Six mistakes fixed by Monty

By Colin Montgomerie

20 August 2010 14:30

Club golfers make the same errors again and again. Here’s my advice to correct the most common ones.

1. RESPECT THE ROUGH

Too many amateurs try to do too much with the ball from the rough. I’ve seen players take a driver to a ball I could hardly see! Now that’s just mad. If you look at the lie I have here then it’s sitting down in lush and damp rough. Would I hit a 5-iron? Probably not. I’m thinking positional play to make my next shot as easy as possible.

MONTY’S TIP:

The average handicap of a golfer in Britain is 17.6. That’s 18 – so if you’re in the rough, get out, use your shot. Countless times, club players make a six when a sensible decision would have ensured a five. Don’t mess with the rough.

2. COMPLETE THE BACKSWING

Why do so many amateurs hit a slice? This is all about the outside-to-in attack, quite often made worse by out-of-bounds down the right. Golf is a game of opposites and the reality is that you have to hit towards the trouble to make the ball swing away from it. Now, I’d put money on the fact that everyone reading this article grips the club tighter than I do at address. Why is this important? Because a tight grip at address leads to tension in the backswing and failure to complete your turn. If you don’t complete the backswing and you don’t get your back to the hole, then it’s very easy to throw the club outside the line coming down.

MONTY'S TIP:

3. THINK EASE FOR ACCURACY

The bunker is a hazard and people don’t understand that. They’ll go in there with 6-irons and 8-irons looking to launch the ball at the green which for virtually all amateurs is a silly mistake. Even around the greens, they get so used to seeing the pros knock it close that they get cute and try and do the same. Why do you think the long hitters in the game generally aren’t as good with their wedges? It’s because they hit the ball too hard. So often I’ll see someone 120 yards from the green and they’ll just say, "Oh, that’s a wedge". You should never be swinging a short club fast.

MONTY’S TIP:

Smoothe your tempo for iron accuracy and if that means hitting more club then so be it. I hate all this "I hit a wedge in at the 6th"... bully for you. Listen, Luke Donald, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, and I’d include myself here, all swing with a smooth tempo, especially in the short irons, and that’s why we all have great distance control.

4. THE DUFFED CHIP

The primary cause of duffed chips for amateurs is anxiety. They want to look up to see where the ball has gone before they’ve actually hit it. What tends to happen is that their legs straighten, then they worry that they might thin the shot so they hit down and catch it fat.

MONTY’S TIP:

You must stay down on this shot for longer and to do that I have a simple, but very effective drill. The next time you practise your chipping make sure that you watch the club make contact with the ball. I told you it was simple and it is, but you’d be amazed how many people don’t do it.

5. PLAY SAFE FROM SAND

The bunker is a hazard and people don’t understand that. They’ll go in there with 6-irons and 8-irons looking to launch the ball at the green which for virtually all amateurs is a silly mistake. Even around the greens, they get so used to seeing the pros knock it close that they get cute and try and do the same.

MONTY’S TIP:

Take a lofted wedge and play the ball to safety. Again there could be a dropped shot here, but in most cases your handicap can absorb that error. Percentage play from sand is the best play.

6. MORE BREAK ON FAST GREENS

Amateurs are used to putting on quite slow greens which means when they speed up they rarely allow enough break. It’s a fact that 85 per cent of putts are missed on the low side and this is because people read too little break and don’t hit the ball hard enough. Every shot in golf has to have the club accelerating through impact. A four-foot downhiller at Augusta has to be accelerated or the club won’t stay on line. This is another case of tight grips. People strangle the putter.

MONTY’S TIP:

Try the drill you see here where I place a tee in the ground where I think I’ll need to aim. It’s a good way of teaching yourself about the extent of break. The second peg – further from the hole – illustrates how much more a putt can move if the green is much faster. Remember, on slow greens hit straighter, on fast greens allow more break. And relax that grip; feel the clubhead’s weight.