Engage

Well it’s the 16th of February and the come back has officially started.

Went out for my 1st 9 hole lesson with Ian Bratton at http://www.newburghgolfclub.co.uk/  this afternoon.

To be quite honest it went a lot better than I thought, but and it’s a big but, I need to learn to listen.

With all the golf we watch on TV, all the magazines we read and of course the internet, we have all become experts, or think we are.

Would you take your own teeth out ? Well I can think of one or two that might, but if you have sore teeth you go to a dentist, because they are trained and qualified. So why when we are struggling with our golf do we try to self diagnose or take advice from other armatures?

PGA golf professionals are there to help you, they are trained to help and the vast majority want to help you.

Now Ian is not my home club pro, several years ago I was struggling and Ian got me going again. When I fell out of love with playing there was only one person I was ever going to see.

Tell you what I like about Ian, a spade is a spade, not a manual operated device for the removal of ground soil. I would rather be called on my errors as opposed to have it all sugar coated. The other thing is Ian builds a lesson round me, not what the text book says. The previous pro I went to see had his lesson plan, everyone is taught in the same thing in the same way. Age, size, height never came into it. I am 5ft 8 and fat, you could have been 6ft 4 and skinny and would have been taught the same swing!

I have to say that an on course lesson seems to have a lot more benefits to a normal range lesson. It lets the pro see your approach and set up as well as your swing.

The grip needs work, but then again I knew that, but Ian gave me something to work on with it, I went from a double & a bogey to 5 pars by simply changing the grip. Now remember this was a shortened winter course before you all think I am suddenly gunning for scratch.

But it’s a start.

The thing that I took away with me today was my pre shot routine, I never had one!

I now have a set routine to work on before every shot, this should aid my grip, set up and attitude.

But there is one downside, my clubs.

I love my Wilson FG tours, they are just gorgeous and I love the feeling of forged irons. The cold hard truth is that since the knee operation 2 years ago I have struggled to follow through and my swing has really, and I mean really, slowed down.

The project X shafts I have in them at the moment are just too stiff for me theses days. So do I just replace the shafts?

Ian thinks I should try graphite, he also thinks a more forgiving club could bolster my confidence.

 In my heart I disagree, in my head I think he may be right.

I need to learn to listen and not second guess everything.

So next week I will go out and hit some graphite clubs to see how I get on, I really really really do not want to give up on forged heads, BUT, its not about what I want its about what lets me enjoy my golf again.