11 takes, after the top teacher spends 1 week inside the ropes with the big winner
Cam Smith hit a hole in August at the LIV Golf event in West Virginia.
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Professionals are good at golf. That, of course, we know.
But How can they play golf? What does it look like under the lid of their golf bag, so to speak?
That’s what Ryan Mouque wants to share. Mauque, a prominent teacher from Australia, recently wrote on his X social media account that he spent a week on the ropes with the winner of the 2022 Open Championship Cam Smith at the LIV Golf event, where he said he saw the winners, the word, the person. They had demons. They had a tendency to swing well.
But…
“They are better than the rest of us,” Mouque wrote.
He went with 11 takeaways that have gotten them there. You can read Mouque’s X series by clicking here, or by scrolling below, where we’ll also offer additional thoughts. It is here that we also recommend following Mouque on X, which you can do here, and Instagram, which you can do here.
1. ‘Setting stroke length’
“Cam has one of the best songs you could ever ask for,” Mouque wrote. “If you look at the length of his backswing compared to his swing, you will see that the backswing is much longer and the swing almost stops immediately after he hits the ball.
“What they’re working on is ‘hitting the putt backwards.’ This means that to control distance, you simply change the length of the backswing. If he has a long putt, the backswing will increase so that he has enough power to get the ball to its target without having to hit the putt too hard or swing too fast.”
Editor’s note: Good tempo, no matter the distance, is the payoff here.
2. ‘AimPoint’
“Cam uses AimPoint for its green reading,” Mouque wrote. “For someone like Cam, who can hit his target line nine times out of 10, as long as he feels the right percentage of pitch and has the right speed, that ball is going in.
“I would advise you to learn the basics on AimPoint – it can really help you. Don’t listen to those who say it takes too long – it doesn’t.”
Editor’s note: There’s a reason this is growing in popularity (although Jim Nantz isn’t a fan). There is nothing wrong with experimenting with it.
3. ‘Systems’
“Cam has the same plan for everything and doesn’t really change it,” Mouque wrote. “His training is always the same, his different times look the same. These players all pride themselves on doing the same thing over and over again, versus the average golfer who is constantly changing what they work on, how they work on it, etc.
“Try to stick to the same thing over and over again, and do it long enough to get good at it.”
Editor’s note: Don’t think just to tinker.
4. ‘Width vs. course’
“These players are like everyone else,” Mouque wrote. “They’re all driving in the driving range but they’re hitting low shots on time.
“I’ve seen Cam hit shots on the course that he would never hit on the driving range. There are not only technical reasons for this, but certain situations and circumstances that reveal that way. “
Editor’s note: Scope can only get you so far.
5. ‘Strength’
“I was fortunate to be able to travel with the Ripper GC team consisting of Cam Smith, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones and Marc Leishman,” wrote Mouque. “On Tuesday, when we were training, it was not normal, we were laughing, it was fun playing money games.
“The next day was very serious. As they got closer to the first round, the pressure started to increase, they were going to play the individual money game versus the team money game, they were going to make sure every putt had to be made.
“Thursday was pro-am day, where they played nine holes and got their last chance to tap their fairways, and get a feel for how the course plays. There was more sensitivity on Thursday compared to Tuesday. “
Editor’s Note: It should be nice to read that there was time to breathe.
6. ‘Instruments and technical work’
“Although this is the week of the tournament, they are still working on strategies,” Mouque wrote. “They have training facilities there, the coaches take videos of the skaters, and the players are still working on their emotions and their movements.
‘They think nothing,’ that’s true.”
Editor’s note: Make the time frame productive.
7. ‘They work hard’
“The story of these boys is that because they have earned money, they don’t work that hard,” said Mouque. “I can assure you, they are working their tails off.
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“All these guys are where they are because they know what they’re doing. That comes from years of hard work – that mentality and work ethic doesn’t just disappear because they get paid up front like every other sport in the world.
“Brooks shot 8 under on the first day and went straight to the range and hit the ball after the bite. Cam worked on his game for two hours after the first round, as a few things were off in his putting and swing. They work very hard.”
Editor’s Note: This has been a much-discussed topic. Can LIV players relax? They couldn’t. But Mouque saw it differently.
8. ‘Elite distance control’
“At the end of one of Cam’s series sessions, we will all be trying to give him a number that will hit between 80 and 150 yards,” Mouque wrote. “Cam never missed a number by more than 2 meters.
“For example, if I said, hit it 132 meters (or yards), he would hit it within two meters of that number. It was VERY impressive. Some wedge numbers are not given and you hit them with 0 to 1 yard yardage. That’s how good these guys are when there’s no pressure and no environmental factors.”
Editor’s Note: If you’re talking about production time, get this game going.
9. ‘Nature is changing’
“While these players are almost flawless on the range,” Mouque writes, “they are not immune to hitting a bad shot on the golf course, but we have to ask ourselves: If they are perfect on the range, is strategy the problem at hand.” True, or something else?
“You will find that every player has something thrown at him that causes bad shots. This is often magnified when dealing with certain winds, hazards on a certain side of the course, tee shots that don’t match the eye, etc.
“Cam is having trouble with his driving, but you never know what the winds and the surrounding areas can do with their skills. It is difficult to pass. It’s no different that the cutter doesn’t like the holes when the bottom right is out of bounds. These players feel the same way. There is more to a bad shot than a technical problem.”
Editor’s note: Again, scope can only get you so far.
10. ‘Warm up before the cycle’
“One thing that was nice to see and pay attention to was that every player had some help to fix the green when they warmed up,” said Mouque. “This included a placement mirror, tees, string line, chalk line, placement mat, etc.
“Cam would warm up on the screen for 10 minutes or so, then hit short putts within 6 to 8 feet, going through his full technique, using AimPoint and making sure the slope was what he thought it was by using the level. to test.
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“On the range, he was hitting a lot of clubs in the bag with Trackman next to him to ensure that the shots traveled the distance he was used to. You wouldn’t know if he shot eight-under one day or three over another; the whole system does not change.”
Editor’s note: Get the most out of your warmup.
11. ‘Know your numbers’
“Cam’s distance control with all clubs is top notch,” Mouque wrote. “He KNOWS WELL how far his clubs go, so much so that he was hitting some clubs during practice that were going farther than normal, so his coach took them to the truck to have the fairways checked – and the highs were out. a little so he bent them to what they should be.
“It’s not often that these players hit the ball FAR beyond their normal number of carries. When they hit the golf ball, they know exactly how far it travels. If they hit the gun, obviously it’s going to be slow.
“I understand that you may not be that accurate, but you should at least try to find out how far you reach each club as much as you can. For you better players, work on hitting the ball within 5 yards of your best hit ball.”
Editor’s note: Great tip.
