Ross Jackson - Golf Coach (2026)

08/09/2026

Today I want to say thank you to every greenkeeper.

The courses you walk on. The greens you putt on. The fairways you drive down. None of it happens without the people who are out there before sunrise, in every weather condition, doing a job that goes largely unnoticed - and far too often, unappreciated.

A BIGGA survey of more than 200 greenkeeping members confirmed that 80% of course managers are worried about a member of their team's mental health. 64% of golf club professionals and greenkeepers had felt anxious or worried. More than half had experienced trouble sleeping. The British and International Golf Greenkeepers' Association has fielded an enormous number of calls from greenkeepers suffering mental health issues caused by bullying, physical injury, stress, anxiety, exhaustion, financial pressures, and the relentless criticism from golfers who think they know better.

That last point is worth sitting with.

Greenkeepers work anti-social hours. They sacrifice weekends and mornings that most of us take for granted. They battle weather, budgets, and conditions entirely outside their control - and then face complaints when the greens are not running at tournament speed or the bunkers are not raked to perfection.

It is a thankless task. And it should not be.

The next time you play, acknowledge the greenkeeper. Not just with a wave - with genuine appreciation for the craft, the commitment, and the sacrifice that goes into preparing a golf course.

They don't get enough of it.

Thank you to every greenkeeper doing the work that makes this game possible.

07/09/2026

Most golfers walk up to a chip shot and reach for whatever wedge is most comfortable.

That single habit is costing them shots around every green.

Effective club selection for chipping comes down to two decision points - landing spot and roll out.

Research confirms the most important principle in chipping is to land the ball on the green as early as possible and let it roll to the hole. Carry is the variable. Roll out is more consistent and predictable once the ball is on the putting surface.

Every club produces a different carry-to-roll ratio. A 5 iron chip has a flight-to-roll ratio of approximately 1:7. A 9 iron produces 1:3. A sand wedge produces closer to 1:1. These ratios are the framework for every club selection decision around the green.

The Rule of 12 - popularised by Paul Runyan - gives you a practical system. Pace out your carry to the landing spot. Pace out the roll from the landing spot to the hole. Divide the roll by the carry. The resulting ratio tells you the club.

Here is the coaching point most golfers miss entirely. Tour professionals typically default to one high lofted wedge around the greens - and their skill level and the conditions they play on make that viable. Firm, fast tour conditions with tight lies reward high, spinning wedge shots. Most recreational golfers play slower, softer greens where lower lofted clubs produce significantly more predictable results. A 58 degree wedge should be treated as a specialist option - not the automatic go-to. Research confirms that with more loft, small contact errors produce larger consequences. A shot hit slightly high on the face may go nowhere. A thin strike can shoot across the green.

Don't chip like a tour professional. Chip for the conditions you actually play in.

Land it. Roll it. Choose accordingly.

07/09/2026

One of the greatest sporting comebacks in amateur golf history happened this afternoon at Lahinch.

Great Britain and Ireland trailed by three points going into Sunday singles after being swept in the morning foursomes. GB&I earned seven of the available ten points in the final singles session - the best Sunday singles performance in Walker Cup history. Four times the USA had putts to retain the Cup. Four times they missed.

Josh Hill wasn't even in consideration for a spot on the Walker Cup team until earlier this summer. The 22-year-old Tennessee graduate was the lowest-ranked player in the field. He didn't care about that. He had full confidence in himself.

Hill sank a four footer on the 18th to seal a 1up win over Tyler Watts and deliver a 13.5 to 12.5 victory for the hosts. The shot that set it up? A long bunker shot to 3 feet on the par 5 18th - holed for birdie to complete the most dramatic finish in Walker Cup history.

The comeback win sparked comparisons to the Medinah Ryder Cup in 2012 and ended a run of five successive victories for the United States. It was GB&I's first victory since 2015 at Royal Lytham - and their first win on Irish soil at the third attempt.

"It's obviously an honour to be in Walker Cup history. I feel like I underachieved a lot in college, and that only drove me to prove my worth this week. Hopefully I proved my worth." - Josh Hill

Legends of Lahinch. What a day for amateur golf.

06/09/2026

Most golfers respond to a bad round the wrong way - either changing their swing overnight or beating themselves up all week. Neither works.

Research on motor learning shows the panic fix instinct is what actually ruins a good swing - golfers abandon a sound method after one poor shot, before it's ever had the chance to bed in.

Data tracking scores hole-by-hole also found something telling: a bad hole makes the next one more likely to go wrong too - not because of bad luck, but because the real cause never gets identified. Was it technique, a poor decision, or just conditions? Most golfers never actually work that out.

And the improvement research is consistent on this point - golfers who focus on one identified weakness improve faster than those chasing five fixes at once.

The final piece is simply letting it go. Dwelling on a bad round doesn't raise your standards - it lowers your next round.

Bad golf isn't the problem. What you do with it is.

06/09/2026

Most golfers think a strong grip guarantees a closed clubface. This player proved that's not always the case.

Despite having a strong grip - the setup that's supposed to make squaring the face easier - his clubface was still wide open at impact, and he'd been slicing it for years.

His clubface position and wrist condition through the swing were both sound. That ruled out the usual suspects. Which left one thing: his release pattern.

As his hands approached impact, his trail hand wasn't rotating over his lead hand - it was holding underneath it, keeping the face hanging open long after it should have squared.

We worked on the sequence through impact: trail hand rotating on top of the lead hand as the club approaches, moves through, and passes the ball, so the face closes in sync with the body instead of getting left behind.

Grip sets the tendency. Release pattern decides what actually happens at impact - and the two don't always agree.

Slice gone. Ball flight transformed.

05/09/2026

Most golfers can tell you their handicap. Fewer can tell you how many of these they’ve actually done.

15 golf milestones. Some take years. Some take one lucky bounce. Be honest with yourself in the comments — how many have you ticked off?

Drop your number below 👇

05/09/2026

No good with non full swing wedge shots? Here is a drill that will tell you exactly where you stand - and give you a measurable target to improve against.

Download a random number generator. Set parameters between 20 and 100 yards. Whatever number comes up - that is your carry target. Use a launch monitor or driving range technology to measure your actual carry distance. Allow yourself a 5% tolerance either side - so a 60 yard target means landing between 57 and 63 yards is a pass. Anything outside that window - record how many yards you missed by.

Hit 10 shots. Add up your total misses in yards across all 10.

A peer reviewed study published in ScienceDirect confirmed that distance errors on short game shots are three times larger than directional errors for amateur golfers - and that the error rate is actually highest at the shortest distances. Most golfers practise direction. The real problem is distance. This drill targets exactly that.

Here is the scoring ladder:

0–10 yards total - Elite. Exceptional distance control.
11–20 yards total - Excellent. Very strong.
21–30 yards total - Good. Solid recreational golfer.
31–40 yards total - Average. Room to improve.
41–50 yards total - Poor. Distance control needs work.
51+ yards total - Very Poor. Major weakness.

A score of 30 means you are averaging 3 yards outside the allowable window per shot. Simple and honest.

Record your score. Retest. Track your improvement.

04/09/2026

How many hybrids should a recreational golfer carry? It is one of the most common equipment questions I get asked - and the answer is simpler than most golfers think.

Driver swing speed is used here as the reference point - it is the measurement most golfers have access to, whether through a launch monitor session, a fitting, or a shot tracking device. If you have not measured yours, it is worth doing - most golfers significantly overestimate how fast they swing.

Here is the baseline framework - subject to individual outliers, as fitting will always give you the most accurate answer for your specific game.

Below 85mph - carry two to three hybrids. Replace your three, four and five irons. At this swing speed, long irons are genuinely difficult to launch consistently and are costing you both distance and greens in regulation.

85 to 95mph - carry one to two hybrids. Replace your three and four iron. The five iron remains playable at this speed but the longer irons become increasingly unreliable.

Above 95mph - one hybrid or utility iron minimum. At higher swing speeds, a utility iron may be preferable - producing lower launch, lower spin, and a more controlled, penetrating ball flight that is easier to manage with increased clubhead speed.

The average male recreational golfer swings the driver at approximately 90 to 93mph - which puts the vast majority firmly in the one to two hybrid category. Arccos data confirms that 16-plus handicappers should start their irons at the five iron and replace longer clubs with hybrids for significantly better results.

The ego problem is real. Research specifically identified golfer ego as the single biggest barrier to carrying enough hybrids. The data says the opposite - Golf Monthly confirmed that even low handicap golfers benefit from a four hybrid over the equivalent long iron in testing.

MyGolfSpy's 2026 hybrid testing confirmed that distance alone is misleading - the longest hybrid is not always the best performing one. Strokes gained, playable shots, and greens in regulation all matter more than carry distance alone.

Leave the ego at the door. Carry what works.

04/09/2026

The TaylorMade Spider Tour X is the most sold putter in golf right now - used by 23 tour professionals including Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

Exceptional putter. High MOI. Premium insert. Outstanding roll. More tour wins than any other putter family since 2024.

But here is the honest coaching verdict.

An estimated 60 to 70% of recreational golfers would not be suited to this putter. The marketing won't tell you that.

It is face-balanced - designed for a straight-back, straight-through stroke. Research confirms this suits a minority of recreational golfers. The majority have a natural arc stroke - and a face-balanced mallet resists natural rotation through impact regardless of the technology.

Research conducted at Campbell University by David Orr and David Edel confirmed that 97% of golfers cannot aim their putter at their intended target. When focus is moved forward by head shape or alignment plates - the tendency is to aim right. The Spider Tour X's long central alignment line moves focus forward - aiming most golfers right before the stroke has begun.

And here is the link most golfers never make. Research confirms the putter face at address accounts for approximately 90% of directional influence on the putt. If 97% cannot aim correctly - and the Spider Tour X compounds that error - no amount of MOI or insert technology changes the fundamental problem.

Aim starts with head shape.

Don't get sucked into the tour presence of Rory, Scottie and co. Get fitted. Not influenced.

03/09/2026

This player is a great driver of the golf ball - and it has nothing to do with hitting it perfectly.

It is because he knows exactly what his ball does.

A tight fade. Starts left centre. Peels back. Sometimes more, sometimes less, the pattern always remains.

That predictability is not a limitation - it is a superpower.

Coaching research confirms that good players rarely invent shots on command. Their versatility comes from mastering a small number of dependable patterns - a stock driver shape, stock wedge numbers, and a clear ball flight they can repeat under pressure. When you know what the ball is going to do, you can aim accordingly, pick targets with confidence, and manage the course with a plan rather than a guess.

Scott Fawcett's DECADE system- built on Mark Broadie's strokes gained research - places understanding your shot distribution at the core of smart course management. Most amateur golfers plan around their best shot. The best players plan around their stock shot - the one that shows up most often, not the one that showed up once last Tuesday.

The golfer who knows their ball flight has a significant advantage over the one still trying to hit it straight.

Know your shape. Own it. Use it.

Ross Jackson - Golf Coach

08/09/2026

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