30 Handicapper Lesson - Understanding And Improving Your Golf Handicap
In this video, Radio x DJ and BBC football reporter Rich Wolfenden steps up for a golf lesson. He gets some handy tips and drills from Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Trey Niven
Transcript
00:00Hey guys, Trey here, Golf Monthly Top 50 UK coach.
00:04We're at Hadleywood today.
00:05Just been playing a few holes out at Hadleywood
00:08with Rich Wolfenden from BBC Sport.
00:11He plays off 30 handicap,
00:13so I'm gonna give him a little bit of a lesson
00:15and see if there's any advice I can give him
00:17to make his golf a bit better.
00:19If you're around that ability,
00:20stick around, watch the video.
00:22There's some really top tips in this video.
00:25So Rich, watching you on the course out there today,
00:27I think you do a lot of things really good
00:30considering how much you play
00:32and how you described your golf game as well to me earlier.
00:37But I think your mid-irons,
00:39and you'll probably agree,
00:40could do with a little bit of work.
00:42Yeah, connecting with it,
00:46I'm okay connecting with it,
00:47getting a clean swing on it,
00:49but it never goes where I want it to.
00:51It'll go off to the right, it'll go off to the left.
00:54Right, so I think what's really important in this for you
00:59is to work on your setup initially,
01:02like how you stand to the ball,
01:03how you hold the grip, where things point.
01:06And then after that,
01:07I think that's gonna have a little bit of influence
01:09on how you move the golf club.
01:11So setup, I think, from a starting point
01:13of looking for consistency,
01:15gotta make sure the setup is consistent in itself.
01:18Okay.
01:19So you just take your setup.
01:20What I usually do.
01:21What's that?
01:22Yeah, you do what you usually do.
01:23If we were going out to play now.
01:24So let's say I've hit a brilliant drive.
01:27I'd probably line up the club first
01:30and then just sort my feet out.
01:32I'm with a seven iron.
01:34I'd have it equidistant between my feet
01:37and then it'll probably be some sort of setup like that
01:40if I'm aiming for that 150.
01:41Okay.
01:42And just hit this from here?
01:44Yeah.
01:49And that wasn't the worst one of it.
01:51That was okay.
01:51Pretty good, that.
01:52Yeah, that was all right.
01:53I don't think you need any coaching now.
01:55Nice contact with the floor as well.
01:58I think sometimes you will absolutely
02:00find the timing from that.
02:02But sometimes, like we saw on the course at times,
02:04that you haven't got quite the contact
02:06and it's a little bit, like you said, inconsistent.
02:08So I've spotted something straight away there.
02:11The ball position.
02:12Right.
02:13For a seven iron.
02:14Way too far forwards.
02:15Oh, really?
02:16Like, near the underneath left armpit there.
02:18Right.
02:19So again, if the ball position gets too far forwards
02:22and you guys listen at home
02:24and I'm trying to make that ball contact
02:26and then the ground,
02:27the more I move it in this direction,
02:29the more I've actually physically got to move my body
02:32to get over the ball.
02:34And something that I picked up on video
02:36from filming you on the course
02:37is that sometimes you hang back as well.
02:39So if you've got a ball that's over there
02:41and our body hangs back,
02:42we've got a lot of work to do at the bottom of the swing,
02:45hence some of the heavy strikes as well.
02:47So just get yourself set up again for that.
02:50Just as you naturally would.
02:52If I hadn't said anything.
02:53Yeah.
02:53So I'll probably be about there.
02:55Perfect.
02:56And I want this ball to sit
02:57right underneath your sternum here.
02:59Okay.
03:00That's it.
03:01So that one there is actually pretty good.
03:02Okay.
03:03Yeah, great.
03:04And I've seen one last thing on the course
03:06and practising there.
03:07You see how your lead arm there
03:09and your lead wrist is kind of bowed this way, forwards?
03:13Yeah.
03:14So I want that to sit right down underneath your chest.
03:17So if you just stand a little bit further away.
03:20Further away.
03:21And then we're just gonna press that club down
03:23so it sits there.
03:24So now you can see this lead wrist and this lead arm
03:27is pretty straight there.
03:28Okay, yeah.
03:29Probably feel a little bit uncomfortable.
03:31Yeah, I feel like I'm really leaning over it quite a lot.
03:33Okay, so hold that there.
03:36Great.
03:37So you're aiming a little bit right of that 150.
03:40So just bring everything around to your left if you can.
03:43So aim a little bit more in this direction
03:47if you can with your feet.
03:48That's great.
03:49And as you've done that, really important,
03:51just gonna check where that ball position is.
03:53That's really good there.
03:55Yeah.
03:55Great, and what you're looking for,
03:56you're looking for feet, knees, hips,
04:01and then shoulders all to be in a line.
04:03So you can see Rich has done a pretty good example
04:06of that there.
04:07Right, so keep them hands really low.
04:10Yeah.
04:11Okay, great.
04:12And just try another shot from there for me.
04:14Yeah.
04:15And just see how that feels.
04:18Ooh.
04:19Okay, not bad.
04:21Little bit heavy.
04:22Yeah.
04:22Yeah.
04:23Dead straight.
04:24It did go straight.
04:25It did go straight, which is what we're here to work on.
04:27Let's try another.
04:28Yeah.
04:35Wrists are straight, forearm.
04:43Great shot.
04:43That's at the 150.
04:44Hit it.
04:47Hit it.
04:49That was pretty good.
04:50It was accurate.
04:51It was accurate.
04:52I'll give you that.
04:53That was pretty good.
04:54I'll give you credit on that one.
04:56You can see set up there.
04:57When we look at the video, I filmed that last swing.
05:00Yeah.
05:00Dead square to where we wanted to aim.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Hands were sat nice and low.
05:04So you're in a place at the start of your swing
05:07where there's less to go wrong.
05:09Right, right.
05:09Essentially.
05:10I've seen one last thing,
05:11and I don't wanna give you too much.
05:13Yeah.
05:14I wanna give you maybe two points maximum to work on
05:17because this game can be a bit of a minefield at times
05:19with the swing thoughts.
05:20But if you just look as your club swings back here.
05:24Yeah.
05:25So it's over my shoulder.
05:26Yeah, it's over the shoulder.
05:27As you come down there,
05:29you can just see right here,
05:34you can see how the loft of that golf club,
05:37so we talk about the club face or the grooves.
05:40Yeah.
05:40Point backwards towards the camera here.
05:43Right, okay.
05:44This is a little bit of de-lofting.
05:47So you take loft off the club.
05:48Right.
05:49So with no loft on a golf club,
05:51and you wanna try and hit the thing,
05:53golf ball in the air.
05:54Yeah.
05:55We're consciously wanting to lean back
05:56and add loft kind of through the ball.
06:00Right.
06:01So I want you to,
06:02as you start to swing back maybe halfway,
06:05just to feel this lead wrist.
06:07It's just doing a little bit of hinging like this.
06:10You look at yours,
06:11it goes back this way.
06:12Right, right, right.
06:13So it's similar to how you set up before.
06:15Yeah.
06:16So all that lead wrist to feel like
06:17it's got a little bit of hinge or cup
06:20in the back of that left wrist.
06:21Okay.
06:22Keeping it firm.
06:23Yeah.
06:24So try that again.
06:24Just take your setup.
06:25Same setup points,
06:26making sure we're square to the target.
06:29Yeah.
06:30Good.
06:30And just sit them hands nice and low.
06:32Yeah.
06:33So then I bring it to.
06:34Hold that there.
06:35Would that be the position?
06:36It's spot on there.
06:37Where you have it here,
06:38you can see this logo on the glove or the wrist
06:41has got a bit of a kink in it.
06:42This is where it was before.
06:44Ah, it was more.
06:45There.
06:46Ah, okay.
06:47So you're taking loft off.
06:48Okay.
06:49Keeps them on there.
06:50Cool.
06:51That's it.
06:52Just try that again then.
06:52Little back swing.
06:56Yeah.
06:57Good try.
06:58All right.
06:59Should I hit it?
07:00That's it.
07:01Yeah.
07:02Good.
07:03Just remember that same.
07:04Bit further back from the wall.
07:05Good.
07:06And make sure them hands are nice and low to begin with.
07:07Yeah.
07:08Like thumb at the tip of the rubber part.
07:10Yeah.
07:11So hands back up.
07:12Back up, back up, back up.
07:13Yeah.
07:14Good.
07:15And then just press the whole.
07:16Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:16That was it.
07:17That's it.
07:18Good.
07:19Nice, relaxed hands and then hit.
07:24Good try.
07:25It's all right.
07:25Let's have another one.
07:28Whoa.
07:29Great strike.
07:30Yeah.
07:31I think I was thinking too much about my wrist action.
07:36Okay.
07:36Just take that set up again.
07:39Yeah.
07:40Okay.
07:42And just hit one more.
07:45Come on.
07:45Best one of the day.
07:50Remember that ball position under the chest.
07:52Yeah.
07:53Good.
08:00Ah, fatted it, but it went straight.
08:02If you take one thing out of that shot.
08:04So this is something that you can go away with now.
08:07Cause I know that's going to take maybe a few balls
08:10to get used to that.
08:11Yeah.
08:12This is where you finished that golf shot.
08:13So as you hit the ball, you hit the ground
08:16and both feet were both flat on the floor like this.
08:18Yeah.
08:19So what does that tell me about my weight?
08:21It's all.
08:22It's stayed back to your back leg.
08:24So I think for people listening at home,
08:26what you can take away and you can take away
08:28from this Rich is that the finish of the swing
08:31tells the story for kind of what you've done prior to that.
08:35Yeah.
08:36So think about if I'm in this finished position,
08:39haven't moved in through enough.
08:40If I'm in this finished position,
08:43I've transferred efficiently through it.
08:45Yeah.
08:46So I think that wasn't a bad swing at all.
08:49You just didn't have that finished position.
08:52Yeah.
08:53Forget that.
08:53But you know, it's multiple things in your head
08:55that you need to work on.
08:56But you know, certainly felt that the positioning in my.
09:00Yeah.
09:01So bit by bit you got set up.
09:02Yeah.
09:03Halfway back.
09:04Yeah.
09:05Finishing the swing.
09:06Yeah.
09:07Work through it in that process.
09:08Homework.
09:08Well done.
09:09Yeah.
09:11No worries.
09:12So in summary there for Rich,
09:13really important to just check that the setup
09:15and everything is in place.
09:17Again, a player that's craving consistency
09:20but hasn't quite found the consistency in the setup.
09:23So just making sure the symbol things,
09:24ball position, grip, hands, body alignment,
09:28all playing a huge part in his consistency
09:31and creating the same shot,
09:33creating the same contact.
09:34Moved on to a little bit of talking about
09:36how the arms and the wrists now need to work
09:39with the change grip.
09:40And then after that,
09:41it was a little bit more on to,
09:42okay, where are we finishing the golf shot?
09:44Because finishing the shot can tell a lot of the story
09:47of kind of the tale of the swing.
09:49So make sure you're in a good finish position,
09:51weight moving forwards, nice and stable,
09:54lower body nice and stable, in balance.
09:58And often if you can get into that finish position,
10:01it can breed some very good golf shots.
10:03So really good work from Rich there.