What could be better for golf aficionados?
Two PGA Tour players, both in the top 70 in the FedExCup Playoff standings, giving golf tips, demonstrating drills, answering loads of questions, and recommending aids you can buy (or build) to improve your game. And there was even some autograph signing and posing for pictures to boot. And it was all free and open to the general public.
That’s what unfolded Wednesday evening at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora at the PGA Tour Player Short Game Clinic that served as a backdrop for the BMW Championship which will start Thursday at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Australian Matt Jones (below) and American Will MacKenzie (above, assisted by Jones), both winners on the PGA Tour, spent an hour with about 250 people that showed up for the event at the new Community Putting Green at CommonGround, a course which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.
“It was great,” said CGA executive director Ed Mate, who supplemented the questions asked of the pros by emcee Jerry Walters, host of the “In the Fairway” radio show which airs on Saturday mornings on 102.3 ESPN. “You just can’t dial it up any better than that. It was a beautiful spot and gorgeous weather. It was great. It couldn’t have come off any better.”
Jones and MacKenzie, both of whom are in the 69-man field for the BMW Championship, noted that they spend more than 50 percent of their practice time on the short game. They talked about their philosophies and techniques on putting, chipping and pitching.
The two agreed on many things, including the importance of a consistent pre-shot routine.
“It gets a little monotonous, but routine is the most important thing you do in golf,” said MacKenzie (left), a two-time winner on Tour. MacKenzie then proceeded to note all the steps he goes through before he strokes a putt, right down to inhaling and exhaling and wiping off his putter blade every time.
“I thought it was very interesting he’s got his routine down to that kind of detail,” Mate said.
The two pros also gave different perspectives on how each plays shots, particularly those just off the green. MacKenzie called Jones “a short game guru” and “pure” for his chipping and pitching ability. Jones earned his first PGA Tour win this year at the Shell Houston Open by chipping in to end a sudden-death playoff. Jones said that unlike many Tour players, he likes using 9- or even 7-irons for chips from short grass around greens.
Jones then spoke about and demonstrated the importance of angle of attack in imparting spin when chipping and pitching.
Several of those in attendance asked a variety of technique and strategy questions, adding to the queries of Walters and Mate (left, with Jones). Then the two players spent 10-15 minutes signing autographs and posting for photos.
“Hopefully everybody got a lot out of it,” Mate said. “I was really pleased too with the mixture of people. We had a lot of kids and a lot of adults. That was exactly what we built the Community Putting Green for — not that we’d get to host PGA Tour players, but for those kind of opportunities.”
CommonGround, a Tom Doak-designed public course which opened in 2009, served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted. It is the home of the acclaimed Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy. George Solich — for whom the Academy is named, along with his brother, Geoff — is the general chairman of the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills.
