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top golf monthly oosthuizen wins british open in some style comments from the course and why nobody came from the pack also in this issue join our pro on a putting journey which ball a look at which balls we use featured courses and lots more

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from the editor as one tv analyst pointed out on the final day as a leader board graphic appeared over a shot of the course the bus on the right is the only thing making a move and so it came to pass that louis oosthuizen s 7 shot win was clinical in every way it may not have made for great tv coverage for us armchair viewers but boy oh boy it must have been a great feeling stood on the tee at the notorious 17th knowing a 6 or 7 would be good enough to win.

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p. 3

yet again lee westwood failed in his attempt to take a major when asked about it afterwards he maintained it wasn t an issue but surely he must be having serious doubts about his approach to final days at major events i remember before the final day at the masters he said that he was just going to do what he had done the previous days it s not enough lee oosthuizen did what he had done the previous day but then he did have a fair lead going into the final day and nobody came after him the big concern for all the viewers though must have been the lack of performance by the american golfers and of course in particular by tiger woods and phil mickelson.

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p. 4

the numbers 1 and 2 in the world finished 23rdtiger and tied 48th mickelson there were many pundits before the open suggesting a huge comeback to form for tiger but sadly that never came 12 shots back on the final day he never had a chance and his golf was by the standards we have come to expect very average mickelson was just never on his game and with only one top ten finish in seventeen tries we must wonder if this seaside golf game is beyond even him the old lady of golf threw everything at the players over the four days and although we had an anti-climatic finish the open at st andrews still remains the tournament to win.

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p. 5

putting why do we struggle so much can we ever get enough on this subject the answer to that is no did you know that putting accounts for something in the region of 38 of your game well our resident pro is going to take you through some of his thoughts on the subject over the next three issues of top golf monthly he will deal with many aspects of putting so read on and save some shots !

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p. 6

every day i watch from my shop window as players arrive at the course and head straight to the driving range before teeing off now that is every day i am not saying a few warm up shots are not in order but i have to tell you now that before we look at anyway we can improve our putting most golfers have to look at their own approach to it we know the basics on this but here they are again average handicap golfers will return cards between 80 amd 95 gross fact how many putts were made in those scores probably something in the region of 36 to 40 i have picked a random player from the pga tour in 2009 jim furyk and pulled some stats up to show you how important putting is in 24 rounds of tournament golf he averaged 24.45 putts per round i have chosen him because he isn t even the best !

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p. 7

of course i am not suggesting that we are going to take 12 or more shots off your game but imagine if we could save 6 shots a round in a stableford competition that would make a huge difference and in stroke play of course it would make a difference too over the next three issues of top golf monthly i am going to show you a way to really get those putting averages down in your game and the first thing to note here is averages this is going to take a different approach to your game each time you play and a discipline you are going to have to adopt if you really want to make your putting a better part of your game what i want you to do between now and the next issue of top golf monthly is first of all buy yourself a hardback note book do not use a piece of paper or an old scorecard you find in your bag this is all about discipline so start as you mean to go on we will look at putting itself in the next issue what i want you to do between now and then is record certain points of your putting game this is a simple system that works for me and provided you are prepared to spend a few minutes gathering the information i guarantee you will make less putting stokes from the start.

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p. 8

it is no coincidence that pro golfers have marker books for every course and every hole they record all manner of shots played yardages,clubs used weather conditions etc etc what we are going to do over the next four weeks is get an accurate picture of what we are doing on the putting green these are the steps i want you to follow and next month we will take a look at what we have 1 imagine each green is a clock face as you approach it 2 when you walk on each green walk to the centre and get a rough idea of the total length of the green from 6 o clock to 12 o clock walk off the green from the centre towards 9 o clock and get a rough idea of the width of the green don t worry if the green is a peculiar shape most greens will conform to the above in your book write down the hole number and the measurements do this on each green 3 look at the green you should be able tell immediately if it is flat uphill towards 12 o clock downhill towards 6 o clock etc etc just get the basic layout you are not looking for subtle breaks at this stage again do this on all greens 4 so are you thinking this is too easy and obvious well back to basics is something you will hear me talk about a lot get those right and your game will improve 5.

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