Golf Lesson Diary

[DisKoDucK]

Day one:

So today was the beginning of my 6 week golf till I drop (in score and in fatigue) summer. I recently came home from China and I have 7 weeks of no work, all the time in the world to just play golf. Anyways two days ago, I shot 101 on a par 72 course. The next day I shot a 36 on a par 31 course.

Anyway so today was my first lesson with my instructor. I haven't had a lesson in two years, but I've been hitting the ball fairly consistent this year. Mind you, fairly consistent means consistent pulled shots, and pull slices. The fat shots that plagued me for years were more or less gone (i knew what I had to do to fix it for the next shot).

I'm not going to give an extended narrative of the entire lesson, but all I must say that I love having a pro teach me. I warmed up before he came, so he had me hit a few shots when he showed up. We talked a bit before he had me hit a few shots. He showed me on the two cameras right away what he noticed and how it causes me to pull and slice my shots. In a nutshell, I wasn't using my hands. He should me how my shoulders were turning too quickly, and as a result my shot would be pulled. As a compensation for the pulls I do not rotate my hands at all which caused me to "chicken wing" my follow through, as well as keep my face open at impact. The evidence is in the flight path, he said as my shots continously started left and went right.

So he should me how my forearms should be rotating through impact and how just by doing that, my left arm automatically became more extended through impact (as opposed to the chicken wing).

He also taught me how I can look at my ball flight and diagnose my own problems from there. I can now tell if I rotated my shoulders too much (ball will start left) or if I didn't release through impact (ball will fall off to the right or stay straight). Actually it was during that part of the lesson where he won me over. The fact that he wasn't trying to fill my head full of more information, but empowering me to diagnose my own ball flight is nothing I've ever learned to do before.

Anyway I think my feel for slowing down my shoulders is to feel like my back is facing the target a little bit more. He had me work on a few drills (back to the target drill where I was in a pretty closed stance) which was when I started to feel what I needed to do. He also wanted me to try to hit big draws to get the feeling of "swinging to 2 o'clock" and then work on narrowing down the path of the ball.

After only one day, I could see a drastically different ball flight when I hit a good shot. But more importantly, I have a direction to go when my shots go astray. But I must say, it sucks to have a swing that feels competely different. It feels like all the work you put in before was wasted (which probably isn't two, but that is what it seems like).

I'll keep posting as I work on the game a little bit more. Next lesson is wednesday =D

[Eracer]

Nice post - keep it coming.

[JEFF4i]

Sounds good, looking forward to next Wed.

[DisKoDucK]

I can't wait until wednesday either!

Today was my first full 18 after my lesson (I have played a couple of times at the executive course in my area).

So after that lesson, my new swing has me doing a more in to out swing path to get the ball on a slight draw. That's of course when it works. Of course it doesn't always pan out that way for me, but the biggest thing right now is that when I don't get the shots the way I want it, I have a pretty good idea what I need to do for the next shot. Again, that's never happened before.
I played at a par 71 course today and shot 90 (my second best score ever). But I'd say I played better today than when I shot 82 on the same course. I just had more command, and that's a great feeling.

I am slowly getting over my fear of chunking fat shots if I just focus on getting my weight over to my left side, but then if I think about that and think about my inside to out swing, that's where things go wrong because right before I swing, I'll "forget" what I'm trying to focus on, too much. So instead, I just take a practice swing until I feel a good one, then I will hold on that the feeling for the life of me before hitting the ball. Worked out most of the time.

Lessons are so awesome. So are hybrids (i just bought a set of Adams A2 a week or so ago.)

[Sandpiper3]

Hey Disko, you back in BC yet? Or were you still out? Lmk and we'll go play a round man.

Good to hear the 'ol swing is coming along.

[DisKoDucK]

I am back in BC now dude. I'm ready to play. At least I think I am.
I'll be home until aug 24th, and I'm almost free everyday. Maybe not this week as I am quite busy, but next week?

[Sandpiper3]

send me a pm and we'll work somethin out, i have a tourney next mon-tues at swan-e-set, then another the next week 31-2 at northview in Surrey, but i work weekdays now at Murray Pontiac in abby, so a weekend will have to do.