Play Better Golf

Welcome to Play Better Golf from the makers of Golf Monthly magazine. In this special bookazine, some of the UK’s best golf instructors have come together to provide essential swing tips for every area of the game. Easy to digest and implement, these tips and drills will transform your game and make you the envy of your playing partners out on the golf course. If you’re struggling with a particular part of the game, hoping to expand your arsenal of shots or simply trying to cut your handicap, there’s no need to look any further. You’ll find a solution to the most common golfing faults within these pages. Are you suffering from a slice? Don’t worry: there’s a fix inside. Have you come down with an unwanted case of the…

Key stats: PGA Tour, 2021/22 season What would the complete golfer look like? If you could combine Rory McIlroy’s driving, Justin Thomas’ wedge play, Matt Fitzpatrick’s scrambling skills and Cameron Smith’s putting, you’d have quite the player. These Major winners don’t have many weaknesses – certainly not huge ones – but, as the stats show, they often excel in a particular area of the game. We asked Top 50 Coach Norman Marshall to analyse six of the world’s best players. What is it about their technique that helps to make them so successful? More importantly, what can you learn from them and then take to the practice range to improve your own game? With these tee-to-green tips, there’s no reason why you can’t transform your own stats, whether that’s greater…

1. Driving I think with driving, people try to hit it hard. This is a good thing, but if you don’t know where it’s going, it really doesn’t matter how hard you’re hitting it. Swinging within yourself and figuring out how to properly hit it straight is key for consistency. Get that figured our first, and then you can move on to driving it further from there. 2. Irons The middle of the green is always good. Recreational golfers won’t necessarily face pins in corners like we do at tournaments, but they still need to see the value of the middle of the green. You also need to accept how far you really hit or carry shots and not try to hit a club too hard, thinking, ‘I’ve hit a…

Multiple DP World Tour winner Tommy Fleetwood has been a permanent fixture inside the world’s top 50 since March 2017, claiming that year’s Race to Dubai title and producing Ryder Cup heroics on his 2018 debut in Paris. Even when not performing at the peak of his powers, he remains among the game’s elite because of the levels of reliability and consistency he has been able to build into all elements of his game. Here, the Southport man explains how he goes about getting the very best out of himself in various areas, from driving and iron play to chipping and course management, while also offering practical little nuggets of advice that could help you on the course. Hitting it long and straight 1. Hitting it straight is very, very…

1. Your yardages Many of us should use our rangefinders more. We’re good at using them for approaches but don’t do it enough off the tee. Check how far those bunkers are and be sensible about your chances of clearing them. Hit the club that frees you up the most, not one that creates any indecision. Pay attention to what’s gone on before in the round, especially if you’ve hit a good shot. If an 8-iron has gone 145 yards, write it down – where it pitched, where it ran out to, where the wind was. Give yourself better information as to how far the ball is going on a certain day. 2. Nutrition If I’m off in the morning, I make sure I have something quite substantial and always…

1. Short-game shots Set yourself on your left side at address and just stay there all of the time. The key is that you want to try and hit the ball cleanly and have your divot under or ahead of it. The way you do that is by leaning in and staying on that left side. My divots start right there in front of the ball, and I make sure I don’t do any scooping. That would be the same in bunkers. Don’t try and help it up in the air by going back on to your right side. I’ve got a very simple practice drill for chipping – get yourself an alignment rod, put it four or five inches behind the ball and just make sure you’re coming into…