This week I would like to feature one of Lakeside Greens junior members, Derek Pearson. Derek is a resident of Chestermere along with his golfing parents Dave and Charlene. Derek is ten years old and started golfing when he was six and now at the age of ten he has put together a pretty solid golf game and swing.
Derek also plays peewee hockey and is a member of what he calls “the best baseball team in Chestermere, the Chestermere Crushers!” As a right handed pitcher for the Crushers (Derek swings left in golf and bats left) Derek has as a personal record, 11 strikeouts in a game, which is really quite amazing!
Concerning Derek’s golf game, he is still working on breaking 100 with a best score of 101. I think a sub 100 round is just around the corner as Derek and I work on fine tuning his game and perhaps even into the 80’s with lots of practice!
One of the aspects of Derek’s game we are working, on to gain consistence, is Derek’s pre shot routine. Just as he does as a baseball pitcher, feet together, hands to chest, deep breath, stretch, lift leg, release, we worked on the same type of preshot routine for golf. Everyone in fact, should work on this. All professionals and top golfers have a preshot routine that they stick to especially in pressure situations.
For irons, we worked on at address, feet together with ball lined up between them, then front foot a small step forward, then back foot to full stance for irons. This puts the ball about 3 inches back of the front foot. For driver, do the same set up only leave the front foot where it is and move back foot to full stance. This leaves the ball just off the front foot for your driver. Waggle, then let it rip to a balanced finish. Ball position is crucial to consistence and performance. This routine achieves that. Previously Derek was playing the ball too far back in his stance which was leading to too many low shots and robbing him of distance.
This summer, I’m really looking forward to helping Derek fine tune his game, break 100 and ultimately play HIS best golf!
