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.
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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.