PGA Features

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 Two - Light at the end of the tunnel for Milly

Hallelujah praise the Lord, or Gary Alliss, I can hit a golf ball - not just hit it, I can hit it far and straight (well the majority of the time).

When I first pitched up at the range to be put through my paces by the King of Swing I was hacking, slicing, topping and generally butchering my way around most courses in low 100s/high 90s.

For some barking reason I had often decided against lessons with a PGA professional, apart from a sprinkling when I was a nipper.

But the pain of high scores, duff shots and the dangling carrot of the Macca vs Milly challenge changed all that, and what a difference it has made.

The hacking was often a cause for concern, none more so than in the traditional Millard Classic played as a stableford between the men of Millard - my father, older brother and I.

The usual format is for the old man to streak ahead while my brother and I scrap it out for the wooden spoon.

How different it was this year. Stood on the first tee at my brother's home course of Shrivenham Park, Wiltshire, I proceeded to drive to the middle of the fairway, pitch onto the green and one putt for a birdie.

My father looked a little shocked though I could see the flash of pride, while my brother's dummy flew across the green.

As it turned out this year's Millard Classic saw my father and I vying for the pot and my poor old brother left for dead. Unfortunately there wasn't the fairytale end of me walking away with the cash.

That, as usual, went to the old man - 'Steady Bob' as we like to call him due to his steady demeanour and consistent game.

A final stableford haul of 32, playing off 20, gave me a lot of encouragement and left me eager to get out once again.

There were still some areas of my game that needed working on, most notably my driving. That still left a lot to be desired, although in truth the driver only came out once, I managed to skew it off the heel about 10 yards to the left and from then on it stayed firmly in the bag.

My main problem is thinking too hard. When I'm lining up the driver I'm constantly concentrating on making sure I take the club back square, get a good backswing keeping the club parallel to the target, transfer my weight properly and remember to turn my wrists on the follow through.

I guess this is where practice comes in with muscle memory etc working its magic, leaving my mind empty during the swing.

My irons on the other hand have been flying, apart from the odd one where I take far too much earth and end up 'fatting' the ball 50 yards down the fairway.

But as Gary keeps reminding us things won't change overnight, and I'm sure if I continue working on my swing everything will come together nicely.

Unfortunately my latest round was a little less pleasing although I'm hoping that might have been more to do with the gale force winds and sub-zero temperatures.

A round on The Belfry's Derby course was something to look forward to until I looked out the window in the morning and set eyes on the trees contorting into all sorts of obscure angles in the wind.

Standing on the first tee I realised why I only ever used to get the clubs out between April and October as my eyes streamed and nose ran.

I think wind is the one thing that can truly ruin a game of golf. If it's blowing down the fairway it can make you look very good with long drives, but when it's going across you or blowing into your face it's a real struggle.

One consolation was that my new, modern, 460cc driver was working well, I managed to hit a lot of fairways and, apart from when the wind was blowing left to right, the slice wasn't too bad.

So things have certainly improved since the lessons commenced, there is still plenty to work on, particularly around the greens. Hopefully this will be addressed in an upcoming lesson.

Just like every school report I ever received I guess you could say 'working well but could do better.'

As for the competition between Macca and me things are perfectly poised. I think Macca will most likely start off as the favourite as he's been on the course a lot more than I have in recent weeks and having seen him smashing balls up the range it is certainly going to be interesting to see where the £10 note ends up.