Starting the long Journey

[bryguy]

Well, have my first lesson with Josh Points on Weds. Got to get this swing straightened out, no time like the present. Kind of looking forward to it, kinda scared. Kinda scared to see how bad of a train wreck my swing is, but excited to see what it will become with a lot of hard work. Have heard nothing but great stuff about this guy, and have played with a couple of his students before, if they are any indication of what I can expect, look out, you may see me on TV. And I am not talking about America's Most Wanted either.

 

[mddubya]

Best of luck, just remember, sometimes you have to get worse before you get better. Depending on what and how much he changes, your swing may feel so foreign to you that it is worse for a bit. But if he is that good and highly recommended, stick it out.

 

[slickpitt]

Good luck. I'll echo what he said... every lesson I've ever had I always seemed to get worse until I "got" what the instructor was trying to teach me.

 

[ezra76]

I'll give you something postive feedback. Every lesson I've had, I came out of immediately striking the ball better. I remember the 1st one I came out and broke 80. Then with another instructor my ballstriking was on fire. 10 minutes after the lesson, off the grass I hit the flagstick twice in a row from 200 with a 21* hybrid. I was grinning, evily, from ear to ear.

There might be a really good golf swing in there somewhere, we just need someone to help us find it.

 

[SilverUberXeno]

Here's the thing about swing changes that you have to realize

The swing is a SERIES of movements. Therefore if you make an error early, it's possible that every movement beyond the error contains a compensation.

This is why you can incorporate a BETTER move into your swing and hit worse shots- the proper form with all your compensations still in tact is going to produce very bad golf shots.

An example is my grip.

I tend toward a too-strong grip. A neutral grip actually feels STRANGE to me. I fell into this strong grip because I wasn't swinging through the ball properly, and THAT was because I wasn't turning my left hip back, but rather just bringing my right hip around in front of my left. I was forced to come from the inside, and I could rarely get the club back inside.

So naturally, a stronger grip produces better shots, given THAT swing.

But when I started to turn my hips better and swing through the ball, I hit HORRIBLE hooks, snappers, quackers, you name it. EVERYTHING was going WAY left.

Because I had an error at the very beginning, I had/have to work out the compensations.

Because of that, it can get much worse before it gets better. But once it gets better, you will play much better. I could build a fine game around the strong grip and the half-swing, but I can build a BETTER game with a proper grip, and a proper swing.

 

[bryguy]

Right now, I'm kinda wondering around lost in regards to my swing. I have no clue what is going on with it. I can shoot in the 80's one day, and strugle to break 100 the next. I looked over my handicap graph the other day, and last fall almost every round I had was in the 78 to 82 range for about 3 months. I know I can shoot decent scores, I just need some help getting rid of the demons. As to the swing feeling foreign, what I am doing now feels so foreign to me that it can not be much worse than it is now.

 

[gwlee7]

The good thing about "good" golf instructors is that they are able to pick out that one thing that you really need to get under control first and, that "one thing" will ususally begin to correct a lot of other problems in your swing. Interestingly enough, it often involves the set up and/or the takeaway.

I look forward to meeting up with you soon bry.