Make the best of holes on your own

Work on your putting.

Putting

On both firm or ‘puddingy’ greens in winter putting becomes a bit of a lottery because of the debris and the footmarks that tend to congregate around the holes.

However, it’s a good time to build in a solid, consistent strike into your putting stroke ready for the fast-approaching spring competitions.

Every putter has a sweet spot, a point on the face where, when the ball is struck perfectly it transmits that velvet feel through the shaft and the grip into your fingertips and senses. It’s just that we don’t find it consistently.

Hold up the club on the grip between thumb a finger and tap the face gently with the edge of a coin until it rocks back and forth without twisting. Mark the point where you can see it at address and aim for that every time.

Your mishits will reduce and your strike and roll will vastly improve.

Fairway shots

During the winter months, I tend to hit a lot of fairway metals shots because it’s possible to tee the ball up on worm casts, as long as they are within six inches and no nearer the hole of where your ball comes to rest in the fairway.

The extra practice helps my game when conditions improve, even though I have to strike the ball off bare or normal fairway lies.

Learn to hit driver off the deck.

Tee it up on the worm cast, widen your stance a little, position the ball just inside the left heel and swing within yourself, allowing for a left to right ball flight.

Driving off the deck improved so much during winter practice, I can hit the shot at par-5s with great confidence throughout the year.

Greenside bunkers

Inevitably during the winter, the sand in bunkers gets wet and clinging. It demands a whole new technique.

Playing on my own recently I was able to practice from a range of different bunker lies.

Here’s a few tips from different lies in sand:

*Buried in the face – take pitching wedge and with weight favouring your right side playing through and up the slope.

Sitting on top of sand – normal bunker shot with sand wedge. Open stance, take the club away on the outside and get the feel of chopping down with the sole of the club an inch behind the ball.

Poached egg lie – use pitching wedge, hood the face and re-grip and chop down just behind the ball. It will plop out and roll.

Downhill lie at back of the bunker – use sand iron and position ball in middle of your stance, weight favouring the left side. Pick the club up sharply on the outside and swing down and through on the line of the slope. Ensure you follow through and the ball will come out low and running.

If you have any tips that work for you, tell us on the forum.