• 5 months ago
With the sunny weather finally upon us and The Open approaching in the next few weeks, we thought it was time to brush up on our golf skills.
Transcript
00:00Golf is a sport like no other, and since we have finally started to see signs of summer,
00:04I've decided to try to show off what it's like to tee off as a beginner.
00:08So I went to Bairsted Golf Club, which has been around since 1895 and is just outside
00:13of Maidstone.
00:14If you're like me, you're currently trying to reduce your blood pressure after seeing
00:17Gareth Southgate's attempts to put us through the group stage at the Euros.
00:21Well I'm here at Bairsted to get some tips on what might be a steadier sport.
00:25The Open Championships are starting in July, and I'm here to improve my swing with tips
00:30for a professional.
00:32Because golf is such a unique sport in that it's played with a set of clubs and a ball
00:36set from a motionless position, I needed someone special to show me the ropes.
00:40Meet Richard Fox, a golf professional and teacher who's been tasked with the challenge
00:45of getting my golf skills into full swing.
00:48Looking forward to being able to give you a little bit of a lesson, tell you all about
00:51it, try and get you to love the game that I love, and basically understand where we're
00:55going.
00:56I mean, the thing about golf that we're trying to do really is try to explain to people it's
00:59a game for everybody, so try and lose the stigma as maybe it was, and try and get everybody
01:04involved really.
01:05But as I say, it's all about having a bit of fun, seeing if it's the game for you, hopefully
01:09it will be, taking it further from there.
01:11So if we can, let's have a look at you and see where we go.
01:14He started off by introducing the key basics of the sport.
01:17This included getting the grip down.
01:19So again, left hand goes in, thumb point pretty much straight down, back of the left hand
01:24faces towards the target, stick the forefinger out, little finger slides in, but only into
01:29the fingers, and then you're going to come over the top, so the right thumb touches.
01:33Perfect.
01:34We'll just tweak this finger, yeah, just a little bit round, only because if you hit
01:36the ground that might give you a jarring sensation, and we don't do pain in golf, or any men's
01:41golf anyway.
01:42That's okay.
01:43Nice stance.
01:44From this position here, what we're going to do is say, yeah, club's coming into belt
01:47bucket area, so we're just going to swing it nice and short, just feel comfortable,
01:51and just see whether we can get you to do a little bit more ease.
01:54Okay, sure.
01:55And my swing.
01:56The same way as a thrower would work, or a racket sport player would work, what we're
02:01basically trying to do is turn to the right side, load the energy, turn to the left side
02:05and release the energy.
02:07And then from there, we're just going to try and get the club to do the work for us.
02:10Okay.
02:11Nice and easy.
02:12Yep.
02:13Let's give it a go.
02:14Rich explained to me that the new players simply tend to go for power over precision,
02:18with a clean strike with the club, making sure that the bottom of the head gets a good
02:22connection with the bottom of the ball, is the most basic of building blocks for playing.
02:26Throughout the day, I noticed I'd begun to hit more and more consistently, until I was
02:31getting a decent enough connection to send the ball past the trees.
02:33Hope you enjoyed it.
02:35Happy golfing.
02:36Definitely.
02:37Thanks so much for having me.
02:38No, enjoy it.
02:39Take care.
02:40You too.
02:41Finn McDermid, for KMTV.

Recommended