Watch how beginner golfer Lauren got on in her second lesson with PGA Pro Kristian Baker...
Becoming A Golfer: Episode 2 – Fine-Tuning The Fundamentals
After the success of her first lesson, Lauren was back at Sunningdale Heath to see PGA Pro Kristian Baker for lesson number two.
Lauren previously made a major change to her grip in episode 1 and after practising both on the range and on the course it was starting to look a lot better this time around.
It wasn’t quite perfect yet, however, so some more tweaking was required along with a few other fundamentals to get Lauren hitting the golf ball more consistently.
To get her grip where it should be, Kristian added markings to the glove to ensure she was holding the club in her fingers and with a bit more strength to avoid and open clubface and the dreaded slice.
Lauren and Kristian worked specifically on her posture and backswing in the stunning Ultimate Golf Studio, using five-time Ladies European Tour winner Anne van Dam, known for having one of the best golf swings in the game, as a base.
Kristian wanted Lauren’s backswing to be more rounded, with more width and ultimately shorter as she was prone to over-swinging it.
Lauren’s left arm was folding in the backswing, losing width and ultimately consistency and power
The series is all about helping Lauren’s journey from a complete beginner to a fully-fledged golfer so the lesson also included putting and chipping tips.
Lauren’s putting posture was a focus, getting her standing slightly further away and having her left eye over the ball.
Her putting stroke was excellent, as was her chipping action, which again just needed tweaking slightly in terms of setup and posture, as well as tempo and length of swing.
“We’ve played a couple of times since my last lesson and it’s definitely improved,” Lauren said.
“It helps not scoring because you don’t put any pressure on yourself and it’s really fun.
“Been down the driving range twice a week, just practising.
“The hardest part was definitely changing my grip, that’s been the biggest change to my swing as well.
“I’m still getting used to it and we’ve tweaked it again today so hopefully I’ll get the hang of that soon.”
“We’ve taken the view that we want to create a golfer, not just someone who can hit a golf ball,” Kristian said.
“What’s been great is a combination of practising and playing in between her lessons but definitely a massive improvement compared to the first lesson in her consistency and distance that the ball was going
“And definitely even at the end of today some really good improvement for sure.
“Homework – so we’ve got the grip, the posture and then trying to feel and shorter, wider backswing and then for chipping, mainly around the tempo and the feeling of what a good strike should feel like.
“For putting, only about setup because her stroke was excellent.”
You can also follow Lauren’s journey on Instagram @laurenbngolf
This article Becoming A Golfer: Episode 2 – Fine-Tuning The Fundamentals appeared first on Golf Monthly.