Happy Bunny....good lesson.

[RGuk]

I didn't want to clog up the board, but I thought it easier to post here rather than multi-pm's.

I met my NEW pro/teacher today for an hours initial lesson. We ended up doing 1hr 20 and chatting about many aspects.

I have some new (and difficult!) things to practice; but importantly he felt that many of my current woes are simply down to a few wayward things and (drum roll.....) he reckons that my lack of power and struggling with woods are simply symptoms of one or two ingrained faults and (perhaps more importantly) there is one thing that has never been attended to in my lessons over the years.

I could go on, but I thought it was worth a) saying how impressed I was and b) he kept it simple and has suggested 2 or 3 drills at home and some range basics to work on with the ball.

If you love playing and are stuck in a rut....go and see a pro....you know the rest!!

 

[haplesshacker]

Dave.
Not sure what the wife would say about me being in a rut and seeing a pro!!

 

[RGuk]

Dave.
Not sure what the wife would say about me being in a rut and seeing a pro!!

boom, boom LOL.

 

[AliB]

and (perhaps more importantly) there is one thing that has never been attended to in my lessons over the years.

Glad it went well - a 'new' fault always feels like better news than one you have been working on for years! - but sounds like it was a good session. Here's hoping it soon translates to the game.

AliB

 

[PeterPumpkinEater]

I'm intrigued mate to what the one/two things was thats been missing from your game. Wrist cock, hip turn? I am particularly interested in this as I am suffering from the same two things at the moment.

Also where did you get the guy from? recommendation? club pro? Have you booked in a series of lessons?

 

[TonyN]

.

I am also intrigued. I have played with you a number of times and one thing I will say is, you have a very grooved swing and I didn't notive alot wrong with it, if anything(I am no pro obv)

I went to see my pro the other day, I spent £15 for him to tell me I was taking it awa too much on the inside. I thought bloody hell what a waste of money, with a simple video I may have spotted that, but TBH I dont think I would of.

He gave me a simple drill (which I still need to share with HTL, and will do soon) to work on for a few weeks. I tried it at the range and like all good swing changes I couldn't stand it because it made me strike poorly

Went to the course today and struck excellently, 5 over for the 18 on temps and frosty course was proof enough, along with a consistent draw (no hooks/fades in sight).

Good luck with the drills, If you improve on your current game, you are going to be HOT next year!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Re: .

I'm intrigued too Dave. What did he say was wrong and what do you need to do to fix it. I think my opinions on getting a good pro and what constitutes a good lesson were covered in my forum article and on here. I went to my coach on Saturday and we spent a whole hour on keeping the hands square at and through impact and not rolling them over (too many hooks recently from overactive hands). That was it. 1 hour on one point but we did a number of exercises to get the feeling and I know at impact now without even having to follow the ball with my eyes whether I have hit it with neutral hands or turned them over.

I can now work back through shorter shots (apparently all this work on square hands at impact will be crucial in my pitching and chipping lesson in January) and can really feel the crispness of a good strike.

 

[PeterPumpkinEater]

Re: .

I am also intrigued. I have played with you a number of times and one thing I will say is, you have a very grooved swing and I didn't notive alot wrong with it, if anything(I am no pro obv)

I went to see my pro the other day, I spent £15 for him to tell me I was taking it awa too much on the inside. I thought bloody hell what a waste of money, with a simple video I may have spotted that, but TBH I dont think I would of.

He gave me a simple drill (which I still need to share with HTL, and will do soon) to work on for a few weeks. I tried it at the range and like all good swing changes I couldn't stand it because it made me strike poorly

Went to the course today and struck excellently, 5 over for the 18 on temps and frosty course was proof enough, along with a consistent draw (no hooks/fades in sight).

Good luck with the drills, If you improve on your current game, you are going to be HOT next year!

Am intruiged by your post now Tony!

I have also been told by someone that I am too flat on the take away, I have been shown where I need to be at 3 O'clock, cock the wrists and then complete the turn. Is that roughly what you have been told?

5 over on temps!!!!! Thats a fantastic score. But is that relative to your handicap mate or better? Whilst the greens are nowhere near as good on temps its really good practice because you can take it to the proper greens and imagine that you are still on the temps i.e. imagine the green is the size of a hula hoop!

 

[Mike_j_golf]

Re: .

Hi,
Over the last couple of years have had 4 lessons and i feel that the first 2 were really good had a big slice which the pro cured after one lesson and he got me to have a fuller follow thru for more power in the second but i felt in the last 2 lessons he can't see much wrong so is just working on stuff that I don't feel has helped at all, I have booked in for a 6 week short game lessons starting in january which I think will reduce the handicap by at least 4 shots as it is there where i waste all the shots the amount of times it takes me 4 to get down from 100 yards in i do not want to think about.
Mike

 

[RGuk]

Re: .

I have also been told by someone that I am too flat on the take away, I have been shown where I need to be at 3 o'clock, cock the wrists and then complete the turn. Is that roughly what you have been told?

OK, so first, the place you are talking about is the 9 o'clock. Most folks (who are of a mind) think of 3 main parts to the backswing. 1) move-away or take-away 2) setting the wrists/angle of backswing plane 3) Turning the shoulders and completing the whole thing.
I am very much of the Faldo method which I will summarise as 1. "Turning everything away together" 2. Hinge your wrists to set the club on plane" and 3. Stretch and coil to the top". These are the EXACT words used in Faldo's "A swing for life" book.

Very few players set the angle of the club at the same degree. A lot of amateurs get extremely flat, this was me until my lessons with my club pro, I've now gone the other way and everything is too upright and my hands are starting the swing almost completely independently (out and up, not good at all).

This is a favourite picture of mine

This is what I'm aiming for.

Ideally, the top left picture would be better a frame or two earlier, hopefully where the hands are partly obscured from view by the clubhead.

 

[RGuk]

Re: .

OK, this is a good one.

Paul Lawrie......he's about a flat as you want to set the club. His plane extended (blue) down to the ball is more or less "at the ball". My plane (the yellow) is messed up because my hands are far too forward and, although reasonably upright, outside of the ball. I exaggerate a little, but this is why I'm all over the place a.t.m.

 

[TonyN]

Re: .

PPE, I play to 18 so I was really chuffed with the 5 over. I never missed a fairway Didnt hit many GIR's cause they were so small but I was up and down all day. Its the new irons. I struck 4 or 5 4irons as sweet as they come, I could never hit a long iron before I got the Mizzies.

Not sure that my drill or what I am adjusting at the moment will be relevent to this post because I am not too flat, My plane is good, the pro is happy with it, well, the wrist cock and hand set anyway. Its just I am taking the club away on the inside path and it sometimes gets me coming down, not out to in but straight through if you like.

Going to be a little difficult to explain but, because I have hammered the 3 ball drill, I now route the club from the start of the down swing, I can easily get the club on the in to out I desire (long,hard work made this possible) but, because I take the club away too much on the inside, if I am not playing well, then when the club comes back down, my bad shot will be a slight fade because I will block it and leave the hands very slightly open. If I had an out to in, I would prob power fade but I hardly ever get an out to in.

By taking the club back away, almost feeling as if I am just pushing out as far as I can to my 3 oclock position, when I start to coil, the club comes around to the top and drops down onto a better plane and allows a little more room for me to get back to the ball, still on an in to out and keeping the right elbow tooked in nicely, without cramping my right side.

I seem to have trouble doing it on the range but when I get onto the course, Its normally alot better.

Did any of that make sense????

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Re: .

OK Here is my picture of my latest swing change. As you can see a tad flatter than ideal but apparently nothing too much to get concerned about as I come in nice and shallow. I do sometimes get trapped with my hands behind my body which is where the overactive action comes in and I tend to flip the face closed. Other than that pretty happy with the posture etc and ball striking is good.

 

[andiritchie]

Re: .

Thats exactly what i been working on for the past year realgolfer although my main focus is keeping the clubhead and arms in front of my chest although like yourself i can overdo it and end up a little upright leading to me dropping the club inside too much abit like sergio,
I generate quite a lot of clubhead speed so keeping everything connected and on plane gives me the in-square-in path which i find is ideal

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Re: .

AndiR

I agree. I sometimes get my arms too straight across my chest and get too steep which leads me to swing too far (reverse pivot) or come down to steep and across the ball (weak push/fade). In the picture I actually took it away too far inside to be happy and need to come slightly further back before swinging up but the plane was pretty good.

 

[RGuk]

Re: .

In the picture I actually took it away too far inside to be happy and need to come slightly further back before swinging up but the plane was pretty good.

I think the plane is fine.....just watch where those hands are (as you have) you and me are the opposite a.t.m.

It's a silly game.....and to top it all off, my blister is back, so no work until this repairs....