NARRATOR: Francesco Molinari. Golfista.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: My name is Francesca Molinari. I'm a professional golfer playing on European Tour. Er, I'm originally from Torino, Italy.
Ciao, Denis.
DENIS PUGH: Ciao, Francesca.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Come stai?
DENIS PUGH: Molto bene.
My name's Denis Pugh. I'm a professional golf coach who specialises in working with top-end players, professionals who play for a living.
I think that [?unclear]'s gonna give you a little more zip on the ball.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Denis Pugh is one of the top golf coaches in- in Europe. We've been working together for a long time now. He's become a friend and he comes out on tour with me as well.
DENIS PUGH: There. What we have learned is if you just use your body now to take it to the top…
The secret of any relationship is that you trust each other. You can have fun times, but behind it all is this desire, this need to get better.
Now I'm gonna nag you about your golf swing. [chuckles]
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: We have, er, an Italian lesson as well.
DENIS PUGH: [laughs]
NARRATOR: Pallina da golf.
DENIS PUGH: And don't forget. What do I always nag?
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Piede destro.
DENIS PUGH: Piede destro.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: It's good to have a- a coach that you trust a hundred percent. He's the one watching you play and he's seeing a lot more than we do when we're playing.
DENIS PUGH: When Francesco's practising every session is a fresh start, a clean canvas if you like, where I'm saying to myself, "How's he gripping it today? How's he set up today?" And I look at those things. And little variations there can mean big things in the swing. So we start by looking at grip and setup. He's just hitting balls.
And I'm doing my job, he's doing his.
Even though you're only hitting the wedges are you starting to feel what we've been working on with the balance?
Well, the key to a good golf swing for me is the blend of the fundamentals.
NARRATOR: I tre fondamenti.
DENIS PUGH: So there's three fundamentals, of balance, plane and leverage, that every golfer uses.
NARRATOR: Equilibrio. Piano. Leva.
DENIS PUGH: And it's how well they flow them together and how well they complement each other. Some players specialise in being able to use their body well but don't get very good swish. And others seem to be able to swish the club well but they don't use their body. And it's blending together that, for me, that's what makes a golf swing, the blend. So we look at the grip and the stance as being literally basics.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: I check that my grip doesn't change and that my- my posture is, er, always the same.
DENIS PUGH: Have you been enjoying the gym work this winter?
Whether I'm t- teaching a complete beginner or Francesco, every time I look I start by looking at how's the grip and how's the stance. And the reason I do that is I want to see how it affects the swing.
It's a sporting action so you need to consider your balance, how you're gonna move your body.
NARRATOR: Equilibrio.
DENIS PUGH: It's a question of getting the right alignment. So as you set up there, Francesco, now we want shoulders square.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Spalle dritte.
DENIS PUGH: Spalle dritte.
Hips square.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Fianchi dritti.
DENIS PUGH: Fianchi dritti.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Perfect.
DENIS PUGH: Knees square.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Ginocchia dritte.
DENIS PUGH: Ginocchia dritte.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Yeah.
DENIS PUGH: And feet square.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Piedi dritti.
DENIS PUGH: Piedi dritti.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Your Italian is improving every day, Denis.
DENIS PUGH: Tutto dritto.
FRANCESCA MOLINARI: Ready to hit.
DENIS PUGH: Ready to go. Let's see.
The other fundamentals are leverage.
NARRATOR: Leva.
DENIS PUGH: That's, er, the way in which you use the levers of your arms, wrists and club.
And the third and final one is technically called the swing plane.
NARRATOR: Piano.
DENIS PUGH: We swing the club around and above ourselves, and that's the angle of the swing. [?unclear] is really the key to it all. It's my job not only to show him how to swing a club. I mean, he's getting pretty good at that. It's, er, being able to stay in the right frame of mind, the right mood to perform.
[END OF TAPE]
Video summary
We join professional golfer Francesco Molinari at the course for a training session with golf coach, Dennis Pugh.
They discuss strategies for success in English and Italian and how mutual trust can be built by being prepared to learn and use each other’s languages. Key words and phrases in Italian are demonstrated and shown on screen.
Teacher Notes
Students studying PE could be invited to practise the basic Italian that is presented in the interview.
They might then visit a younger class in the school and tell them about the techniques and preparation involved in training and preparation to compete in elite sport.
An addition to the visit would be an introduction to speaking Italian, where pupils could stress the social benefits within sport, of making the effort to speak another competitor’s language.
This clip is relevant for teaching PE and Modern Foreign Languages at KS3 and KS4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and and National 4/5 or Higher in Scotland.
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