Dean Kinney talks about what a spectator can learn by watching the best play golf
A man like Dean is great at observation, and how to get the best out of his golfers. Here’s five things he says club golfers and spectators should look out for this weekend.
1: YOU’LL NOTICE HOW QUICK THE PRO’S ARE AT HITTING THEIR SHOT
That process happens very quickly once they’ve made the decision. That’s something a lot of amateurs don’t do. They are often thinking while they are standing over the ball, whereas that thinking should be done beforehand.
2: PRO GOLFERS DON’T HAVE MASSIVE BACKSWINGS
Their backswings are a lot shorter than what they were probably taught when they were younger, that you need to be parallel at the top to hit it longer. Some of the longer hitters here don’t get their hands above shoulder height. That’s because they are loading their bodies correctly. A baseball hitter doesn’t twist up and out of the swing. The twist is unnecessary. If anything as soon as you start twisting, you are unloading your weight. Club golfers should keep it simple. (If you are a right-hander) feel the weight shift into your right foot, then back into your left foot. The benefit is you will have more control and more power. You will sequence better with a shorter backswing than a longer one.
3: PRO’S ARE STRONG ON RESEARCH
Our guys were out here the week before. They do a lot of research before they play. My guys did all their homework on the greens. They have maps of where the putts are breaking. A lot of the time they’ll check their books and know that wherever the pin is, they’ll know where the straight putt is. Generally they’ll try to find a dead straight 10-foot putt. It’s simple but it helps them hole a lot more putts.
4: THEY STILL HIT BAD SHOTS
That’s one thing a lot of amateurs will notice, is that all the pros – even at this standard – hit bad shots. Any of the guys playing today won’t react to bad shots. They accept it as part of the game. They know they’ll have misses but they recover better than amateurs. They don’t put any energy into those misses.
5: YOUR HAPPINESS REFLECTS YOUR GOLF GAME
It does, absolutely. If things aren’t going very well off the golf course then it’s hard to drop everything and play well. Look at (Shane) Warne – he was one of those rare ones who could have lots of stuff going on off the pitch, but then go and play good cricket. Most people can’t do that. It’s about enjoying the game. If we are not enjoying, why are we doing it? That’s a big part of playing well, accepting the bad shots and trying to enjoy the challenge of it.