Matt (I) took a series of lessons from Tim McElhinny (golf pro and proprietor at Painted Hills Golf Course).
During each of the lessons Coach Tim constantly repeats the phrase ‘what is your plan Matt’. Coach Tim emphasizes ‘mechanics’, less ‘feel’ and more plans.
Unfortunately until this point in my golf game I always just walked up and
‘hit the ball’. In the back of my mind I guess I knew I would have to cross this path sooner or later but it just seemed fun to ‘smack’ that golf ball.
At this time I want to tell a story. This last spring I had the opportunity to play in the GSL District Qualifying Tournament at Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane Washington. The top 10 move on to the state tournament!
During a practice round before the event I played with a couple of golfers from Gonzaga Prep, Sean King and Carl Brophy. I was nervous at first because both of these golfers were older and had achieved success during the spring golf season.
As a matter of fact Sean had a GSL average score of 74.5, and Carl was 74.75. During the practice round I could not help but study there games. From little habits to clubs they used on different shots, to how they putted.
To my amazement my game was totally different than theirs in every aspect. First of all I out drove them on several holes, not because I was better but because they used Irons off the many of the tees on many holes where I just grab my ‘big dog’ on every
hole but the par 3’s. Carl Brophy on used his driver 3 times that day! I was amazed. Then, both guys would drop extra balls when they hit a bad shot. They would not play on until they hit a perfect shot. I asked them about this and they
said ‘hey Matt, this is our practice round for the tournament and we got to know what club to use on each shot!” Finally, around the green these guys study! I have never spent that much time reading a green and studying a putt.
As a
result Sean and Carl both shot practice rounds in the 70’s that day and I shot 82. Clicking on the following link will take you to the results pages where you can see the results of GSL Districts. Sean King qualified for state with scores
of 77 and 73! Unfortunately I shot 86 in round 1 and did not make the cut.
In conclusion, I realized that I love to play golf but in order to compete with these guys I had a lot to learn and this is why I am taking these lessons from
Coach Tim this summer. One is to build a set of fundamentals for my swing, and the other is to learn how to think my way around a golf course!
Tim McElhinny
Coach Tim realized early on that this was the weakest part of my game since I relied on ‘feel’ for everything. Coach Tim would have
to build a ‘plan of attack’ for my putting game from ‘scratch’. And to do that we would have to get some sort of ‘mechanics’ to start
with. As you can see from the photo of Coach Tim above, he has a serious and concerned look as he watched my putting technique!
A couple of bright spots were my grip and my backswing. The above photo shows my grip. Coach Tim was happy with the softness of the
grip (not choking the putter) and the distribution of the weight at the start. He thought that we could keep this part of my putting game!
Unfortunately everything needed help!
The first change was in the stance. I had my feet to close together. Coach Tim wanted the feet to be shoulder width apart (arm pits actually).
This change can be seen in the above photos.
The next step was to see what kind of backswing I had; straight back or an arc. Luckily I use my shoulders to make a putting stroke so I have a straight backswing! Whew, Coach Tim said this was good and we could keep this!
The above photos show the backswing.
One big change Coach Tim wanted to make was in my follow through. In the above pictures you will see how short my original follow through was. I had a striking type motion and then I would just stop the club.
Coach Tim wanted to see an exaggerated follow through; actually longer follow through than backswing, and then hold it until the putt stop rolling. One note here is that the follow through must be directly toward
the line of the putt! Referring to the photos above this change is evident.
The final change Coach Tim wanted to make was in my head movement. Coach Tim noticed that my head moved as soon as I struck the ball. Referring to the movie clip at the beginning of this lesson you can observe this motion.
I guess I am just anxious to see the ball rolling toward the hole. I really have a tough time making this change. Weirdly enough watching the PGA Championship and Tiger Woods putting stroke, he exaggerates this concept.
Tiger does not move his head on his putting stroke until the ball is practically at the hole. I guess I have moved my head immediately after impact for so long it is a habit. Referring to the 3 photos above you can see my
mistake and the third photo shows how Coach Tim keeps his head down through the shot.
It will obviously take some time to master these technique changes. Coach Tim says that I should spend twice as much time on the practice green as I do the driving range. As we have discussed earlier over 40% of my strokes
come from putting so I plan on spending a whole lot of time on this part of the game!
