(golf ball hisses) (Piers chuckles) – [Mike] Ooh, that felt nice! – In today's live lesson we have Mike, who's only been playing eight weeks. And we are going to change his life today. So you're gonna wanna watch. – Indeed, so if you wanna see
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So, Mike, thank you so much… – No problem. – For joining us today. Already, you've been playing eight weeks. You remember the website? – Yep. – And, I don't know if it's
the website Andy or something, but your golf swing is pretty good. But there is a good
sporting background to you. Mixed martial arts Andy, so
we can't get this one wrong. – If you get it wrong,
it's his fault not mine. – No, no, no, no! Andy's told me what to say. So, what is golf for you at the moment? And what sort of things are
you looking at and what- – Just basically, trying to
get the, fundamentals right more than anything.
In terms of getting good
basic ball striking, I tend to hit more right than anything. So, just knowing what I'm doing right, knowing what I'm doing wrong, and kind of going it from there. Getting some fundamentals right. – Yeah, and I think at this stage, that's, anyone watching
this who's new to the game, that's what we're after. Fundamentals, consistency,
"Is my setup okay?" So we're gonna look at the
setup, make sure that's okay. And we're gonna look at
the golf swing as well. And, we actually got FlightScope in here. And now, the reason I've
got that in there is, because I think we're going to see some, gains in your distance. I really believe we'll see that today. – Did you say, "I think"? – I'm building up to it
Andy, I'm building up- – We will see some gains! – So I tell you what we're gonna do. We've got a 7-Iron in hand,
let's just hit a few shots. Andy's gonna have a few yardage numbers, how far the ball is going. And let's see what we get.
– Go from there, okay. (golf ball hisses) – That's a little bit right of target. (golf ball hisses) That's kind of the one, isn't it? Goes out to the right. – Yeah, that's a classic,
typical shot, really. – So tell you what I'm gonna do. We are gonna start with the setup. And there are a few things that we can do just to tidy it up. So as I said, the posture is really good. So when we say the posture, you know, the angles that you set here, as in, very solid in the body. So you're all good. So if you can just take your setup now, as though you're about to hit a shot. So the first thing we are
gonna look at, is the grip. And I'm gonna bring you in here and have a look at this grip as well. So we'll get it in nice and close.
So if we actually take the right hand off, the left hand, the lead hand, looks great. So we can see it sitting
in the hand really nicely, good amount of knuckles, you can read the logo on your glove. Just pop the right hand on for me? And this is something really that, it'll have a difference now. It'll help now, but it's really gonna be a long-term gain that we're gonna see from this.
So, if we can look at the hands now without moving them too much, we can see that these
two middle fingers here, are actually sitting a bit
too much on the finger. And this thumb is a little
bit down the handle. So what I'm gonna do, let me
go and grab one of my clubs. And what we're gonna do is,
I'm just gonna jump in here so you can see this as well. So left hand's the same. So your right hand now, I wanna see if we can get
these two middle fingers, and place them more on the grip. So you'll feel as though
you're moving your hand down the handle a bit.
– Yep. – It'll feel very strange to start with. – [Mike] Okay, am I sticking
with overlapping or basic- – Overlap underneath is absolutely fine. Yeah, if that's what you
feel comfortable with. – [Mike] Yeah. – I love that. And then, just get this thumb and just move it a little
bit to the side there. – [Mike] Okay. – Beautiful. So from there, just have some swings. Let's just have a little
bit of a go with that. And this is crucial, if you're starting the game or you're looking to
brush up on your basics, how you hold it, it's the connection between obviously you and the club. It needs to be good. It needs to allow for
freedom in the club, power, consistency, all those nice
words that we have there Andy. – Yeah, it's gonna feel strange as well. Whenever you do a grip change, it doesn't feel very comfortable. But, this will make a big
difference on his ball flight. – So, that's the first thing. And I'm gonna give you
another thing as well here, before we then hit a couple of shots. Again, just take your set up for me, and we'll just be mindful
of our target there.
So just have a look
where you're going there. So we're just going for the
throat to the green there. So maybe just, aim a
little bit straighter. There we go, just aim a little bit- – [Mike] That's another thing,
I need more of (chuckles). – And where you are at this
stage here, that's fine. Okay, I'm gonna place
this alignment stick, kind of on your toe line. And if I look up here now,
I would say that your hips and your feet are pretty much
going in the same direction. But if I actually look at this here, we'll be able to see
from this camera here, that your shoulders are
actually going quite a bit to the left.
Okay, so quite a bit to the left. So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna see if we can actually make
your shoulders run parallel with your feet lines. This is a bit of a strange one. Now, suddenly, as soon
as you do this it's like, "Where's the target going?" Okay, so let's just do a bit more of that. So you can probably exaggerate
that, at this stage as well.
– Right. – Beautiful. Okay, just tuck it back a little bit more. Okay, that feel weird, yeah? – It does. – But if we look at this camera now, when they see that, they're
looking at that going, "Okay, well that's just
normal parallel alignment." Okay, here's the hard part. Step away from me. So step away from the ball from me, and then get back in again. And we'll build that again- – I knew you were gonna say that.
– What I'm gonna do, I'm
gonna put this on the ground and we'll have this as a reference point. Your toes haven't got to touch this, but I do want your feet to be mindful of, the direction they're going in, and then matching that
up with the shoulders. – I think what we're doing
here as well is that, whenever you're sort
of working on the range or on the practice area, this is just a great thing
to do, to give you a guide, to get your feet, get your body in line, to make sure that you're are
going in the right direction.
This is just really
simple that you can do, that just ensures that you
are in the right place. – [Piers] Really good. (golf ball hisses) Okay beautiful, that was
actually a really good strike, it was a little bit to the right. – Even though it's in the trees, it felt, all right (laughs). – The higher as well, which is good. – Okay, let's do a few more. Again, whenever you're doing this, this is the same for anyone
watching this as well.
Whenever you hit a shot, make sure you step away and you rebuild. Every time you step away and
rebuild, you're learning it. If you stand there, hit a shot, the Power Tee comes up
again, the ball's there and you hit a shot without moving, you're not really learning. So again, reset yourself. So we know that this is great,
make the right hand great now by making sure those middle,
fingers are on the club.
– How's that looking? – [Piers] I'm gonna just
tweak that, just a little bit. – Oh yeah, okay. – And then, tell me when you're ready. Look at that! – [Andy] Now, there you
go, feel the difference? – Yeah, I do. Ready? – Yeah, yeah, good to go. (golf ball hisses) Okay Andy, give me the
distance on that last one. – Very nice, the last
one was 103 yards carry. (golf ball hisses) – [Piers] Okay, nice, good. Just do one more, just
getting used to this and then we put in the next thing. – Okay. – We haven't changed his
life yet, but we're about to.
We're about too! Very nice! – Beautiful strike. – [Andy] Much better contact on that one. – Yeah, solid, solid, okay. – That was 106 yards carry, that's better. – Good, good, good. So if you have a look at that there, you can see, a little bit of an element of what Andy was saying there, where you're leaning
the shoulders like that. This is the old one, obviously. And you're trying to get the
weight onto the left leg.
Now, have a look at the
width of your, stance. So how far apart, your feet are. – [Mike] Yep. – [Piers] It's a little wide. – [Mike] Okay. – [Piers] Now, I want you
to look at your right side of your leg, and your
hips, when you swing back. So as you can see, when you swing back, what don't you really do with
your hips, would you say- – [Mike] Turn it.
– Yeah, you don't really
get a lot of turn. Now, this is where you're
obviously a flexible person, because your back has had a big turn. So you've kind of had this move
where you got a wide stance, and then you sway your hips. Don't turn them a lot, but still get a big turn like this. And this is a really crucial thing, that if you can get hold of
how you control your pivots with your hips, at an early
stage, consistency will build and power, more importantly, will build. I mean look, joking aside
here, you're obviously strong. You're obviously powerful. They're not going that far yet. These should be going, within a couple of months,
could be going 50 yards further with the 7-Iron. – Sounds good. – That would be nice.
So what we're gonna do, we're gonna maintain the grip. We're gonna maintain the shoulders, but we're gonna narrow
the feet a little bit. And we're gonna ask you to get a bit more turn in the hips. So can I even just jump in
there a little bit as well? – Yeah, go for it. – If you just jump around there for a sec. Oh sorry, just go there as well- – If you come from the front, you'll get a good, idea of what Piers' right hip does really. – I'm gonna exaggerate this in the bad, and don't worry about
the cameras, it's okay. If I get too wide here, it's more likely that I will get a little bit of this sway on the way back. So we're actually gonna
narrow your stance, it'll feel maybe as though, you might not have the balance
that you've had before.
But you should be fine,
once you hit a few shots. And then we're gonna focus from there, on just allowing, the hips to turn more. Even just doing that,
what we're doing there, there we go! I mean straight away now, whoa Andy! Did you see that? Once we get that in a golf swing… – 20 more yards there- – You got 20 more yards
written all over it. So, actually just jump in there, and have a go, at that actual, move there. So put the club across the shoulders, eh, the shoulders, the hips. – I'm gonna get rid of that ball so we get you really focused. – We've got the narrower stance. Lovely, and then from there, just have a go at turning those hips as though you're doing a back
swing in your golf swing.
Yeah, beautiful. And just do a few more of those, and tell me how that feels. Blending in as well. Does it feel like you could
do this in the balance? – I think so. Whether it comes out or
not, we'll see (laughs). – I'm gonna video that,
because that's really good. Good to go. Okay, have a look at this. And you'll see that we're
purposely making sure that you're not hitting lots of shots yet. You need to make sure that
you're aware how to move, but that, is tremendous. – [Mike] It looks much
different, much better. – So the key is now, golf club in hand, let's get the setup that we want. – [Mike] Yep. – So the good, right-hand grip. – I'll just go from here. – The narrower stance, the
good shoulder alignment. – Yep, that would be the… – And then from there, get yourself turning those
hips on the back swing. Okay, good. And again, keep going, get a feel for it.
– I'm gonna predict when we get this, I mean, we've had 106 yards
carry, the biggest one. – [Piers] Yeah. – I think we're gonna see a 120. I think as soon as we get you moving, you know, neutralize the set up, the hips working, little bit more speed. Just watch that stance- – Do me a favor? Start again, start again. Yeah, yeah, move into here. Move into here, and
yeah, as Andy said there. So what will always happen, and it often happens when
you're trying to work on your leg action, you start going, "Oh yeah,
I've gotta get a wide stance. 'Cause I've gotta move my legs." I think it's gonna be tricky, but let's just go with
it, feeling narrower.
– Feeling narrower. – Yeah, the narrower actually
helps you turn more anyway. – Okay. – Nice. – [Andy] Nice. (golf ball hisses) – [Piers] That's it! – Again, you guys, let us
know, these live lessons, we're doing a few of these. If these are helpful, then
make sure you hit that like, and let us know in the
comments down below, what else would you like
us to do in a live lesson? Some short games, some
driving, some putting? Let us know in those comments below. (golf ball hisses) (Piers laughs) – [Mike] Ooh, that felt nice. – [Piers] Wow! – Okay. – Beautiful shot. – Now, just a quick one, on this one Mike. – Not too hard, not too hard. – What did we say on distance, that we said we might get up to, carry? – I think it was around, what have we got? – Oh, oh! I just got rid of that then. – I think you said about 120, 119 1/2. – 119 1/2, so you're 1/2 a yard short. You're underachieved at the moment. But that was great. Look at the height there, difference. – Yeah, yeah, it felt better. – That was so good. That was so good. The one thing that I'd like to see on your practice
swing as well Mike, is I know you're thinking
about your hip and your turn, just really see if you can
get a nice brushing action.
Remember, every single
time we wanna play a shot with an Iron, we wanna hit the ground. So if you can sync that up with, a little bit of a
brushing action on the ground, then that'd be a good thing. But that's better. The better that is, the better the ball
speed's gonna be as well. (golf ball hisses) Beautiful. – [Piers] That could go right by the flag. – That's gonna be close. There we go, one kick.
– Come on man. – [Both] It's a little short. (golf ball hisses) – Oh, it's a shame, 'cause you just caught the
ground a bit too early. – I did, I felt it. – That's all right though. (golf ball hisses) Keep watching it, could be it. Ooh, get left. – Okay. – Back at the green. – I don't know if you can see this one but, let's take a look at this. I know you can see closer for this. – [Sean] That's beautiful- – So that one was 132 yards carry. We always have 100 yards, 103 yards carry to 132 yards carry on that one. (Piers laughs) So, massive difference.
I mean, look at that, that one's gone past the flag. What a difference from technique, and then adding a little bit of speed with good technique, brilliant that was. – Do you know what the problem is, we have on these videos that we do? – Can you start crying now, can you start? – I'll break down in, five minutes.
– The problem on these
lessons that we do Mike, is we never know when to stop. Now Sean's going in his
head, now I know he's going, "Stop, stop, stop!" But we have to hit one
off the ground as well. So let's see if we can just
do the same off the ground. Sorry Sean. – [Sean] I was like, "Oh my
God, they're listening to me!" (men laugh) – No we're not! We're listening, we're
just not, the hearing. (golf ball hisses) Yeah, that's really good. Wasn't purely out the middle, it was just a bit outta time. – [Andy] Look at the distance though.
– [Piers] Well, it's gonna go
through the back of the green. – [Andy] It's gone through
the back of the green. – That was not on the, table before. – Nice and straight. – Unbelievable. – Hope that was useful. And also, don't forget to check out our free How To Play series, in the link down below. Check out the free trial and
we'll see you over there..