One Planer
Global Moderator
Had a lesson tonight continuing the changes I'm making to my swing.
Last lesson my pro (Chris) wanted me to focus on opening my hips in the back swing rather than using the arms to lift the club.
Over the last few weeks between lessons while doing what I was asked, I noticed that contact became hit and miss. Quite a few heavy shots, lots of pushes and hitting a few skinny (thin).
So, to start the lesson Chris, as he always does, filmed my swing on his iPad for analysis.
Get ready to laugh
, here's the video:
[video=youtube_share;mTSSuviuR9c]http://youtu.be/mTSSuviuR9c[/video]
He's now happy with how I'm moving my hips in the backswing and overall happy with how I get to the club to the top. There were a few changes that need to be made for the progress to continue.
The first change I need to make is a minor change to my ball position to stop the inconsistent contact. I actually need to move the ball forward !! I know surprised me too, but did as requested and contact was much, much improved. No thins, no fats, just good, solid strikes.
The second thing I need change is to do is allow the toe of the club to point more up in the back swing and through the swing. Chris has told me that the club face is hooded through my swing contributing to my pull. My grip is fine, perfectly neutral, but I'm not allowing the club head to get to the correct positions.
During the lesson he has me purposely fan he face open in the back swing, that's how it felt, but it's not what I was actually doing. The result was a ball flight that, in conjunction with the change in ball position, meant I was hitting the ball much higher (... But not ballooning) very straight and longer than previous. As you can imagine it felt very strange, but the results were hard to ignore. No pulled shots! The odd push/block but over all very good.
There is a green at the range I use and have my lessons. From this particular bay you can see the '150' green, but because it's angled away from the bay I was using it actually plays longer than 150. It's actually used from the teaching bay to play to its correct length.
As a result, I've never hit it from a few bays along. Tonight, post changes, I was hitting the front edge with pretty much every ball. If I had to guess, I would say I'm around half a club longer and about a club longer on the whole since I started lessons.
Now comes the tricky part of going through the drills to use my body to get the club face into better positions (not hooded through the swing) and take it into the longer clubs. Once I get this right, hopefully before the next lesson, we can move on to another aspect of my swing.
All in all, I'm very, very happy with how I've progressed taking lesson with Chris. As most of you know I out a lot of time and effort in on the range working through the drills I'm given to improve. This I think is key.
I had a battery of lessons over the winter last year. Those were the first lessons I ever had. Tonight was the 11th lesson I've had total and the difference in where I am now, to where I was before I started in night and day. Something I wish I'd have done much, much sooner, like when I first started playing to get the basics right. I honestly think I'd have improved much quicker with professional help from the beginning.
Right, now that I've bored you to death with my ramblings about my lesson I'll open myself up to the ridicule of my swing video :lol:
NB: I'll also add I'm not after pointers on my swing. Thats why it's posted here and not in the experts section. I'll leave the suggestions to my pro :thup:
Last lesson my pro (Chris) wanted me to focus on opening my hips in the back swing rather than using the arms to lift the club.
Over the last few weeks between lessons while doing what I was asked, I noticed that contact became hit and miss. Quite a few heavy shots, lots of pushes and hitting a few skinny (thin).
So, to start the lesson Chris, as he always does, filmed my swing on his iPad for analysis.
Get ready to laugh
, here's the video:[video=youtube_share;mTSSuviuR9c]http://youtu.be/mTSSuviuR9c[/video]
He's now happy with how I'm moving my hips in the backswing and overall happy with how I get to the club to the top. There were a few changes that need to be made for the progress to continue.
The first change I need to make is a minor change to my ball position to stop the inconsistent contact. I actually need to move the ball forward
!! I know surprised me too, but did as requested and contact was much, much improved. No thins, no fats, just good, solid strikes. The second thing I need change is to do is allow the toe of the club to point more up in the back swing and through the swing. Chris has told me that the club face is hooded through my swing contributing to my pull. My grip is fine, perfectly neutral, but I'm not allowing the club head to get to the correct positions.
During the lesson he has me purposely fan he face open in the back swing, that's how it felt, but it's not what I was actually doing. The result was a ball flight that, in conjunction with the change in ball position, meant I was hitting the ball much higher (... But not ballooning) very straight and longer than previous. As you can imagine it felt very strange, but the results were hard to ignore. No pulled shots! The odd push/block but over all very good.
There is a green at the range I use and have my lessons. From this particular bay you can see the '150' green, but because it's angled away from the bay I was using it actually plays longer than 150. It's actually used from the teaching bay to play to its correct length.
As a result, I've never hit it from a few bays along. Tonight, post changes, I was hitting the front edge with pretty much every ball. If I had to guess, I would say I'm around half a club longer and about a club longer on the whole since I started lessons.
Now comes the tricky part of going through the drills to use my body to get the club face into better positions (not hooded through the swing) and take it into the longer clubs. Once I get this right, hopefully before the next lesson, we can move on to another aspect of my swing.
All in all, I'm very, very happy with how I've progressed taking lesson with Chris. As most of you know I out a lot of time and effort in on the range working through the drills I'm given to improve. This I think is key.
I had a battery of lessons over the winter last year. Those were the first lessons I ever had. Tonight was the 11th lesson I've had total and the difference in where I am now, to where I was before I started in night and day. Something I wish I'd have done much, much sooner, like when I first started playing to get the basics right. I honestly think I'd have improved much quicker with professional help from the beginning.
Right, now that I've bored you to death with my ramblings about my lesson I'll open myself up to the ridicule of my swing video :lol:
NB: I'll also add I'm not after pointers on my swing. Thats why it's posted here and not in the experts section. I'll leave the suggestions to my pro :thup:
