OPERATION: AVOID DOUBLE FIGURES

After a long run of worryingly poor form, Jeremy Ellwood enjoyed a driver-to-putter Ping fitting in his quest to retain a single-figure handicap

My less-than-textbook swing has attracted countless quips over the years, from ”more planes than Gatwick” to “lead boot” on account of my static right foot at impact. Despite this, I got down to single figures in the mid-1990s and have stayed there ever since, mostly between 5 and 7. I didn’t miss many fairways, had a decent short game and usually putted well. I broke 80 more often than not and enjoyed sometimes beating those with infinitely better swings. I’d always brushed off those mostly good-natured swing ‘observations’ and let my scores do the talking. But in early 2022 my scores weren’t doing much talking, and it dawned on me that I was in grave danger of finally losing my single-figure status.

Perhaps the most alarming decline was in my putting. Three-putts and missed shortish ones had become alarmingly frequent. The knock-on effect was increased pressure to hit or chip it closer. That then meant being in the right place off the tee and as far down the hole as possible. In other words, increased pressure all-round - pressure with which my game wasn’t coping.

I didn’t want my handicap to matter that much and, yes, it does all become harder with age. But it did still matter, despite trying to pretend that it didn’t. I could – perhaps should – have opted for lessons, but it would be a tall order to devote sufficient time to ironing out decades of ingrained faults, so I began to wonder if new clubs might help.