- Sep 1, 2004
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- 4,982
SPOILER ALERT - THIS COULD ALTER YOUR MIND!
Wow. I went for an impromptu lesson last night and have now seen the light!
I was in Derry (about 30 miles from me) for a meeting yesterday and had a couple of hours to kill last night so decided to go to a driving range. I was chatting to the pro and he said he was free to give a lesson and would give me 60 mins for the price of 30mins so I thought why not.
To begin with he got me to hit a bunch of 7 irons, 3 woods and drivers and got them all on video. I hit a few decent shots and a few poor shots, I wasn’t really fully warmed up.
Once he got me on his software he picked up on a bunch of faults that add up to me have a very shallow swing and a lot of lateral / head movement, sliding my hips, flipping my hands etc. I know all this, I just never been able to figure out what to do about it.
He said he appreciated that I was a decent player but I relied on good timing to hit good shots. My poor shots, blocks and hooks are typical of a shallow 2-plane swing. He said the 3 wood would be the hardest shot for me to get airborne as I’m not compressing the ball properly. Yip, that’s me.
So apparently these two planes correspond to my shoulders and arms at the top of the backswing. I over-rotate my shoulders and my right elbow flies a bit. My spine is tilted away from the ball at address, he used the term reverse K which means I have to rely on exceptional timing to get it all back through the swing.
His solution? He wants to get me to steepen my swing and move to a one plane swing and to do so would require a number of changes.
1st lesson: objective is to keep spine straight throughout the shot.
Afterwards I went to the range and decided to hit more shots, including the 7 iron, 3 wood and driver. I hit some poor shots but I also hit some stunning shots, enough to really get my interest. I was crushing the three wood, a very good sign. It’s still early to try this but I couldn’t resist.
I think this guy is onto something revolutionary (for me!). He said he is not going to get me more speed but by compressing the ball I will get better distance, flight and a lot more consistency. It’s going to take a few more lessons, especially working on the rotation element to the swing, taking out my hip slide, but I have a good work plan over the next few weeks to weave the set-up into my swing. It will happen in stages and it’s a good time to work on it over the winter.
This is more of a note to myself, but happy to share with anyone else that’s interested.
Wow. I went for an impromptu lesson last night and have now seen the light!
I was in Derry (about 30 miles from me) for a meeting yesterday and had a couple of hours to kill last night so decided to go to a driving range. I was chatting to the pro and he said he was free to give a lesson and would give me 60 mins for the price of 30mins so I thought why not.
To begin with he got me to hit a bunch of 7 irons, 3 woods and drivers and got them all on video. I hit a few decent shots and a few poor shots, I wasn’t really fully warmed up.
Once he got me on his software he picked up on a bunch of faults that add up to me have a very shallow swing and a lot of lateral / head movement, sliding my hips, flipping my hands etc. I know all this, I just never been able to figure out what to do about it.
He said he appreciated that I was a decent player but I relied on good timing to hit good shots. My poor shots, blocks and hooks are typical of a shallow 2-plane swing. He said the 3 wood would be the hardest shot for me to get airborne as I’m not compressing the ball properly. Yip, that’s me.
So apparently these two planes correspond to my shoulders and arms at the top of the backswing. I over-rotate my shoulders and my right elbow flies a bit. My spine is tilted away from the ball at address, he used the term reverse K which means I have to rely on exceptional timing to get it all back through the swing.
His solution? He wants to get me to steepen my swing and move to a one plane swing and to do so would require a number of changes.
1st lesson: objective is to keep spine straight throughout the shot.
- Narrow my stance by about 30%
- Instead of cocking in my knees, to do the opposite. Picture a beachball between my knees.
- Level my shoulders. So instead of having my left shoulder higher at address, it is now neutral.
- 70% of weight on my left side throughout the swing. This is a massive change for me as I’ve always believed it to be the complete opposite.
- On the take-away drop the left shoulder to point about three feet beyond my target ball. And keeping my head rock steady. I found this the hardest. He had a club at my head and it took me several attempts to avoid hitting it.
Afterwards I went to the range and decided to hit more shots, including the 7 iron, 3 wood and driver. I hit some poor shots but I also hit some stunning shots, enough to really get my interest. I was crushing the three wood, a very good sign. It’s still early to try this but I couldn’t resist.
I think this guy is onto something revolutionary (for me!). He said he is not going to get me more speed but by compressing the ball I will get better distance, flight and a lot more consistency. It’s going to take a few more lessons, especially working on the rotation element to the swing, taking out my hip slide, but I have a good work plan over the next few weeks to weave the set-up into my swing. It will happen in stages and it’s a good time to work on it over the winter.
This is more of a note to myself, but happy to share with anyone else that’s interested.
United States
