GolfTEC Lessons

[cringjr]

Put in some work yesterday with some of the drills recommended at my swing eval. Made some progress and starting to get a really good feel for keeping my weight more to my heels on the downswing and keeping my hips from thrusting toward the ball.

The recommended drill videos in the app are super helpful and explain the what and the why in an easy to follow manner.

 

[FlipFlop]

I was really pleased with the results. The second half of the session being a lesson to really focus on the “how” to fix versus the “what “ to fix was great.

I love this! Having a couple lessons myself, you can tell this is the way they train their coaches to communicate with you. It’s so much nicer to hear “this is how we’re going to get you to…” rather than someone saying “your swing position is completely wrong.”

 

[FlipFlop]

Had my practice session last night and felt good. This move to reduce the shoulder bend is a hard habit to break. I’m going to continue doing the drills to try and get that feel down.

I started my practice on the range just trying to alternate between the drill a practice swing, and then hitting a ball. You can see in this video that I’m still coming over the top at the swing because my bend is too much. On a positive note, I had much fewer thinned shots than I did last week on lesson day.

I kept alternating between the drills, dry swings and then hitting a ball. For the last 10 minutes or so I went ahead and switched up and went to an island green. I like doing this to finish off the practice and give myself consequences while making it fun. One thing I did the last third of practice was really focused on the 3/4 swing feel. By the last swing, there is definitely a difference in the feel and the look. Shout out to the GolfTec tripod for making taking videos so easy.

My coach was in giving a lesson for the majority of my practice. He came out as I was on the island green and was telling me that my swing was looking better. I proceeded the thin one and told him that that’s been more of the bad miss since last lesson. We started talking about low point and how that’s changing with this adjustment I’ve made. He explained how previously my low point was right at the back of the ball, which is why I was a sweeper and don’t take divots. He said that my thins shots now are my low point being more forward and me coming down into the ball with the leading edge or a couple groove low versus before I was bouncing the club off the turf and into the ball. He said to not be discouraged because having these things shows that I’m moving the right direction and then we just adjust ball positioning to get that low point perfect. We sat and talked for maybe 25 minutes after my practice which again showed how I have the right coach who does care about my improvement. Nothing but a great experience so far on every interaction with the people working at my center.

 

[paddypearls]

Bus home from work broke down today and I had to cancel my lesson scheduled for tonight. What a shame. That means a double on Monday.

Again, the customer service is so great.

 

[E.Appleton]

More practice today and tomorrow. Worked on the 150 green and I'm going to try and hit different clubs into it tomorrow.

Still struggling with driver so I'll be grinding that more as well ugh.

 

[FlipFlop]

More practice today and tomorrow. Worked on the 150 green and I'm going to try and hit different clubs into it tomorrow.

Still struggling with driver so I'll be grinding that more as well ugh.

Have you done work in your lesson yet on driver or did you just start with irons?

 

[E.Appleton]

Have you done work in your lesson yet on driver or did you just start with irons?

Haven't had a lesson yet. This week was going to be the first but got cancelled. Starting Tuesday and hope to focus on driver because irons are going quite well!

 

[FlipFlop]

Haven't had a lesson yet. This week was going to be the first but got cancelled. Starting Tuesday and hope to focus on driver because irons are going quite well!

That’s right. I forgot that your first lesson got postponed because of Covid for the coach. I’m interested to see what their thought/philosophy is on jumping to driver versus starting with irons if a student requests that. I know a lot of coaches don’t think that’s a good idea

 

[E.Appleton]

That’s right. I forgot that your first lesson got postponed because of Covid for the coach. I’m interested to see what their thought/philosophy is on jumping to driver versus starting with irons if a student requests that. I know a lot of coaches don’t think that’s a good idea

I'm willing to do whatever they want. I'm looking for long term gains not this weekend gains. Till then maybe time to buy more maxflis instead of more expensive balls lol

 

[cringjr]

This is one of my favorite threads at the moment. I enjoy seeing the progress everyone is making.

 

[FlipFlop]

Just finishing up a half hour practice. I’m thinking that I’m gonna try to book the half hour session right behind my one hour sessions from now on. I feel like I just get too rushed and into a pattern of banging balls rather than really focusing on what I’m trying to accomplish.

Anyone else feel that a half hour just goes way too fast and you don’t focus as much on what you’re really trying to work on?

 

[E.Appleton]

Just finishing up a half hour practice. I’m thinking that I’m gonna try to book the half hour session right behind my one hour sessions from now on. I feel like I just get too rushed and into a pattern of banging balls rather than really focusing on what I’m trying to accomplish.

Anyone else feel that a half hour just goes way too fast and you don’t focus as much on what you’re really trying to work on?

Half hour goes way way too fast. You lose time with the sign in and set up too so it's usually less than 30 min of hitting balls.

 

[FlipFlop]

Half hour goes way way too fast. You lose time with the sign in and set up too so it's usually less than 30 min of hitting balls.

I really noticed that yesterday. I felt myself just rushing to hit balls and it didn’t feel like a very effective practice session.

 

[Lord Tox]

Half hour goes way way too fast. You lose time with the sign in and set up too so it's usually less than 30 min of hitting balls.

What do you mean you lose time with the sign in? It takes like 2 secs.

 

[E.Appleton]

What do you mean you lose time with the sign in? It takes like 2 secs.

It doesnt take long. I lose a little more time because we have to move things around for being a lefty. It kinda adds up. Losing 2-3 min for a 30min session that already feels short is what I am getting at.

 

[Lord Tox]

It doesnt take long. I lose a little more time because we have to move things around for being a lefty. It kinda adds up. Losing 2-3 min for a 30min session that already feels short is what I am getting at.

Damn lefties

 

[E.Appleton]

Damn lefties

I know! We suck! What a curse! LOL

 

[lukemartin93]

Just got done with my first “lesson” of my pack and a 30 minute practice. However it ended up being more of a mini eval to check in to see progress I’ve made since my last lesson pack and reestablish where we are headed. My coach had me hit some iron shots and some drives and we went over what he was seeing together. Positives: my swing path has really been ingrained from my 5 pack of lessons in the spring. I swing much more inside now. Negatives: my hands trail behind me too much which causes me to manipulate the face to try to close the face and avoid chunking which makes me rely on timing things up well. This causes a lot of my inconsistencies as my abilities to time things up can vary swing to swing and day to day.

We ended up having me focus today on having me lean towards the target. Cool thing about GOLFTEC, my instructor set up homework for me so that when I practiced on my own after the lesson, the video system would key in on my hip position at impact. This was really helpful as it gave me a specific area to focus on for the practice time.

It’s nice to know that with having a year long lesson pack, we can really focus on the fundamentals and not have to try to fit as much as we could into a smaller pack. Also, props to GOLFTEC and my coach, since we didn’t do an actual lesson and my coach was a couple minutes late, he waived my lesson credit for this session.

 

[FlipFlop]

Just got done with my first “lesson” of my pack and a 30 minute practice. However it ended up being more of a mini eval to check in to see progress I’ve made since my last lesson pack and reestablish where we are headed. My coach had me hit some iron shots and some drives and we went over what he was seeing together. Positives: my swing path has really been ingrained from my 5 pack of lessons in the spring. I swing much more inside now. Negatives: my hands trail behind me too much which causes me to manipulate the face to try to close the face and avoid chunking which makes me rely on timing things up well. This causes a lot of my inconsistencies as my abilities to time things up can vary swing to swing and day to day.

We ended up having me focus today on having me lean towards the target. Cool thing about GOLFTEC, my instructor set up homework for me so that when I practiced on my own after the lesson, the video system would key in on my hip position at impact. This was really helpful as it gave me a specific area to focus on for the practice time.

It’s nice to know that with having a year long lesson pack, we can really focus on the fundamentals and not have to try to fit as much as we could into a smaller pack. Also, props to GOLFTEC and my coach, since we didn’t do an actual lesson and my coach was a couple minutes late, he waived my lesson credit for this session.

The app with the notes section and homework is so helpful! That combined with the videos your coach saves where he’s talking you through everything makes it easy to keep on track in between sessions

 

[lukemartin93]

The app with the notes section and homework is so helpful! That combined with the videos your coach saves where he’s talking you through everything makes it easy to keep on track in between sessions

As you mentioned earlier, I’m very prone to just mindlessly hitting balls so I think the homework will be huge for me. I also really liked the ability to practice specific shots on a golf hole. Today I didn’t have a specific shot I was working on, but it was nice to have a target while working on shifting my weight and hips

 

[cringjr]

Been working on the recommended drills from my swing eval. Still fighting hip thrust and early extension, but I’m seeing improvements. Worked on 9i today after the drills. Was able to have in to out path by making space for my hands to come from the inside. Pretty good results for me.

 

[FlipFlop]

I finally got out yesterday to play my first round since my second lesson. Everything I’ve been working on seems to really be taking. I was hitting the ball really well with a nice high draw. I just need to get more comfortable setting up for that draw to come. I missed a few left yesterday but they weren’t like my old pull hook left. These were still playable, so that was nice.

Also, I really like that the app has a GPS and some fun scoring notes like “terrible drive“ lol

 

[Michael.Sandoval33]

3rd lesson today went over well. I took two weeks from my last lesson to try and get my hips moving. Turns out I was doing ok there, but still using my arms/shoulders too much. So, we focused a lot on keeping my trail arm connected to my body to keep the club "lagging" behind instead of rotating with my shoulders quicker than my hips. (The instructor doesn't like using the term lag for what he was trying to show me because it's a term for something else in the swing, but it's the only way he could describe it verbally). I hit some good shots there, but 30 mins is only enough to really get the feeling of what I should be doing. Took it out to the range after for about 60 balls and was clocking them by about half ways through. More distance, with less physical effort (more mental right now). So I'm pretty happy right now.
Before

After

 

[E.Appleton]

Tonight was my first lesson after a few weeks of missing each other for various reasons. First off, I missed lessons so much. All summer I had them weekly so I was going through withdrawals! Lesson was awesome, saw immediate results, let's get into it!

In my swing eval we worked on closing my shoulders at address as I stood open. That crept back in a little over the past 2 months for various reasons (alignment issues, trust, focusing on other things and you forget to, etc). So today, this was my starting setup

You'll notice in the left picture, you cannot see my lead arm really at all. My far shoulder is not pointed at my target and my hips are even a little bit open. Where we want to go is about 6* closed (or more to start out with). So to me that feels extreme. Like I am really twisting my body and standing there. It feels very unnatural, but trust the process.

Now you can see the leading arm and my shoulder is actually pointed at my target like it should be. Shoulder tilt is a bit stronger here as well. All of this promotes more of an in to out move and eliminates coming over the top and steepness in the downswing. It also promotes better face contact and, I must say, even more effortless power. I was hitting 125mph ball speed with a 7i without trying. Here is a side by side of before and after. You can see my back swing is more in line with my shoulders on the right picture:

I have a round tomorrow and a practice Thursday. So I will be working on:
6+* closed shoulders at address
3* face to path (this will feel like I am pushing the ball, but trust the process)

Secondary things to keep in mind
heel down in the downswing (dont early extend)

While we were working through these small changes that lead to big results in the sim, we talked about a couple other things on my mind. First I am in midsize grips and I asked if that was appropriate. He believes so, at least for now. It's possible that we can change to standard, but pretty happy with where we are at. Second, I asked about weakening my irons to which he replied it's not enough. We could weaken them, it would add a little spin, but the reality is I am in the wrong head and shaft. Shaft should be extra stiff and head should be something less hollow that spins more. It's tough because I need forgiveness, but was hitting my 7i with like 1.48 smash factor and that isn't right either. I fooled around with the Cobra King Tour and they felt pretty good. I will definitely be fiddling around with more heads for fun and eventually do a full fitting. For now we are going to work on the swing and try not to focus on equipment (despite my undying fascination with hardware).

Fantastic first lesson back and I am seriously considering just going weekly and buying another 25 pack so I can go weekly.

 

[FlipFlop]

I had an hour practice session last night. Before even getting into the practice, I want to touch on something that’s been said more than a few times here which is the customer service.

I live in Southern California and trying to get anywhere at 5:30 PM on a weeknight is miserable. Much less 40 miles home from the office. About halfway through my drive I realize there was an accident and instead of being 20 minutes early, I was looking at now being about 20 minutes late. I called the GOLFTEC studio and let them know that I was running late but I was going to be there. They said no problem be safe and get here. When I arrived, the two coaches that were there said “hey thanks for calling to let us know you were running behind. We adjusted your practice time to start later so you don’t miss any.”

Not only did they adjust so that I could get my full practice session in, but my coach came out of his lesson and sat in the bay with me talking about golf, my swing, my round from Sunday, and THP the whole time. It was almost as if I got an extra lesson. The GOLFTEC customer service has been nothing short of fantastic.

As far as my practice session goes, I had one of those frustrating golf moments. Sunday’s round and Monday night league at topgolf felt like I couldn’t miss. Everything felt so smooth and easy. Last night, the video looked like I was in there for my swing evaluation and everything we had worked on was undone. In between shots, I would watch the video, talk with my coach, do a couple drills, and then hit another bad one.

My coach noticed my frustration and started asking me a little questions about what I was feeling. He got me talking through what I was doing wrong and self correcting. By the end of the practice session, I was back swinging well and feeling really good that I could recognize what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to fix it. This will be especially helpful during a round if things go a little sideways.

Some pictures of the swing progress. The numbers are starting to tighten up a little bit and fit in an area that I really like. Next lesson is Thursday.