Golfmagic gets a lesson from Carl Watts

Carl Watts lended Golfmagic his 25 years of competitive coaching experience last week when he took Andy Roberts, off 7, and Charlie Lemay, off 12, under his wing at Mannings Heath Golf Club, Sussex.

Watts, who competed on the European Tour between 1994 and 2001, is a PGA member and is the resident teaching professional at Mannings Heath.

Before conducting Golfmagic’s latest wedge test, Andy and Charlie spent half an hour on the practice ground with the level 1 Plane Truth Coach, who aimed to improve both of their shallow ball striking.

Here’s what Carl had to say…

“Andy was aiming quite far left so we talked about his swing and it being very shallow and swinging to the right with his weight staying back. This meant his shots will tend to be blocks to the right so he needed to get a diagnosis element to his faults.

“Andy’s fix is to aim on target, that in itself will make him feel like he’s aiming miles right, and it should make him feel like he needs to swing more left so he will have a steeper angle and that’s the main thing we want to get into his swing through impact.

“What that should do is help him compress the ball far better which means he’ll be able to strike the ball a lot better and in terms of the readings and what clubs are right for him - it will have a big impact on the data that comes back. He also needs to concentrate on getting his weight more onto his left foot through impact.

“It’s a very similar thing with Charlie. Charlie loses a shed load of distance because he really shallows out in a big way at impact. He really gets the high shallows going but the real difference is that his club face is well open at the same time, so he gets very shallow with a very open face. The thing just pops up and he loses a lot of distance.

“Charlie has a very good physique for the game of golf so he should be able to hit the ball a lot further by working on very similar moves that we talked about.

“Justin Rose’s swing is very much in-to-out so he gets very shallow through the shot as well, so he is very much down the line. There is no right or wrong way of doing it; it’s just knowing your game so if your game starts to go slightly off you know how to make a slight adjustment which will stop it getting worse.”

Carl's pupils can choose from a range of personalised coaching programmes on all areas of the game. Lessons can be booked for one hour, two hours or half a day at Mannings Heath, Horsham, which includes a driving range, two short game areas, an indoor coaching studio, the 18-hole Waterfall course and 18-hole Kingfisher course.

1 hour lesson: £70/Juniors £55

Email: carl@carlwattsgolf.co.uk
Mobile: 07930 365866
www.carlwattsgolf.co.uk