HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
LONG POST ALERT
Many of you will know I've often fallen between two short game stools, a more traditional approach and the linear method as advocated by GM top 25 coach Gary Smith. I had been using the linear as my preferred method, self taught via an instructional DVD Gary has done. My lovely wife had bought me an hours lesson with Gary as a Christmas present and today was the day for our meeting at Sutton Green GC near Guildford
Warming up went well. Gary came over and we got the introductions out of the way. I explained I was self taught on this method, and wanted a very quick look at how I played pitch shots, bunker shots and chip shots. We started with a 30 yard pitch, and I set up and played the shot as Gary looked on. I hit a couple of nice ones and he seemed suitably impressed on how much of the methodology I'd taken in and he said I was pretty close. We made a fundamental change at address and got the left hip far more across towards the target as I had it too tucked under which prevented correct rotation. I needed to lower my hands and fractionally change my head position. Wow. Every one was crisp, high and stopped quickly and adjacent to the hole. It felt very unnatural at address and I can see me getting some stick when I play but you couldn't fault the result
Off to the bunker. Again the hip needed to be pushed further left and the biggest fault was I was too low at address. He wanted me much taller which felt weird beyond words. The hands are placed behind the ball and trust me standing there it seems a huge leap of faith for it to pop out. He wanted me to feel for a pause at the backswing and then feel the right hand feed under and let the body dictate the pace. Again the results were instant and I've never hit so many shots that were so high and landed so high. We even tried it with the dreaded thirty yard bunker shot. Same result and all five shots lay within a five foot circle. I asked the question posed about compact sand and quite simply, nothing changes. we played a few off a compact unraked patch and I did nothing different and hit the sand two-three inches behind the ball and it came out.
Finally onto the edge of the putting green to look at chipping. Daunting with a big society circling by the first tee and I did feel awkward with the same unusual set up. Again, we tweaked address and lowered the hands and raised the posture. Like the bunker there was a definite tick-tock tempo to it with the chest controlling distance and speed. I even managed to hole one in front of the masses
The hour flew past and it was over too quickly. I have to say I was a bit nervous meeting a coach of Gary's reputation and experience but he put me right at ease. He was genuinely pleased that I had decided to "go linear" and was very impressed with my attempts. Now I'm armed with everything I need to know I'm off to Pachesham in Leatherhead tomorrow to utilise their specialist short game area for the morning. I can't wait. He had another lesson straight after mine and I loitered on the putting green chipping away and nipped into the 19th for lunch. He came in after the other lesson ad was kind enough to explain the crux points again and has asked for some feedback over the next few weeks. I can see why he is a national coach, GM top 25 coach and is genuinely a nice guy and a very good teacher. If you are ever intrigued by the linear method I recommend booking a session with him at some point. I am now officially all things linear for my short game. Lets face it, it can't be any worse than what I had. I can't wait to get working on it now
Many of you will know I've often fallen between two short game stools, a more traditional approach and the linear method as advocated by GM top 25 coach Gary Smith. I had been using the linear as my preferred method, self taught via an instructional DVD Gary has done. My lovely wife had bought me an hours lesson with Gary as a Christmas present and today was the day for our meeting at Sutton Green GC near Guildford
Warming up went well. Gary came over and we got the introductions out of the way. I explained I was self taught on this method, and wanted a very quick look at how I played pitch shots, bunker shots and chip shots. We started with a 30 yard pitch, and I set up and played the shot as Gary looked on. I hit a couple of nice ones and he seemed suitably impressed on how much of the methodology I'd taken in and he said I was pretty close. We made a fundamental change at address and got the left hip far more across towards the target as I had it too tucked under which prevented correct rotation. I needed to lower my hands and fractionally change my head position. Wow. Every one was crisp, high and stopped quickly and adjacent to the hole. It felt very unnatural at address and I can see me getting some stick when I play but you couldn't fault the result
Off to the bunker. Again the hip needed to be pushed further left and the biggest fault was I was too low at address. He wanted me much taller which felt weird beyond words. The hands are placed behind the ball and trust me standing there it seems a huge leap of faith for it to pop out. He wanted me to feel for a pause at the backswing and then feel the right hand feed under and let the body dictate the pace. Again the results were instant and I've never hit so many shots that were so high and landed so high. We even tried it with the dreaded thirty yard bunker shot. Same result and all five shots lay within a five foot circle. I asked the question posed about compact sand and quite simply, nothing changes. we played a few off a compact unraked patch and I did nothing different and hit the sand two-three inches behind the ball and it came out.
Finally onto the edge of the putting green to look at chipping. Daunting with a big society circling by the first tee and I did feel awkward with the same unusual set up. Again, we tweaked address and lowered the hands and raised the posture. Like the bunker there was a definite tick-tock tempo to it with the chest controlling distance and speed. I even managed to hole one in front of the masses
The hour flew past and it was over too quickly. I have to say I was a bit nervous meeting a coach of Gary's reputation and experience but he put me right at ease. He was genuinely pleased that I had decided to "go linear" and was very impressed with my attempts. Now I'm armed with everything I need to know I'm off to Pachesham in Leatherhead tomorrow to utilise their specialist short game area for the morning. I can't wait. He had another lesson straight after mine and I loitered on the putting green chipping away and nipped into the 19th for lunch. He came in after the other lesson ad was kind enough to explain the crux points again and has asked for some feedback over the next few weeks. I can see why he is a national coach, GM top 25 coach and is genuinely a nice guy and a very good teacher. If you are ever intrigued by the linear method I recommend booking a session with him at some point. I am now officially all things linear for my short game. Lets face it, it can't be any worse than what I had. I can't wait to get working on it now
