Magic Pencils! And How They Can Improve Your Game

Magic Pencils:

A pen, a toilet and a lesson I’ll never forget… GolfPunk goes to the David Leadbetter Academy at Champions Gate, Florida, for a very innovative golf lesson with Kevin Smeltz...

"Ve have vays of making you shank..."

Watch the video. This'll blow your mind

 

Kevin Smelz, the Director of Golf at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, has just handed me a pen.

“Is there a test?” I ask, as I definitely haven’t been taking notes.

“No,” says Kevin. “This pen is going to help your swing.”

I’d been hitting balls at Champions Gate for 30-minutes with Kev. We were now in his office where my swing – in all its hopeless glory – was looping on video.

“Do something for me,” he said. “Pinch your thumb and finger together in a loop and then raise it to your eye. Don’t think about it. Just pretend you’re making glasses with your fingers.”

I do as he says, thinking all the while this is weird. What’s he going to make me do next? Dress in drag and do the hula?

“You’re right-eye dominant,” says Kevin. “Did you know that? It’s what screws your swing sometimes.”

A voice in my head screams ‘HE’S MUGGING YOU OFF!’, but then Kevin plays the video. Now, I didn’t know one eye could be more dominant than the other. I don’t wear glasses. In fact, I don’t think I’ve set foot in an opticians. But the video shows me what Kev means.

"Don't leave me hanging, Kev..." Shaun's high five attempt was something of a disappointment...

As my swing starts my head turns a fraction to the left. Kevin explains it’s my brain making sure I can see the ball “as you always want to focus on the thing you’re trying to hit”. As a result of this head shift, my arms become a bit ‘draggy’ (think Monty on sedatives) on the way back and my body shifts to compensate. I then have to work extra hard to get back to impact.

“When that doesn’t work it causes inconsistent strikes, such as the turf-chunking fats and blocks you were hitting on the range,” Kev explains. All this from a lazy left eye!

The fix is focusing on the nib of a pen as Kevin moves it from a distance towards my nose.

“I can see that your left pupil takes longer to focus in on the nib, but with practise you will strengthen the muscles on your left retina and redress the imbalance.”

"And as you can clearly see, you like a bit of a berk when you swing agolf club..."

Another drill is a figure of 8-loop, which I practise – like a berk – the 4350 miles home. Much to Tim’s consternation.

“So, you went all the way to America to find out you need to wiggle a pen in front of your eyes to hit straight shots? And it’s not even a posh pen. You’re using a biro.”

He makes a fair point. We have a strange attitude to lessons. We are more likely to get ‘Dave’ to have a look at our swings on the range, yet ‘Dave’ is a plumber whose swing knowledge can’t fix his own slice and could be eloquently transcribed on the back of a stamp. Quite frankly, that’s a perverse and painful path to self-improvement. So why?

Run through the usual excuses. A lack of time, pride or unwillingness to change. But I’d argue that the chief reason for playing golf – or any sport for that matter – is to enjoy it and lessons will be the quickest way of achieving that.

If you’ve made the effort to go to somewhere as posh as David Leadbetter’s gaff, chances are you’re anticipating some profound transformation and space-age technology. I mean, this is Big Dave’s yard. The guy invented golf instruction. This is where Faldo, Nick Price and Ernie Els learnt their trade.

"That way to the airport, bud"

And if you need technical help then it’s here. The DLGA is a technology maze with internal simulators, SAM putting lab, Trackman bay and video tech all on the go.

But that’s not Kevin’s job. He isn’t a salesman for the latest swing aides. He’s there to help players improve. Hence why an average day sees you slurping Powerade alongside Trevor Immelman, Suzann Pettersen, Camilo Villegas or Sandra Gal on the range. In fact, I practise with a group of Korean, Chinese and Japanese players doing their winter training, as it was -20 back in Bejing.

These players are searching for the fractional inches that will make them half a shot better than the rest of the field. And in my case it appears the pen is mightier than, well, cheating.

“This eye thing is not as insane as you may think,” says Kevin. “Jim Furyk has it and that’s why he swings the way he does. Michael Campbell had the same problem during the 2005 US Open. He was leading at the time and your natural dominance comes out more under pressure, so every hole he would sneak off to the loo and do this pen drill because he didn’t want people to rip the piss out of him on TV.”

Cambo: "I owe it all to the pencils"

Now, I’m not claiming I’ll be a world-beater simply by strengthening the retinal muscles of my right eye. But that’s not the point. The point is it’s the correct link in the chain to fix. By focusing on a simple exercise with a pen, Kevin knows I will naturally correct the other flaws in my swing and become more consistent.

Some range people

In a way, my day at the DLGA was a test. It showed me that every lesson doesn’t necessarily involve big changes. If I’d been told before the lesson that I was going to walk away with a free pen and a training drill for my retinal muscles, I probably wouldn’t have turned up. Full disclosure, I struggled to begin with. But I’ve since been working with the pro at my club and been in email contact with Kevin to keep improving and, ultimately, have more fun.

 

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