Autumn Q4 | Page 40

the ball and turning the club face, fading the ball… words coming out of his mouth, just noise, none of this I understood at all. It was at this point I think I placed my head in my hands. After many patient explanations and demonstrations I think I got my head around it. My shoulders should aim where I want the ball to start, the face of the club points to where I want the ball to finish. My shoulders being ahead of the turn through is going to result in a slice, hands ahead of the game - I’m moving towards hooking it. I positioned myself so that my feet are at a staggered 45 degree angle to my right, addressing the ball as I usually would with my upper body, facing me Alasdair placed the end of a club on my right shoulder to prevent me from pushing it over and forward too early in the downswing. It was quite hard initially not to push against it just slowly running through the sequence. A couple of bad shots followed trying to work this new way out, a bit of support from Alasdair saying if you crack this one thing it will all fall into place… and then it just clicked, shoulders on the correct path, right elbow closer to the body, club head square on at impact, the ball out of the sweet spot and off it went straight, great flight and some distance. Finally I hit a ball like the guys I see on the range I’ve been watching for months, wishing my ball flight could achieve that sort of trajectory, Club head speed even popped up to 80mph at one point. Back on the range for an hour later in the day and it’s coming together nicely. If I can nail this then I think we will have turned a corner on my way to becoming a golfer. Laila has been working with Alasdair Good Head PGA Professional at Gullane golf club for just over a year now on this project. Follow the blog online at www.golfermag.co.uk/ gm-blog/laila-scratch-to-scratch to follow her progress! Golf Finance, Providing professional finance solutions for the golf industry for 20 years Call now to see how we can help you 01 6 2 0 8 9 0 2 0 0 I think today’s session has seen the most improvement to date. I really enjoyed it and now feel I can go on and practise the right way. That second last shot was worth the wait, even the other few towards the end that I found fault in would have been some of my best. It’s great when you can see and feel the improvement. www.golffinance.co.uk Golfer Magazine | Page 40