This week we will be featuring one of Chestermere’s lady golfers, Le Tsukishima. This past week I had the pleasure of playing a couple of rounds with Le. Many of you may recognize Le and her husband Dave, as long time residents of Chestermere, as well as members at the Lakeside Golf Club. Now retired from the Production Accounting Division of Cenovus Energy, Le and Dave enjoy their winter golfing holidays and family.
Le started taking her golf quite seriously a little over 5 years ago. She’s a regular on every Tuesday ladies day and can be quickly recognized by her infectious smile, giggle and beautifully coordinated golf attire. What really stands out though is her no hold back golf swing. Le isn’t that big but she gives it her all and often hits it past the men! She can really move it out there, and pound for pound, just might be the longest lady at Lakeside.
During our rounds, Le wanted to know how she could get better and lower her scores. She’s currently sitting with a 24 handicap but has been as low as 19. After seeing her play two rounds, it was very clear that it was her short game that was holding her back and the possible culprit for rising handicap. With better putting and chipping, Le could easily become an eighties shooter which is a great accomplishment for any golfer. Le just had way too many 3 putts and a big part of that problem was “peaking” and coming out of the putt too soon. Her distance control on putting was also off which led to many of those 3 putts. However, what we are going to focus on today is Le’s chipping.
Many of you can learn from what I noticed Le doing. First, Le was flicking at the ball which led to her left wrist breaking down, as seen in the photo, resulting in the ball popping up and not rolling out. This led to longer putts than necessary, and as we already mentioned, leading to many 3 putts. What Le needs to do is keep her left wrist firm through and after impact as seen in the photo. This leads to lower flighted chips which will roll better and run out to the hole. Use your shoulders and not your wrists to improve your chipping. The second thing Le could do is use a less lofted club for her chips. The first time she went to chip, it was from 10 feet off the green to a pin 80 feet away and she used a sand wedge. What she needed was a 7 or 8 iron which would get the ball rolling and allow for an easier and more controlled swing. Everyone can benefit from learning to use different clubs around the green and in particular to start using less lofted clubs which I guarantee will improve your chipping!
It was a pleasure to get to know Le this week, share a few laughs and give her a few tips. She now needs to do what most of us seem to avoid…practice chipping and putting. If Le puts in her practice I know she will lower her scores, hit the eighties and play HER best golf! I sure hope so as she has promised to cook me a special dinner when her scores come down!
