Back at MGA for 6 weeks.

I am back home in Melbourne for 6 weeks. I will be coaching at our Bann Lynch Golf facilty at MGA for the next 6 weeks on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. The booking number is 9558 3688 or enquiries@bannlynchgolf.com. On Monday nights we are running a pilot program for Stuart Appleby Junior Golf called Apple Rangers. Apple Rangers is a teams event for kids, where each child competes with set skills from putting through to driving. Their score then goes to their teams overall score. There is a ladder and the opportunity for the kids to progress through skill levels. The whole time the kids are having fun while learning the finer skills of golf and competition. I will keep you up to date with the event as it procedes or for more information go to www.stuartappleby.com.au.

Bridgestone WGC Saturday

The Bridgestone WGC has been a mixed week. Stuart Appleby has just not been able to get anything going and I think he will be looking forward to a few weeks off to rest, recover and get ready for a strong finish to the year. I have worked on some new things with KJ Choi that he was prepared to try this week and not be concerned by the results. KJ has always tried to start his back swing with his hands. My belief is that can be unreliable, as the small muscles in the hands can tense up and create tempo problems. K J has swung the club better every day and is encouraged that he is on track to bigger and better things with his new posture and big muscle take-away. Aaron Stewart (17 year old son of Payne Stewart)is one of my up and coming young students. Aaron is up in Akron for the weekend so I can work on his swing and he can get some time with Vern McMillan in the gym. Vern showed Aaron some new exercises to add to his work out program. We made very good progress with Aaron's full swing. His technique had dropped off as he has been concentrating on playing tournaments over the summer.

Bridgestone World Golf Championship

Wednesday at The Bridgestone WGC at Firestone Country Club in Akron Ohio. Our preparation, practice and the course are in very good shape. the greens at Firestone are faster and firmer than last week at the PGA. I don't think the scoring will be anything like Tiger's 18 under par PGA winning score. Stuart Appleby and I are continuing to work on keeping his arms in front of his body on the backswing and downswing. This definetely improves his timing and accuracy with the driver and longer clubs. I worked with K.J Choi's posture in his setup and on working a bit steeper shoulder turn on the backswing, so he could keep the club on plane, rather than peeling it inside early on the back swing. By coincedence they are drawn together for the first two rounds starting tomorrow. So that makes for a relatively easy watching day for me, as I can keep an eye on both and their progress.

Sunday PGA

Stuart Appleby played some good golf today shooting a 2 under 70 and finishing 4 over for the tournament. He finally played the back 9 in even par, after being 11 over par on the back 9 in the previous 3 rounds. We flew to Akron on Sunday afternoon. The Bridstone WGC is here this week. It is an important tournament for Stuart for a few reasons. One it is Bridestone's first year as sponsor and Stuart is one of their marquie players and it is in his wife Ashley's home town and the place that they first met 5 years ago. So he has plenty of home town support. Nick Flanagan is driving across from the Nationwide event in Pensylvania where he just finished 5 under. We will work tomorrow for a few hours checking out all aspects of his game before he heads to his next event and continues his quest for a top 20 finish and a card on the PGA Tour.

PGA Saturday

What do you do when you have a horrible day? You go to the range and the gym,or you go to the bar. We went to the range. Stuart's driving is still a problem. He is not missing the fairway by much, but at a major just off is normally worse than way off. Stuart is 5 under for the front 9 this week and 11 over for the back. He hit 200 drivers after the round focussing on his upper arms staying connected to his body as he rotates through impact. This keeps the club on plane and stops it flipping over, which has been causing hooks. After the range session he went to the gym for an hour to work out and stretch with his trainer Vern McMillan and do some drills on the Leaderboard (as seen in the photo). We need a good round tomorrow for some confidence looking ahead to next week at the Bridestone World Championship at Akron.

Friday PGA

Stuart Appleby warmed up well on the range. He focussed mainly on shaping the ball and staying connected and on plane as he released through impact. He started on the 10th hole with a good drive, second shot and pitch to 12 feet and made the putt for birdie to go 3 under. We thought we were off to a good round, but then he hit four hooks off the tee in the next eight holes and dropped four shots to go back to 1 over and in danger of missing the cut. On his back 9 he rallied and worked hard making 2 birdies and 7 pars to shoot 73 and a total of 1 under to make the cut, 7 shots behind the leaders, but with a good 60 something on Saturday he can still be in contention come Sunday.

Thursday 1st round PGA

Stuart Appleby played some very good golf today. He started with four regulation pars and then eagled the 5th hole when he holed a 20 yard bunker shot. His goal today was to hit fairways and greens and give himself some birdie opportunities, and he did that for the first 13 holes getting his score to 5 under. But then a wrong club on the long par 3 13th came up short and two missed fairways in the next 4 holes and he dropped back to 2 under. Stuart had two good birdie chances on the last two holes. He hit solid putts, but they didn't drop. 2 under was slightly disapointing, however when we spoke after the round he was very up and positive about how his swing felt and how he hit the ball. Stuart is looking forward to an early start on Friday and smooth greens, for a chance to make some birdies and get into contention for the weekend.

King of the kids. Wednesday PGA

I don't know what the record for autographs signed in a day is, but whatever it is I think Stuart Appleby must have set a new one today. There were hundreds of kids lining the the walkways from every green to tee seeking a signature. On the 14th hole Stuart signed every kids hat, book, program or flag. When he got to the top of the walkway he got a round of applause from all the parents and adult spectators for taking the effort. On the golf side in his last practice round he drove the ball well and his irons and putting were solid. Stuart is playing with Colin Montgomerie and JB Holmes tomorrow at 1.30pm Chicago time.

Tuesday PGA

We decided to get out and practice early today to beat the rush. We arrived at Medinah at 5am and had to enter through the maintainence gate because everything was still closed. It was very beneficial being first out on the course. We were able to take our time on each hole, have a good look and prepare a strategy. Stuart practiced about two hours of full swing shots in the afternoon, working mainly on his swing plane and connection through the ball. He hit the ball well and then he worked for about one hour on putting.

US PGA

We are in Chicago for the US PGA this week. The course is Medinah, where we last played in 1999. Stuart Appleby finished tied 19th at the International last week. There were a lot of good signs, but some not so good tee shots with 5 balls in the water for the week. That was probably the difference between a top 20 and being in contention on Sunday. Stuart has played every major since 1996 with his best result in the PGA tied 4th in 2000.

First round International

Stuart Appleby had a very solid start in the first round of the International, highlighted by an eagle when he holed a bunker shot from 20 yards at the 14th hole for eagle and 5 points. He finished with a total of 11 points, tied second behind Mattius Gronberg from Sweden on 13 points. Stuart blocked several drives out to the right in the first round, but we are confident that we worked that out on the range afterwards. I felt that he was perhaps a little tight and swing conscious rather than relaxing his setup, focus on the target, move the club away slightly inside and swing positively at the target. He hit some beautiful drives to finish on the range, so I think he will take that to the course tomorrow with some confidence.

The International

I am in Castle Pines in Denver Colorado for the International. I flew from Melbourne and arrived on Monday night after the usual 20 plus hours travel time. The International is a modified stableford event. 5 points for an eagle, 2 for a birdie, 0 for a par, -1 for a bogey and -3 points for a double or worse. I love this event beacuse it encourages aggressive positive play, with lots of biries. 18 pars would be 0 points, whereas 6 birdies, 6 bogeys and 6 pars would total 6 points. So even though two players may have the same stroke score, the player who makes birdies and bogeys will come out ahead on points. This is Stuart Appleby's 10th straight International. His best finish has been second behind Phil Mickleson in 1997. So this year we are looking for a win, which would be a great lead in to the PGA next week.

Mathew Giles

I worked with Matthew Giles for the first time today. Matthew is the current World Junior Champion. We spent four hours working through his technique, skills and training program. Matthew is 16 years old, and from what I have seen so far has as much talent as Stuart Appleby and Rob Allenby at the same age. I will be working in a team approach with Matthew's primary coach Barry Bent from Sydney. This team approach is one of the key successes of Australian coaching, giving the students the power of accumlitive knowledge without the egos demostrated by many coaches around the World.