Ben Brierley

DJ's Masterclass

We had to wait a long time for the 2020 Masters, but Dustin Johnson made sure it was worth it with a stunning 20-under tournament record.

The quiet-mannered American stalked the course with the swagger and calmness of a true champion. His golf was out of this world. DJ avoided the big mistakes (unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Tiger after a 10 on the par-3 12th) and took birdies as they came. At one stage his lead was cut to just a single stroke on Sunday afternoon, giving the chasing pack and a resurgent Rory a glimmer of hope, only to put his foot down on the accelerator and never look back.

A fully deserved Green Jacket and he'll rightly be the favourite once again come April. DJ's story speaks for itself: four times he has led in a Major going into Sunday but never converted. Well, I guess it was fifth time lucky! And, as Butch Harmon said during the coverage: "he's the closest we've seen to Tiger".

Courtesy of TaylorMade Golf

Making practice fun

It’s always difficult to get it right with your driver, mainly because there are a lot of points to get right. The one you’ll always hear about (and probably experience), though, is the dreaded slice or hook…

The drill

Let’s keep this very simple and easy. All you’re going to do is place four tees in a square with a ball (or empty tee, if don’t have anywhere to hit a ball) in the middle. You are going to try to swing through the ball/middle without touching any of the four tees in the corners of your square.

The objective

This drill will help you to develop a swing path that reaches the ball in the right direction and continues through contact. If so, this should help you hit straighter. You can start with plenty of space and make the square progressively smaller as you get more comfortable.

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Not going the extra yard

Golfers have enough hoops to jump through on the course if we want a respectable scorecard at the end of it. With golf balls not travelling as far in cold air and not getting the usual run out off the tee, it feels like the winter is just throwing even more obstacles our way!

Rather than trying to rip the skin off the ball by swinging extra fast - especially when it's into the wind - the better option is always to club up. What we would usually see as say 7-iron range, suddenly becomes 6 or even 5-iron range.

Long irons and hybrids can be very useful at this time of year, especially the latter. Being able to swing the club normally opposed to trying to hit it harder will impart less spin on the ball and give you a better chance of finding the centre of the clubface.

contact the team >

Galvin Green Autumn Winter Clothing Collection

FootJoy Autumn Winter Clothing Collection

Video of the Week

Given how impressive Dustin Johnson's driving was en-route to picking up his first Green Jacket, this week's video comes from inside TaylorMade's Tour Truck. Enjoy as they talk us through how they build DJ's driver, including some bespoke bits just for the world number one.

Thank you for reading and have a great weekend. Ben

Denbigh Golf Club
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