Teamwork has made a big difference for


Louise Kenney - and there's more to come

From Spencer Henderson
National Junior Coach

Colin.
Thanks for the good article on Louise Kenney (scroll down to read it). She was very complimentary and I am delighted for her this year.
Thought I could maybe add my thoughts for the readers of Kirkwoodgolf.co.uk if you think it is something that may interest them.
I am fortunate enough to work with some very promising girls/ladies such as Louise, Kelsey Macdonald, Rachael Watton and Rebecca Wilson. The close working relationship between the SGU and SLGA means that I can use some of my time to help develop the girls.
They all have a great team supporting them through the SLGA and Institute network who compliment all the work that I do with them.
Although Louise has thanked me for her improvements I believe that it is a professional team around her that has helped her achieve the great results this year. I like to work on the adage that it is easier to improve 10 things 1% than one thing 10%.
Below is the journey Louise has taken over the past two years to make her one of the most consistent performers in Britain this year.
Louise has always been a good player and we decided together to improve her technique to help her gain more length and add some variety to her short game. It has been a two-year process to implement the changes in both long and short game and she has worked extremely hard both on and off the golf course.
She was biomechanically tested, where she had sensors attached to different parts of her body so we could have some objective feedback during her swing. The results were that her power output was quite low, resulting in a loss of distance even on her good strikes.
It may sound quite scientific, however the way things were explained to us both made it very simple as we wanted her body to move as efficiently as possible during the swing, delivering maximum power at impact.
Through the SLGA she has been supported by the Institute from January this year which has undoubtedly helped her to make some of the changes we have implemented.
Karen Young- Lead physiotherapist for golf in the Institute and I looked at Louise's swing together and she identified some tightness and flexibility issues which could affect her ability to make the swing changes.
She initially received remedial physiotherapy for six weeks before commencing a strength and conditioning programme three times a week during the winter. The programme was put in place to increase overall strength but also flexibility which in turn translates to more power in her golf swing.
The strength training is not for the faint-hearted as it is rigorous. However her gains have made it all worthwhile. Louise also does three cardio sessions a week to help her stamina as she can play up to eight rounds in a tournament week.
Once we felt that her swing was taking shape, she had her clubs fitted to her personal specification by Ed Robertson and his team at Applied Golf Technology. This can help not only physically but also mentally knowing that she has the best possible clubs for her swing. She has been in a couple of times further during the season for further check-ups.
At the end of every round she enters her statistics into “Golfdatalab” which allows us to identify any strengths and areas to improve for the next tournament.
Graeme Leslie (developer) has been brilliant and is always available whenever I have questions about her performances.
To assist her swing technique we use swing analysis on my laptop as Louise is a very visual learner and likes to see the improvement that she is making. We also do a lot of feel work during a tournament week so she is focusing mainly on her process. Her practice has become very productive and I encourage her to be very creative around the greens (like my hero Seve), using different clubs for a variety of shots.
As you can see there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes and everyone in the team around her deserves praise for the professional attitude they adopt.
I believe that ultimately it is the desire, commitment, preparation, dedication and attention to detail that dictates who will be successful in making the transition from good amateur to successful professional.
I believe Louise has the potential to play at an even higher level if she keeps improving the 1%’s.
Spencer Henderson
National Junior Coach
DDI: 01334 466486
s.henderson@scottishgolf.org
http://www.scottishgolf.org/