Keeping it low is the way to go on tight grass and firm ground

There is a trick to tackling links golf, and Graham Walker, short-game coach to Tommy Fleetwood, explains why a little imagination can go a long way

The old boys on tour used to have a saying for how to tackle links courses around the greens: putt until you cannot putt any more and then start chipping. On the American parkland tracks you see every week on television, players are generally faced with raised greens surrounded by long, lush rough. They demand pitch shots be played with loft, almost like bunker shots.

Links golf is different. Short, tight grass and firm ground offers players the chance to keep the ball low and take less loft – something they will practise in the weeks before the Open.

Visualising how the ball will react to the undulations around Royal Portrush’s greens is a test of creativity and imagination, something that always impressed me about Tommy from an early age.

I can remember one shot as though it was yesterday. We were on the second hole at Woodhall Spa with the England juniors and one of my fellow coaches had asked me if I could set up a little exercise around the green.

We had a shot that we practised called the bottom-two-groove nine iron, when you would aim to hit it out of the bottom two grooves when the ball was not sat too well.

I put the ball in this situation. Most of the players tried to play some kind of lofted pitch with a wedge and Tommy just stood up and bottomgrooved it with a nine iron to a couple of feet. Years later, it is still a shot he is trying to perfect. Players today also have the luxury of many different manufacturers at their fingertips, who can tweak their wedges to the task at hand.

Some players have the club’s heel ground down to help slide the club-head under the ball, sometimes you need the toe to have a little bit more bounce, to bang the bounce into the ground. They all produce different feels and feel is everything in the short game.

The “bounce” on a wedge is the angle created between the leading edge and the lowest point on the club’s sole, the part of the club that makes contact with the ground when the ball is struck.

Players have their own preferences of course, but typically they will look to shave some bounce off their wedges on

links courses.

Too much bounce and the club can skip up off the hard ground and cause inconsistent strikes.

We get so much feedback and data from technology such as Flightscope, which enable us to take a measured approach rather than relying on gut feel.

Many will be unfamiliar with Royal Portrush, but I have been there with England for the home internationals as well as the 2012 Irish Open.

A few holes have been changed, but keeping the ball in play from the tee will be crucial for the guys. There will be some undulating shots around the greens, and although the greenside pot bunkers are not as severe as at other Open venues, players will still need to read the lies.

Graham Walker was speaking on behalf of England Golf ’s ‘Switch Off with Golf ’ campaign