My first real lesson

[yorkem]

I just had my first real lesson. Sure, I had gone to some group things, and talked to the pro at the local clubs, and ranges a little, but lately I have been hooking everything, and have had no control. I decided I could not wait any longer, since nothing I was trying was working to fix the problem, and made an appointment with the pro. After lossening up a little, he pulled the video camera out and recorded my swing. Another first for me. He recorded me from a couple of different angles while I hit a few more balls. Then he asked me to chip a few balls, and filmed that as well. We then went inside for some swing analysis. I found that my swing plane was pretty good, never more than 3 inches off plane. My weight shift, was good although I sway a little too much as opposed to turning my hips and shoulders more, and my finish is pretty good as well. Now for the problems. My grip is way too strong, and this is causing me to set up with a forward press at address to square the club face. Then, at impact, I have lost the forward press, the face is closed, and nothing but a hook can occur. I am also short arming at impact and follow through, and he said that he sees that a lot in people that throw with their right hand and golf lefty. We worked a bunch on getting through the ball and follow through (waist high swings) to try and get full extension, and that and the new grip are the 2 things I will be working hard on at the range this week, until the next lesson. Hopefully I can get comfortable with these changes before the outing, but it could not be much worse than what was going on. I will keep posting my progress here, as well as the advice I receive from the pro. Maybe someone else is having a similar problem and this can help them too. Also, any advice from other THPers would be gladly accepted, and greatly appreciated.

 

[jefrazie]

Where did you get your lesson at? I've been curious about taking a couple of lessons as well.

 

[yorkem]

Where did you get your lesson at? I've been curious about taking a couple of lessons as well.

From Herman, at The Golf Academy on 70 heading out of Garner towards Clayton. He also fit, and made me my Pings.

 

[McRock]

Congratulations on taking your first real lesson. The first step is admitting you have a problem that someone else can fix. I know a couple years ago, I was at a point where I knew I couldn't fix my problem. It took one 30 minute lesson and a couple weeks of getting used to the changes. Posture, grip, and not standing too far from the ball. By simply correcting those things, everything else fell into place.

I used to have a big hook problem when I went from GI TM firesole irons to my current TM 300 forged irons. The forged just worked the ball too hard. I rebuilt my entire swing to get rid of it. I never actually knew what caused the hooking back then (10 years ago), but reading what you posted, I definitely gripped too hard and forward pressed the irons at address when I had a hooking problem.

All I can say about lessons is this. My father once told me that 'if your golf swing feels comfortable, you aren't doing it right.' That's debatable, but the moral is this...it's hard to change your swing, but the reward is well worth it. Don't go back to your old swing just because it feels better.

Good luck!

 

[yorkem]

Thanks for the advice on sticking with it, I certainly will do that. I love the quote from your father. Sounds about right for what I am going through right now.

Congratulations on taking your first real lesson. The first step is admitting you have a problem that someone else can fix. I know a couple years ago, I was at a point where I knew I couldn't fix my problem. It took one 30 minute lesson and a couple weeks of getting used to the changes. Posture, grip, and not standing too far from the ball. By simply correcting those things, everything else fell into place.

I used to have a big hook problem when I went from GI TM firesole irons to my current TM 300 forged irons. The forged just worked the ball too hard. I rebuilt my entire swing to get rid of it. I never actually knew what caused the hooking back then (10 years ago), but reading what you posted, I definitely gripped too hard and forward pressed the irons at address when I had a hooking problem.

All I can say about lessons is this. My father once told me that 'if your golf swing feels comfortable, you aren't doing it right.' That's debatable, but the moral is this...it's hard to change your swing, but the reward is well worth it. Don't go back to your old swing just because it feels better.

Good luck!

 

[KellyBo]

Good luck Yorkem! Thanks for sharing your experience and I look forward to following your progress.

 

[Gordrock]

Good stuff Yorkem, it really does help I have had 2 one on one lessons now and now I need to put those lessons into practice for a few rounds and see how they work out. Good luck with it.

 

[yorkem]

Good stuff Yorkem, it really does help I have had 2 one on one lessons now and now I need to put those lessons into practice for a few rounds and see how they work out. Good luck with it.

What changes were you making? I am going to the range either today, or tomorrow, or both, after work because I am really worried that the drastic change to my grip is going to be a problem for me.

 

[yorkem]

Good luck Yorkem! Thanks for sharing your experience and I look forward to following your progress.

Thanks so much for the well wishes KB.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Good luck Yorkem! Thanks for sharing your experience and I look forward to following your progress.

+2. I have had lessons off and on for 35 years. I always like to hear others success stories when it comes to learning.

 

[yorkem]

Went to the range yesterday to start working on the plan I was given. I was to hit 20 waist high forward and back pitches with a wedge, and then take a short break. Then 5 more pitches followed by 5 full swings with a 6 iron. I did the 5 and 5 four times with a short break in between each cycle, and changed the full swing club each time as well. The first 20 pitches were actually pretty good, as were the rest of the waist high pitches. I felt in control, and was striking the ball pretty well. As expected, my misses were pushes, but they weren't too bad. The first full swing I took, I hit a beautiful shot, nice and high with just the slightest hint of a draw. I was amazed, and thought wow, my swing was fixed that quikly? WRONG!!! I proceeded to hit bad shot after bad shot from that point on. I actually felt at times that I was not able to hold the club and when I hit the ball off of the toe, it literally spun in my hand causing a horrible push slice. I changed to a 5 iron for the second set, and did not hit even 1 well. 7 Iron for the third set, and hit 2 well, but both were pushed a little bit. Then I decided to try and hit my Mashie, which I was hitting pretty well before, but could not hit it solidly. I spoke to Chunkylover77 this morning, and he said that he can't seem to hit the Mashie off of the matts either, and that he would not worry about that. For my last 5 I decided to pull driver. I have in the recent past, shortened my swing with my driver, and while sacrificing a little distance, I have been fairly consistent in hitting straight, and around 250 yards. Not yesterday. I was hitting a huge slice. I know I said I wanted to stop hooking the ball, but I don't want to start slicing either. So, while I left the range a little discouraged, there were some good points as well. I did not feel completely uncomfortable with the new grip, and, I did not hit 1 hook, nor did I pull a single shot. It's definitely not going to be easy, but I will keep trying, otherwise, I will never get any better.

 

[Ole Gray]

yorkem - So you are a brother from another mother? Born a hooker and still hooking huh . Man I can feel ya pain and have been sweating out a bad swing plane and tight grip for years. My current golf coach has me on the right track with a more upright take away and then clearing the left side. I mean really swing through and around your front leg. You are a lefty so reverse some of my comments. You will be happy once the dust settles and the confidence comes around. Just know that I feel your pain and can certainly relate to some frustration you are now and will feel, until the light bulb comes on. Good luck buddy and I will be pulling for ya :thumb:

 

[DawgDaddy]

Went to the range yesterday to start working on the plan I was given. I was to hit 20 waist high forward and back pitches with a wedge, and then take a short break. Then 5 more pitches followed by 5 full swings with a 6 iron. I did the 5 and 5 four times with a short break in between each cycle, and changed the full swing club each time as well. The first 20 pitches were actually pretty good, as were the rest of the waist high pitches. I felt in control, and was striking the ball pretty well. As expected, my misses were pushes, but they weren't too bad. The first full swing I took, I hit a beautiful shot, nice and high with just the slightest hint of a draw. I was amazed, and thought wow, my swing was fixed that quikly? WRONG!!! I proceeded to hit bad shot after bad shot from that point on. I actually felt at times that I was not able to hold the club and when I hit the ball off of the toe, it literally spun in my hand causing a horrible push slice. I changed to a 5 iron for the second set, and did not hit even 1 well. 7 Iron for the third set, and hit 2 well, but both were pushed a little bit. Then I decided to try and hit my Mashie, which I was hitting pretty well before, but could not hit it solidly. I spoke to Chunkylover77 this morning, and he said that he can't seem to hit the Mashie off of the matts either, and that he would not worry about that. For my last 5 I decided to pull driver. I have in the recent past, shortened my swing with my driver, and while sacrificing a little distance, I have been fairly consistent in hitting straight, and around 250 yards. Not yesterday. I was hitting a huge slice. I know I said I wanted to stop hooking the ball, but I don't want to start slicing either. So, while I left the range a little discouraged, there were some good points as well. I did not feel completely uncomfortable with the new grip, and, I did not hit 1 hook, nor did I pull a single shot. It's definitely not going to be easy, but I will keep trying, otherwise, I will never get any better.

Good report yorkem - be sure and mention to your instructor about the ball moving from left to right. It will be easier for him to fix now rather than later.

 

[yorkem]

Good report yorkem - be sure and mention to your instructor about the ball moving from left to right. It will be easier for him to fix now rather than later.

Thanks for the tip. I will do that when I have my next lesson, next week.

 

[yorkem]

Since my last post, I went to the range one more time, and played 18. Sorry for the delay, but we had 62 tornados hit the Raleigh area on Saturday, and I did not even turn on my computer all weekend. Friday at the range, my new grip felt very comfortable, but while going through my regimen (see earlier post) I was not hitting any half swings straight at all. I bgot a little frustrated, and broke regimen and started taking full swings with my wedge. After 7-8 horrible swings, I found something, and moved the ball just a little forward in my stance, and started hitting nice high, straight with a little fade, wedges. I hit about 10 in a row, and then went back to finish the way I am supposed to. All was fine until I pulled driver again, and it is still a big slice (again, see earlier post). Very odd for someone like me that actually has/had a problem with hooking shots. I set my appointment for Monday (today) for my next lesson, and cannot wait to talk to my instructor about this. Then on Sunday, I went out and played 18. It was awful. My driver is all over the place with this ridiculous slice, and I was hitting the majority of my irons thin, but I did hit a beautiful 6-iron to within 10 feet on a 174 yard par 3. I walke up to the tee box, saw the pin on the left side of the green, decided I would start my ball at the right side of the green, and let it fade back, and sure enough it did. I missed the birdie putt, but had a tap in par. Still, it was nice to hit the shot that I was trying to hit. I will keep working on it, and keep you all posted. Again, I can't wait for my lesson today. My goal today, work on straightening out my driver again, and stop hitting everything thin.

 

[DawgDaddy]

Good deal yorkem, let us hear how today's lesson goes, I am thinking you will not be slicing the ball when you leave today.

 

[yorkem]

Well Dawg Daddy, you are correct (for the most part), I am not hitting a big slice any more. I will still miss hit one and it may slice, but now, it is just practice time. He said the progress from the first lesson to today was really quite astonishing as it was obvious to him that i took what he taught, and worked on it throughout the week. Last week we worked on changing the grip with my left hand (keep in mind I am a lefty), and today, we made a change to my right (forward) arm position. We moved it more in front of my body, and turned it out (picture your elbow in your abdomen) while working on really snapping it over on follow through so that my right hand palm was facing the sky. I am not going to say that i did this perfectly on every swing and all is now hunky dory, but it definitely had me hitting my irons high and straight, and my driver was back to being a straight arrow weapon as opposed to a hinderance. My misses were for the most part, a small fade that would most definitely stay in the fairway, or just a small draw that would also stay in the fairway. He feels the swing path I have, which is in to out, will have me playing a small draw off the tee, and with my irons, with my misses being small fades. Afetr hitting a few balls with driver, and 8-iron, he video taped me again. We went inside to do the swing analysis, and he did a side-by-side of last weeks initial set up and swing to this weeks. It was like looking at 2 different people at set-up, and although my swing plane was good last week, it was even better this week. I left this lesson, with a couple of tricks to make sure I turn over properly that are really just warm up routines to use before stepping up to the tee, and completely excited to work on this , and wonder what lesson number 3 will have in-store for me. I will let you all know next week as soon as I get back from it.

 

[McRock]

Your lessons are making me think it may be time to grab a lesson for myself. My driver is everywhere, but my irons, wedges, and even my 3-wood, are perfectly fine. Funny how golf works sometimes.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Ole Gray]

I just caught up on your thread yorkem. Good stuff buddy and it sounds like you are on the right path. Keep up the good work and hard practice and we will kick some butt down at WPB :thumb:

 

[mikedean441]

Your lessons are making me think it may be time to grab a lesson for myself. My driver is everywhere, but my irons, wedges, and even my 3-wood, are perfectly fine. Funny how golf works sometimes.

Keep up the good work!

you and me both!

 

[yorkem]

I had a really good range session yesterday until I got to my 5 iron, 4 iron, and driver. I started out with a 6 iron in my hand, worked my way down to gap wedge, then back to 5 iron, 4 iron, and driver. I hit 10 balls with each club except the 4 iron which I only hit 3 balls because that was all I had left. I hit 51 of 83 balls very well, with my misses mainly being hit either fat, or low slices until I got to the 4 and 5 iron. 11 of my 32 total misses were in the 13 swings taken with the 4 and 5 iron, and they were all push fades. My Driver, which I was hitting dead straight, is now a slight fade with 3 misses that were slices, and 2 topped pulls. Add in the 5 misses with my driver, and half of my misses were with these 3 clubs, which is why it was such a good session. I had been pull hooking all of my irons, and today, 6-gap was dead straight, and at he target. My numbers and misses were as follows:
6-Iron: 6-10 good 1 thin, 1 push, and 2 fat
7-Iron: 8-10 good 2 fat
8-Iron: 8-10 good 1 fat, 1 low slice
9-Iron: 8-10 good 2 fat
PW: 7-10 good 1 push, 1 low slice, 1 fat
GW: 7-10 good 1 push, 1 low slice, 1 topped
5-Iron: 2-10 good 8 push fades
4-Iron: 0-3 3 push fades
Driver: 5-10 3 high slices, 2 topped pulls

 

[Ole Gray]

I had a really good range session yesterday until I got to my 5 iron, 4 iron, and driver. I started out with a 6 iron in my hand, worked my way down to gap wedge, then back to 5 iron, 4 iron, and driver. I hit 10 balls with each club except the 4 iron which I only hit 3 balls because that was all I had left. I hit 51 of 83 balls very well, with my misses mainly being hit either fat, or low slices until I got to the 4 and 5 iron. 11 of my 32 total misses were in the 13 swings taken with the 4 and 5 iron, and they were all push fades. My Driver, which I was hitting dead straight, is now a slight fade with 3 misses that were slices, and 2 topped pulls. Add in the 5 misses with my driver, and half of my misses were with these 3 clubs, which is why it was such a good session. I had been pull hooking all of my irons, and today, 6-gap was dead straight, and at he target. My numbers and misses were as follows:
6-Iron: 6-10 good 1 thin, 1 push, and 2 fat
7-Iron: 8-10 good 2 fat
8-Iron: 8-10 good 1 fat, 1 low slice
9-Iron: 8-10 good 2 fat
PW: 7-10 good 1 push, 1 low slice, 1 fat
GW: 7-10 good 1 push, 1 low slice, 1 topped
5-Iron: 2-10 good 8 push fades
4-Iron: 0-3 3 push fades
Driver: 5-10 2 high slices, 2 topped pulls

Some days are like that so don't be totally disappointed in the misses. They are going to happen. Make yourself a journal and only record the good shots and reflect back on them. Actually replay them in your mind. It will be good to see you next month in WPB!

 

[bumpnrun]

Sounds like things are coming along nicely, keep it up. Scheduled my own series of lessons today, always like to take them in the spring. Gets the year back on track.

 

[ripper]

Great to hear the progress, best of luck

 

[yorkem]

Had my third lesson today. Very minor tweaks to my set-up, we worked on some alignment issues that I am having a little trouble with, and we worked on the driver a bunch more because of my continued issues with it. Apparently, I am about 20* left of my target when I set-up. Again, keep in mind that I am left handed. We worked for a while on different ways to approach the ball so that I could align properly at my target, and I was really not very comfortable with any of them because I have to much going through my head, and I would get aligned properly, but then would lose the alignment in preparing to swing. The other option to this is to take aim at a target 20* left, and eventually my mind will realize what I am doing. I do not like that option, so I have to find a way to make it work. I am continuing my work on the driver as that nasty slice is still there as well. I seemed to get it under control, and then hit half of a medium bucket after my lesson, but it is still there close to half of the time. I just have to trust the move that I am being taught, and trust that I can make that move consistently, because every time I do it, I am just drilling it. I will keep working on it, and I still have 1 lesson left in this series. The pro keeps telling me not to be discouraged, because my swing looks really good right now, and I am a lot closer than I think, or give myself credit for. We shall see, I just know that I am working hard at it, harder than ever before, and I am keeping my confidence up as much as I can. I will get there, and he seems to think it will be sooner rather than later.