Neil Plimmer

• Thursday, 15 May 2008
• Neil Tappin
• 1 Comments

Neil Plimmer, Golf Monthly, Top 25 Coach

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Age: 30

Date turned pro: 1996

Most notable coaching achievement: Taking beginner golfers to a level where they are good enough to be selected for club teams.

Coaching philosophy: I never try to force my pupils to build the perfect technique. Instead, I like to help them find a repeatable, balanced motion. Once this has been achieved we can then develop an understanding of what the club is doing throughout the motion, especially through impact.

Fault fixer

How to stop slicing: A common issue that I have with golfers who slice is that they don’t!! A shot that starts right of the target is not a slice, it is a push! Be extremely careful that you are not correcting the wrong problem. There is a lot of advice available nowadays, internet, dvd’s, magazines, books. Make sure that the problem that you are trying to cure is the correct one otherwise you will certainly do more harm than good!

The majority of golfers I see are totally unaware of what the club head does at and through impact. Get to the range and experiment with different swings. Make a swing that goes “out to in” with an open clubface, where does it go? Then make the same swing with a closed clubface, where does that shot go? By experimenting with different swings you may well figure the issues out for yourself; you will then have more ownership of your golf swing.

How to stop hooking: A common fault for hookers is that they start their golf swing with the clubface closing during the takeaway position. To check this stop your swing about 2 ft into the start of the motion, if the clubface is pointing down towards the ground then it's closed, it will be extremely difficult to save the shot if the clubface moves away from the ball in a closed position. To stop the closing clubface, develop an awareness of the toe of the club pointing to the sky at the halfway back position. Try and stop your swing at halfway back, check the position of the clubface and then continue on with your swing from there, to start with you may hit some shots to the right but with continued practice it will straighten up.

Lack of power: Develop awareness of where you hit from on the clubface by applying either talcum powder or marker pen to the face and then hitting some shots, I expect that you will very surprised how often your shots DON’T come from the middle of the clubface!! A common issue that I see when my pupils complain of a lack of distance is that they have lost their relationship with the ground. The ground is the number one power source in the golf swing and if you move either up and down or side to side during your golf swing you will never build up any power. Try and remain anchored to the ground during the backswing and then maintain your balance all the way through to the very end of your follow through position, holding that position until the ball lands.

How to cure the yips: In the most extreme circumstances I have advised golfers to switch from putting right handed to left handed! Right handed golfers who yip with the right hand do not do it when putting left handed. It may take a while to get used to aiming and controlling distance but the feeling of not yipping a putt is worth the effort it takes to change.
Alternatively many players have overcome the yips by using a broom handled putter. The act of splitting the hands apart means that the right hand is a lot less involved in the stroke. Again it takes time to get used to but a big change certainly can overcome a dreaded bout of the yips.

How to avoid fat strikes: A fat shot generally comes from a “steep” swing, a swing that has more up and down than right to left. You need to try and feel a “shallower” motion. This means that the angle of attack in to the ball will be lower, making a fat less likely. Go to the range and try and “thin” the ball, to thin a ball you will have to be swinging the club shallower. A quick tip is to make sure that you get through to a full and balanced finish position. So many times I see players who hit “at” the ball and not “through” it. Hold the finish position until the ball lands. Put a tee peg 2 inches in front of the ball and concentrate on hitting the tee NOT the ball  

How to avoid thin strikes: A lot of the thin shots that I see are caused by the fact that the player is going to hit the ground before the ball, realises it a fraction of a second before impact and then pulls up and out of the shot. This is normally the time when your playing partner suggests that you have “lifted your head up”!! Try and maintain your posture throughout the motion of you golf swing. If you gain height either during the backswing or into the downswing the club will hit the ball rather than underneath the ball. Put a tee peg 2 inches in front of the ball and concentrate on hitting the tee NOT the ball

A lot of thin shots that I see, especially around the green, are caused by grip pressure that is too tight. When your hold on the club is too tight the muscles in your forearms will shorten meaning that you will return the club back to a place too high on the ball at impact.

Best tip to stop the shanks: One of the main causes of a shank is when you move your body towards the ball through impact. You have got to try and maintain your balance and centre of gravity throughout the whole of your golf swing. Close your eyes at address and be aware of where your weight is at the start of the swing, at the top of your backswing, impact and your follow through. If weight moves from toe to heel on the backswing and then heel to toe on your downswing it is possible that you will shank shots

How to stop three putting: One of the biggest causes of three putting is poor judgement of distance. The key to good distance control is that it is not about how hard you hit it but how big a swing you make for the distance you have got to travel. Make sure that when making a practice swing you concentrate on making the right length swing, feel what is right and then straight away try and replicate with the ball there. Once you understand it is about how big a swing you make NOT how hard you hit your distance control will improve dramatically.

Best course management tip: When playing out of the rough try and grade your lie and take the club the lie allows irrespective of how far you have got to your target.
RED lie – the whole ball is lying underneath the level of the grass – sand iron/pitching wedge
AMBER lie – you can see half the ball above the level of the grass – 8 iron/7 iron
GREEN lie – all of the ball is visible, it looks like it is sitting on a tee! – normal club selection relative to the distance to the target.

Too many players when laying up will either hit the shot too well and go in the hazard they were trying to avoid or duff the shot completely because of a lack of commitment. My advice when trying to play a lay up shot is to take a longer club than needed for the distance to travel and “chip” the ball forwards, rather than making a full swing. Because you have made a half swing you are a lot less likely to duff the shot and you will be better able to control the distance.

Tips for buying new clubs: There is lot of information available nowadays about equipment and it is important that you seek the advice of experts when choosing new clubs to improve your game. It is advisable to get fitted for your clubs but I also think it is important that the aesthetics of the clubs are right for you.
Ask yourself, what do the clubs feel like, sound like, look like?

Who to follow on Tour: I am always interested in my pupil’s statistics and it is a vital tool that I use to monitor my players improvement. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and for that reason we should all learn different things from tour players. Take a look at the European Tour website and they have an extremely in depth statistics page. If you want to improve you’re putting find out who leads the stats for total putts/putts per green in regulation and watch them putt.