Drive Golf Performance

13/09/2026

Beautiful pitch by Akina on the left of the 13th , grass growing against, very little green to work with and followed up by holing the putt.

11/09/2026

The adventure of a links shot, rarely straightforward so inventiveness is needed.

And an element of blindness from being slightly out of position means running to see where it went!

09/09/2026

The old photos tell some great stories. Here’s a match between Denis O’Sullivan and Ed O’Flynn on the 16th green in a match in the Cork Scratch Cup in the early 70s.

08/09/2026

A video of Jay Leng Jr’s swing on the Dell during the day 1 singles

The golfers with the slightly different actions are the ones to keep an eye on. They’re more interested in function rather than form. Where the ball goes is more important than how you look doing it.

08/09/2026

I’m nearly certain that the Lahinch Walker Cup was the best golf event I’ve been to. From the moment you started approaching the town along the Ennistymon Road you could see the spectators swarming the dunes of Lahinch you knew it was going to be a special couple of days.

Adding to it was the familiarity of the course from playing and spectating it down through many years, the best viewing spots were known, as well as all the different routes and shortcuts to get to them.

Furthermore you knew with all the golf fans that were there that you’d reconnect with so many friends from many other golfing events and adventures leading to smiles, stories being shared and more new memories made.

With Lahinch as the venue with the golf course seamlessly flowing into the town, the town would be as much of the story as the course. The night after the first round had the town awash with golf fans all over captivated with the events of the day.

Matchplay team golf is very easy to get engrossed in, the story is never quite in one location or one hole or one match but in multiple places and times at once.

I followed a tactic of staying in one hole early during the singles, watching all matches come through and heading to a couple of locations after. The hole I was at was the iconic ‘Dell’ and what a place to watch all shots, the first day with a gentle breeze the hole was benign enough but the 2-3 club breeze on the second afternoon caused quite a bit of difficulty especially for the US players who really struggled with the 155 yard shot.

The first day highlight was Stuart Grehan coming from 2 down with three to play to win one up with cheers ringing all over the links and an energised crowd. The second morning brought the big resurgence of the US team and would there be any chance for GBI in the afternoon.

I was at lunch with two golfers who played on winning teams and both said there would be a stage in the afternoon when a comeback would seem possible. Both, however, were just going to watch the first five holes of the first match and head off.

I headed to the 5th, watched all the matches go through and headed to the 13th where both said golfers were out on the dune behind the green and smiling I said to them ‘I thought you were only watching 5 holes!’ Both smiled and said how could they leave!

The dream was alive and belief was amongst the crowd and players. However the matched flowed back the US’ way and the belief started ebbing. We ended back up by the fifteenth tee watching 14 and 17 comfortably and also able to keep an eye on 15 and 18. Another golfer had the matches on his phone so further eyes were on that to keep updated.

As the matches were coming to a close we were figuring out the events that needed to happen to create the Legends of Lahinch and so they did one by one, a good approach here, a good putt there, a good chip there and so it all came down to the final match left on the course with the 8,000 plus strong crowd scurrying down the 18th jockeying for position and vantage points to see if the improbable result of lunch was about to happen, win the hole and the match was GB & I’s, half or lose and the cup stayed with the US, and under intense pressure Joshua Hill hit the bunker shot that he’ll and many others will remember for the rest of his life! And then held his nerve to roll in the 40 inch putt and the legends were born!

What an end to a great weekend! With 20 players playing for each other and the love of the competition and golf. It was a cup that was won, not lost, the best way for it. A lifelong memories created for the players, spectators and fans.

Well done to all at Lahinch for putting on the greatest show. If we’re lucky we might see other events like this! And this will live for long in the memory.

07/09/2026

Jay Leng Jr had one of the more interesting swings on display at the Walker Cup. While this wasn’t his best shot at the Dell he is very creative and an impressive shot maker. It will be interesting to see how his career progresses, he might be a golfer to keep an eye on.

30/08/2026

Angle of Attack, steeps and shallows in the short game.

Attack Angle is basically the up or down movement of the club head at the time of striking the ball.

The first photo illustrates the club goes up in the backswing, down on the downswing, strikes a low point and then goes back up. Where the low point is relative to the ball indicates steep, a negative angle, or shallow, a positive angle. So low point after is steep and before is shallow.

However, one of the biggest misconceptions is that steep is a deep divot and shallow is a shallow divot.

Steep is not deep. A deep divot comes from an arc depth too much in the ground. It is very feasible and common to be steep with little or no divot.

Hitting the ground before the ball is a shallow angle. And taking a deep divot before is too shallow not too steep.

The second photo shows a deep shallow impact. If you’re hitting it heavy you’re too shallow.

The correction to heavy shots is to be steeper at impact.

29/08/2026

25/08/2026

Which is harder?

A 240 yard par 3 that averages 3.6 for a certain group of players or a 280 yard par 4 that averages 3.85 for the same group of players?

24/08/2026

The short par 3 8th on the Old Course is a wonderful hole, narrow target to hit but lots of recovery options around the green including using the bank on the left when missing the green right. Let’s see how the golfers get on after missing the green right!