By Lea Pouillard
Often when you find yourself on the fringe of the green, a simple chip is all that is required to get close to the pin.

However, often when I ask my students where they want to ball to land in this situation, the answer is “really close to the flag” or “right at it”. 

Almost always, this will result in overshooting the hole and leaving you with a tough, long putt.

Here we will see a few skills you can try out in relation to distance control.

Chipping is about analysing your situation, or lie, as that will dictate how you want to launch the ball. Distance control is all about trajectory and spin — a low launch will roll further than a high launch, and choosing the right trajectory will be the key to success. 

The ‘landing zone’ is influenced by the flight of the ball. For example, the lower flight of the ball will land closer to you and release, or roll far, while, a higher flighted shot’s landing zone should be closer to the hole, as it will significantly less.

For these exercises, try to imagine a landing zone — say eight metres away — and hit three shots each with low, medium and high trajectories, trying to make them all hit the same zone. This will help you see how more or less the ball will roll related upon landing in the zone, in turn helping you visualise the shot you need when the situation next arises.

I have chosen three different colours of balls to illustrate the difference and marked out a simple landing zone with tees. for each shot, you should use the same club. 

LOW FLIGHT
For a low trajectory, set up the ball more on the back foot, with your body weight slightly on the front foot. Your shaft line should be leaning more towards the target and do not move your wrists throughout the swing. 

MEDIUM FLIGHT
Aiming at the same zone, from the same distance, to get a medium flight, set up with the ball more centre of your stance, with body weight equally spread between both legs. Again keep the shaft line slightly towards the target but swing with more clubhead release.

HIGH FLIGHT
Now, to get the ball launched. Set up with the ball centred in the stance and, once again, the same goes for the body weight. The swing should see your bounce (sole of the club) on the ground, with your hands finishing closer to your body, and the head of the club higher than the hands.

You should see the difference, with the low launches rolling further and the high shots stopping almost dead if properly implemented. Keep practising until you see the desired results for all shots and, through the right selection, your distance control issues should become a thing of the past distance.

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Lea Pouillard is PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
How to maximise the distance off the tee
Master your short-game options around the green
Putt in place on the dancefloor
Straight to the point for short-game success
It is never too late to pick up a club for the first time — some tips to get started
Mobility and stability are key links in the chain to golf fitness
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple backswing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: The flight of the ball will dictate how far the ball will roll appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

A wide stance and high tee will help your balance and get the ball to travel further 

By Tom Ogilvie
The average driving distance on the PGA tour is now over 300 yards. In the last two or three years, distance has been a big talking point, especially with the likes of Bryson DeChambeau making headlines for his increase in clubhead speed and enormous drives off the tee. 

There are a few factors we must get right before we move into the swing, and this is the set up. Having a wide stance to keep your balance while swinging at high speed is very important and, if you want to maximise carry distance, tee the ball high on your
lead foot. 

While taking the club into the backswing, we want to feel a big shift in momentum away from the ball. Almost instantly as you move the club back, shift your weight into your trail side and start to rotate your body. Swing catalyst highlights around 80-90 per cent pressure should be on your trail foot by this point. 

Once the club moves wide and away from the ball, this is where the body should wind or coil up to the top of the swing. A good sign is when you feel the right hip moving up as you get to the top of your swing.  

Into the downswing, it is imperative that your head stays behind the ball before the club is delivered at impact. This will allow the club to work on a shallower angle and increase the angle of attack helping maximise carry distance because of less spin on the ball. 

During your speed practice, focus on the clubhead speed and not so much on the result. With use of a launch monitor such as Trackman, gaining 3-4mph can result in an increase of 9-12 yards. Practise at a high intensity and treat it like a workout. Hit several balls in a short space of time to get your heart rate up. Keep note of your highest recorded swing speed and try to beat this each time you practise. You will notice over time that your cruising swing speed will become higher.

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Tom Ogilvie is a PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
Straight to the point for short-game success
It is never too late to pick up a club for the first time — some tips to get started
Mobility and stability are key links in the chain to golf fitness
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: How to maximise the distance off the tee appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Hold each exercise for one to two minutes when stretching or performing stability exercises. Always be aware of your breathing when stretching. Always take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

1. Breakdancer Hamstring Stretch — Assisted (Mobility)
In a seated position, fold one leg so the base of the foot is up against the inner thigh of the other, now keeping your leg straight reach for your toes and, if necessary, use a rope for assistance to pull yourself towards your foot.

2. Open Book Ribcage (Mobility)
Lying on your right side, curl your knees up to your chest, then place the right hand on top of your knees and then place the other hand under your ribcage, the side closest to the floor. Then pull these two parts of the body apart, rotating to your left as far as you can.

3. Golf Posture, Single-Leg Balance with Torso Rotation (Stability)
This exercise is great to help with short game most of all and is something everyone should be doing to help their game drastically. Get into golf posture, with your arms crossed over your shoulders. Then bring your feet together and bend one from the knee, so you’re standing on one leg. Now keeping the lower body stable, do small and smooth rotations with the shoulders, rotating around your spine and avoiding a rocking motion of the shoulders at all costs.

4. Pattern Assistance Single Leg Balance (Stability)
With a light resistance band anchored to a fixed object in front of you, place one end in each hand, then walk away until there is some tension within the band. Now keeping the arms down by your side and straight, pull the bands behind you making sure you retract the shoulder blades as well. This will engage your core muscles and help with your posterior chain. Then raise one knee up, so the thigh is parallel to the ground and hold for one minute each side.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: Mobility and stability are key links in the chain to golf fitness appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Fed Ex Cup play-offs are fast approaching and the DP World Tour, LIV Golf series and both the Ladies European Tour and LPGA begin to ramp up for their respective finales.

We take a look at Laguna resort in Thailand now golfers are travelling more once again, speak to Carlota Ciganda about the women’s game, catch up with Saudi stars Faisal Salhab and Saud AlSharif, provide plenty of tips for golfers of all ages and abilities and discuss the vision of MyGolf Dubai.  We also ponder why the 7-wood is the new must-have club in your bag.

All this and much more in the August 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

See below for the third issue of the Arabic edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The post Get the August 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here in both English and Arabic today! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The off-season is no time to get complacent as maintaining fitness is crucial 

By Matthew Brookes
The off-season is here as well as the heat in Dubai, but don’t let this stop you from improving your game. Now is the time to prepare yourself for the next golf season and, with professional advice, it’s so easy to do so. Off-season for me normally has two sections and these are ‘post-season’ and ‘pre-season’. Both of these sections require different training methods. Today we are covering ‘post-season’ and this is all about increasing your body’s overall strength. 

Benefits
Did you know that hitting a golf ball can be the equivalent of a three-rep max in the gym, so the greater your three-rep max in the gym the further you can potentially hit the ball. There are obviously other factors to consider, but this is the exact reason why the players on all tours are all working just as hard in the gym as they are on the golf course. 

Method
The training method is called ‘5×5’, which involves completing five reps for five sets with up to 3 minutes rest between each set. This should consist of lifting as much weight as you can for those five reps, really helping to focus on increasing your strength.

Compound
Each workout will consist of compound exercises that focus on increasing the strength of your push, pull and legs. This will also help you increase the strength of your ‘Power Chain’ which is something I have talked about in past videos, so do check that out to find out more. 

Safety
Professional advice is always important, especially with this sort of training. Having the correct movement patterns is vital when performing these exercises and past work or exercises need to be completed in order to prepare you for these types of lifts, to help reduce the risk of injury.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf-specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

More golf tips and instruction:
The chips are down if the hips are right
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: Fighting fit off the course during the summer heat appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Brookes
The final piece of the puzzle for chipping is regarding the short game sequence. Do look back at the first video on the Golf Digest Middle East website, where we covered gym exercises that’ll help improve your body’s ability to move in the correct manner and the second shoot on pressure points and head movement in the swing using the ‘Swing Catalyst’ motion plate to help master this technique.

RELATED:
Looking for more power? It’s all about kinetic sequence forces
Understand golf’s power chain and how to avoid a weak link in your swing

This month’s edition is about having the correct sequence when chipping. This sequence is very different to the ‘Kinematic Sequence’ used in the full swing and is called the ‘Finesse Sequence’.

This sequence is vital to help produce enough bounce and to help deliver the club at the correct angle at impact. Where in the full swing we start with the hips turning in the downswing, when chipping we should actually reverse this sequence and have the hips move last or certainly move a lot less.

Stability and control of the lower body is key to help with this movement. A good drill to help you get this feeling and take it into the shot itself is the single leg chip. For a right-handed player stand on your lead leg and have the ball opposite the foot. Your trail foot should be on its tip toe slightly behind you. Once in position and balanced, chip the ball no further than five yards in the air and feel how the low body is limited in rotation. This is the feeling you want to take into the normal chip and once the swing gets any longer than this the lower body should start to rotate that little more towards the target.

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Matthew Brookes is a PGA teaching professional and golf-specific fitness trainer at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

You might also like:
Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up
Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface
Why you are wasting your time on the range
Claude Harmon III’s simple impact drill
How Billy Horschel’s simple back swing move will make you a better ball-striker

The post WATCH: The chips are down if the hips are right appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Relax this summer as we catch up with Max Homa, keep fit In the gym away from the heat, learn all you need to know about maintaining a certain golf course ahead of the Open Championship, talk team golf with Olivia Cowan and reflect on LIV Golf history at Centurion.

There is a summer of plenty as July offers a whole host of golfing treats, including the Irish Open and Scottish Open for the men ahead of the big one. The 150^th Open Championship sees the game return to the ‘Home of Golf’ at St Andrews in Scotland, with a stacked field ready to do battle on the famous Old Course. There are two LIV Golf events in the States as well as the ladies’ Amundi Evian Championship and the ever-popular Women’s Scottish Open attracting the cream of the LPGA and Ladies European Tour.

All this and much more in the July 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

The post Get the July 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The heat is rising in the UAE as the action heats up across Europe and the United States.

Our latest edition of Golf Digest Middle East reflects on Justin Thomas’ triumph at the PGA Masters, while looking ahead to the US Open at Brookline, and focusing on the mulleted star Cameron Smith, who has made it to the top in his own way.

There is also the small matter of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, as Greg Norman’s money-spinning brainchild tees off at Centurion Club near London in England.

Closer to home, we had one of the most dramatic Dubai Golf Trophy tournaments in its 23-year history, and we chart the journey of Amelia McKee, from youngster in a strange land in Dubai to turning professional.

Emirates Golf Club’s Olivia Jackson discusses the need for more mixed and team events to boost the ladies’ game, while we have a solution for all your putting and chipping woes.

All this and much more in the June 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

The post Get the June 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Here at the Academy, we see too many people who lose control of this in the downswing which can often lead to poor strikes and the clubface becoming very unstable. This can often be a reaction to something that has happened in the backswing so it would be worth looking at previous videos with Golf Digest Middle East to make sure you are correctly rotating the body in the backswing.

MORE: Why solid putting starts with a sound set-up

Typically, people will let the top of the spine drop behind the bottom of the spine in the downswing which can move your low point back before the ball and cause you to catch the ground before the ball. As a reaction golfers will pull their arms up through the ball to try and ensure the strike and create the ‘chicken wing’.

A good exercise for this is to feel as though you are hitting low ‘punch/driven’ shots where you finish with your hands as close to the target as you can. In order for your hands to finish as close to the target as possible with good extension through the ball, you must keep your body continuing forward, aligning the balance points and the top and bottom of your spine. Throughout this exercise, your arms should feel passive and your body moving forward will very much be in control of your hands and arms. At the end of the exercise, you should notice yourself more forward over your lead foot with your arms extended in front of you towards the target, level with your chest.

This idea of the balance points (top and bottom of your spine) staying aligned throughout, and practice low punch shots will encourage a more stable clubface and better control of your strike.

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Euan Bowden is a PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai.

The post WATCH: Alignment is a fine balancing act to stabilise clubface appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There are some exciting times at Golf Digest Middle East as we welcome a new editor in Matt Smith, who took over from Kent Gray in April.

It certainly is a busy time in golf and our latest edition is out now.

After the Masters and Tiger Woods dramatic return, we speak with Scottie Scheffler about his triumph at Augusta and what makes him tick as he has risen to the top of the World Rankings.

We also discuss the bright future for golf in the UAE, thanks to a 10-year deal with the European Tour Group, and expansion at eGolf Megastore.

On the course, we preview the PGA Championship and get the latest on the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Alongside the ever-expanding Ladies and Asian tours, it certainly will be a busy time in the months ahead.

All this and much more in the May 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

The post Get the May 2022 edition of Golf Digest Middle East FREE here! appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.