid]

wishing you good luck, I will follow along!

[Nosevi]

wishing you good luck, I will follow along!

Thanks. It'll be a long haul so I don't intend to post all the time but there appears to be some interest in what I'm doing so will try to keep people posted on how it's going. I think the programme stands out a little from some others that are similar due to the amount of preparation and planning that went into it. That said, I will have forgotten something but right now I can't think what it might be. When it comes up we'll have to incorporate it in the programme.

[RandallT]

Nice setup!

So now I'm following Dan... Following Julia... Now this "Programme." Whew. Maybe I'll have to watch fewer Big Break episodes to keep up with it all.

At first, I thought that the history of these threads doesn't bode well for you, Pete, but the more I think about it, I'm hopeful about this one. On several occasions, people interviewing Dan have made reference to "haters" who are resentful of him (as if that is the motivation for people tearing him down). In reality, I think we are a decent lot here, and are actively pulling for people who go about things in a manner that makes sense. I'm not worried that these supposed "angry, resentful people" that Dan's interviewers see will be tearing your efforts apart. I'm sure you'll find some who may disagree with some aspects of the program, but overall, I'd expect us enjoy following along whenever you give us updates.

I know one area that many of us were hoping to get more from Dan was in the area of "deliberate practice." What exactly is that for an aspiring golfer? Are there time limits you found helpful- or do you practice for hours on end straight? How much do you use video analysis? Slow motion drills? etc.  No need to answer any of that right now, but I just wanted to mention that up front as a shortcoming that we see in Dan's blog site. It is not your goal to teach us that stuff, so you really don't need to answer, but it was definitely something that Dan has mentioned. He wanted to demonstrate deliberate practice and prove it works. But we are all left with things like you mention above "practice short game for 2 hours." Those things he writes are not insightful.

Maybe just don't promise us anything, then we won't be critical of any shortcomings!

Anyway, you and I are in touch through regular email, and I look forward to other discussions about any stats or charting help I can provide. I promise not to post anything here unless you give permission . As it turns out, my family's move to the UK is still on for this summer, so if there's a chance I could visit your "neck of the woods," that would be pretty darn cool. Doubt I'll have the consistency you get on that sim!  If nothing else, I can prove that it is calibrated correctly and not stuck on showing the same ball flight for every swing

[iacas]

What struck me was his mindset was (or at least seemed to be) that everything was going in around the greens.

Make no mistake about it - I am trying to "make" everything too, but I'm trying to drip the ball into the hole as well. That's how I putt. So I don't have the added aggression.

People who try to "make" every short game shot or long putt are often disappointed when the ball comes up just short (your situation was different as he was already in after the one chip shot), and their "I want to make it" attitude often leaves them on average a few feet past the hole.

A few feet past the hole will result in higher scoring averages than averaging LEVEL with the hole. So for that I work on the process. A shot on the golf course that stops two inches short of going in from outside of 30 feet was a GREAT shot that saved me strokes against everyone else in the world, basically. I realize and appreciate that.

Your "results" approach conflicted with your earlier stated "play like you practice, focus on the process" method. Ideally, I think you want to blend the two… It's tough not to care about the results at all, because there will be days when the process feels like it's done right but the results aren't happening.

but on a good round I'm not as far off as I thought I'd be.

Putting is a low SV (Separation Value) skill. Dan likely hasn't, but it might still behoove you to pick up a copy of the book in my avatar. Joe Jezzard just bought 20 or so in the UK so you can even order from him (find him on Twitter?) if you want to order from a "local" guy. (His books ship out tomorrow, though, same as one or two would to you directly, so they'll be slightly delayed.)

There's a lot of this stuff such as strokes gained that is new to me. It seems like a powerful tool, not just to see where I am but also to focus my practice. Think I may need to do some reading on the subject just so I can keep up with what the guy doing my stats is talking about to me. Take it this stuff is covered in your book?

Yes, in a different way. GamePlanning will be the biggest bit you can learn from the book. We cover Strokes Gained differently, by covering it in "Separation Value." The first two sections will mean a bit less to you than a 14-handicapper, but you'll still get something out of it. We've had several Tour players (every major tour in the U.S. and Europe, right down to the LET Tour) buy copies.

Unless asked direct or highly related questions, that's all I plan to mention it in this thread.

I will do, no matter how it goes. As I said to Lihu, I really don't want to do a daily, blow by blow blog, mostly because a lot of what I do is pretty repetative and dull at the moment, but my first competition probably warrants a mention if people are interested. It'll be a teams matchplay event, each club has 6 teams of 2 players and it's 4 ball (think you guys in the states call it the same thing - each player plays his own ball, best score is used for the hole and it's matchplay against the other team?).

Yeah… Some call that "best ball" here.

[Nosevi]

Nice setup!

So now I'm following Dan... Following Julia... Now this "Programme." Whew. Maybe I'll have to watch fewer Big Break episodes to keep up with it all.

At first, I thought that the history of these threads doesn't bode well for you, Pete, but the more I think about it, I'm hopeful about this one. On several occasions, people interviewing Dan have made reference to "haters" who are resentful of him (as if that is the motivation for people tearing him down). In reality, I think we are a decent lot here, and are actively pulling for people who go about things in a manner that makes sense. I'm not worried that these supposed "angry, resentful people" that Dan's interviewers see will be tearing your efforts apart. I'm sure you'll find some who may disagree with some aspects of the program, but overall, I'd expect us enjoy following along whenever you give us updates.

I know one area that many of us were hoping to get more from Dan was in the area of "deliberate practice." What exactly is that for an aspiring golfer? Are there time limits you found helpful- or do you practice for hours on end straight? How much do you use video analysis? Slow motion drills? etc.  No need to answer any of that right now, but I just wanted to mention that up front as a shortcoming that we see in Dan's blog site. It is not your goal to teach us that stuff, so you really don't need to answer, but it was definitely something that Dan has mentioned. He wanted to demonstrate deliberate practice and prove it works. But we are all left with things like you mention above "practice short game for 2 hours." Those things he writes are not insightful.

Maybe just don't promise us anything, then we won't be critical of any shortcomings!

Anyway, you and I are in touch through regular email, and I look forward to other discussions about any stats or charting help I can provide. I promise not to post anything here unless you give permission . As it turns out, my family's move to the UK is still on for this summer, so if there's a chance I could visit your "neck of the woods," that would be pretty darn cool. Doubt I'll have the consistency you get on that sim!  If nothing else, I can prove that it is calibrated correctly and not stuck on showing the same ball flight for every swing

Hi Randy, nice to see you on here

I'll think about the 'deliberate practice' bit and maybe write a few words about what I do. Yes, we use high speed video at the Academy as well as normal video analysis that I take in my 'swing studio' and send to my coach for analysis. I also use drills - I use them a lot. In fact if we want to change something in my swing we invariably come up with a drill to promote the new move and I do it repeatedly until the new move simply happens when I swing a golf club. I'll get back to you in more detail when I've thought what may be useful to others. Like you said, my goal isn't to try to teach anyone how to play golf but if people want to know how I'm going about it I'll say a bit about what I'm doing.

Regarding the accuracy of the kit ......... it's accurate. Not only have we hit ProV1s at the Academy down the range on a calm, warm day, looked at the ball flight vs what the kit says it should be then lasered the back of someone standing on the spot where the ball landed, it's also the same kit as used by quite a few tour pros now. Besides, this bloke uses it for his players and that's good enough for me.....

Also, bit cheeky (so have deleted the name) but this is a set shot by a PGA Teaching pro who went on my kit not long ago. Don't think the 'all down the middle' calibration was working for him

Speak to you 'off forum' soon - look forward to the video conference in the sim next week

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nosevi

What struck me was his mindset was (or at least seemed to be) that everything was going in around the greens.

Your "results" approach conflicted with your earlier stated "play like you practice, focus on the process" method. Ideally, I think you want to blend the two… It's tough not to care about the results at all, because there will be days when the process feels like it's done right but the results aren't happening.

Putting is a low SV (Separation Value) skill. Dan likely hasn't, but it might still behoove you to pick up a copy of the book in my avatar. Joe Jezzard just bought 20 or so in the UK so you can even order from him (find him on Twitter?) if you want to order from a "local" guy. (His books ship out tomorrow, though, same as one or two would to you directly, so they'll be slightly delayed.)

.........GamePlanning will be the biggest bit you can learn from the book. We cover ..........

Thanks Erik. The book sounds like just the thing I need, if only to keep up with what Randy's telling me about my stats! Seriously though I can see how all this statistical analysis can be massively useful, not just in seeing where you are but mainly in order to target your practice. Look forward to reading it.

Regarding blending 'process focus' and' results focus' I agree and I'm still finding out what mindset works best for me. Certainly in long game, early indications are that, for me, a strong focus on the process of striking the ball as I want to seems to have a positive effect on the course. We'll see if I can maintain this mindset when I'm playing competitavely where I don't want to let team mates down. It won't exactly be the final round of Q School but I'm guessing I'll feel differently about whether I make a given putt or not.

[Nosevi]

I know one area that many of us were hoping to get more from Dan was in the area of "deliberate practice." What exactly is that for an aspiring golfer? Are there time limits you found helpful- or do you practice for hours on end straight? How much do you use video analysis? Slow motion drills? etc.  No need to answer any of that right now, but I just wanted to mention that up front as a shortcoming that we see in Dan's blog site. It is not your goal to teach us that stuff, so you really don't need to answer, but it was definitely something that Dan has mentioned. He wanted to demonstrate deliberate practice and prove it works. But we are all left with things like you mention above "practice short game for 2 hours." Those things he writes are not insightful.

Ok, had a bit of a think about this and with the caveat of "I'm not trying to tell guys and girls how to do it." I'll say what I've personally found useful.

Firstly, regarding time limits - the thing I find great about golf is that it's so varied. While I can get to the stage when I'm simply not gaining anything any more from continuing to practice putting, that doesn't matter because I can go practice driving. The two activities are so different that starting to do one when I'm no longer able to concentrate on the other seems to work fine. The thing is to recognise when you stop being able to fully concentrate on one activity. For me that's about an hour, much more and I feel the benefits of the practice start to diminish. As an air trafficer we tend to be on radar console for about an hour and it's intense concentration for that period - I have no idea if that's why an hour seems to be my 'threshold for focus' or if it's a coincidence but the two do seem to tie in. By switching areas of practice every hour or so I can practice for about 5 or 6 hours a day before I start to feel that any more isn't getting me anywhere. It was less but my ability to concentrate is improving over time. All of that said I've had really productive 15 minute practices and hour long sessions where I felt I gained very little. With me, the quality of the practice is more important than the time spent.

Slow motion drills I use a lot. To me all aspects of golf are important but the ability to get the club face square at impact is a biggy. Get this right in putting and the ball goes in; get this right off the tee and you're playing from the short stuff; get this right in your approach shots and you're firing at the flag. Yes swing path is important but get the club face square and it's tough to play bad golf. To that end I spent hours and hours just doing impact drills where my only goal was getting the club face square. I don't use an impact bag as that would square up the club face but just go from half way down to impact and check my club face is square, half way down to impact and check my club face is square, half way down........ you get the picture. How many hours have I done this drill? maybe 100 or more just doing this drill over and over again. The result is the sets I posted earlier in the thread.

From here the progression was to do the same drill but concentrate on the club path going through impact. Half way down in to impact with the club face square moving slightly in to out, halfway down into impact with the club face square moving slightly in to out, halfway........ this is my natural slight draw aimed a couple of yards right to come back onto target. Change the drill up so that through impact I'm moving a little out to in and I'm hitting a slight fade. The swing path is quite smalll changes but it's all based around knowing exactly where the club face is pointing through impact. Again I did this for a lot of hours, hitting shots between to check how it was going.

It's a very controlled way to play golf and frankly it's not how most people play but I'm learning to work the ball exactly how I want it. If I need to hit a shot that starts left of the pin and comes back I know where I want the club face to be pointing and where I want the swing path. If I get it right the shot flies as I want it to. I think, for me, this was deliberate practice - repetative, focused practice on one aspect of the game - in this case club face control. The results were the sets I've posted and the ability to draw or fade the ball at will. It took hours of hard work and a knowledge of the ball flight laws but the results were better than I thought they would be to be honest.

One thing I have to say here is that with any drill it's important to understand how your mind works so you 'correct' the right thing, everyone is different which is something that many teaching pros get wrong (in my experience). Here's an example - tell many people that perhaps slice the ball to hit the balll right of target and it'll promote an in to out swing path which might help them out if they've left the club face as it was before. With me if you tell me to hit the ball right of target it's the club face I'll aim where I want the ball to go..... I'll hit the ball right of target. If my swing path is still to the left you won't be helping me out. If you tell me to impact the inside of the ball I'll do it for you..... by opening the club face so it impacts the inside of the ball. The point is I tend to naturally control the club face to hit the ball where I want to hit the ball. Someone else when told to hit the inside of the ball will put significant right to left spin on the ball because they are swinging at the inside of the ball but actually hitting the back of it. What I like about my coach is that he spotted things like this right away. He knows that if he tells me to hit the ball somewhere, that's where I'll point the club face not where I'll swing.

A side effect of that was a 'test' my other coach did with me. He noticed I have a fairly weak grip but draw the ball so asked me to make it a bit weaker and hit a shot. I still drew the ball. So he weakened it off some more. Still a draw. At the point when he got me to grip the club 45 degrees open and the ball was still drawing exactly the same he stopped telling me my natural grip was too weak. How is knowing this useful? For someone like me who naturally uses their hands to square the club face, if I want to draw the balll a bit more I set up with it a shade open, that way I naturally close it into impact. If I want to fade the ball I set up with it more shut, I naturally hold off through impact which promotes a fade. This is pretty counterintuitive but if you understand that for me I'll correct with my hands to get the ball to go straight it starts to (just about) make sense.