Maninblack4612
Tour Winner
I've had a few teachers in my time but can say, in all honesty, I've learned more from reading books, the two most significant being "Play Better Golf" by John Jacobs, which I first read in the 1970s and still refer to and "The Plane Truth" by Jim Hardy, the only book I've found that explains the difference between the swings of, for example, Colin Montgomerie & Matt Kuchar, who look as if they are playing a different game.
Anyway, at Xmas, I won a couple of lessons at my local range with an experienced pro with a good reputation. At the first lesson I gave him my "natural" swing, flat, on the inside, with little wrist hinge. He immediately identified the major faults and, for the next 5 lessons (I paid for some more!) we worked almost exclusively on the takeaway, incorporating an early setting of the wrists, which felt very unnatural & uncomfortable. I have to say that the backswing looked better but results, in spite of lot of practice, have been very inconsistent.
Looking at pros who swing like me, I examined a YouTube clip of Jiminez, who swings the club flat & very much around his body. With some effort I managed to freeze the video at the point where the club is parallel to the ground. At this point, Jiminez's wrists are not set at all whereas my wrists, at that point, following the advice I've been given, are just about fully cocked.
I went out onto the course and swung as near as I could to the way I observed Jiminez, trying to keep the swing wide & not inside the line. The result was that I was hitting it straighter & more solidly than I have for a while.
Talking to some others who have had lessons from this pro it appears that he teaches everyone the same moves, as if this was the only way it is possible to swing the club. My own view is that the nearer you can stay to a person's natural swing the better and that, for amateurs, especially old ones like me, wholesale changes are impossible to implement. I was playing quite well before I embarked on the lessons & think I'll go back to the book learning since I am well aware of my major swing faults.
Has anyone else experienced a coach who appeared to be trying to create a clone of himself rather than teach the student? There are more ways to swing the club than one, I'm convinced of it, and very few teachers who can adapt & existing swing rather then tear it part & rebuild it.
Anyway, at Xmas, I won a couple of lessons at my local range with an experienced pro with a good reputation. At the first lesson I gave him my "natural" swing, flat, on the inside, with little wrist hinge. He immediately identified the major faults and, for the next 5 lessons (I paid for some more!) we worked almost exclusively on the takeaway, incorporating an early setting of the wrists, which felt very unnatural & uncomfortable. I have to say that the backswing looked better but results, in spite of lot of practice, have been very inconsistent.
Looking at pros who swing like me, I examined a YouTube clip of Jiminez, who swings the club flat & very much around his body. With some effort I managed to freeze the video at the point where the club is parallel to the ground. At this point, Jiminez's wrists are not set at all whereas my wrists, at that point, following the advice I've been given, are just about fully cocked.
I went out onto the course and swung as near as I could to the way I observed Jiminez, trying to keep the swing wide & not inside the line. The result was that I was hitting it straighter & more solidly than I have for a while.
Talking to some others who have had lessons from this pro it appears that he teaches everyone the same moves, as if this was the only way it is possible to swing the club. My own view is that the nearer you can stay to a person's natural swing the better and that, for amateurs, especially old ones like me, wholesale changes are impossible to implement. I was playing quite well before I embarked on the lessons & think I'll go back to the book learning since I am well aware of my major swing faults.
Has anyone else experienced a coach who appeared to be trying to create a clone of himself rather than teach the student? There are more ways to swing the club than one, I'm convinced of it, and very few teachers who can adapt & existing swing rather then tear it part & rebuild it.
