BRISTOL86
New member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2014
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Hi All
If you've seen any of my threads lately, you'll know I'm a newcomer to the game who has really been struggling with very inconsistent contact with the ball.
Well, I decided that if I was serious about getting better - which I am - then lessons were the way forward. So I bit the bullet, and booked in a lesson, which I had yesterday.
My pro asked me what I wanted to get out of the lesson, and I told her that I wanted her to rip apart my fundamentals, and I would be 100% open to whatever she told me, and would leave all my previously assumed knowledge at the door, which seemed to go down very well. I think she was pleased with the fact that I wasn't going in with a "well I've always done it this way" or "my friend says you should do it like this" approach.
We decided the best way forward was to start building my swing up in small steps, starting with the absolute fundamentals.
She had me hit a handful of balls and just watched, to make her observations about what I was doing.
She said my posture and stance were better than the average beginner, and that although my grip was already pretty good, it needed a couple of small modifications. She said I was too dominant with my right hand, causing the clubface to be very closed at impact. She also took a photo on my phone of my grip, so that I can refer to it when I practice in case I regress back to the way I was before. She also gave me a neat tip which was to open the right palm when I'm set up at address, and it should be pointing to the target line. With my "old" grip, it was pointing about 20-30 degrees to the right, which surprised me!
Then when she was happy with the way I was gripping the club, we looked at my takeaway. I had a couple of major issues - the most notable being that I was not turning much at all. I was trying to keep my torso and lower body in a similar position to address all the way through the backswing, which was causing me all kind of trouble. So she gave me a good drill for a rotational takeaway. She had me just taking the club back to parallel with the ground - very short backswings which felt very strange!
But what was noticeable was that the ball wasn't going that much less distance than when I took a full swing. I was gobsmacked at how such a couple of small changes could make such a contrasting difference.
Then before I knew it, the lesson was over, and she said that all she wants me working on until the next time, is doing those little 90 degree back and through swings, really working on the feel of that rotational takeaway and getting the toe of the club pointing up.
All in all, really pleased I took the lesson, and am looking forward to practicing what I've been shown and building up my swing gradually, but with a really solid foundation. It's reassuring to know that I've gone back to square one, happily forgetting what I thought I knew before. Clear mind, clean start.
Anyway, I will check in regularly and post with updates on my progress, as an incentive to keep practicing! Reporting back with positive news will be more rewarding than negative news!
Cheers all
Martin
If you've seen any of my threads lately, you'll know I'm a newcomer to the game who has really been struggling with very inconsistent contact with the ball.
Well, I decided that if I was serious about getting better - which I am - then lessons were the way forward. So I bit the bullet, and booked in a lesson, which I had yesterday.
My pro asked me what I wanted to get out of the lesson, and I told her that I wanted her to rip apart my fundamentals, and I would be 100% open to whatever she told me, and would leave all my previously assumed knowledge at the door, which seemed to go down very well. I think she was pleased with the fact that I wasn't going in with a "well I've always done it this way" or "my friend says you should do it like this" approach.
We decided the best way forward was to start building my swing up in small steps, starting with the absolute fundamentals.
She had me hit a handful of balls and just watched, to make her observations about what I was doing.
She said my posture and stance were better than the average beginner, and that although my grip was already pretty good, it needed a couple of small modifications. She said I was too dominant with my right hand, causing the clubface to be very closed at impact. She also took a photo on my phone of my grip, so that I can refer to it when I practice in case I regress back to the way I was before. She also gave me a neat tip which was to open the right palm when I'm set up at address, and it should be pointing to the target line. With my "old" grip, it was pointing about 20-30 degrees to the right, which surprised me!
Then when she was happy with the way I was gripping the club, we looked at my takeaway. I had a couple of major issues - the most notable being that I was not turning much at all. I was trying to keep my torso and lower body in a similar position to address all the way through the backswing, which was causing me all kind of trouble. So she gave me a good drill for a rotational takeaway. She had me just taking the club back to parallel with the ground - very short backswings which felt very strange!
But what was noticeable was that the ball wasn't going that much less distance than when I took a full swing. I was gobsmacked at how such a couple of small changes could make such a contrasting difference.
Then before I knew it, the lesson was over, and she said that all she wants me working on until the next time, is doing those little 90 degree back and through swings, really working on the feel of that rotational takeaway and getting the toe of the club pointing up.
All in all, really pleased I took the lesson, and am looking forward to practicing what I've been shown and building up my swing gradually, but with a really solid foundation. It's reassuring to know that I've gone back to square one, happily forgetting what I thought I knew before. Clear mind, clean start.
Anyway, I will check in regularly and post with updates on my progress, as an incentive to keep practicing! Reporting back with positive news will be more rewarding than negative news!
Cheers all
Martin
