18 HCP Case Study

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3 Simple steps to
improving fast

As we all know very well, golf is hard. Golfers all over the world have wasted hours, days, months, and years on the range and on the course, ingraining bad habits, and failing to focus on the weak points of their game.

Shot Scope and Peter Finch, in partnership with Today’s Golfer, present three simple steps to help you improve your golf game fast, with the help of performance tracking products such as the V5 GPS golf watch. The case study below details how Peter Finch used these three steps to help an 18 handicap golfer, Gavin Langford improve his golf game.

Peter's take on Gavin's
Shot Scope data

The most pressing areas flagged up by Gavin’s data are driving and putting inside 10ft. Off the tee he is 19 yards behind the average 15-handicapper, his Performance Average (discounting outliers, good and bad) at 215 yards. He also has a potentially damaging two-way miss, with 21% of drives finishing left, 32% finishing right.

As for putting, Gavin is ahead of the average 20-handicapper at all distances apart from inside 10ft, where he’s almost a full shot worse per round (0.9 shots). These two elements represent the two biggest dangers to his scorecard… but also his two biggest opportunities for improvement.

Focus area 1: Driving

Gavin’s driver issues are technical. He is a classic reverse pivot and over-the-top delivery, the club swinging leftward through the ball. If he squares the club up to path, he pulls left; if he leaves it open, he slices to the right. These technical issues come from poor lower-body mechanics. Swinging back, his right hip fails to rotate. This causes his upper body to lean forward as the backswing progresses, and he is very left sided at the top. From here he is forced to fall back to release the club – otherwise he’d simply drive the ball into the ground. The club path inevitably shifts outside the ideal delivery path and he slices across the ball… or pulls left, depending on the face aim.

The swing pattern explains Gavin’s power data. In the golf swing, power needs to come from the ground up; his lower body is not allowing him to generate much.

Short-term solution:
Aim a little further left

The data shows a slight tendency to leave the face open and miss right (21% left rough, 32% right rough) so aiming at the left side of the fairway could give Gavin a marginal improvement. But in truth, his progress here will be based on longer-term swing work.

Long-term solution:
Improve lower body motion

Gavin’s first step is to give his trail hip permission to rotate through the backswing. This will set up far better backswing mechanics, paving the way for one key thought I gave him – to feel chest over his trail knee as he reaches the top. This intention will improve his weight shift and help him find a better spine angle at the top, leaning away from the target rather than towards it.

From here Gavin needs to work on allowing his lower body to lead the downswing – lead knee and hip working towards the target. In time this will shallow his attack and lead to a much more neutral path through the ball. As well as improving accuracy, this move sets up a far more powerful sequence of motion that will get him up to or even past his peers for distance.

While Gavin is quite capable of making these changes, we are talking long term. Sweeping swing changes like this should not be entered into lightly, and unless you have the time and application, adjusting your strategy and course management is likely to yield better results.

Focus area 2: Putting

Gavin’s putting stats suggest he is on the whole a sound putter – he holds his own against a 15-handicapper at all ranges over 10ft. But under 10ft its all a different story. His performance plummets. This suggests to me his problem is more psychological than technical, and that he has trouble with putts he feels he should be holing.

This was born out on the golf course. Gavin is a ‘peeker’ on shorter putts, looking up to see the result as soon as the ball is struck… and on occasion, slightly before. This unwanted head movement affects his strike quality, his consistency and ultimately his confidence – which of course only makes him want to peak all the more.

Short & long-term solution:
Point of attention

In this instance, the short and long-term solution is the same; Gavin needs to shift his point of focus, something he can do both now and moving forward.

Before, like most of us, he looked at the ball while putting. But with that stationary ball about to move, this can prove an unreliable focus when we want to keep things stable and precise.

Option 1:
The space between

Create a tiny space between the putterface and the ball, and focus on that. Some golfers find it easier to focus on negative space rather than positive – in other words, the gap between two objects rather than two objects themselves. I asked Gavin to try this and his tendency to peek instantly vanished. He also reported a subtle visual imprint after the ball had been struck, almost as if the gap was still there – a strange but useful sensation in anchoring your attention.

Option 2:
Point in path

Find a point on the line of the putt, within the first 18 inches, and lock your eyes on that through the stroke. For golfers like Gavin, conditioned to looking at the ball, this takes a small leap of faith. He voiced a fear this would cost him strike consistency, but after hitting a few putts the fear evaporated. We are only talking shorter strokes for putts under 10ft, and we don’t have to be looking at the ball to find the putter’s sweet spot. While this focus shift certainly improved Gavin’s peeking, this approach needs a little more time to get used to, with some practice green sessions advisable before taking it to the course.

Track your shots
to record improvement

The final tip from Peter, is to persevere with the adjustments made in the lesson, and monitor how the changes effect performance. The best way to monitor performance on the golf course is by tracking your game with Shot Scope.

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18 HCP Case Study

3 Simple steps to
improving fast

Peter's take on Gavin's
Shot Scope data

Focus area 1: Driving

Short-term solution:
Aim a little further left

Long-term solution:
Improve lower body motion

Focus area 2: Putting

Short & long-term solution:
Point of attention

Option 1:
The space between

Option 2:
Point in path

Track your shots
to record improvement

How is Gavin playing now?

More Peter Finch Case Studies

More Peter Finch
Case Studies

Nick Furness

Will Furness

Follow us

Support

18 HCP Case Study

3 Simple steps toimproving fast

Peter's take on Gavin'sShot Scope data

Focus area 1: Driving

Short-term solution:Aim a little further left

Long-term solution:Improve lower body motion

Focus area 2: Putting

Short & long-term solution:Point of attention

Option 1:The space between

Option 2:Point in path

Track your shotsto record improvement

How is Gavin playing now?

More Peter Finch Case Studies

More Peter FinchCase Studies

Nick Furness

Will Furness

Follow us

3 Simple steps to
improving fast

Peter's take on Gavin's
Shot Scope data

Short-term solution:
Aim a little further left

Long-term solution:
Improve lower body motion

Short & long-term solution:
Point of attention

Option 1:
The space between

Option 2:
Point in path

Track your shots
to record improvement

More Peter Finch
Case Studies