April Newsletter

Helping you Play your Best Golf

We've had an action packed few weeks on the Professional circuit, with Scottie Scheffler taking back-to-back victories! Worryingly for the rest of the tour his putting is starting to match his ball striking, but will he be so dominant at Augusta where he won the green jacket in 2022? March also saw Nelly Korda claim her 10^th LPGA victory and a return to the top of the Women's World rankings after winning in a sudden death playoff against Ryann O`Toole.

As a golfer you can`t help but get excited for the Masters! Who will take the green jacket this year? But before that, to kick start the Masters we see the Augusta National Women's Amateur take place on the 3^rd of April. A televised event introduced by the Augusta board in 2018 and a great opportunity to watch the next generation of superstars on the World's most manicured golf course.

5 Random Masters Facts: Did you know..

1. Phil Mickelson Carried 2 Drivers when he won the Masters in 2006. One to hit Fade the other for a Draw!

2. Nobody has ever won the Par 3 competition and the Masters in the same year.

3. The tradition of members wearing green jackets began in 1937, when jackets were purchased from New York’s Brooks Uniform Co.

4. Each hole is named after a plant or shrub that adorns it. For example, No. 3 is called “Flowering Crab Apple. An estimated 80,000 plants have been added since the course was built.

5. There are three dedicated bridges at Augusta National: the Sarazen Bridge at hole No. 15 — to honour Gene Sarazen’s double eagle there during the 1935 Masters, the Hogan Bridge at the No. 12 green — to honour Ben Hogan’s then-record score of 274 in 1953, and the Nelson Bridge at the No. 13 tee — to honour Byron Nelson’s performance on holes No. 12 and 13 when he won the 1937 Masters.

My three Master's picks have got to be: Scottie Scheffler or Koepka, and then my slight outsider would be Hovland. Let me know yours?

March was the first month of my Kent Boys U18 Academy coaching sessions, and there was some great talent on display with handicaps ranging from 3 to 11. We worked on some putting and range skills challenges. It has also been the last month of the winter development programmes, so we've been doing a few more on course sessions to make sure all the improvements over the winter are transferring to the course, and then putting together the summer coaching plans.

In this months newsletter we delve deeper into what makes a Scottie Scheffler the ultimate force to be reckoned with that we have seen since Tiger, and a dive into the Netflix Series Full Swing 2.

As always, we have some great projects and programs coming your way and we are ready and waiting to help you play your best Golf in 2024.

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At the Academy

Due to the popular demand I'm extending the MOT offer for April. It's a great session to grab an overview of your game and make some key tweaks to any areas that aren't quite up to the desired level. April offer #2 is for a 9 Hole Playing Lesson. On course sessions give a great insight into what areas of the game are functional, and any areas that need a bit of support and work. It's also essential to look at course strategy and pre-shot routines to make sure they are optimised for you. (9 hole playing lesson is £160, last 2-2.5 hours)

The Pro-Am schedule is pretty much in place now, available spots to join me will be emailed shortly. I look forward to getting out onto the course with you in 2024!

I will also be arranging some away trips, coaching clinics and exploring the possibility of an overseas trip next winter. Let me know if you are interested in any of these. The first event will be a coaching clinic in early May.

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What can we learn from Scottie Scheffler?

It looks like the putter has finally come to join the party; with such dominant ball-striking displays it was only a matter of time until he found a winning formula on the greens. We all see the equipment changes but not necessarily the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Scottie brought in expert putting coach, Phil Kenyon into his team just before the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome. The world number 1 golfer still has few little chinks in his armour but it’s how you respond to those downfalls that matters.

What else is highlighted here? The Ryder Cup was in late September/early October 2023. Six months down the line the performance on the greens is now showing in his stats. It takes time to implement change, so when you go for a lesson or you are joining a game improvement programme, be realistic with those expectations in the early stages of change. Getting better is not meant to be easy, it’s a challenge and a very non linear development. Keep turning up golfers and be consistent with your habits!

How Does that Swing Work?

This is a question I get asked a lot, it may not look like a silky-smooth Adam Scott version, but how it looks isn’t always a key ingredient! What can we learn from his move? Don`t be fooled by his aggressive footwork as it’s a key part of the recipe for the ball-striking machine. Scottie has a steeper plane of the arms in the backswing but his lateral movement with the lower body in the downswing is what helps create a very efficient impact position that has produced some of the best ball striking stats since an in prime Tiger Woods.

He currently gains 2.8 shots per round on overall strokes gained to the rest of the field on the PGA Tour. He gains 2.8 shots from tee to green, 0.96 from the Tee and 1.2 in approach play which is demonstrating a very dominating ball striking display. Tiger in 2000 was gaining 3.83 shots per round on the rest of the field which is crazy.

Scottie finished the 2022-23 PGA Tour season with an adjusted scoring average of 68.63, the 7th-best of all time. Please note that Tiger Woods has spots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on that list (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009). As of writing this Scottie has gone under par every round this year, that's an incredible 29 rounds in a row...a Tour record!

His Steely Mentality

Don’t be fooled by his humble personality, if this guy gets a sniff of a trophy, he’s not letting anyone get in his way. He is a very calm and collected character and holds himself brilliantly on the course no matter how he’s playing. Halfway through the Players this year he nearly had to withdraw due to a neck injury where we witnessed some of his worst golf shots live on TV the next day. As much as his 8 under final round was eye-watering, staying in the tournament with his C game on the Saturday was the real winning score of the week. How good are you at getting a score on the board with your C game?

To finish, lets just remember Scottie needs to maintain this level for the next 11 years and grab another 15 majors to overtake the number of Tiger years at Number 1 in the rankings, but he's on his way!

Golfer of the Month

My client of the month is Josh Bunbury.

Josh first came to see me last November, and was really struggling with consistency in terms of ball striking with his irons especially. He also had a massive slice with the driver and not much of an idea on how to chip and pitch. We put an off-season plan together, and Josh has been working extremely hard on these key areas, and is now at a point where he is getting round the golf course with very few disaster shots, and now has a really tidy short game, bringing his scores down massively. But probably most impressively, his massive slice is now a little soft draw which has added about 100yds to his drive, and also with it far greater accuracy.

Great work Josh, keep it going!

Full Swing

If you haven’t watched Full Swing on Netflix it comes highly recommended. Some brilliant insights to Rory's battle with the game and LIV. Should JT have gone to the Ryder Cup over Keegan Bradley?

These guys are all human as we witness Justin Thomas have his worst season since turning pro and the new PGA tour celebrity Joel Dahmen struggles with his game while having a tough time off the course. From severe career lows for Brooks in season 1, we see him back to his dominant Major performances.

It was great to get an insight into Wyndam Clark’s journey and the recipe to his Major success, and also to follow Alex Fitzpatrick on his fight to get out of his brothers shadow. For the Europeans tuning in it was a brilliant trip down memory lane as they delved deeper into their Ryder Cup victory in Rome. I certainly didn’t envy the captains making their team selections!

If you have watched it, let me know your favourite bits and why.

I hope you enjoyed this month's update, as always, we appreciate your feedback. Anything you would like to see featured please get in touch and remember to keep me updated with your progress and your challenges. I'm here to support you on your journey to playing your best Golf.

Nick