Sandy's swing issues revisited...

[Sandy]

Just thought I'd give you a quick update following on from my thread from a few days ago and how all your advice is already being put to work!

After all the replies I got to that, I bit the bullet and booked myself a lesson for today, and I already know its the best decision I could have ever made. I decided to go to the local Golf Galaxy pro for a lesson, more than anything because it would be inside with all the cold weather here right now, and that I figured the things I needed to work on right now didn't need me to watch the ballflight for a while. It proved a good idea as by the time I got home my lesson video, complete with commentary, had been emailed to me and was ready to watch.

His findings were really interesting, and picked up a lot of the issues you guys mentioned. He watched me take a couple of 9i swings and instantly asked me if I found I pulled the ball more than sliced it - which of course has been my problem. He had me take a few more swings, then put one into the computer and went through it. What amazed me was that despite being self-taught, my feet were perfectly in place with my shoulders, my head was in the right place and my set-up was remarkably good! That was a massive confidence booster straight away.

On going through the swing he identified that all my problems related to my left foot getting way too high off the floor on my backswing, and putting all my downswing out of synch on the way back. Coupled with me holding the club too high up the handle, at my point of impact my weight was still on my back leg, and my bottom hand was flying through to scoop the ball up too. So he had me work on keeping my front foot planted throughout, and adjust my grip on the handle to make my top hand more in control of the shot. The difference was incredible, and the later videos of my swing show a massive difference in my weight transfer, how my hips clear as I hit, and a lot less scooping of the ball. And I just know from the feel that it really felt like I hit the ball more solidly, and the video showed the ball flight being very straight and solid.

I was really happy with the result, not least because of how little he really gave me to think about. I left with three minor changes to my set-up, and one thing to concentrate on for the swing, which I think is perfectly workable. He was also able to give me a little on-course drill/tip to satisfy my constant problem of feeling I'm too far away from or to close to the ball as I set-up, which worked instantly. Best of all it was a massive confidence booster knowing that I was doing so much right without knowing it, which was a big worry for me and probably the reason I had avoided lessons before. I was also impressed with it being at Golf Galaxy, as I'd expected a hard sell for a lesson package or something like that. In fact his attitude was to tell me to work on that and come back when I was comfortable with the change if I wanted to go into other things he had spotted, or to just work on that if it got me to a level I was happy with. I've no doubt that once I get this way of swinging feeling natural I'll be back to get it checked and to work on the other things - the video he sent *does* show a bit of a chicken wing problem quite clearly, so I want to get that sorted out.

Anyway, hope this is of interest. I posted it partly to show people holding out on getting lessons that it really, really makes a difference, and to thank the good folk on here who pushed and prodded me to finally go and do it! Thank you!