I am going to start working my way through all 79 pages of this monster thread. In the meantime if anyone wants to walk me through the ins and outs of how their lessons work I would appreciate it. Obviously it starts with an evaluation first.
GolfTEC Lessons
They will go through all of that in the eval! There are various packages of how many lessons you want and how much time to use them in. Ranging from 5 to 52 so it all depends on your wants and budget. Do you have any specific questions we can address?
For most of my lessons I'll get there a little early to warm up and get loose. Then my coach and I will discuss my game and things I want to work on. For instance my last lesson we discussed my driver and how I've seen lots of small pushes to the right. I took a few swings for him and we discussed the root cause of the issue and how to correct it. Took swings to try to get the feel of what needs to be done. Worked through it. Then gave me some drills to work on. Using the video you can see what you're doing and what you want to change/work on.
You'll also get a recap of your lesson with notes and analysis. It's really great to be able to go back and watch your lessons/drills.
- Admin
- #1,979
Had to chime back in with that 2nd lesson I referred to with putting. We didn't work on alignment, setup or anything of that nature we worked on takeaway and follow through.
First he put the blast motion sensor on the end of my putter. We took a few putts and recorded my tempo which wasn't too bad but I did get quick at times. Its something we will pay attention to going forward. He then had me hit a few putts from about 20ft. Notice my takeaway and follow through in the first image. My tendency is to take the club back shorter and accelerate through the ball to get to the distance I needed.
In the second image you will see what he is trying to get me to, a much longer backswing and shorter follow through. I almost had to feel like I was stopping the club abruptly if I'm being honest.
He had me using something called the Putting Stick or the 60/40 speed stick. The idea is to take the club back far enough to create momentum needed for the distance required. The key is to not accelerate through the putt like I had been doing previously, hence the 60/40. Admittedly I was very uncomfortable with this drill. Once again will take a lot of getting used to.
Here is what the stick looks like. The first marking on either side is the takeaway and follow through you are supposed to stop at.
First he put the blast motion sensor on the end of my putter. We took a few putts and recorded my tempo which wasn't too bad but I did get quick at times. Its something we will pay attention to going forward. He then had me hit a few putts from about 20ft. Notice my takeaway and follow through in the first image. My tendency is to take the club back shorter and accelerate through the ball to get to the distance I needed.
In the second image you will see what he is trying to get me to, a much longer backswing and shorter follow through. I almost had to feel like I was stopping the club abruptly if I'm being honest.
He had me using something called the Putting Stick or the 60/40 speed stick. The idea is to take the club back far enough to create momentum needed for the distance required. The key is to not accelerate through the putt like I had been doing previously, hence the 60/40. Admittedly I was very uncomfortable with this drill. Once again will take a lot of getting used to.
Here is what the stick looks like. The first marking on either side is the takeaway and follow through you are supposed to stop at.
Had a really good practice session last night. Being able to get into the studio and use the OptiMotion in between lessons is a huge help and major advantage over traditional lessons in my opinion.
In my last lesson, we worked on making sure the face isn’t closed to path and eliminating the big miss left. I didn’t hit any golf balls between east Thursday’s lesson and practice, just dry swings working on the drill. My coach did tell me when I start hitting balls with this focus, everything will go right and that’s good. That’s terrifying to a former slicer.
Enter the OptiMotion confirmation during practice. When I started hitting balls, the results were horrible as you can see in this map of the shots
I was convinced that nothing was right with such an erratic pattern. I started looking through the video to see what was really going on. My arms were right where we wanted them, extended out, no chicken wing, and the club even or slightly behind the hands. In the picture below, seeing the club head not peeking out over my left shoulder is key to look at for me.
So what gives with the right miss? Why did I go from nice draws to this craziness? Well my coach happen to be there and he loves to come over in between his lessons and just talk with me even giving feedback on what he sees. He told me to stop getting frustrated because I was doing exactly what I was supposed to. He said now that you’ve over, exaggerated that feeling, don’t think about getting those arms extended straight out and holding the club head back. Just swing.
I did exactly that and hit a beautiful little draw, but I felt like my hands flipped just after impact. Enter again the OptiMotion! When I look back at the video of that shot, it was almost exactly what I had seen when trying to feel like I was holding that club head behind the hands. If I didn’t have the video to confirm, the feel I had wouldn’t have been the reality.
Seeing that the reality was the swing change had taken let me swing nice and free. The OptiMotion feedback is so big! Look at this grouping compared to what it was when I first started to practice session. This was 20 shots hitting a draw around the wall.
In my last lesson, we worked on making sure the face isn’t closed to path and eliminating the big miss left. I didn’t hit any golf balls between east Thursday’s lesson and practice, just dry swings working on the drill. My coach did tell me when I start hitting balls with this focus, everything will go right and that’s good. That’s terrifying to a former slicer.
Enter the OptiMotion confirmation during practice. When I started hitting balls, the results were horrible as you can see in this map of the shots
I was convinced that nothing was right with such an erratic pattern. I started looking through the video to see what was really going on. My arms were right where we wanted them, extended out, no chicken wing, and the club even or slightly behind the hands. In the picture below, seeing the club head not peeking out over my left shoulder is key to look at for me.
So what gives with the right miss? Why did I go from nice draws to this craziness? Well my coach happen to be there and he loves to come over in between his lessons and just talk with me even giving feedback on what he sees. He told me to stop getting frustrated because I was doing exactly what I was supposed to. He said now that you’ve over, exaggerated that feeling, don’t think about getting those arms extended straight out and holding the club head back. Just swing.
I did exactly that and hit a beautiful little draw, but I felt like my hands flipped just after impact. Enter again the OptiMotion! When I look back at the video of that shot, it was almost exactly what I had seen when trying to feel like I was holding that club head behind the hands. If I didn’t have the video to confirm, the feel I had wouldn’t have been the reality.
Seeing that the reality was the swing change had taken let me swing nice and free. The OptiMotion feedback is so big! Look at this grouping compared to what it was when I first started to practice session. This was 20 shots hitting a draw around the wall.
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- #1,981
I like that brick wall drill, thats cool. Also 15* open is wild! With that face to path in the last photo should be a nice little draw for you. Good Stuff
Yeah the drill I was doing to get this feel was leaving me wide open. I was hitting balls off the wall of the studio
.When he did the wall drill and said just swing, it was a perfect little draw. I think two I thought too much and left open but the rest had great grouping. At most I would be 2-3 yards left of the center line rather than my previous big hook.
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- #1,983
Hahaha now thats funny. Love the progress though.Yeah the drill I was doing to get this feel was leaving me wide open. I was hitting balls off the wall of the studio
When he did the wall drill and said just swing, it was a perfect little draw. I think two I thought too much and left open but the rest had great grouping. At most I would be 2-3 yards left of the center line rather than my previous big hook.
Lol been there brother! Looking forward to a practice session Thursday. A mixture of thinking too much and fatigue made the last 10 min or so of my post lesson 30 min block tough to watchYeah the drill I was doing to get this feel was leaving me wide open. I was hitting balls off the wall of the studio
When he did the wall drill and said just swing, it was a perfect little draw. I think two I thought too much and left open but the rest had great grouping. At most I would be 2-3 yards left of the center line rather than my previous big hook.
That is both trippy and very cool. That difference in dispersion is pretty nuts. That's so awesome!
Love seeing all the work you guys are doing. Really cool to see the progress and the things you are working on. Impressive all around.
Lesson today focused on path and face angle. As far as path goes, I have been able to ingrain a in to out path, however, I was hitting heel/hosel today so we used a gate to work on hitting the center of the face more. While doing that, the main focus was on the face angle. I typically leave the face pretty open. This can be seen in how my wrists are at the club parallel position
You can see how my left hand is pointed up which opens the face up. In order to hit the ball squarely, I have to shut the face significantly which makes timing difficult producing inconsistent shots. In order to fix this, I have tried to focus on really manipulating that glove hand. However, my coach instructed me to look more at my right hand/arm. He wanted my right hand to be more on top of the shaft rather than the side and my right arm to straighten sooner. This in turn produced a hand position like this:
It didn’t seem like a major tweak, however, it made the face less open and easier to square up. We started with a gap wedge and during my practice session afterwards, I moved up in clubs. The focus on the right arm instead of the left arm really opened my eyes. I can’t wait to see what is in store for my next lesson and the improvements this all will make to my game!!
You can see how my left hand is pointed up which opens the face up. In order to hit the ball squarely, I have to shut the face significantly which makes timing difficult producing inconsistent shots. In order to fix this, I have tried to focus on really manipulating that glove hand. However, my coach instructed me to look more at my right hand/arm. He wanted my right hand to be more on top of the shaft rather than the side and my right arm to straighten sooner. This in turn produced a hand position like this:
It didn’t seem like a major tweak, however, it made the face less open and easier to square up. We started with a gap wedge and during my practice session afterwards, I moved up in clubs. The focus on the right arm instead of the left arm really opened my eyes. I can’t wait to see what is in store for my next lesson and the improvements this all will make to my game!!
Swing changes hard!
Trying to feel like the start of the swing starts with a wrist hinge and even when I feel like I do it at speed, I look at the video and I'm definitely not lol. That's why we practice and that's why we have video to validate what's real.
Also contemplating a grip change. I was baseball grip for a long time now, switched to interlock but my fingers are short and it doesn't feel as secure. Maybe overlap is the ticket. Maybe I'm overthinking it. None of it feels right per say other than baseball but that grip can lead to a lot of inconsistencies.
Trying to feel like the start of the swing starts with a wrist hinge and even when I feel like I do it at speed, I look at the video and I'm definitely not lol. That's why we practice and that's why we have video to validate what's real.
Also contemplating a grip change. I was baseball grip for a long time now, switched to interlock but my fingers are short and it doesn't feel as secure. Maybe overlap is the ticket. Maybe I'm overthinking it. None of it feels right per say other than baseball but that grip can lead to a lot of inconsistencies.
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- #1,988
Obviously you learned using baseball which makes it comfortable. I played a lot of baseball/softball and it never felt right on a golf club. Anything you try though will feel weird at first.
Watching back on the video is so eye opening and thus so informative. Yesterday I could have sworn I was in one position and watching back the video, I was way off
I actually learned interlock, felt wrong, went to baseball, and have bounced around a bit. I would say most of this year has been baseball, but my most recent best round was interlock. Need to find what feels right and commit. Part of that may be switching back to standard grips tbh.
I had my swing eval today. I could've saved so much frustration if only I had done this sooner.
I went to the Cleveland - East location to work with Joey. He met me almost as soon as I walked in even though I was about 15 minutes early. He took me back to the bay and told me about the tech they use, his approach, and how the session was going to go.
I'm a high-capper, and while I get plenty of distance, I'm not consistent with my irons. I have a 2 way miss that I would really like to eliminate. When I'm fully focused I feel like my swing is in a decent place, but when I get tired/lazy it gets too steep and slices come into play. I told him I start going up, instead of across my body in the backswing. We spoke a little about wedge play and he gave me some tips to work on there as well.
Baseline
I was hitting my 'focused' swing today with a 7I. I had some slight two way misses during the baseline, but no hooks or slices. We started with my setup. He liked my position, but mentioned he thought my weight was a little too in my heels. We used Zach Johnson as the pro comparison. Notice how much straighter his legs are than mine.
In position 2 (club parallel to the ground) he noticed that I lean over too far, especially during the backswing. The top green line is where he wants me to be (~15* less). I mentioned I do feel myself bending over more during the take back, exacerbating the problem. You can see the different angle between my back and swing plane compared to the pro.
The club stays on plane, so I've got that going for me at least.
It was a similar story for position 3 (arms parallel to the ground) with the bend being too much. My shoulders were about parallel with the swing plane, which they shouldn't be.
Position 4 (Top of the swing). I'm over swinging.
102* Closed. I didn't know I was that flexible. Because of the over swing you can see my knee is bending a ton.
Position 5 (Arms back to parallel)
Numbers are good, it just takes me a little longer to get there with the overswing.
Position 6 (Club back to parallel)
Numbers still look good, but he mentioned the bend is causing my weight to fall forward. I mentioned that there have been times I feel like I've needed to take a step forward in the follow through to maintain balance.
We then went to the head on views. He pointed out that my grip needed improvement and recommend buying a clip on grip trainer. I should be able to see the logo on the glove, and the V should end at my wrists, not my hands. That was a big eye opener for me. Again, set up was good, and he even liked where I was on positions 2 and 3.
Position 4. We discussed this one for awhile. My hands are going behind my head and my elbow is breaking. I had no idea I was doing this.
Because of my knee being bent so much and overswinging I really struggle with weight transfer. At the top you can see my knee is still away from the target vs towards it. I also have a tendency to release too early.
I'll get into the drills and stuff in another post.
I went to the Cleveland - East location to work with Joey. He met me almost as soon as I walked in even though I was about 15 minutes early. He took me back to the bay and told me about the tech they use, his approach, and how the session was going to go.
- Discuss my game and why I was interested in the evaluation
- Warm-up and get baseline swing video
- Analysis
- Lesson and drills
- Discuss lesson plans and next steps
I'm a high-capper, and while I get plenty of distance, I'm not consistent with my irons. I have a 2 way miss that I would really like to eliminate. When I'm fully focused I feel like my swing is in a decent place, but when I get tired/lazy it gets too steep and slices come into play. I told him I start going up, instead of across my body in the backswing. We spoke a little about wedge play and he gave me some tips to work on there as well.
Baseline
I was hitting my 'focused' swing today with a 7I. I had some slight two way misses during the baseline, but no hooks or slices. We started with my setup. He liked my position, but mentioned he thought my weight was a little too in my heels. We used Zach Johnson as the pro comparison. Notice how much straighter his legs are than mine.
In position 2 (club parallel to the ground) he noticed that I lean over too far, especially during the backswing. The top green line is where he wants me to be (~15* less). I mentioned I do feel myself bending over more during the take back, exacerbating the problem. You can see the different angle between my back and swing plane compared to the pro.
The club stays on plane, so I've got that going for me at least.
It was a similar story for position 3 (arms parallel to the ground) with the bend being too much. My shoulders were about parallel with the swing plane, which they shouldn't be.
Position 4 (Top of the swing). I'm over swinging.
102* Closed. I didn't know I was that flexible. Because of the over swing you can see my knee is bending a ton.
Position 5 (Arms back to parallel)
Numbers are good, it just takes me a little longer to get there with the overswing.
Position 6 (Club back to parallel)
Numbers still look good, but he mentioned the bend is causing my weight to fall forward. I mentioned that there have been times I feel like I've needed to take a step forward in the follow through to maintain balance.
We then went to the head on views. He pointed out that my grip needed improvement and recommend buying a clip on grip trainer. I should be able to see the logo on the glove, and the V should end at my wrists, not my hands. That was a big eye opener for me. Again, set up was good, and he even liked where I was on positions 2 and 3.
Position 4. We discussed this one for awhile. My hands are going behind my head and my elbow is breaking. I had no idea I was doing this.
Because of my knee being bent so much and overswinging I really struggle with weight transfer. At the top you can see my knee is still away from the target vs towards it. I also have a tendency to release too early.
I'll get into the drills and stuff in another post.
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Thanks for bringing us along. It’s just incredible all the info they give you in one short session. I feel like everyone should do it. Curious to hear about the drills.
Think you’ll look into lessons?
Awesome summary! Worth the price of admission to get started even if you don't take lessons right? The lessons are killer but the swing eval is such a great value and intro
Yep, just the evaluation was so informative. I'll get into it more when I post on the drills, but it is amazing how much what we feel can be different than reality. I probably won't do lessons with them for now. That is mostly because the times they have don't work well with my schedule. If they had some times available over my lunch break I could get it to work, but they don't.
After the analysis the three main things the coach wanted me to work on were
The coach then had me take some swings focusing on knee bend. Fixing the posture helped, but there is still more work to do here. All three of my recommended drills after the evaluation are focused on this area. They are backswing and follow through knee movement, downswing knee flex and hip bend drill, and a full swing knee flex drill.
The final thing we worked on was my overswing. This was entirely feel based and took me the longest to get better. The coach brought up that for most pros you can see both of their hands at the top of the backswing. You can't see either of mine. He wanted me to take what felt like 3/4 swings, but my hands were still almost going behind my head when I did. Even on something that felt more like a half swing, it was in a much different position than I thought it was. This is where the video was incredibly helpful. For once I was able to see, right after the swing, what I was doing versus what I was feeling. Eventually, we got to a place where you can still see my lead hand. My coach admitted this wasn't where he preferred, but at the same time it looked like it was the optimal position for me.
We then started discussing lesson and game plans for future improvement. I told him that lessons didn't quite fit in my schedule right now, so we pivoted to things I could do at home to help ingrain what he told me. We also discussed apps like 18birdies and Sportsbox that have some AI training I could use. He was not pushy about taking lessons at all. He mentioned that if I did take lessons that the next thing to work on would be sequencing.
Overall, I'm really happy I did the swing evaluation. I've gone down the YT rabbit hole, and while some of it has helped, it wasn't helping me with my posture or overswing. My coach was great, and I would have no problems taking lessons from him. He was not pushy or harsh in his criticism. He actually gave me a lot of compliments on my swing considering I've never broken 90.
Now finally, the before and after
- Posture
- Knee Bend
- Shorten swing
The coach then had me take some swings focusing on knee bend. Fixing the posture helped, but there is still more work to do here. All three of my recommended drills after the evaluation are focused on this area. They are backswing and follow through knee movement, downswing knee flex and hip bend drill, and a full swing knee flex drill.
The final thing we worked on was my overswing. This was entirely feel based and took me the longest to get better. The coach brought up that for most pros you can see both of their hands at the top of the backswing. You can't see either of mine. He wanted me to take what felt like 3/4 swings, but my hands were still almost going behind my head when I did. Even on something that felt more like a half swing, it was in a much different position than I thought it was. This is where the video was incredibly helpful. For once I was able to see, right after the swing, what I was doing versus what I was feeling. Eventually, we got to a place where you can still see my lead hand. My coach admitted this wasn't where he preferred, but at the same time it looked like it was the optimal position for me.
We then started discussing lesson and game plans for future improvement. I told him that lessons didn't quite fit in my schedule right now, so we pivoted to things I could do at home to help ingrain what he told me. We also discussed apps like 18birdies and Sportsbox that have some AI training I could use. He was not pushy about taking lessons at all. He mentioned that if I did take lessons that the next thing to work on would be sequencing.
Overall, I'm really happy I did the swing evaluation. I've gone down the YT rabbit hole, and while some of it has helped, it wasn't helping me with my posture or overswing. My coach was great, and I would have no problems taking lessons from him. He was not pushy or harsh in his criticism. He actually gave me a lot of compliments on my swing considering I've never broken 90.
Now finally, the before and after
Have an hour practice session tonight. Swing is not in a great place, but I have a few things I am going to work on to help that.
Stay loose
Thumbs up wrist hinge (club outside the hands in takeaway)
Stance drill
Heel down in downswing
Find the spot between draw and hook
Stay loose
Thumbs up wrist hinge (club outside the hands in takeaway)
Stance drill
Heel down in downswing
Find the spot between draw and hook
Really nice little lesson today. Partial wedge shots. 30 minutes of 70 and in. It was great to get a set of eyes on it and help me figure out where those inconsistencies were coming from.
Today's practice was interesting. Still having a hard time getting the hinge first feel. Shank a lot, overcorrect and hook a lot. It was coming together a bit better at the end which is good but it's a real work in progress.
The interesting part was I was chit chatting with the manager. He seemed bored so we talked about THP, my experience so far with Golftec, and equipment. He asked if I liked my irons and I don't. They're wrong for me confirmed by a number of professionals. So we start talking about gear a little bit.
Tried he had me try a Mizuno 241 head with a Project X LS 6.5 shaft and I was a little intimidated. Fairly different head from an AI smoke. Wouldn't you know I think I hit them just as well if not better. It would be more punishing on misses for sure, but not by as much as I thought. May not be the final thing I'm fit into but I appreciate the people at Golftec. I swing that head quite a bit faster than mine which Is interesting, but the bigger deal of course is hitting launch, spin, and descent better.
This guy is taking time out of his day, to work with a client who isn't his because he's interested, engaged, and cares.
He told me no one was in after me so I worked on my drills for another half hour after my hour was up. Could've stayed longer even, but had to go.
Learning more and more and it's great to be surrounded by people like him.
Also low key confirmed I should go back to standard grips from midsize, but that's something for later.
The interesting part was I was chit chatting with the manager. He seemed bored so we talked about THP, my experience so far with Golftec, and equipment. He asked if I liked my irons and I don't. They're wrong for me confirmed by a number of professionals. So we start talking about gear a little bit.
Tried he had me try a Mizuno 241 head with a Project X LS 6.5 shaft and I was a little intimidated. Fairly different head from an AI smoke. Wouldn't you know I think I hit them just as well if not better. It would be more punishing on misses for sure, but not by as much as I thought. May not be the final thing I'm fit into but I appreciate the people at Golftec. I swing that head quite a bit faster than mine which Is interesting, but the bigger deal of course is hitting launch, spin, and descent better.
This guy is taking time out of his day, to work with a client who isn't his because he's interested, engaged, and cares.
He told me no one was in after me so I worked on my drills for another half hour after my hour was up. Could've stayed longer even, but had to go.
Learning more and more and it's great to be surrounded by people like him.
Also low key confirmed I should go back to standard grips from midsize, but that's something for later.
- Admin
- #1,999
He told you should be playing blades?
- Admin
- #2,000
These lessons are always fun. Did you change anything in your setup or technique? What did you address?