Breaking 70: Lee Westwood Day

I thoroughly enjoyed the day with Lee Westwood at Gainsbourgh. It was a pleasure to watch someone of his quality strike a golf ball. Pros have this knack of making it look effortless and Lee more than most.

I have to admit to being slightly nervous having him look over my swing and to almost shanking a couple with nerves. I soon settled down and after hitting a few balls with my 8-iron, he asked where I struggled the most. As anyone who has played with me will tell you, it's my driving that costs me the most trouble.

He had me hit some drives and offered some advice on my hip and leg movement. I tried what he suggested and certainly hit it a little straighter afterwards.

We then played a round on the Karsten Lakes course in what can only be described as wet wet wet conditions. In fact, had Lee and GM not been there, I believe the course would have been shut.

I limped home with 32 points, again my driving was poor and cost me a few shots - blobbing on four holes due to lost balls with errant drives to blame.

One thing that really stood out for me was that I hit fewer fairways than my other PYB contestants. As the supposed lowest handicapped golfer in our group it was a bit embarrassing how badly I drove the ball. I may have scored the most points but was by far the worst off the tee, and if it were not for my iron play and recovery shots I'm sure I'd have been headed for the wooden spoon.

No prizes for guessing what I have been working on this past month. I try to get to the range twice a week when work allows, and am generally working on the swing path drills from my lessons with Steve.

I have seen small improvements with the driver but it is still so inconsistent. I have tried various set up routines followed by numerous ball positions without success. I just don't know how the driver is going to perform on the day. I have now found myself leaving it in the bag and hitting the 3 wood from the tee; not so great on the long par 4's at my place.

Score wise, I continue to play buffer zone golf, with the odd round that shows flashes of the golfer I want to be thrown in.

If I can just get a bit more consistent with the driver I know the scores will tumble. Thus far I've had three lessons in this process, and the improvements from these on my iron play and fairway woods has been fantastic.

I think in my next one I will ask Steve to concentrate on the driver and try to get something going that works more than it fails. Here's to hoping.