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Ella’s story Session 1 Last year’s Ryder Cup was pretty gripping and I’ve always loved golf commentators (“Now that looks like a birdie…” – what?!), but when it comes to playing, I have no clue. Crazy golf is fun and frustrating in equal measure and I’ve attempted a par 3 course once or twice (with terrible results) but really, to me, it’s just a metal pole that you whack a ball with and hope for the best. We quickly learnt there’s a lot more technique to it than that. For one, our coach Alan Fletcher told us, we shouldn’t be worrying about hitting the
CB Magazine 01/2013
ball, we should be aiming to hit the ground with our strokes. And there’s a knack for holding the club correctly, positioning your feet, swooping your arms and pointing everything in the right direction. Apparently, if you manage to fit all those cogs together you’re practically a pro! Safe to say I wasn’t quite there, even after knocking 100 balls about at the driving range. I’d manage one decent shot that had the perfect soft click/thwack when I hit the ball, and then seven or eight rubbish swings! Consistency was definitely not my forte. Maybe I just need more practice. Session 2 For our second lesson Alan took us through the stances we’d need if we were going to produce a fluid swing and a shot that
With golf set to join the Olympics for Rio 2016, Ella Walker and Lydia Fallon went along to Total Golf Academy in Melbourn to see what all the fuss is about – and practise their swing
had some power to it – golf is so much more mathematical than you’d think. Trying to remember what we learnt in the first session and add a competent back swing, a proper follow through and a smart golfing pose to it was much trickier than expected. A lot of it was to do with keeping your arm long and straight and not trying to hook round the ball and whip it into the air – if you hit it with the right part of the club, it is meant to do that naturally (easier said than done). It was more fun to be smacking the ball though, unlike in the first session. I wasn’t great at aiming straight but did manage to get the ball to arc up and felt I looked a little bit more like I knew what I was doing. The only problem with going for power (and not owning a golf glove) is getting blisters all over your hands! There is a real art to golf, and I – surprising even myself – am quite keen to learn more.
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Total Golf Academy is at Cambridge Road, Melbourn, Royston, SG8 6EY. For more information visit www.totalgolfacademy.co.uk.
Lydia’s story Session 1 I’m going to be honest; I’ve never really got golf. Talk of birdies and pars leave me thoroughly bemused and sweater vests are never a good look. My previous attempts at crazy golf have ended in disaster (the most frustrating game EVER!) and I have never stepped foot on a proper golf course in my life– the odds were most definitely stacked against me. But it turns out I’m not totally hopeless but Tiger shouldn’t be quaking in his golf shoes either. Alan started by telling us that rather than focusing solely on hitting the ball, we should make sure our iron
hit the ground as well. He explained that this will produce the cleanest possible shot and is a must if we want to reach our full golfing potential. This proved a lot trickier than it sounds; I seemed to have a knack for missing both the ball and the ground! He also showed us how to position our feet (slightly turned out), how we should be holding the club and which part of the ball we should be aiming to hit. Put all those components together and you’re on the right track, apparently. It’s a lot harder than it looks, though. I’d manage one half decent shot but then scuff the next five. When I eventually managed to get a bit of consistency, Alan showed me how to put more swing in my shot for that extra bit of distance. Session 2 Our second lesson was all about introducing a bit more swing and power to our shot, so we could start hitting those kind of swoonworthy distances you see on the TV. Alan started the lesson by breaking
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The 5-week olf mme at Total G r ra og pr pe 5 £2 ed ic pr is Academy and lls ba es ud person and incl ed. The next ed ne if equipment Thursday, classes begin on 8pm and – 7 om fr January 10 y 12 from ar nu Ja , ay rd tu Sa . 11am – 12noon
down the swing into each position we should be hitting, explaining that achieving one fluid swing was key to achieving the perfect shot. He also emphasised the importance of the left wrist, and got us practising lifting the club up and down with only our left hand, a surprisingly tricky task. After being mildly impressed with my ability in the first class, my beginners luck definitely ran out during my second attempt. I really struggled putting all the components together and frustratingly kept missing the ball altogether. Apparently I was stuttering just before my club reached the ball; once I relaxed my swing, my shots were much more effective. I thought an hour hitting ball after ball would get a little tiresome, but actually it was a lot of fun and really rewarding when you start seeing an improvement – I just wish I could speed that improvement up a bit. Golf might not offer the fast-paced thrills and spills of some sports but it definitely left me wanting more.
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CB Magazine 01/2013