One thing and I’m quite often keen to point out to begin is, particularly beginners who are coming in for their first ever golf lesson when they are playing golf, is to understand that golf is to all intents and purposes a closed skill. Closed skill as in nobody else affects what happens to that golf ball apart from me. It’s not like the golf ball’s moving and I’ve got to hit it, it’s not like someone’s going to come and tackle me or it’s not as if someone’s got a stop watch on me that’s timing me to hit this.

I’ve got to a certain extent as much time as I want to hit this golf ball, I appreciate slow play and that sort of thing. I can take my time, I can set up, the ball doesn’t move and no one’s going to take it off me. So, when I set up to the golf ball it’s important that I use this element of closed skill, it’s just me and the ball to make sure I set up in the same position every single time. That then gives my golf swing the best chance to be repeatable and at the same sort of standard and quality for consistency as well.

If I stand in a different position to that golf ball each time, my golf swing has to adjust and adapt and therefore my consistency will clearly fail. My consistency won’t be as high. Now it’s not as simple as standing the same place every time because I’ve got so many different clubs and I’ve got so many different shots to play. So, there are a few variables that we need to bring into this in terms of how wide the stance might be in terms of where the ball position might be. In terms of how far away I stand and how tall I stand. So, those are the variables that we want to be considering every time we set up to the golf ball. But, each time we set up to the ball we want to feel like it’s me and the ball, if I get this bit right the same every time for the right club, then the swing that I make from there can produce nice consistent shots and my ball striking will be better because my set up is better. Let’s pay attention to our set up to improve our golf shots.