Lessons! For the first time in years

[jimbob.someroo]

So it's my Birthday on Friday and I've just asked for pennies from my relatives to put towards a holiday with the missus. However, really want to consolidate into Category 1 this year and each time there's a post about improvement the #1 answer is always 'see a pro' - so that's what I'm going to do with a bit of the birthday money

I'm going to see him next week. It's a guy I know (sort of) up at the North London Golf Academy. It's indoors and they've got launch monitors galore so I can try and get some numbers and report back.

There's a couple of things I want to work on:

1) posture, alignment and tempo - I'm very strong gripped, and tend to aim right and pull the ball back on line, usually with a left to right shape

2) hitting more greens from 120-180 - my chipping and general up & down-ing is good, but this massively overcompensates for my inaccuracy with mid irons

3) my swing path - because of point 1, I almost always swing out to in, not by much, but my bad ones start a LONG way left and generally come back due to decent hands, but can put me in serious trouble if there's trees etc left off the tee

4) weight / balance - after foolishly trying to cherry pick some S&T elements without actually learning them properly, I diagnosed that I was sliding about too much and now have ended up with almost all my weight on my front foot which means I'm constantly chopping down on it

So that's it, I guess they're all related and fixing one thing should help with others, but it's pretty much bad habits ingrained over a good few years and are going to be hard to fix as they'll feel so weird.

But, I think I've got as far as I can without having any sort of coaching, so am going to see if this can help me out a bit in my goal to be a 'proper' cat 1 golfer, not one that occasionally reaches 5.4 and goes back up again!

 

[anotherdouble]

There's a couple of things I want to work on:

1) posture, alignment and tempo - I'm very strong gripped, and tend to aim right and pull the ball back on line, usually with a left to right shape

Are you sure you have written this right. You pull the ball back on line with a left to right shape. If I am wrong I apologise

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Off your handicap you are clearly doing more right than wrong and so it will be bit like peeling an onion and just stripping the layers away. Have a chat with the guy about your aims, ask him if he agrees after seeing you hit it and then sit down and discuss how you are going to get to Cat 1 nirvana. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Waitforme]

Left hander ?

 

[One Planer]

I wouldn't look yourself at what needs change pal.

Let the pro do that.

At your level the pro will look at making your bad shots less severe enabling you to score better. He'll probably have you work on something you never though of to lay a base for the above.

Best of luck pal.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

Are you sure you have written this right. You pull the ball back on line with a left to right shape. If I am wrong I apologise

no, I tend to aim right of a green for example. Instead of then hitting in to out with a big draw to bring it back straight, or a straight shot with closed face, I go all the way across so that my path is likely going left of the green, and then because of this chop across it 'fades' back to somewhere in the middle of the two

 

[anotherdouble]

I see says the blind man.

 

[philly169]

I had a lessons tonight, went back to my old pro as he's invested in a flightscope and indoor studio and wanted to give it a go, not really to make too many changes but get some numbers and try it out.

My irons are the best part of my game but I always fade. The stats were brilliant with showing my path and impact position, showed that I was slightly coming over the top so we made a slight change to try and get swing from the inside on the way down.

Really good lesson and hope I can take that, work on it and get down to low teens. Can't wait to book my next session with him!

 

[jimbob.someroo]

So, had my first lesson and it was ace.

Simple key 'move' if you will to work on which is great for me; I was dreading coming away with 10 different swing thoughts. Used cameras etc and compared against some much better golfers than me (namely Mr Woods & Mr Els) and everything really made sense. Having the side by side photos helped me see where I should be, and the reasons behind why my dispersion in my long game isn't all that great.

Not aiming to be exactly like either of the golfers compared against, but the differences were quite startling in some areas.

Worked on the one thing throughout the lesson and felt good hitting balls at the end. Improving this (takeaway) will help put the rest into better positions so hopefully when this feeling becomes second nature, the foundations will be laid for the rest of my swooshing.

Happy to post pics, more detail if anyone wants it - but didn't want to bore anyone with an (even more) self-indulgent post.

Lesson was with Darren Bragg up at the North London Golf Academy and couldn't recommend it more based on the first session :thup:

 

[Crow]

Indulge yourself, and us.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

Okies, well here is the email the pro sent afterwards, apologies if it opens weird.

Basically, I was coming to far inside with my first move, using a lot of wrist and closing the club face. I managed to get this back into position almost at the top, but it was all arms, and my legs are so far out of sync as you can see on the impact positions against both the Ernie and Tiger images.

By hopefully getting the club in the correct position earlier, I can then just turn with my shoulders, rather than having to try and save everything with my hands to get it on plane. Few things to work on at a later date, but need to lay the first brick properly to build a good wall.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9hhwsfXoIdhR2ZmdzhNVjU0QzQ/edit?usp=sharing

 

[G1BB0]

sounds like a very productive lesson Jim. If you have all these 'flaws' how are you off 5.5!!!

 

[Deleted member 17920]

Okies, well here is the email the pro sent afterwards, apologies if it opens weird.

Basically, I was coming to far inside with my first move, using a lot of wrist and closing the club face. I managed to get this back into position almost at the top, but it was all arms, and my legs are so far out of sync as you can see on the impact positions against both the Ernie and Tiger images.

By hopefully getting the club in the correct position earlier, I can then just turn with my shoulders, rather than having to try and save everything with my hands to get it on plane. Few things to work on at a later date, but need to lay the first brick properly to build a good wall.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9hhwsfXoIdhR2ZmdzhNVjU0QzQ/edit?usp=sharing

interesting that James, I have the same tendencies that you described in your first post. I am having my 1st lesson in 12 years tomorrow night, hoping its going to be a cure. My posture is wrong and i am swaying through my swing and as a result I am missing way to many greens from 130 in, wasting too many shots. Good to know you are pleased with your lesson, hope I feel the same.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

sounds like a very productive lesson Jim. If you have all these 'flaws' how are you off 5.5!!!

Some alright hands to save things and whole lot of luck around the greens.

interesting that James, I have the same tendencies that you described in your first post. I am having my 1st lesson in 12 years tomorrow night, hoping its going to be a cure. My posture is wrong and i am swaying through my swing and as a result I am missing way to many greens from 130 in, wasting too many shots. Good to know you are pleased with your lesson, hope I feel the same.

Good luck matey. I'm buzzing from mine, felt the difference immediately and what I thought I was doing to avoid hitting the high left-to-right (pulling it inside immediately) was actually contributing to it. Amazing to see my swing back in that detail and have it explained by someone who knows what they're talking about! Let me know how you get on!

 

[Deleted member 17920]

Some alright hands to save things and whole lot of luck around the greens.



Good luck matey. I'm buzzing from mine, felt the difference immediately and what I thought I was doing to avoid hitting the high left-to-right (pulling it inside immediately) was actually contributing to it. Amazing to see my swing back in that detail and have it explained by someone who knows what they're talking about! Let me know how you get on!

Will do, actually looking forward to it more now after missing so many greens on Saturday after hitting some cracking drives. I have just dreaded having lessons after Pete Cowen ruined a whole season for me 13 years ago.

 

[Crow]

Interesting, I've got a few of those bad moves too.

I like some of the Pro's comments, especially "due to be discontinued".