I decided to start this blog to recieve and share what I have learned and what others have learned about the game of golf...to catalogue the things that work and the things that don't. I am currently a 14.3 handicap. I have been playing for three years and was self taught, my low round is a 66... I followed that round one day later with a 92...three days later I decided to start getting lessons, to be more consistent. This is a catalogue of my instruction and my fight to get to a single digit handicap...in no way do I imply or encourage you to try the things that are working for me. I am however paying good money for this advice... this is an avenue for me to sort of journal my instruction and my woes along the way.
Lesson 1:
We started with grip... I am right handed... first we set a pitching wedge on the ground square in front of us feet together butt end of the club about a fists width from crotch... left hand club resting in the first knuckle, thumb on top shaft laying pretty close along the "life line" in the palm of the hand. Right hand club rests in between knuckle one and two, closest to end of finger, right hand thumb barely touching end of index finger... not squeezing much harder than holding an open tube of new toothpaste without squeezing anything out.
addressing the ball... first we stand perpendicular to target line after grip has already been taken on the club (nuetral grip club face is square to body...very important)...we aim the club square on target line... then observe target line three foot in front of ball and three foot behind the ball.
after visualizing target line we stand feet together...ball in dead center between both feet...then we step out with the right foot to just barely outside the width of the shoulders.
we ground the club in the center of the stance on the target line... we check for square feet...then knees...then hips then shoulders... all square to targe line... maintaining these square lines... most importantly at this point hips and shoulders we reach to ground the club behind the ball... at this point it becomes awkward ... the feeling of being behind the ball with everything square...you immediately feel how the right shoulder has to drop a bit and left has to raise a bit to keep shoulders, and hips square to target line, all while maintaining your even balance between feet...
at this point my pro lays a club shaft about three feet behind the ball, dead on the target line... and tells me to open the club face along that shaft until the shaft of my wedge is parrallel to the ground maintaining square feet, hips... shoulders are turning... farthest back I can go is barely hip height...while maintaing square hips... now I continue using, "loading" hips ....and reaching away(feels like) from my body on that shaft thats on my target line until the club reaches parrallel... from here I swing down with my hips (not my arms) almost letting the club collide with the ball and then swing thru to a full finish, hands up by my left ear.
I do this over and over and over for about a week with moderate success...in the mean time I am not allowed to hit any club higher than a six iron until I can hit up to that six iron consistently and straight in excess of 85% of the time.... about day seven of hitting about 500 balls a day... the setup and the feeling became natural and I finally started leading with my hips...I had all my old distance back... 130 yds with a pitching wedge and still wasn't using a wrist cock...
Lesson 2:
Wrist cock... I am now having great success... with my short irons hitting up to my six iron... dead straight....with relative back spin... we start adding the wrist cock today... as soon as I feel the face of the club open I begin the wrist cock... 90 degrees from parrallel and start back down with my hips... chaos ensues... I start chunking and hitting the ground... so for another week, we go back and forth... one shot no wrist cock...then next shot with... about 600 to 700 balls a day for about three days... the feeling is becoming more routine...(it has never felt natural)....finally start hitting shots with good percentage and straight... i do now fight a tendency to pull, if I swing to aggressively... and I fight a slice if i try to swing with my arms...rather than leading with my hips...
Lesson 3:
Woods...all my god I want to hang somebody... all I can do is go right... i can't even play a round of golf without embarrassing myself... i feel like there is one less golfer in the world... about three days in, I realize i am swinging way to hard... so I start alternating between 4 iron and 5 wood... until i can finally hit shots... with ease and straight... I must take great care to swing the club painfully slow on the back swing, loading my body , cocking my wrist and letting my hips swing the club... finally starting to feel that pulling torque in my left shoulder as my hips lead the swing... some people might refer to this as "lag" it generates incredible club head speed, but requires little effort from the arms... it is important to feel the left elbow in, rather than to "pull" it in on the downswing...also with the club being longer, to stay on the target line it feels as if I am taking the club way away from my body as I am executing my back swing via opening the face on the target line until parrallel... also... parrallel is much closer to the ground with the longer club than it is the shorter ones... so there is a real easy tendency to come to high, yeilding and over the top swing... I am still swinging about 300 wood shots per day and about 300 iron shots per day... trying to make this swing a habit, and have been doing so for 3 days at this point... right now I am only at about 40% success rate for a straight shot on target line...it has been a real fight to control the urge to over swing.
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