All terrain practice with Sam Truman

ALL TERRAIN PRACTICE

PGA Professional, Sam Truman... Working on your game using nothing more than the slopes you’ll find on the golf course

We often rely on training aids and swing videos to try and make changes to our golf swings. We often forget that certain scenarios on the golf course can help us work on different parts of our golf game and help you overcome some annoying tendencies in your long game and your short game.

In the following section I’m going to take you through two long game drills and two short game drills.

LONG GAME DRILLS Ball above the feet drill: To do this drill you either need to venture onto the golf course and hit some shots off of a ball above the feet lie or use a high tee (orange castle tee).

This drill is great to work on the following; if you come down too steep on the golf ball and/or if you struggle with your posture at set up and during the swing (too bent over).

With the ball being above your feet it helps you naturally swing the club on a flatter plane on the way back and on the way down helping you to come into the ball in a shallower fashion. Be aware of what it feels like to achieve that motion and then try to replicate it on a flat lie.

If you struggle to maintain height at set up and during the swing; hitting a ball from a ball above the feet lie will encourage better retention of posture, otherwise if you lose height at any stage there’s a good chance of striking the ground behind the ball.

Ball below the feet: Find a sloping lie where the ball sits below the level of your feet. If you struggle with early extension this is a great one for you to try.

To maintain solid contact with the ball below the feet you have to stay nicely in posture on the way down into

Ball below feet

Ball below feet Ball above feet Ball above feet Upslopes

Upslopes Upslopes Down slopes Down slopes

impact. If your hips thrust forwards and your rise upwards out of posture you’ll find yourself thinning it too often.

SHORT GAME DRILLS Downslopes: Find yourself a lie on your practice ground or on the golf course whereby your body will be sloping towards the target.

Because the ground behind the ball is higher than in front of the golf ball it forces you to keep weight on your lead leg through the chip shot. A lot of golfers will try to help the ball into the air with their chip shots leading to both thin and fat shots. If the golfer tries to help the ball in the air they will almost certainly miss strike it more severely on a downslope lie.

See how high you can hit it on a downslope lie?

Upslopes: Find a lie on the practice ground or on the course where your body will be sloping away from the target.

If you struggle with hitting chip shots too low and getting the leading edge of the wedge digging too severely into the floor try this drill.

The aim when hitting a ball on an upslope is too see how high you can hit the ball without the club digging into the slope. If you allow the shaft to release into the ball and you are able to strike under the golf ball first you’ll be able to softly bruise the grass whilst hitting a controlled lob shot.

Sam Truman is a PGA Professional based at The Surrey Golf Lab, Reigate Hill Golf Club and is regarded as one of the best young performance coaches in the region. Current roles include: • Performance Coach – Hugh Marr Golf • Surrey Boys (U12’s & U14’s) and Girls (U18’s) County Coach • Elite Academy Coach for

Whitgift School Under the tutorship of European Tour Coach Hugh Marr, Sam prides himself in providing the best holistic coaching experiences for his players. Sam works with all levels of golfers from the young aspiring junior all the way up to European tour professionals. Sam is able to provide clients with access to the most up to date golf coaching technology at one of the best practice facilities in the UK Clients are exposed to Trackman club and ball tracking and also the SAM Putt Lab Analysis System in the new indoor putting studio. For more information follow Sam on: @SamTrumanGolf @SamTrumanGolf E: SamTrumanGolf@gmail.com