Warrington’s Phil Archer has had an indifferent season by his previous best years on tour, winning nearly € 100,000 this season was not enough to retain his card and avoiding going back to tour school.
However, although frustrating for him, Phil’s has been swinging well most of the season, playing well in several events and his stats show his technique and ball striking is better. He is driving it longer, hitting fairways and greens but sadly his putting has not been as consistently sharp as it could be.
Study his swing which I filmed on the practice ground at St Andrews during this years’ Open Championship and you can see it’s beautifully on plane and he was ripping it despite the atrocious weather. Battling through the worst of the draw and the weather he was level par stood on the treacherous new road hole back tee. Like many that day, one poor swing from the tee 80 yards further back resulted in a triple bogey and ultimately a missed cut. Good finishes in the Estoril Open, the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles and Vivendi Cup events put sizeable winnings in the bank and frequent scoring in the 60’s demonstrate Phil still has the skill and nerve to perform at the highest level.
Historically qualifying and playing in two US Open’s means Phil is a top quality player and this season playing in local pro-ams in the region he fired several 65’s with indifferent putting and breezed to winning each one.
Two weeks ago a visit to putting guru and leading biomechanics expert Dr Paul Hurrion (http://paulhurrion.com) at his Midlands studio helped Phil realign himself and his putter aim plus make subtle changes to his stroke. After technical analysis with various motion sensors and cameras combined with a balance of science and feel Phil immediately started to regain the feelings he possessed in his best years on Tour. Phil will be taking these feelings along with his improved long game back to tour qualifying in Spain this month. There is no doubt in my mind he will be back on Tour next year and I hope to travel to some events keeping him firing on all cylinders and contending each week. Follow his progress on www.europeantour.com.
