In the third episode of Game Improved, Nick Dougherty offers a lesson to 18-handicapper Andy Edom
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappin here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the final episode in our three-part
00:05series in which we're going to try to help some amateur golfers shoot lower scores. In this
00:10episode we have Andy Edom who plays off a handicap of 18 and he's going to get the chance to play
00:15some golf here at Wentworth with Nick Doherty and then head to the range for a one-on-one lesson.
00:21Hopefully there should be some advice both on how to play, how to build a strategy for the golf
00:25course, but also some tips on how to practice and how to swing it a little bit better that will help
00:30Andy but also might help you too. Right, let's get started.
00:47Okay, so Andy, thanks for joining us here at Wentworth. What's your handicap and just give us
00:52a sense of where your golf is at right now? My handicap's 18. It's a little bit variable because
00:57I don't get out that often and play that often so I tend to feel that I manage the ball around the
01:02course more than anything else. Okay, so then what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses in your
01:08golf game? Definitely strengths would be wedges and short irons. Generally speaking, the longer the
01:14club, the more wayward I can get. Right, and when we're talking wayward, are we talking right or left?
01:19A little bit of both, to be true. Right, okay, so what are you looking then? So you've got access to
01:24Nick, what are you looking for in terms of advice to help you play? Just to basically straighten me
01:29out a little bit, help me hit the ball a little bit straighter. I know I can feel there's certain
01:33parts of my swing that aren't right, it's just the order in which to correct that. Yeah, okay.
01:38Great. Well, I think you're with the right person today. Right, let's head out onto the golf course
01:42and meet Nick.
02:12I'd be in the balls of the feet, certainly in that more forward side. The top corner,
02:26I'd kick out that way, wouldn't I? I'd put the spin on the ball and if I was trying to bend it the
02:29other way, even as a right footer, I'd kick this side of the ball and then let me just see that.
02:34So now just feel that path of the other line. Make me work this way and see how much more turned
02:44through the ball I am. One way, so actually you really got to feel like you're going to drive
02:51forward this way and then you have to find a way to get into it. Okay Nick, so let's talk about
02:57Andy's golf game. So first time you've seen him play today, we played three holes here on the west
03:01course. What does Andy do well? What does he need to work on, do you think? Well, he's diligent with
03:06how he goes about his game. I can relate to Andy in terms of he's an over-thinker with his game
03:11because he tries so hard. Right, okay. Yeah, and I think it's an admirable quality. It's a noble
03:16pursuit but one that's thwarted, unfortunately, with this game because the more we get invested
03:20sometimes consciously with it, the more we get in our own way. I think Andy had a little bit of that
03:24going on. You could see there was, to me, the nature of how he stood to the ball. It was not over-coached,
03:31but over-thought. You know what I mean? It was just like he's ticking boxes in his mind and
03:36I know what that feels like because that's what I've done. And ironically, it took away a little
03:40bit of the flow of him just getting out of his way and playing golf. Right. So I think for me,
03:45a little bit with Andy is, and it's a challenge I think sometimes with coaching is, help someone get
03:50better without making them turn inwards, you know, in terms of their thoughts. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:54Because the last thing I need to do is to give Andy 10 different things to go and think about. Yeah, okay.
03:57And the problem for Andy was, with what we talked about with his swing, it wasn't,
04:02one of them was a pre-swing thing, but the sensation I wanted to feel was in the swing.
04:07They're always tougher because it's happening as we're doing it. As you're doing it.
04:11You know, so I think for him, there's a very simple fix that was really important,
04:16which was aim straight. Right, okay.
04:19You know, for him that was shoulders. So he sets up usefully every time. And then right before he
04:24pulls the trigger, he decides to make it more difficult for himself. Right.
04:28And gives it one of these with the shoulders. So closing the shoulders, what does that do?
04:31Well, it completely shifts the way that the club wants to move for starters. So from that
04:35very moment then, Andy's swing is always working this way. And ironically, we tend to build
04:41compensations in our swing to make whatever we've got going on work. To him, he's not shut though. Yeah.
04:46In his head, he's dead square. He's not though. He's way right with his shoulders.
04:51Because then when I went on and worked with him on the range and squared him up,
04:54of course, he feels wide open. Feels weird. Yeah.
04:57Even though he stood like that naturally, and it was only right before he pulled the trigger,
05:01he gives it the bump with the shoulders like that. So he felt fine to do that first. And they thought,
05:05no, come on, we need to get these shut off. So again, it's that classic feel versus real thing in
05:10the golf swing. And we all, again, have to deal with this where what we feel very often isn't what is
05:16real out there. And so just him seeing me going across his shoulders there with the alignment
05:22stick and saying, right, come and step away and see where it is. So you can immediately come and
05:25check on me. You need that feedback because I'm asking him to buy into something that
05:30everything inside him intuitively saying, that is not right, man. You got me stood like this now.
05:35How the hell am I going to propel the ball down there when you've got me stood this way?
05:39He needs to, you need the buy-in first of all. Like this is definitely what's happening.
05:43So then how do you then make those adjustments without becoming too technical, without talking
05:48about all of those things that can get you quite confused? I think you, you first of all explain
05:53that the journey is not one of pure joy and ecstasy in terms of like, and I think that's one
05:57thing. So I can relate to Andy in terms of I've played four times this year. So even when I go out
06:02there today, there's a real mixed bag. Making peace with the fact that there's going to be inconsistency
06:08is one of the greatest freedoms in our game that actually allows me to play way better golf.
06:12Because when I hit a bad shot, I don't do what I used to when I was a tournament professional
06:16and delve in there. Why do you, what do you, oh, this was, oh, this needs a bit. And of course,
06:20it's little things like this, which no one notices. It's very often we overcomplicate in that issue.
06:26So one of the things obviously that happened with the movement was that his path was very much inside
06:30out and it was reflected in, obviously you see some early extension in there, club drifting from
06:36inside out as well. And you see the release pattern as well, sort of this way over his shoulder.
06:40So what leading to pushes and hooks. Yeah. So if the face matches up to that direction,
06:44that he's swinging it, it's a block to the right. And of course, if the face is actually square,
06:47it's the hook, which is going to make him want to swing even more to the right hand side, which
06:51of course we know is welcome to golf. So in essence, we have to get a feeling for let's be square.
06:58That's going to feel rubbish. Make peace with that feels rubbish today, not forever, just today.
07:02I know it takes huge discipline. Go on the range, do the reps, ignore where it's going. You have no right to
07:09care where that's going because one, you're not really focused on it because you're not playing
07:12golf. You're playing pretty swings, but we're practicing pretty swings. That's what we're
07:14doing at the moment with this. I'm just going to go drill it in. That's what it feels like. That's
07:18what it feels like. That's what it feels like. And you can break that up with then going, right,
07:22I'm going to hit a normal shot. I'm going to play to this flag and go through my normal routine.
07:25Because what we want to do is do the stuff that requires us to step outside of the way. Because if I
07:30get used to practice a swing, but then also say, yeah, but I need you to hit it close as well.
07:35Yeah. It's not going to work so well. Well, as far as I say to you, all you have to do,
07:38and we did this with him, I wanted to try and feel hitting these nice little low fades because it
07:43was forcing him to want to have to move better with his lower half, which again was something
07:47we talked about synchronization, trying to feel. So it's a nice, simple drill as you take it halfway
07:52back, you step forward, which gets you using to feel. And of course you don't get halfway back.
07:56People tend to get up here when they actually do it, which is like the golf swing. Because in essence,
08:00with every good player, it starts with a move as this is finishing off into that left side.
08:05You don't want him thinking about that. And then from there, from having that better feeling of
08:10being into that left side a little earlier, rather than he was more back here and this way,
08:15and was almost feeling like we're moving a little earlier into that left side, you wanted to try and
08:19feel that nice little feeling of hitting a low cut. And I like things like that, because if I say to you,
08:24how would you hit a low cut? We've all got a feeling of, I'd be like, I'd be like that. I'd just,
08:28I'd hit it that way. And so it provides a feeling rather than, right, so we need to get the club
08:33there. And then in this position, then you want to feel like, you know, I think that stuff makes
08:38it way too complicated. So we hit some horror show shots, which is good because it shows me he's
08:42really tapping into that. So for me, it's sort of, let's get in amongst the weeds, get really ugly.
08:48Spend a bit of time doing that on the range.
08:50Get really comfortable being uncomfortable. And then we go, right, done. We get in, we do the work,
08:56then we leave and we go and play the game. So then Nick, let me ask you, somebody of Andy's
09:01level in the game, what strategy advice would you offer? Having a plan for what you're going to be
09:05all about in the golf course is more important. I think for players of the handicap, when you're at
09:0918, you're in that beautiful zone where some days you can, it can be a game changer of a day,
09:15but you always have the chance to go and have one of those shocker days as well. So I think making it
09:20nice and simple, have a plan with your coach is really good. So Andy's a great example of this.
09:25Have a plan for how you're going to make the improvements, but when you go out, go out to
09:28play well. There's so many things at 18 handicap you can dabble with and play with and try this
09:33and try that. My experience is most of the time we get worse. Too much going around in our head
09:39and then we end up going, oh God, I'm thinking about too much. How many times have you heard?
09:42Oh, I'm thinking about too much. Well, don't have your plan, stick to your plan. And strategy,
09:47you know, you save so many shots around, take a joy from thinking like a top level pro. You might
09:52not be able to hit Rory's shots, but you can think like, you know, so that means like when you go in
09:57there with your three wood in this stuff, is Rory going in there with the three? Because if he ain't,
10:01you shouldn't, you know, and I think that's one of the things we can see is that, you know, you won't
10:05necessarily always be able to hit the shot you want to, but we can make the right decision about it.
10:10And knowing where your strengths are as well, picking, being more responsible in what we pick,
10:14having a good strategy that takes some of the risk away. And for an amateur golfer at 18 handicap,
10:19that could be like, let's not hit the hero shot because that's screaming an eight if it doesn't
10:23come off. Let's play it smart. Let's make a nice five. And it takes discipline that because of course,
10:27we all want to hit the shot that allows us to, you know, the shot that makes us feel a million dollars.
10:32But if it's in a comp, if you haven't met me mates, whack away. If you're in a comp and you're serious
10:37about wanting to improve your handicap, do that, do the right thing and start making the right
10:41decision because it's what the top players will do. Yeah. So there you have it. If you want to get
10:45better at golf and who doesn't, then you've got to commit to it. You don't have to be technical,
10:49but you do have to commit to what you're trying to do. Hopefully that helps.
10:52Okay. So there you have it. That's our look at Andy's game and Nick's tips to help him improve.
10:57Obviously with Andy, he needs to make some technical improvements. But what's great about the advice that
11:03Nick is offering is that yes, it's clear to see those technical improvements that need to be made,
11:07but the advice needs to be as simple and practical and usable as possible. Hopefully that's what
11:13Andy got from it. If you're in a similar category with your golf game, then using some of that advice
11:17to help you as well should really make a big difference. But that's it for now for Wentworth.
11:22Thanks very much for watching. We'll see you next time.