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YOUR GAME
OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE
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WINTER 2019
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obsports.com
off the rack because it's a great brand
and you like the looks of it, there's a
good chance it doesn't fit you properly,
and then you have to make adjustments
to your swing. With properly fitted
clubs, when you make a good swing you
are rewarded, and when your swing is
not so good, the miss isn't quite as bad."
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START WITH YOUR SETUP
"I have found that the easiest things
to do that can effectively change golf
swing patterns are found in the setup,"
Trimble said.
Using alignment sticks during practice
will help you make a swing change,
while ball position adjustments and fo-
cusing on your grip can result in im-
provements to your swing path. You also
can adjust your swing plane by changing
the distance you stand from the ball.
"I once had a college player tell me
that she never hit a draw," Trimble re-
called. "By moving her ball position, dis-
tance from the ball, aim and alignment,
she hit her first draw on her second
swing. The swing changed because the
setup changed. Changing a setup is
much easier than changing a swing. Al-
tering a person's perspective with eye-
line adjustments can impact full swing,
chipping and putting rather quickly."
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MASTER SPEED CONTROL
While most amateurs can find trouble
off the tee, the biggest factor that inflates
their scores is three-putts. Watkins said
the best way to remedy this is to work
on speed control.
"Of all the aspects of putting, speed is
absolutely the most important," he said,
noting that golfers can easily find drills
online to work on their speed. "If you
have good speed, you're going to leave
your first putt closer to the hole, and
that's going to take away some of those
longer second putts that aren't going in."
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KEEP IT LOW TO THE GROUND
Most people automatically grab a
wedge out of their bag for chipping, but
Watkins suggests choosing a lower-
lofted club and perfecting a low-running
shot, which should increase accuracy
and get you closer to the hole.
"I promote a kind of putt-chip swing
with a seven, eight or nine-iron,"
Watkins said, "and that should allow
you to hit the ball one third of the dis-
tance in the air when you're looking at a
level green, with the other two thirds
being roll. That's going to be more accu-
rate than a high-flying pitch shot."
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KNOW YOUR YARDAGES
While we all know approximately
how far we can hit each club in our bags,
taking the time to really analyze the data
with a launch monitor and get exact
yardages can make a major difference.
"Most people don't know precisely
how far they hit each club," Watkins
said. "Most of the time they're looking at
the total distance including rollout,
whereas the number you need to know
is how far the ball travels in the air."
"I have found
that the easiest
things to do
that can
effectively
change golf
swing patterns
are found in
the setup."
– MATT TRIMBLE, PGA
I
f you're looking to take your play to
the next level in 2019, be sure to
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