Answered some of your questions…thanks for all of them!
Q. Awesome room, so do you have a place in Monaco as well? Sort of a central point for the middle stretch of the european tour? love the blog keep it up.
A. I live in Monaco. I have some stuff at my parents house but I´m not there much. It´s a good room to put all the stuff in though.
Q. Where can you buy the books Bagman and Bagman 2 written by your caddie Colin Byrne?
A. amazone.co.uk
Q. I must say I’m sorta surprised that you do not practice in warmer climes during your off season. If that’s where your coach is though, it makes sense. We can’t get the rain to stop here. Almost rather have cold.
A. I just like visiting Sweden for a week or so in the winter to catch up with family and friends and to get some work done indoors and in the weight room. On monday though, I will head down to Dubai with my coaches to do some real practice.
Q. Hey Noren?
Do you get an auto-invite to the Masters next year because of you win at the European Masters this year or can Graeme McDowell push you out of the top 50 and take your spot?
A. I don´t get an automatic invite for the win. I have to be top-50 either by the end of this year or a week before The Masters to get to play.
Q. Hey Alex, I would really appreciate some more tips/drills on how to improve my putting, especially this time of the year when the most of us that live in the northen part of Europe only can practive indoors. In thinking to order some of the putting gates you refered to. Do you have some special drills that you do with these that you can recommend?
Keep up the good work, really happy that you now are on the top-50. However this is just the beginning right 😉
A. I think you can do a lot of work with your putting indoors. This week, I have checked all my fundamentals including all alignments (eyes, shoulders, hips, arms, knees, and feet), my stroke and body movement. From that, I will decide on what exercises I will have to do to improve my putting. The gates are great to practice with. Practice with your eyes closed is another good drill. Using one hand at a time to understand how they move most efficiently individually and then use both afterwards and see if you have gotten better.
Q. What sort of practice would you prioritate when you’re practicing indoors. Is it much technice work? Wedges? Closeplay?Putting?
A. I would prioritate technique work and pitching. If you can pitch great, your long game will come easy. I usually hit tons of chips and pitches and trying to get that spot-on before I move up to longer clubs and shots.
Q. SAMS Putting need to sell those putting gates to the public. Are they available to buy?
As for the new diet and workout routine, keep us updated with the results.
A. The putting coach Martin Pettersson who I´ve visited recently is making those himself and you can order them by writing to him at: martin.pettersson@pgasweden.com
Q. What can you do in a tent 9 hours??! And what kindov a golfer is he in the fresh air?? Not rubbing it in, but clear blue skies down here in the S of France..! ;-D Anyway, take care and keep killing the calories… p.s. You should keep us up to date on your weight!! Later. t.
A. Kotte is seriously hitting balls constantly and when he takes a break he works on some tricks. He is a very good golfer outdoors too. In the summer, he pretty much practices until the sun goes down and that is around 11.00 PM in Sweden. Gonna come back on sunday with a weight update.
Q. I wonder if you know any drills for a swing flaw I have that’s really annoying… I start my downswing pretty well with my hips/tips, when my left arm is about parallel to the ground my hips are pointing down the target line, but there they pretty much stop and are in almost exactly the same position when I come to impact. My problem is that I stop my hips and don’t get them open at impact. Are there any drills/tips to fix this problem so that i can get my hips open at impact like you should?
A. I think throwing balls down along the target line with your right hand for right swinging golfers is a great drill. It makes you use your body in a natural way and your hips will learn how to move correctly. I think it´s better to do something you find easy (like throwing) and implement it into the golf set.up and learn from that instead of just hitting balls.
Q. Looks like Colins book launch went well. Was it a good day/nite? I was wondering what the book is about i have the first one and its amazing about himself and retief, is this one about you and colin?
A. Great time! The book is about the last few years on tour. So, there is a lot about me and him but also some about the last years with Retief and some other players. This sequal is a great book as well. He is a skilled writer to say the least.
Q. Some questions for you…
When you change technique, do you only practice technique or do you implement some goal specific training as well when working on your swing? How much of your technique training do you do hitting balls and how much without hitting balls? How much physical work do you do during the off-season?
A. I try to only practice technique and not hit at any specific target but sometimes I get lured into hitting at targets though, it´s a bad habit. I do about 50% of my technique training without a ball and 50% with. When hitting balls I do drills before hitting to get a feeling and then try to have the same feeling when I hit it. Now, in the off-season, I work out every day. 4-5 hard weight lifting sessions and 3 easy ones and then some cardio and interval work in-between that. The only thing that´s hard is to get enough rest. I love working out and training so sometimes I overdo it and I can easily feel it because I can´t lift as heavy and feel very tired. Then I take some more time to rest and it´s an unreal feeling to get back and lifting more than ever after that rest. It´s weird how the body works.
Q. Just curious as to how much weight you’ve put on in recent years? I remember being at Perstorp around 10 years ago at a ”prospects camp” and one of the guys who went to Perstorp at the time said you were skinny enough to walk on the roof of the shed to pick up your tees. Incidentally, I was as well. I’ve been working a lot on adding weight and muscle to my frame, but my metabolism is off the charts, so I find it very difficult, even with a good diet and gainers.
A. I have always been very skinny until a few years ago. I´m still not big in any way but I would just say less skinny. I started working out a lot during high school and then really hard in college. It takes a long time to put on muscle mass. It´s easy to gain strength but harder to put on the kilos. They will come though, don´t worry. I way around 76 kilos now and wayed about 72 kg when finishing high school and 75 kg when finishing college. Although, I´m not much heavier, I´m a lot stronger now and in better control of my body.That´s the important part. Weight is a lot of times irrelevant.Try to eat tons and follow a good schedule and be consistent and keep working at it..
Q. I have two questions for you, first what are the average distances in yards you hit each club?
And second what is the difference in yards between hitting a fade and a draw with the same club?
A.
Lob- 85 meters
56`- 95
52`- 107
PW- 122
9- 142
8- 152
7- 164
6- 175
5- 185
4- 197
Hybrid- 225
3 wood- 235
Driver-260
I think there isn´t much different in yardage from a good fade and a good draw. Maybe the draw goes a little longer. Sometimes, a nice pressure fade goes as long.
Hope all is good with you guys and thanks again for all the questions, it´s fun! Back soon with more suff!
Later!
