Martin Rowley caddied on the European Tour for over twenty years and in that period caddied for Ian Woosnam, Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jiminez. He also became head of the European Tour Caddies Association and acted as secretary for a period too. In 2010 I felt that I was making a lot of course management errors and decided to give Martin a call. He gave me a lot of great advice and made me realise how thorough the best caddies on tour are. I thought I would share with you some of his advice. Standing on the Tee 1. Always play the hole backwards in your mind from the green to the tee, fin ..read more

1. Bunker Setup: Doesn't like to stand too open, just slightly left of the target line places left front foot 60 degrees open and points left knee at the left toe. Likes to lower into shot, knee flex nearly matches the shaft angle at address. Sets up work station puts in target line then a 90 degree line for ball position, believes ball should be off left heel then a foot line just a little left. Swing path slightly left to target line but only slightly left. 2. Grip: Believes in the butterfly grip for bunker shots, specialist shot so need specialist grip. Very strong left hand very weak righ ..read more

While I was coaching one of my students Steven Tiley at the KLM Open this year we got the chance to spend some time with Brett Rumford. Brett is known to have one of the best short games in the world if not the best and is great at explaining his methods. Read below to see my personal notes from the session: 1. Used a Titleist 58 degree SW, 4 degrees of bounce similar to a M grind. Was ground extra from the tour truck at the heel. 2. Looked a lot at the granulation of the sand. He explained the sand in Holland was quite a wide grain so would explode more on the face. Reason for white powder a ..read more

The Confidence Cycle: Confidence is knowing you can do something based on past experience. Confidence is based on having a good technique but many people think that if they can just get their technique right they will be confident. Once you get the technique right your level of confidence increases but it is still often short of where it could be. After technique we move onto skill. Skill is hitting lots of different shots with that technique different lies, uphill, down hill, all trajectories in different weather conditions and finding out what your technique can and can't do. Based on this y ..read more

Below is a list of certian P.G.A Tour players I have analysed to see how much the spine angle changed from address to impact. The average amateur often struggles with the spine at impact raising relative to where it was at address. What you will see with the best players in the world is the opposite pattern. I have used a - to indicate a lowering in degrees and a + to indicate a raising in angle. Ian Poulter: Reduces by -6* from 50 to 44(Hybrid) Justin Rose: -2* from 51 to 49 (Hybrid) Darren Clarke: -2* from 46 to 44 (Hybrid) Padraig Harrington: -3* 56 to 53 (driver) Mike Weir -2* 53 to 51 (dr ..read more

1. Want ball to roll more on a pitch work right hand over the left through impact. If want more backspin work right hand under left. 2. On Standard pitch shots Faldo likes to make a 3/4 swing controling the acceleration through the ball with the rotary motion of the body. 3. If you can learn to control the length of your swing with the rotary motion of your body the ability to gauge distance and trajectory will improve dramaticaly. The only other factor is the force right arm straightens into ball. 4. Faldos wedge Distances 49* full goes 125, 10.30(120) 53* full goes 110, 10.30(105) 60* full g ..read more

1. Tour pro misses 70/80 % of putts on the low side. 2. The Average player only sees a third of the break. 3. Very few putts are totally straight 98% of putts will break. 4. The more break in the putt the more likely it is too miss the hole below the cup. 5. If you are unsure of the amount of break to hit always safer to hit slightly more break than less ..read more

1. Works out yardage to landing spot on green not to the flag. Often the green is very firm so may pitch shot at 140 yards knowing it will bounce and roll to 150 yards. Vice versa may want to hit it a yardage past the flag intedning the ball to spin back. 2. Plan for round: Before you play you should know the prevailing wind direction, type of sand, type of grass fairway, type of green. Accurate yardages. Most of all a sound strategy requires intimate knowledge of playing abilities. Exact distance how far hit the ball, the shots you are best at and the shots you are less comfortable with. 3. N ..read more

1. The more you know about a particular course, your true opponent the better chance of making correct offensive and defensive moves, minimising mistakes and thus winning. 2. Jack Nicklaus carries a memo pad to jot down important notes. To use in tournament he marks circled areas to show the best areas to land tee shots, darkened areas to designate dangerous hazards to the side of the fairway or green. Tiny x to mark slopes in the green. 3. He takes notes what greens were slower or quicker. What bunkers had more or less sand in them, contours and firmness of the fairways. Severity of rough. 4 ..read more

Distinguising features of great players: 1. Simplicity, concentration, Economy of time. 2. It is not solely the capacity to make great shots that makes a champion but the essential quality of making very few bad shots. Your note that what distinguishes the winner is that he made fewer bad strokes than the rest. The secret that the way to win was by making fewer bad shots. 3. Two rules apply for 99% a.Play the shot you've got the greatest chance of playing well b.Play the shot that makes the next shot easier. 4. Play to strengths avoid weaknesses: You need a tactical plan that fits your game. 5 ..read more