Mike Yorke Golf Academy – Golf Swing Tips Blog

The Putting Studio at Horne Park – Committed to your Putting Success!

After a fantastic opening season, with over 200 golfers visiting the studio including professionals from the Men’s and Women’s European Tours, we are proud to announce some amazing new features keeping our studio at the forefront of putter fitting and putting coaching.

With the putting stroke taking around 1.9 seconds and ball-putter face contact being less than half a millisecond it is imperative that everything in your set up is biomechanically sound and your stroke is as simple and repeatable as possible.  With this in mind it is crucial to gather all evidence available to pinpoint exactly where any faults maybe…

…To partner the Quintic ball roll capture we have 2 exciting new features which will be available from January 1^st 2012:

*‘Putter head tracking’ with 2 camera angles giving us invaluable data on stroke path and putter face rotation.

**Quintic biomechanics software with multi-capture cameras:  this amazing technology will track key areas such as the putter, hands, wrists, shoulders and head, allowing us to determine the exact origin of any faults.

Paralysis by Analysis?

Not at all!  Analysing data on the roll of the ball, the putter head and the body movements will mean all the facts are addressed in a logical manner to determine precisely what improvements need to be made.  These improvements can then be monitored over time to ensure you do not drift back into old patterns as is so often the case!

For more information on the studio, assessment process or any of the features do not hesitate to get in touch with Paul by contacting him directly: paul@shortgamesecrets.co.uk or call 01342 844443

We look forward to seeing you all soon…

Understanding Yardage: The Key To Golf Success This Winter?

As we move into the autumn and winter month’s golfers will increasingly need to review their club selection on the course. Too many players simply hit the same club from the same position all year round regardless of the time of year. The change from a sunny and warm atmosphere to a colder and damper one will have dramatic effect on the yardage a player can achieve and in many cases it can be as much 15 to 20 yards without factoring in any wind.

The 3 golden rules to understanding how far you can hit the ball are….

1-Consider yardage as ‘carry through the air’ and not where the ball lands and rolls to.

2-Base your ‘carry through the air’ yardage on an average strike of the ball and not your ‘Sunday best’ effort.

3-Finally when you start to record your yardages make sure you do it still conditions, on a flat area of ground; playing up or down a hill will affect the length you can hit the ball.

A phrase I would like you to remember is ‘pin high’ and this simply means getting your ball up level to the hole. When you next watch any golf from the tours around the world you will see how top players consistently get their ball ‘pin high’, they very rarely leave their ball short of a green or target. By comparison club golfers are often short which is where you normally find hazards, such as sand and water. By having a realistic understanding of your carry with a given club you will undoubtedly negotiate your way around the course more effectively and in the process improve your golf!

This critical exercise of calculating yardage is one that all golfers should do throughout the year, become more aware of your own capabilities and you will be able to impact your scores in a very positive manner.

Crucial actions to become a better putter!

Controlling distance is the absolute key to achieving consistent success on the greens; maximising one putts and minimizing three putts.  Having the ability to match your stroke to the green speed on any given day will separate you from your fellow competitors and see you on your way to holing more putts…

In October and November 2011, ‘ShortGameSecrets’ is offing a 10% discount on a 2-part putting lesson completely devoted to developing touch and controlling distance.  Over two, 45 minute sessions you will learn how to calibrate your stroke to the green speed and how to use your natural instincts and intuition to judge distance.  The knowledge you will gain in these sessions will give you everything you need to develop your touch, giving your putts the best chance of reaching the hole without going too far past if they miss!

The total cost for the two sessions, including discount, is £65.  To make the most of this opportunity call 01342 844443 to book, quoting “2-part distance lesson”.

Over the coming months, similar offers will be available for developing the other 3 key skills for great putting; Green reading, Targeting and Hitting your intended line…I look forward to seeing you on the putting green.

Golf is a unique game in so many ways and perhaps the best example of this is the system of scoring used in our game. Unlike most sports which involve players aiming for high or maximum scores, golf requires a whole different mindset and discipline as players aim to take the least number of hits possible. To be successful in this pursuit of low scores golfers will need to have a process on the golf course that ensures ‘QUALITY STRATEGIC DECISIONS’.

This PLAYING and TACTICAL SKILL  can only be developed through spending time on the course but it is often over looked by golfers who are all too consumed with the mechanics of a perfect swing on the range. Whilst the range can be a valuable place to work on your game it should not be the ONLY place you work on your game; just remember you can only experience playing golf by playing golf!

If you are going to become a master at minimizing your score, you may want to start to plan your practice very differently and include time on the course implementing ideas such as practicing from the rough and other poor lies, improving your short game from around the greens or playing ‘reverse winter rules’ where you move your ball into a poorer lie as opposed to a better lie after every shot. All these ideas will reflect the challenges of playing golf and will test your ability to select the right shot to play…you will also have a lot of fun in the process!!

A principle I work on with my students which you can employ in your very next game is a simple ‘Highway Code’ for the course which works like this:

Green Light Position: this means your ball is in a good lie, in a good position and so you can take on the shot of your choice…on the condition that it is within your ability and skill level.

Amber Light Position: proceed with care! Your ball is now somewhat out of position and is sitting at best in an average lie. Proceed cautiously and take on a less ambitious shot than you would do from a ‘green light lie’.

Red Light Position: you are now way out of position and / or in a poor lie. Too many golfers at this point attempt an unrealistic recovery shot to make up for lost ground! Instead take on only the most simple of shots and give consideration to where you would like to play your next shot from. Remember be aggressive from green light lies not red!

When you consider that the typical medal round of golf takes over 4 hours to play, golf is very much a marathon event as opposed to a short sprint and by using this strategy you will avoid ruining your scorecard early on in the round through over ambitious play and ‘Seve’ like recoveries from less than perfect positions. By MANAGING your reaction to a poor lie and IMPROVING the quality of your DECISIONS you can only enhance your ability to play better golf and take fewer shots in your very next game.

JOLF, the new junior golf coaching programme at the Mike Yorke Golf Academy, will kick off on September 2011 and places are filling up quickly across all sites! Parents who are keen to get their children involved are recommended to book over the coming weeks in order to avoid disappointment. A full list of dates and times across our centres can be seen below:

MYGA @ Horsham Golf & Fitness – 01403 271525

4/5 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @ 10.45-11.45am

6/7 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @ 12.00-1.00pm

8/9 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @   1.15-2.15pm

10/11 yrs old:  Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @   2.30-3.30pm

12-14 yrs old:  Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @   3.45-4.45pm

15-18 yrs old:  Sat. 10^th Sept OR Sun 11^th Sept @   5.00-6.00pm

MYGA @ Horne Park – 01342 844443

4/5 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept @ 1.30-2.30pm

6/7 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept @ 10.45-11.45am OR Sun 11^th Sept @ 2.00-3.00pm

8/9 yrs old:      Sat. 10^th Sept @ 12.00-1.00pm OR Sun 11^th Sept @ 9.00-10.00am

10/11 yrs old:  Sat. 10^th Sept @ 3.00-4.00pm OR Sun 11^th Sept @ 10.15-11.15am

12-14 yrs old:  Sun 11^th Sept @ 12.45-1.45pm

The cost for JOLF is £96 for 12-weeks of coaching and for current availability please contact your local MYGA directly.

With the golf season in full swing NOW is a crucial time to reflect on your performances to date. What’s been good in your game? What’s been poor? And where’s there room for improvement?

When you consider your answers to these questions many of you would have had thoughts such as “it’s not been too bad”, “my driving could be better” or “my putting has let me down”. Whatever your answer though the likelyhood is that you are answering in OPINION and not with FACTS.

Unfortunately opinions are not measurable and are often full of personal slant and bias. I would liken reducing your golf scores to cutting a budget at work, could you make these cuts without facts and figures? The answer of course is no, it would simply be guess work at best and even then if you were partly successful you would probably never know in the absence of these facts!

To gain a true understanding of your game, where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you will need to gather some critical data. For example, do you know how many fairways you typically hit from the tee? Or the number of putts you take in each round? Or, what about your ability to chip and putt from around the greens?

Just imagine how well you would begin to understand your game by gathering this information over the coming weeks. The result would mean that as a golfer you would be able to take charge of your game and make a targeted plan to improve your golf as opposed to looking for general but undefined ‘consistency’ in your game.

By collecting this information you will now have a reference point for the future to compare your performances against. As your game begins to improve you will literally have EVIDENCE of improvement that will FUEL your CONFIDENCE.

Listed above are just some of the initial stats to record over your next few games and I would advise storing them on a simple spreadsheet or in a personal journal. If you would like to learn more about the critical data you should be recording then please e-mail me at info@mikeyorkegolfacademy.co.uk

Congratulations goes to MYGA coach Alistair Cardwell who correctly tipped that Rory McIlroy would win the US Open! As always the team have put pen to paper and made their predictios for the Open Championship at Royal St,  as you can see from the list there are some strong favourites with a couple of long shots for good measure too!

Mike Yorke: Justin Rose

Helen Omidiran: Luke Donald

Mark Richecoeur: Lee Westwood

Lee Wilson: Jason Day

Paul Williams: Luke Donald

Mark Haines: Luke Donald

David Dickenson: Rory McIlroy

Lea Cooper: Rory McIlroy

Neil Plimmer: Rory McIlroy

Jonathan Shipstone: Padraig Harrington

Alistair Cardwell: Rory McIlroy

Who’s your favourite for the Open? Please give us your predictions too!

JOLF is the new junior coaching programme developed by the Mike Yorke Golf Academy for its young pupils. It will launch in September this year and has been in the planning for the past 18 months.

Neil Plimmer, Director of Junior Golf at MYGA says “JOLF is an innovative golf programme for all junior golfers, from the 4 year old novice to the 18 year old elite player. JOLF is unique. JOLF goes further than other available golf coaching programmes in helping junior golfers achieve a much broader range of skills, attitudes and knowledge. With JOLF, children will develop the mindset, movement skills, golf skills and passion that are essential for them to become great learners who love playing golf and who strive to be the very best they can be.”

JOLF has a number of significant additions and innovations, which will improve each child’s experience in learning golf and offers more flexible and tailored pathways to success and enjoyment in golf; included are: 

• The programme will develop a much broader range of skills than any other available golf programme. As well as focussing on golf skills such as putting, chipping and driving it will help children develop the fundamental movement skills required in golf and transferable to most sports and the mindset and ability to become great independent learners. There will also be more emphasis on playing golf on adapted golf courses. In addition, our coaching is child-centred and aims to capitalise on children’s unbounded capacity to learn in any situation that is enjoyable and challenges them.
• Golfers will be grouped according to their age, with some flexibility for siblings to be in the same groups. The age groupings will be 4/5,   6/7,   8/9,   10/11, 12+ and 15+
• There will be no PASS or FAIL at the end of a term. To mark progress through the JOLF Programme, coloured caps will be awarded when a child achieves the required level of knowledge, skill and experience. This means that children move at their own rates through the programme.
• Children will record their own progress in journals which parents can share. These are ongoing working documents which will help children to reflect on their progress and make decisions and plans about their individual goals.
• At least once each term one of our coaches will meet with parents and the player to discuss progress, illustrate how the parent can help the current stage of development, and talk about, for example,  successes and sticking points.
• Our on-site weekend classes will be coordinated with our school based groups and our holiday camps so that children’s progress can continue seamlessly.

 Parents and children can now register for JOLF starting in September across all MYGA centres by e-mailing info@mikeyorkegolfacademy.co.uk.

Next weeks Open Championship from Royal St Georges promises to be yet another exciting tournament after the dramatic events of the US Masters and the magic from Rory at the US Open.

Perhaps more than any other of the majors in golf, the Open Championship requires players to be adaptable and versatile if they are to win this great championship, the combination of wind along with hard, dry and undulating fairways means that players will need to be able to hit an array of different shots. 

Sergio creating a great escape!

Of course this is in stark contrast to the “I’m just trying to hit the ball straight” mentality of many club golfers up and down the country.  This ‘straight’ mentality implies that the player wants no deliberate spin on the ball and this phenomenon is quite unique to golf.  For example, how many passes are made in Premier League over a season with no spin on the ball one way or other? How many forehands are played at Wimbledon with no top or cut spin? And if we re-examined the World Snooker Championships this year how many shots are played with no top, back or side on the cue ball. The answer to all of these is very few!  So the question remains, why do golfers persist with ‘straight’??

Perhaps the biggest influence toward the straight theory is simply convention and culture of golf.

As a golfer do you believe that gaining a greater level of skill and the ability to shape and manoeuvre your ball would be of value when tackling any course? In fact would these skills be of more benefit than the skill of “just hitting it straight”?

Undoubtedly the answer has to YES more SKILL would support a better game and YES this shot making skill would be of a greater benefit than chasing the holy grail of “just hitting it straight”! When you consider that golf courses are not sterile, flat environments with no wind but are in fact sloped, shaped and open to the elements it becomes clear that the skill of being able to control and move your ball around the course is crucial to any players’ success.

So perhaps next time you visit the range to work on your game start to consider the skill of hitting the ball lower or higher? Play from some tricky lies or if you feel adventurous why not try to move the ball right to left or left to right? Can you just imagine the fun you could have practicing this way and the confidence you would enjoy from improving your shot making skills? And who knows, perhaps your game could turn a corner too!

Click here to enjoy Steve Stricker winning the John Deere Classic for the 3^rd straight year last Sunday night…do you think he might played this shot before in practice?? Please post your comments below as we love to read them.

After managing not to pick the US Masters winner at Augusta the MYGA coaches have tried to redeem themselves by putting pen to paper and picking the winner at the US Open! As you can see from the list there are a few familiar names with a couple of long shots for good measure too!

Mike Yorke: Steve Stricker 

Helen Omidiran: Phil Mickleson

Mark Richecoeur: Luke Donald

Paul Williams: Lee Westwood

Mark Haines: Dustin Johnson

David Dickenson: Luke Donald

Lea Cooper: Martin Kaymer

Neil Plimmer: Luke Donald

Jonathan Shipstone: Ian Poulter

Alistair Cardwell: Rory McIlroy