The Australian Golf School

As golfers, we all reach a point where we plateau in our golf development, largely playing the same score week in week out. The occasional practice makes a marginal difference, only for this to fade over the weeks. For many, this is fine. Its social golf . For me, how do I get on the senior tour if I do not improve?  I needed a disruption to get out of this funk! 

Timothy offered me a way out.  He is a terrible golfer and despite golfing three times a week, he injures more worms with his ball than he does the birds.  I told him he needed lessons.  His stubbornness meant that it took a trip to the Gold Coast, with a friend to get him into a golf school. 

The Australian Golf School, on the Gold Coast, is run by a septuagenarian Tom Linskey, with assistants Adrian and Paul.  Tom masks his age from the way he swings the golf club.  He hits the ball longer than I do, with more grace and accuracy.  He still plays off scratch.  His instruction is exceptionally clear.  The true skill of a golf instructor is to impart to the student a motion done at high speed, in a way that the student not only gets it but retains it.  The learning process is also not complete if the student has no ability to appreciate feedback from bad shots.  The coach is never there all the time.  So the student needs to know what he did wrong.  That is why imagery works best.  The player needs an image of a perfect swing in his head.    

Tom has reduced all ball sports, including golf, down to three laws.  1st Watch the Ball.  The eyes are focused on the ball before it is hit.  2nd Law : The weight must go With the ball, not before and not after, but With It - like a baseball pitcher.  3rd Law : The Club must be accelerating through Impact - always. These are laws worth remembering.

The Australian Golf School is run in a very casual environment.   Everyday starts at around 830am and lessons go on till about 1130. These lessons are usually one to one.  We then head to one of the top clubs on the Coast to play a full round accompanied by one of the coaches.   We played at The Pines, the Glades, Sanctuary Cove, Arundel and Lakelands.  We have a hearty meal in the evening, and repeat the same schedule the next day.

Has my game improved?  Results are usually seen in six months for it takes about three to internalise swing changes.  My swing has definitely changed.  I wrote down seven notes on my swing and I just checked, I have incorporated six changes. I no longer have practice swings when I line up the ball.  I have learnt that golf is a left hand game. The right hand is a guide with control gained.  I obey Law 2 religiously.  I address the ball like a skier, and finish on my left side with the weight fully transferred and my body standing tall.   The swing does look nicer.  

My target for 2016 is to get my index down to 5.0 in celebration of #BT50.  To shoot a round of 4 over, I need to shoot on average 10 pars, 6 bogeys and 2 birdies.  I need to hit 40 percent of greens.  (Tour average is 80%)  I need to scramble at least 5 pars.  Of the 8 shots I get on the green, I needed to one-putt at least two.  These are difficult things to do.  Practice will be the key.  For the record, Timothy now has a good chance of killing some birds off his tee shot.  The ball is going airborne.