The Cast
Top Coach
Gary Alliss, head professional at The Belfry, PGA Cup captain and PGA Master Professional
Hacker 1
Lee McLaughlan (Macca) - PGA.info writer
Hacker 2
Matthew Millard (Milly) - PGA.info writer
The Challenge
Too many golfers ignore the benefits of lessons. Over the coming winter months Lee and Matt will receive regular expert tuition from Gary to improve both the quality and enjoyment of their respective games and also demonstrate that investing in lessons can be as valuable as money spent on new equipment.
The Bet
£10 - Macca and Milly will put all their winter coaching to the test with a one off winner takes all strokeplay challenge at the PGA National in April.
Act Three Scene One - It's a sand blast for Macca
If statistics are to be believed (and who has ever heard of stats ever lying!) then the crunch to shooting low scores is all in the short game. I tend to believe those stats given that I can get within a few feet of the green in two - and sometimes even on it - and then proceed to rack up a score of biblical proportions.
It has been the ruination of many an average round and I doubt I'm alone among those with 20 plus handicaps. Armed with this knowledge, or weakness, I am acutely aware that the short game is one area of my game in need of not so much improvement but an overhaul and the key to getting my scores tumbling down.
With this is mind, and having already imparted his knowledge of the basic set-up in our first lesson and drivers and woods in lesson two, mine and Matt's mentor and newly installed PGA Master professional Gary Alliss turned his attention to the short game.
Again there are various angles of attack to focus on and first up was that evil of all golfing evils - greenside bunkers.
I have never had an aversion to sand providing that it comes with a crystal blue sea and is swathed in ice-cream melting sunshine. However, put that sand within a few feet of a perfectly piece of mown grass with a flag for a target and its appeal suddenly wanes.
For as long as I have held a club, bunkers have brought with them trepidation because it either takes a succession of efforts to get the ball out or it flies with such force I'm somewhere near the next tee.
It has never been one of those graceful shots, which the pros make not only look so effortless but also invariably stick within striking distance of the pin. That has primarily been down to a lack of knowledge on playing the shot, while confidence and feel have also been AWOL.
In a bid to change this, mentor Gary thrust the pair of us into a bunker on one of the coldest days in winter. So, the short, sharp shock treatment!
We spent a few minutes trying to aim at a flag, while Gary watched ominously from the sides before calling a halt.
I was aware that I need to aim the club face, then open up my stance by rotating my body to realign the club for the perfect shot (yeah, right!)
While mentally there was an inability to get the ball out of the sand, it was pointed out physically I was too as my hands were too low down the grip, thus impinging on the swing - a common fault among a lot of amateur golfers apparently.
Second, I had the ball in the back of my stance - another no no. This meant I was connecting with the sand too soon and thus hitting down rather than up leaving the ball going nowhere. Common sense you may think, but you need a professional's eye to spot these details which, no book or video can truly impart.
The one plus point was my stance but with the other key components missing it was a dead duck.
And so I looked to my mentor.
Before striking a ball, Gary expressed that the KEY thing to learn is to get the ball out - distance and direction can be honed over time with practice.
It may sound obvious, because it is, but getting the ball out is all we ever want to achieve. Landing it three foot from the pin can come in due course.
So how do we do this?
1 - Ready.
A quick shuffle with the shoes will give an indication of the condition the sand is in. On this day the sand was compact, with very little give under the top layer thanks to the frost. Given the condition, strike the sand a ball's width behind it. Naturally, this would change as the feel of the sand changes.
2 - Aim.
Line the club face up with the flag. Open it up and then pivot the body round to get the face back in line with the flag. Now, the face and club angle should be sufficient to lift the ball out of the sand and onto the green.
3 - Fire.
Many golfers are guilty of flicking the wrists to get the ball out and invariably fail. The tip is to reproduce a three-quarter swing and maintain smoothness from start to finish, only turning the wrists until late on in the follow through. The ball should be in the front of the stance, as if hitting a three or five wood.
Armed with this knowledge, and again having watched Gary repeat the feat over and over again, I stood in the sand with a line of balls in front of me. My colleague caught on in an instant and watching his ball take off and land was somewhat disheartening.
As for me, the improvement was marginal with the ball either still in the bunker or miles away. There was still a mental block and a poor execution despite the instruction.
I returned 24 hours later to give it another go - my partner in tandem. With Gary gone, I felt more relaxed and also had the knowledge with which to build on. It now meant that there was a distinct aim to the practice.
Though not every ball still got out the bunker at the first attempt, four out every five did - on a consistent basis. Picking a fresh target slightly further away, the results were even more encouraging with a number within a handy ten foot of the pin.
Progress had been made and again, having hacked away in the sand for years, 40 minutes with the pro had made a huge impact to one of the key areas of my game.