Antalya, Turkey ….

Stephen Gallacher has a book by the late John Jacobs book  to thank for a hopeful change in his European Tour fortunes.

Gallacher shot a two-under par 69 on day one of the Turkish Airlines Open and revealed he has been reading a book by Jacobs presented to him by his uncle, Bernard Gallacher.

“I’ve got a lot of books, but I am dangerous when I read books. That’s why I stick to fiction rather than golf tuition.

“The reason Bernard sent me this one was at John Jacobs’ funeral, Butch Harmon spoke at it and said that everything he ever learned about the golf swing was out of John Jacob’s book.

The late John Jacobs.

“So Bernard said he’d buy it for me. I was already thinking about going back to fundamentals, having also had a look at Bob Torrance’s book.

“The golf swing hasn’t changed that much over the years. It’s the technology that has changed. Everything I’m trying to do is easier with a weak grip, even though it is a big change.

“I know that this way is going to allow me to enjoy my golf more again. We worked really hard on it last week and today has definitely given me a lot of confidence as you can only really find out about something when you are under pressure on the course.

“Once I said to Alan (McCloskey – coach) that I needed to weaken my right-hand grip, he said it was the answer as it has given me more loft, which is what I’ve been trying to do all my days.

“Everything comes down to fundamentals and that’s one of the main reasons I work with Alan as he os big on fundamentals. It’s about balance, set up, things that get overlooked.

“Tiger Woods, for instance, used to talk about how he’d take a couple of months off to go back to basics. If you don’t grip it right, don’t set up right or get a right ball position, then you are going to be aiming all over the shop. It definitely helps and I will be aiming to get everything regimented and nailed down over the winter.”