From now on, every time you practice make sure that you lay clubs on the ground aiming parallel to your target. Two clubs should be laid either side of you ball parallel to one another and about 6 inches apart (slightly wider for higher handicaps). The third club is for your feet alignment and should also be parallel to the other two shafts. By practicing in this way your mind will become accustomed to the feeling of correct alignment and this will then help your eye’s perception when you stand over the ball.

Member A plays 50 times per year, therefore his cost per round will be £10.

Player B plays only 12 times per year, therefore his cost per round will be £41.67.

I think we would all agree that player A is getting good value for money when compared against greenfee prices plus he is getting all the benefits that membership brings.

Member B on the other hand (and there are many of these in every club) is not, and it is this member who will be deliberating whether or not to renew his membership, as he is paying considerably more per round than a walk in visitor would pay (this looks even worse if your club accepts 2 for 1 vouchers). Member B also knows that most clubs don’t have waiting lists or charge joining fees, so if he decides not to rejoin this year, he knows he can get back in next year when he “might” have more time.
Unfortunately once players cease being members of a club, many are unlikely to re-join a club again, so we must offer various membership options to help retain these players and encourage new players to join.
De Vere hotels launched a new membership scheme early 2010, which I think is a fantastic model and one which with a little tweaking would work well for smaller member run clubs. The scheme is based around buying points, De Vere charge £295, which buys you 100 points, which can be redeemed against rounds of golf which cost varying numbers of points depending on what day & time you play i.e. a weekend round might cost 10 points, whereas midweek or twilight round might cost 7 points (De Vere signed up 2700 members on this scheme during first 9 months split between their 11 venues – 245 per venue!)
The amounts you charge and how many points you offer would vary for each club based upon you annual fee and your daily greenfee price. For my example club, £200 would give you 100 points and rounds would be charged at 10 for weekends and 7 for midweek & twilight. Points can be topped up at any time and the higher a price you buy in at then the more points you will get for your money.

If we now look at this example, with members A & B, you will see a different outcome.

Member A – If he played two thirds at weekends and one third midweek, he would pay £898 or £17.96 per round. This is considerably more and he should definitely remain an annual member.

Member B – if he played two thirds of his rounds at weekends and one third midweek, then his membership would now cost him £216 for the year or an average of £18 per round. This is more than annual member A’s £10 but much better value than the £41.67 in the first example. It is also a good saving against the greenfee price of £25. This I believe is a fair price.

There will be many members who would benefit from this type of scheme but there would be a tipping point where annual membership would become better value (this comes around the 25-30 rounds per year mark).
I believe that golf clubs need to introduce this type of membership alongside their annual fee, and then we may see both participation levels and membership numbers begin to grow.

Please let me know your thoughts on this as I am really keen to get some feedback.

So, how do you create this resistance?

Simply trying to stop your hips turning on the backswing will not work as it creates too much tension and your hips actually do have to turn. The key is in the right knee, retain your right knee flex on the backswing and it’s pretty much job done!

So with a mid iron in hand create your set up position making sure you have a slight flex in the right knee but ensuring that you do not over bend (pic.1). In slow motion repeatedly turn to the top of your backswing trying to retain as much flex as possible in your right knee (Pics. 2&3). As you slowly turn to the top of your backswing you should feel stretching in the right thigh & hip, torso & shoulders. When you reach the top of the backswing you should feel it quite hard to catch a breath due to the stretch you have created. Once again repetition is key, you cannot “over practice” this movement, so at every opportunity get a club in your hands and make it happen!

 To try and practice the correct body movement whilst swinging at full speed and hitting a ball is very difficult, and I would argue, almost impossible. The key to learning a new movement is to repeatedly practice the move in slow motion without a ball, so that you can actually feel the way the body moves when done correctly. If you watch a top musician learn a new piece of music or a dancer learn new steps, they will break this new information down into small manageable segments and learn these individually before trying to “play it through”. Well the golf swing is no different, but has generally not been approached in this manner in the past. This does not mean that you will have 50 different thoughts going through your head whilst swinging the club, because the more you “deeply practice” these small segments, the more automated these movements become, negating the need for you to consciously think about them. Deep practice is a term used to describe intense, focused and effective practice, something that just whacking 50 or 100 balls is not. As amateur players you do not have 8 hours per day to stand and hit balls, so what time you do have must be spent as effectively as possible. I apologise for getting a bit deep with my explanation, but I am determined to help improve your game substantially with the limited time that you have.

Step 1
Rotate to the top of your backswing, ensuring that you create resistance with your lower body and that you do not allow your left arm to fold.

Step 2
In slow motion, begin your downswing movement by rotating your body towards your target whilst transferring your weight onto your left foot. By the time you have reached half way down you should have around 70% of your body weight on your left side and your hips should really be starting to “open up” to the target.

Step 3
Continue rotating your body and shifting your weight until you reach the point of impact at which time you should find that your belt buckle is almost pointing towards your target with your weight almost fully onto your left foot. By repeating this movement slowly for around 20 times per day (this will only take around 5 minutes) you will see a dramatic improvement in your body rotation by the time the new season comes round.

Please remember that “Deep” effective practice is key, so do not rush this exercise you must practice it very slowly and deliberately.

1. Set up in your standard address position with the ball placed on a low tee making sure that your grip pressure is not too tight and that your body weight is evenly distributed between your feet.

2. Swing slowly back to the point where your left arm is parallel to the ground and you make sure that you have hinged your wrists so that your club shaft is at 90 degrees to your left forearm.

3. Now swing slowly through to half way, making sure that you rotate your body in time with your arm swing. When done correctly you will find that your hips point to your target by the time you have reached half way through. Make sure you perform this exercise at very slow speed as this is key to improving timing and synchronisation.

Try practicing these 3 steps and you will be on the right track to a more synchronised swing.