Golf Asia - February 2018

Graeme Storm England

2017 highlights: Won South African Open, beating Rory McIlroy in a play-

off, and four other top 10s.

His irons: TaylorMade P770 (3-PW) and Titleist Vokey SM6 wedges (52°

and 58°)

I’m swinging it better than I probably

ever have at the moment. I know what

I’m doing, I know where I need to be,

so I’m striking the ball better.

I’ve always been pretty consistent

hitting greens with my 3-5 irons though

I might not always get it close enough

at times. Plus I’ve improved with my

shorter irons so I’m able to attack more

pins and give myself more chances.

Swinging well breeds confidence,

which gives you a more aggressive

outlook when playing to flags. And

when you are chipping and putting

nicely as well, you’ve got even more

confidence so you relax a bit thinking

‘if I miss that green, I can get up and

down.’ Obviously to find the green

you’ve got to hit the fairways and

obviously there are courses where

you can get away with more wayward

shots. There are times when you have

to drive the ball well to be able to hit

the greens – the courses themselves,

especially the size of the fairways and

greens, are contributory factors.

How you can hit more greens: What

I say to club golfers when I play with

them in pro-ams is that you get shots,

so make sure you use your shots. So

if you can’t reach a par-4 in two, give

yourself a chance to get it up there and

give yourself a chance to pitch it within

15-20ft and have a putt for a nett birdie.

Use your shot as opposed to wasting

it by making a five or six. If you play off

12, use your 12 shots and you can drop

your handicap to 10 quite quickly. It’s

not all about smashing it down there

and getting it on the green and making

birdies all the time. It comes down to

strategy at the end of the day and in a lot

of cases, club golfers don’t use strategy.

Another thing I would say to club

golfers is if you’re striving to score

better, look at the stat showing

how many times you’ve hit the ball

to within 20ft of the hole. That’s

something I’m looking to improve at

and so should you...

GREENS IN REGULATION

3rd

13.2 greens

per round

STATS LIFE...

3rd

13.2 greens

per round

13.2 greens

per round

13.2 greens

STATS LIFE...

70 GOLF ASIA

GOLFING

INSTRUCTION