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Deuce's Lesson Thread

Weather finally cooperated and got my second lesson in.

We started with putting again, he had me do a lot of lag putting. Discussed the importance of speed (over direction), and finding the right speed to keep it close to the hole for those "automatic putts" within 3 feet (which is why he told me to keep using that "four corners drill" he taught me the last time I was there). He noticed that I once again was lifting up my head, and he started sticking the shaft of putter to the side of my head so that it acted like a blinder. Once he did that, I sunk a 35' putt. Go figure. Take home: keep my head down. He also pointed out that I had a tendency to not keep my feet even (back foot was back an inch or so) and he wanted me to square that up. Also reinforced the need to take a smooth stroke, and not stab at the ball, but overall he was happy with my putting. Another tip he gave me was that for really close putts, to not get distracted or tempted to look at the cup with my left eye, to just keep it shut while putting. That seemed to help.

Then it was off to the chipping range. He had me take out my 56(SW), 50, and 45(PW) and he showed me the stance he wanted me to start out with. He did say that his stance is much more open, but he wanted me (what I will call) squared up for now. We talked about delofting the club for a longer roll, and how to open or close the clubface, but basically he just wanted me to get the basics down this go round. Bring the club up no further than 9 o'clock and finish at around 3 o'clock, with the clubface below my hands. Ball back in my stance. Had me shoot for the center pin, and I was about 5 or so feet off the green (he did admit that in most circumstances I'd be better off putting from that range, especially if the grass was short, there were no impediments between me and the cup).

First problem that cropped up? The head. For some reason I can't seem to keep it down. I also kept pulling the club up too far, which caused me to decelerate through the ball, which left me way short. Or, if I lifted up my head (more often than not), I would top the ball and send it skidding across the green. Finally I imagined my spine being fixed, and my shoulders and arms forming a triangle and "rotating" along that hinge, and it started coming together. I was definitely better with the PW, so that will be my "go to" club for chipping for now from that distance.

He then showed me the 5 ball drill, where I need to chip five balls onto the green and then putt. I need to make 4 of 5 putts. Do that three or four times, making between 12/14 to 16/20 putts. If I do that, move onto my four corner drill. If I don't, start over. Obviously it's in my best interest to get them close to the pin.

Then we moved about 50 feet back and tried chipping again. The ugly "foot lift" cropped up there, and he made me correct that. He also pointed out that sometimes I leaned back, which resulted in me hitting behind the ball. So I need to STAY OVER THE BALL. The last thing he noticed was that when I brought my club back to 9 o'clock, the face of the club was pointing upwards, and the clubface was also behind me. He told me that at that point, the toe should be pointing up, the shaft should be parallel with the ground, and the shaft should not be pointing behind my body (with the club head behind me). So I definitely need to continue to work on the spatial placement of my club during my swing. That's going to take some work, but it's something I can easily work on at home to get it ingrained into my muscle memory.

Overall I think it was a productive lesson. We're going to meet next Friday, and he didn't charge me again. Not sure how he is paying his bills if he keeps giving me lessons for free. We talked a bit about accuracy over distance, and so I really think I'm going to play nothing over my 4h the next time I go out. He told me to bring my driver, and at least take a few swings with it, but not to get discouraged if I don't hit it straight. Next lesson will be chipping and putting again, then we'll move to the range. After a few range lessons, then we'll get on the course. His thinking is that if he can correct the little things in my short strokes, it'll prevent them from ballooning into big problems with the big swings.

Anyways, good lesson. Now to practice for the week!
 
Glad the weather finally worked out for you. Then again, they appear to be free lol. Im jealous you are working on short game, as Ive yet to have a short game lesson ever
 
mikedean441 said:
Glad the weather finally worked out for you. Then again, they appear to be free lol. Im jealous you are working on short game, as Ive yet to have a short game lesson ever
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Heh, the free is good, but I feel bad. I'm actually putting all the money I've saved on these free lessons in an envelope. At some point I'm just going to hand the thing to him and clear my conscience. He's a good kid and it's obvious he loves the game and loves teaching it. I'm glad he's enthusiastic about it, but I can afford the lessons and am willing to pay for them.

I'm dying to pull out the driver and get that straightened out, but I can see where he is going with the lesson plan and so I'll stay with it. Maybe by the time we get to that step, he'll had ironed out all my kinks and the darn thing will fly straight and true (well, I can dream right?). I figure if I play only up to my 5i and I get even only 150-160 on it, but hit it straight even on the 500+ yard par 5's, I can get a GIR or play bogey golf (which is better than what I am playing now).
 
I haven't seen the lessons translate into better scores yet, but I'm definitely starting to "get it". Practicing chipping today and through trial and error I'm starting to grasp certain concepts which a lot of you probably already know. For example, chip high on the green and let the break steer it towards the hole, and when faced with a chip downhill, use a higher lofted club so it checks up more quickly. I definitely can envision these shots in my mind, and sometimes I even execute them but I still have a hard time matching my swing to the distance. I figure I took the lesson on Friday, so it's going to take some time ... but I think this is progress.

Before, I would just swing the club and just be happy that the ball was on the green. Now I'm only happy if I swing the club and the ball stops within three feet of the hole.

Of course, happy with this progress was just tempered by the wife's comment "So, you writing on that MB telling everyone how crappy you are?"

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence there babe.
 
Next lesson is today. Scores still haven't reflected my edjumacation but I'm playing more bogey golf. It's just the total meltdown holes that continue to kill me. Played a really good 7, along with two snowmen which kept me from a sub-100 pace a couple of days ago, so I'm close. Today we're going to recap putting and chipping, and then move to the range. I do have questions for him when it comes to pitching from further out so maybe we won't be on the range too much today. Excited for this weekend when we play up in Asheville ... I completely expect my best round ever.
 
Had my lesson and it was pretty productive.

Putting
He's really pleased with my putting, and the practice shows. Need to work on figuring out the breaks in the greens, but my speed is good on lag putts (leaving it within 2 feet of the hole) and everything within 3 feet is now pretty much automatic. His one comment was to not crowd the putter with my stance (don't stand too on top of the ball) because on some shots I had the tendency to pull my backswing to the outside, leaving a slight out to in swing.

Chipping
Making progress but need to continue with the practice and drill he showed me. My problem (like it was initially with the putting) was to bring the club too far back and I need to shorten the swing. The other problem is I tend to get wristy (which, aside from the putting, plagues my entire game) and I need to work on keeping that triangle between my club, arms and shoulders and just rotate around my spine. I also decided I much prefer a slightly open stance as opposed to the "putting setup" I started with.

Sand Shots
Specifically requested help on this so we spent the better portion of the lesson working on it. First, I need to dig down with my feet, but don't dig such a wide hole that the sand doesn't build up around my feet. Also, need to dig the whole foot in, not just the balls of my feet. Otherwise I will be off balance. Standing on top of the sand means that with a proper swing, I am above the ball and will probably top it, or make some mental correction which will result in a shot that I have no control over. By digging down, I am level with the ball and my shot will carry through properly. Next is to open my stance as well as the clubface. Ball slightly back in my stance. Depending on the sand consistency, need to aim for a point somewhere between an inch (fluffy sand) and two inches (compact sand) behind the ball. First major problem is I dip on my downswing, which results in me hitting way behind the ball. So I need to focus on remaining upright/level/still on my swing. Once I did that, getting out of the sand was much easier. We practiced getting out of steeper parts of a sand trap (also right at the lip) by keeping my shoulders parallel with the ground (so left shoulder higher than the right). He also showed me the "ice cream shot" (i.e., buried ball) and told me this is really the only time I'm allowed to dig down on a shot. Also need to convert to a strong grip for this shot and just don't hurt my wrists when taking this swing.

At this point he gave me a couple of bags of balls and told me to have fun as he went off to work with the local high school team. Went to the range and started spraying balls all over the place. I think he kept an eye on me because he was back over to me about halfway through me peppering the range. First issue he spotted from a distance is that I'm not keeping the club head still on the backswing (again). I also am very wristy, which is leading to casting and decreased distance. We worked on swinging with my feet together and only going back about 50% of the way on my backswing. With a much slower swing, I was still sending my 7i a good 125+ yards. Mental Note To Self: You don't have to kill the ball, no matter how much it may deserve it. Opened up my stance and I started soaring it ... for the most part. I have several tics in my swing which need to be corrected:

1. Feet firmly planted.
2. Avoid wristy swings.
3. Head down.
4. Club still at top of backswing.
5. Upon addressing the ball I tend to readjust and it leaves the club slightly open.
6. Make sure the club head isn't behind me when my wrists are loaded. It needs to be straight behind me, with the toe pointing straight up.

Good things to work on this weekend while I am on vacation. This was a great lesson for me. I can now notice these tics and I can tell when I swing what problem has cropped up. Time to practice!
 
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Keep up the work deuce it's a processes got to go through the struggles to get better
 
Yeah, I am not putting to much pressure on myself. I am excited about getting a true handicap and getting fitted for a set of clubs. Hit the Ping G25s yesterday and I think I am in love.
 
The question I need to ask after this lesson is: Have I finally turned the corner?

Only my play will determine that, but I think it may. Had a lesson a couple of weeks back where we worked on pitching, and it was "alright". We started with chipping and pitching this lesson and it was much improved. Had a hard time pitching onto the green the last time, but from 30-40 feet away I was nailing it every time this time. Not necessarily close to the hole, but I was on the green. After about 20 minutes of this we claimed victory and turned around to face the range.

My first issue is that I am deliberate on my backswing, but then I get spastic and come down very quick, too quick, on my downswing. This leads me to dip my shoulder, or come down either too steep or too shallow. Thin shots, fat shots, hosel shots all ensue. It was pretty frustrating. What doubly killed me is that my practice swings were excellent, but put a ball in front of me and all hell broke loose. In order to have me reset he had my stand with feet together and take half swings. Started to hit the ball pure and it was flying straight. Returning to a full swing and the shots finally started flying. So my biggest weakness is my tempo, starting out well but need to really slow down that downswing. Other problem was that I was not finishing my swing. I basically give up immediately after contact which my instructor informed me was going to sap all my distance.

Coupling the two together (slowing down my tempo and finishing my swing) really did wonders for my ball striking. Once he was confident that I actually "got it" he grabbed his clubs and a cart and we went out to play 4 holes. First hole saw me fade my drive off the fairway into the rough. A poorly hit second shot put me in the sand but I claimed "Time to go save par". Had a good shot out of the sand and nailed a 12' putt to save par. Stumbled a bit on the next two holes (triple and double bogey) but those mistakes are readily correctable, and the double was because I hit one club about 20 yards longer than I was used to and overshot the green. The last hole is a 145 yard par 3. Grabbed my seven iron and placed it about 10 feet behind the pin, and proceeded to sink the putt for my first birdie ever!

So, while I know I still have issues I need to work with, and have momentary lapses in concentration (this is a killer for me!) I am pretty confident that I can throw up a good score now. I still need to groove this swing, and make sure that I am consistent with my set up and thought process, but I may have had that "Ah ha!" moment I was hoping would come some day.

So right now my putting is great, my chipping and pitching are improving, and my iron's and hybrid's are starting to listen to me. Will spend a couple weeks working on my tempo and then go back for what I hope is some tweaking to squeeze some more goodness out of my swing! Not done by a long shot, but I feel as if I can shoot in the 70's right now! LOL.
 
So I had my second range lesson tonight.

We spent some time talking in the pro shop about my custom putter project and he gave me some pointers and places to go for help should I need it. Unfortunately that help is in Myrtle Beach, so I'm hoping I don't need as much help as I think I might. After that we went out to the range. He wanted me to grab my PW or 9i, so I grabbed the PW and he had me warm up. He basically stood behind me as I went through an entire bag of balls (about 50), watching my pre-shot routine (he really wants me to have a pre-shot routine for every shot I take), and my swing. A few shots would go well, then I'd hit a bad one and he'd ask me what went wrong. Typically it was tempo ... I'd be deliberate in my backswing and then supercharge the downswing. One thing he did notice however was that I had some sway in the club head when I'd reach the top of my backswing. As he's explained to me before, this means that - depending on how it sways - I am either coming down with the clubface open, or closed. End result, a less than optimal flight path to the ball.

We then switched to the 7i and repeated the process for another 50 balls. Tempo is a VERY. BIG. ISSUE. I need lots of work in that category. Another issue he noticed is that I do not align myself properly. I'll be off by a couple of degrees, and so while I think I am hitting straight down the line, my shot will be 30-35 yards off the right (typically) and I'll think I did something wrong. Actually my shot will be fine, it went exactly where it should have ... I was just pointed somewhere else. I need to combat that tendency in my pre-shot routine. Was nice to see that I am starting to take a divot ahead of where the ball was placed, so I am hitting through the ball rather than sweeping through it.

At this point he told me he had no idea why I wasn't breaking 100 because he thought I had decent mechanics and should be able to find my way around the course. I told him part of my problem is my inability to get off the tee. So we grabbed the driver. There the sway in the club head was much more pronounced, as was the fact that I was keeping my shoulder open, my club face extremely closed, and my grip weak. What a rotten combination. So, we worked on alignment, we worked on my grip, and we worked on making sure that club face was square. My pre-shot routine ends with me purposely checking if my shoulder is brought back into alignment. At first, the result was that my slice turned into a hook. He was happy with that and told me that he'd rather have to correct a hook than a slice any day of the week. The cure for that was that in my swing, I was pulling the club towards "third", and that instead I needed to throw it towards "second" on my downswing. At this point I started hitting straighter shots, most with a fade, some with a draw ... and a few I hit pure and they went straight! They were carrying about 190-200 yards (range balls). Quite a few were worm burners but he said we just needed to tweak with tee height. The other issue was tempo, and towards the end of the lesson (about 80 minutes in) it got erratic, In total, I hit about 150 balls with three clubs.

He wants me to work on stretching my lower back as he said that will eventually help bring distance to my shots. As it is, I really can't bring my clubs back very far, and if I over do it, it winds up standing me up, resulting in my topped shots. So the club only really gets to 9 o'clock for me. At an 80% swing that puts my 7i in the 130-135 range (by the looks of it with range balls). So for now, it's working on that swing, ensuring I don't get club head sway, work on tempo, and in general make sure I have a smooth swing. I think this was a good lesson, and I definitely know what a pure shot feels like now. I am addicted!
 
Had my last lesson with my instructor today. He's moving away to be with his fiance. Doesn't he know I have a golf game that needs improving?!?!

At any rate, he figured out what my main problem is. My head. A majority of my problems are arising from the fact that I am standing over the ball and over analyzing things. I can hear my wife laughing in the background (Tom analyzing things? Oh heck no, he never does that!) Now, I tend to align myself up incorrectly (along with crowding myself at address), but when I'm hitting the ball, I'm hitting it straight. He thinks that what I'm mostly thinking are pull's and slice's are actually - for the most part - straight shots that I simply misaligned myself on. He did however correct some of my clubs at address ... in particular the hybrids. The mashie has some offset which for me gives me the illusion of the face being open when in fact it's square at address. Once I made this "compensation" I stopped hooking them.

As for all of my topping, thin, and fat shots? Tempo. I do not have a consistent tempo. On one shot I'll swing at 110%, and on the next I'll decel on my downswing to compensate. As the round continues, I go from unsure of myself to completely mental. It's going to take some practice, but he worked on a routine with me. It takes about 20 seconds a shot, but he hopes that allows me to get out my kinks and "let it all go" and just swing at the damn ball (while doing it at 75-80%). I hope this works cause there is no going back for pointers now ...

At this point this "diary" will probably going into hibernation until I take my next step in my journey. I hope with lots of practice, and taking these lessons I have received to heart, I'll see some improvement. Hopefully bring me down to consistent sub-100 rounds and a handicap I'm not embarrassed by. :)
 
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First day with new instructor. I've played with him before, so I knew we got along together, as he is very laid back. We started simple, he had me grab my PW and went over my grip, which he thought was good, if a little strong. Then he watched me address the ball and noticed my first issue. It appears that in order to hit down on the ball, I had started to incorporate a forward shaft lean, placing my hands well in front of the ball at address. He told me that was fine as long as I didn't want to do anything but hit punch shots but he figured I didn't. He got me straightened out and we started to hit.

Ball flight was good, and straight but my miss tends to be a pull. We switched my grip to neutral and the pull went away and I started to put a slight fade on the ball. He told me that was a more controllable shot, and while it would tend to be shorter I'd find that the cut would play well. We progressed with the 7i and 5i and he was happy with my mechanics. He said I was doing a good job with keeping my elbow tucked, had good lag (no more casting!), and was staying down on the ball ... as long as my tempo was good. That's my problem though ... I tend to get very fast, and when I get fast I lift up and top the ball. Then I overcorrect, slow down too much (almost get lazy) and hit it fat. I need to seriously work on that, and as long as my tempo was good, I was doing well. Went through the 3W and driver and had the same thing ... was hitting a consistent fade and was getting decent distance. He had me tee the ball a bit lower and it eliminated the pop up.

Looks like I am a sweeper, and he told me right now to not worry about that. I'm not a very long hitter, but he said that would come with experience and when that time came (which he said I am a ways away from there) he said I could consider a swing change to get me to hit down more on the ball. Right now he told me keep the lower ball flight and play the roll out to my advantage. As long as I'm not hitting worm burners he said he thought I was good to go in that area and thought tempo was the more important task to work on right now.

So, todays lesson was ... tempo.

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Sounds like a lot of progress was made today dude, that's fantastic!
 
Trout Bum said:
Sounds like a lot of progress was made today dude, that's fantastic!
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Thanks Marc. Just reading back over this and if I don't keep having the same issue. Maybe one of these days it'll sink in! I did like however that simply by changing my grip, I could affect the ball flight. Doubt if I could get it to work consistently but maybe that will eventually wind up in my bag of tricks ... right now I am just happy to have a decently straight swing. My goal is to simply get the ball in the fairway and eat up as much yardage as I can with each swing, keeping me in the short grass and giving myself a chance at GIRs. My scores are dropping, slowly but surely and while they are not dropping as fast as I would like, I am starting to see and feel things that when I first got here and I read about, I thought was crazy talk. This journey has definitely been eye opening and I feel that I am slowly progressing from being a total hack to being more of a golfer.


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Sound like you had a great lesson and found an instructor you will get along with well.

I know your game has been improving little by little and it's fantastic to see.

You have a big change coming in you life coming soon and I hope that you can continue the slow improvement when the bundle of joy arrives.
 
Yep, definitely big changes coming my way! I've been slowly reworking my schedule and forcing myself to become an early morning riser. I'm hoping that either gives me time in the early am to practice, or gets me out of work earlier to play nine before having to pick the tyke up from daycare. Obviously golf takes a back seat to family, but I've worked much too hard to lose the gains I've made. Going to be a major adjustment, we'll see how it goes!
 
Sounds like you have a good plan in place to keep on playing and practicing that will hopefully work out well for you.
 
Keep up the hard work deuce. You're definitely on the right track.
 
So, I just read throught this whole thread for the first time. I feel like I was on the journey along with you, and I'm sure I speak for many when I say I'm pulling for you! Sounds like you've made some great progress, keep up the good work. As someone who's struggling to break 90, I can attest that breaking 100 for the first time is oh so sweet. Good luck!
 
Deuce,

Super stoked for you, and for being a part of watching your lessons!!! keep the thread going, is enjoyable to hear how the pro is teaching, as well as how you are interpreting!!

Keep it up, and you have a very attainable goal!! Know that what he is teaching you is all about scoring, and in my opinion, he is teaching you the foundation that once you have the chipping down, it leads to longer hitting, and feeling the mistake...(sorry for run on sentence)

looking forward to your updates!!!
 
Will be following along duece.. good stuff man. Ive heard good things about you feom other thpers.
 
So almost a year to the day I'm looking at another round of lessons. Thosed lessons saw me go from a 36 handicap to a 28, with a low round of 93. Not bad in a years worth of work I suppose, but I did expect a lot more from myself. This year however I'm committing to practice a lot more than I had last year and I hope to see that translate into another drop in scores. If I can get under a 20 handicap this year I will consider it a success.

To this aim, I put a call in to the golf course that is just down the road (less than a mile) from me. Left a message for the PGA Pro there and am waiting for him to call me back. Going to book a lesson for as soon as I can. My major problems are consistent ball striking with irons and getting off the tee. Hope he can get me sorted out quickly. Will track progress in here same as last year. Will be interesting to see how many of the past issues crop their ugly head back up in my swing.

Here are last years issues:
1. I swear that pretty much every hybrid and iron I hit travel the same distance (been told this is due to "casting").
2. Taking a full swing with my wedges scares me because I'm not sure I know where the ball will wind up going.
3. While I can hit my irons fairly straight (more so than my driver and woods), sometimes that is "straight to my left into the woods/water/backyard", or "straight to my right into the woods/water/backyard" (I assume this is because I'm either hitting the ball with the heel or toe).
4. I top a lot of balls which then travel (if I am lucky) about 40' to 50' (if I'm lucky) (probably because I pull my head up).
5. I can only hit my driver if I'm playing a dog leg right and I aim my shot about 75* away from the dog leg (IOW, I have one heck of a slice ... actually used this to my advantage this weekend).
6. I have just started to figure out what all this talk about "feel" is in regards to using clubs. I need to learn more about this, and how to use it to correct myself.
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1. I believe I've eliminated the casting issue.
2. I'm not scared of my wedges any longer.
3. More often than not I am confident in my irons, though I believe I do not hit down on the ball or hit the ball first as often as I should. I think part of this may be ball position, but it may also be any other number of factors. I tend to introduce a sway in my swing that causes all sorts of issues. I need to stop that.
4. I do top shots, but by consciously slowing my swing down, and cutting out that sway, I can eliminate it for the most part as long as I stay focused.
5. My driving has improved, but there are still days that I struggle with it. I can get a straight ball flight but I need to have such a strong grip that I can essentially see all five knuckles on my left hand. Ball position may also be causing me an issue here.
6. I am better in the feel department, though as long as the ball goes straight and far, I'm fine with it. I don't have a set of clubs that sparkle in the feel category, so right now this isn't a big deal for me, though when I swing clubs like the AP1's and Ping's ... I notice a huge difference at impact.

So this is what I want to focus on in 2015.
1. Improved short game. When I'm on, it feels great and I can put it close. Chipping is good but I'd like to be better, and I need to be more accurate in the range of 50-110 yards.
2. Improved tee game. Accuracy and distance. I'm a short hitter (200 yards usually) so I'd like to see if I can get my average to 210-215. Also, I need to get rid of this "power fade". It may be that a left to right ball flight will always be with me, but I need to stay on the fairway, and not by having to aim to the left edge all the damn time.
3. Consistent iron game. I do a good job of chunking shots with the occasional blade. Hoping to groove a nice smooth swing, straight ball flight, and less mistakes.
4. Improved posture. I've been told my knees are too bent, my back is too curved, I sway on my back swing. I need someone to evaluate my swing and get me in a stance that gives me something to work with, makes sense, and can get me through a round without my back tightening up to the point that I can barely stand up.
5. Increase ball flight height. I'm a low ball hitter, and I'd like to get a bit more height in my shots. I think this would help especially with my short game, to get that ball to land so I don't get as much roll out.

Off the top of my head, that's my list for 2015. We'll see if I make any progress this year!
 
Good luck man . Definitely following along as my chipping is number 1 on my agenda.
 
deuce said:
So almost a year to the day I'm looking at another round of lessons. Thosed lessons saw me go from a 36 handicap to a 28, with a low round of 93. Not bad in a years worth of work I suppose, but I did expect a lot more from myself. This year however I'm committing to practice a lot more than I had last year and I hope to see that translate into another drop in scores. If I can get under a 20 handicap this year I will consider it a success.

To this aim, I put a call in to the golf course that is just down the road (less than a mile) from me. Left a message for the PGA Pro there and am waiting for him to call me back. Going to book a lesson for as soon as I can. My major problems are consistent ball striking with irons and getting off the tee. Hope he can get me sorted out quickly. Will track progress in here same as last year. Will be interesting to see how many of the past issues crop their ugly head back up in my swing.

Here are last years issues:


1. I believe I've eliminated the casting issue.
2. I'm not scared of my wedges any longer.
3. More often than not I am confident in my irons, though I believe I do not hit down on the ball or hit the ball first as often as I should. I think part of this may be ball position, but it may also be any other number of factors. I tend to introduce a sway in my swing that causes all sorts of issues. I need to stop that.
4. I do top shots, but by consciously slowing my swing down, and cutting out that sway, I can eliminate it for the most part as long as I stay focused.
5. My driving has improved, but there are still days that I struggle with it. I can get a straight ball flight but I need to have such a strong grip that I can essentially see all five knuckles on my left hand. Ball position may also be causing me an issue here.
6. I am better in the feel department, though as long as the ball goes straight and far, I'm fine with it. I don't have a set of clubs that sparkle in the feel category, so right now this isn't a big deal for me, though when I swing clubs like the AP1's and Ping's ... I notice a huge difference at impact.

So this is what I want to focus on in 2015.
1. Improved short game. When I'm on, it feels great and I can put it close. Chipping is good but I'd like to be better, and I need to be more accurate in the range of 50-110 yards.
2. Improved tee game. Accuracy and distance. I'm a short hitter (200 yards usually) so I'd like to see if I can get my average to 210-215. Also, I need to get rid of this "power fade". It may be that a left to right ball flight will always be with me, but I need to stay on the fairway, and not by having to aim to the left edge all the damn time.
3. Consistent iron game. I do a good job of chunking shots with the occasional blade. Hoping to groove a nice smooth swing, straight ball flight, and less mistakes.
4. Improved posture. I've been told my knees are too bent, my back is too curved, I sway on my back swing. I need someone to evaluate my swing and get me in a stance that gives me something to work with, makes sense, and can get me through a round without my back tightening up to the point that I can barely stand up.
5. Increase ball flight height. I'm a low ball hitter, and I'd like to get a bit more height in my shots. I think this would help especially with my short game, to get that ball to land so I don't get as much roll out.

Off the top of my head, that's my list for 2015. We'll see if I make any progress this year!
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Look forward to seeing more progress this year. Keep working at it you will get there you made huge improvements throughout the year this past year. Cant wait to see how much this round of lessons shaves off your hdcp.
 
Thanks guys. Actually going to go to the course today and practice my chipping and sand shots using my notes from last year. Wife said she's taking the kiddo and going to walk with friends which should free up about 90 minutes. Hope the practice sand traps aren't water logged!
 
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