KellyBo & Gray -- Diary of taking Lessons

Ole Gray

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KellyBo & I start our six pack of golf lessons tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. in Macon, Ga at Idle Hour CC
I hope we both can share some of our experiences and lessons we become involved with over the next few months. These lessons can be spread out over a year if need be but I hope to take at least three before our club championship which is held in June. Wish us luck and I will update this thread with some of the fundamentals we will be working on. Consistency is my goal and solid ball striking is my focus. Wish us good luck and practice will be a must for the rest of summer.....

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life"
 
good luck buddy! just get in the trenches and do work! i look forward to keeping up with this one.
 
Good luck Kellybo & Gray, hope you see all the results your looking for.
 
good luck buddy! just get in the trenches and do work! i look forward to keeping up with this one.

Thanks Good Buddy! I appreciate your encouragement and I have dedicated myself to making some swing changes and mind set changes to make golf more fun. This is something KellyBo and I can have fun with and encourage each other. Heck she is my best friend so we can cheer each other on as we reach our goals.... It's a family thing :eek:).........
 
Good luck Kellybo & Gray, hope you see all the results your looking for.

Due -- I hope you get to come to Florida dude! We are going to have a blast and play golf on some plush stuff! Thanks for the encouragement and Kelly and I both look forward to meeting you and the rest of these fine folks!
 
You have the right idea, just have fun with it!
It's working for Camilo.
 
have some fun Gray and KB! keep us posted!
 
I can't believe I'm getting addicted to golf AND this site like Gray. I'm sitting in the recliner on my laptop while he's in his office and I see this post for the first time. I've never been serious about golf. I could take it or leave it. For some reason this year it seems different for the first time. I'm actually playing weekly now, sometimes several times in a week. Now I'm taking lessons? Wow, what's happening to me? I'm actually excited and loving golf! Forget the gardening and house projects....I wanna play golf instead.

I retired at the age of 50 a couple years ago and used to travel a lot with my job. I was always so busy that golf just wasn't a priority. Once I retired, I went to work PT at our local golf course. Until recently, I was always in a hurry to leave when I got off at noon and had no real desire to play. That is now changing. I find myself practicing my chipping and putting on the practice green by the pro shop when we're not busy. Sometimes I grab a cart right after I get off work and go play golf by myself.

All year I've been shooting scores in the 90's (have been better in past years) and I've been frustrated about it because I am hitting the long balls pretty good but the short game stinks. After changing my attitude and getting more serious about practice, I finally shot an 81 this week which has me so excited. It helps that I get free advice from low handicappers around the course and all the free golf that I want. It also helps that my hubby is a golf fanatic and buys me great golf equipment or passes his good stuff down to me after he uses it for about a week or two. :clapp:

I joined the local ladies play day group last year and travel around to many area courses to play scrambles. It usually only cost about $15 or $20 and I get to play some really nice courses and meet nice people. I also joined the GSWGA last year and now play in 2 statewide tournaments per year (individuals and team matches). I have made so many great friends and am getting invited to more and more tournaments. I am SO excited about the THP trip in September.

I'm grateful to Gray for setting up these lessons for me and I look forward to sharing my progress and things I learn from the pro.
 
I can't believe I'm getting addicted to golf AND this site like Gray. I'm sitting in the recliner on my laptop while he's in his office and I see this post for the first time. I've never been serious about golf. I could take it or leave it. For some reason this year it seems different for the first time. I'm actually playing weekly now, sometimes several times in a week. Now I'm taking lessons? Wow, what's happening to me? I'm actually excited and loving golf! Forget the gardening and house projects....I wanna play golf instead.

I retired at the age of 50 a couple years ago and used to travel a lot with my job. I was always so busy that golf just wasn't a priority. Once I retired, I went to work PT at our local golf course. Until recently, I was always in a hurry to leave when I got off at noon and had no real desire to play. That is now changing. I find myself practicing my chipping and putting on the practice green by the pro shop when we're not busy. Sometimes I grab a cart right after I get off work and go play golf by myself.

All year I've been shooting scores in the 90's (have been better in past years) and I've been frustrated about it because I am hitting the long balls pretty good but the short game stinks. After changing my attitude and getting more serious about practice, I finally shot an 81 this week which has me so excited. It helps that I get free advice from low handicappers around the course and all the free golf that I want. It also helps that my hubby is a golf fanatic and buys me great golf equipment or passes his good stuff down to me after he uses it for about a week or two. :clapp:

I joined the local ladies play day group last year and travel around to many area courses to play scrambles. It usually only cost about $15 or $20 and I get to play some really nice courses and meet nice people. I also joined the GSWGA last year and now play in 2 statewide tournaments per year (individuals and team matches). I have made so many great friends and am getting invited to more and more tournaments. I am SO excited about the THP trip in September.

I'm grateful to Gray for setting up these lessons for me and I look forward to sharing my progress and things I learn from the pro.

Sounds like you're a peach. A Georgia peach. Gray's lucky to have a Wife that loves the game. Mine doesn't play very well, but she's working on it, and loves to be out there with me and my Daughter. Family golf is fantastic.

How badly do you beat him? LOL. I know he's pretty deadly with those Cobra Hybrids. He's told us. More than once. Hehehe.

Both of you enjoy your lessons. My Wife starts hers at our new club in a month, and our Daughter works with a coach on a regular basis. I'm too old for lessons.

Kevin
 
Hey, its great to hear another couple getting into golf! My wife is like you, KellyBo, just starting to love the game, and taking lessons. Funny what it does to you. Looking forward to the updates!

Both of you enjoy your lessons. My Wife starts hers at our new club in a month, and our Daughter works with a coach on a regular basis. I'm too old for lessons.

Kevin

Or stubborn? :D
 
Good luck you two!! The BFf and I are taking lessons together as well. Except, the 2 of us are sort of starting from scratch :(
 
Lesson 1:

Pitch Shots

Emphasis on keeping clubface square through impact. There are 4 directions for the golf ball to go. Left, right, long or short. He wants to take out the left and right by getting us to hit straight.

Instructor showed us a couple video clips of pro golfers hitting pitch shots. He slowed the videos down for us to show how the club face stayed square from back swing through impact.

He pointed out that he had watched me warming up and I was breaking my wrist a lot which causes the clubface to turn on impact.

Drill:

He put two golf shafts about 10 inches apart on the tee box aiming towards the target. My ball was placed in the middle of the shafts. I was told to take my club straight back and straight through while staying within the line of these shafts. I was to go no higher than waist high with my back swing.

My Faults:

Swinging too hard on occasion - not necessary. Easy fluid swing is all that is necessary. If you're not breaking your wrist on impact, you get a LOT more power and clean hit.

Not following through - imagine your right hand is wiping down across a table. This really helped me hit down on the ball and have a good follow through. I am supposed to wipe across the entire table, not just half!

He didn't correct me on setup at all so I guess I was okay in that area. I had the ball in the middle of my stance and the pitching wedge pressed slightly forward.

He said this lesson will apply to all shots.....we are just beginning with a small swing but the concept will be the same for all clubs in the bag.

I must say that I was hitting my pitch shots really well during his lesson and when I didn't hit it well, he told me what I was doing wrong and I was able to immediately correct it.

I will PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE this drill this week. Need to learn my distances with my short irons because he said my ball will go a lot further now that I am hitting it more solid. We go back again next Friday.

Gray will be on later to tell his take on the lesson.
 
Great update Kelly, sounds like the 1st lesson went well. That's nice that the instructor didn't change your set up that is often the first thing they do. I look forward to hearing your progress.
 
At her last lesson, my daughter was doing the exact same drill with her coach. It is a fantastic way to learn to square the club face. When she was doing it, there was a high school boys team pitching on to the same green at the same time. Hers were landing gently and rolling out to the flag and we could hear them commenting about the shots.

It sounds like you have the motivation for this KellyBo. Your scores are going to drop quickly.

Kevin
 
1st golf lesson was in 2009


Kelly and I had a series of lessons (3) last year in Warner Robins, Ga. that was the first PGA qualified lessons of both of our golfing careers. The teacher was good (Mike Holavech) who is now the golf Manager at Dicks Sportings goods in Macon, Ga. and teaches on the side. He instructed us on many things about the chipping and pitching part of golf. I became a pretty good wedge player from Mike's lessons and Kelly improved vastly. Now keep in mind that I keep playing through the winter and Kelly stops when the weather turns cold or very humid here in the south. I just keep on going and end up hurting my game in the winter months because of the conditions, getting older, stiffer, etc. you know the excuses :eek:)......


2nd golf lesson began this week May14th 2010


Today at 10:00 a.m. we began a new journey with a new PGA teaching Pro by the name of Bobby Hix. He worked several years at Sea Island Golf Resort in Southern Ga. where Davis Love III resides. Bobby is someone you meet and feel like you have known him forever. The guy just makes you feel so comfortable and at ease from the very beginning. We have six lessons set up with him and I am thrilled we found Bobby to help advance our golfing careers. I have been playing golf for it seems like 120 years now and have never advanced past a 9 handicapper. I have shot several rounds in the 70's and now average 84 and play to an average 12 handicapper during the summer months. It's truly amazing that I can even shoot that low because my swing mechanics are awful to say the least. My instructor last year told me I take it way too inside and my hands are skyward so it takes extreme timing to square the clubface back on the downswing. He told me he could tell I had very good hand eye coordination to be able to hit the ball with my ugly swing :eek:(..... I have to admit I was a good athelete in High School but this freaking game called golf has been driving me crazy!!!!!! I could practice on the football field, baseball, & basketball and boom it was just natural. But noooooooooooooooooooooooo not the game of golf!

Ok so Bobby put the two shafts about 10 inches apart (they looked like 2 inches) and told us to take small, slow swings and just make contact. You can hit the ball four different ways. Long, short, right, or left. He showed us a video about keeping the clubhead square through impact from a scratch player. Both mine and Kelly's setup was ok because of our prior lessons although I do have a more closed stance. He asked us which way do you think you will benefit most from out of the four shot patterns. Hmmmmmmm even old Gray figured straight would be better huh :eek:).. Ok now comes the fun part. I could not drop my right foot back and plan on attacking the ball with that big draw. I had to keep my backswing going straight back (it felt like it was going way to the right) and then ease it back down and make contact. I must admit I made some SILLY looking shots trying to change my backswing!!!! Kelly did much better as she has always taken it back on a straight path. I think maybe out of the 75 balls we each hit she hit 60% of them really good and maybe I hit 40% solid. Lord have mercy it felt weird for this old hooker to take it back on the correct plane. I have to give our THP Pro Andy much credit when he gave me the chair tip. It's going to pay big dividends when I relearn my golf swing the correct way. Those little shafts 10 inches apart or that chair setting behind you will force you to take it back right. And trust me all you MAJOR HOOKERS out there it will feel sooooooooooo backwards. I am going to practice my butt off to make this change feel natural. It might look funny for a while but I am getting too old to depend on eye/hand coordination to make my funky swing work anymore. Pray for me!!! I am gonna need it!!

Next lesson is May 21st before we head to Philadephia , Miss for our big tournament outing at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. I bet I will be the one looking like a dancing rabbit or Polar Bear :eek:)

Old Gray
 
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gray and kellybo, this is awesome stuff! you both describe your edperiences wonderfully. i'll try to apply some of these tactics next time i'm working on my shortgame.

thanks for sharing.
 
At her last lesson, my daughter was doing the exact same drill with her coach. It is a fantastic way to learn to square the club face. When she was doing it, there was a high school boys team pitching on to the same green at the same time. Hers were landing gently and rolling out to the flag and we could hear them commenting about the shots.

It sounds like you have the motivation for this KellyBo. Your scores are going to drop quickly.

Kevin

I would have loved to had lessons at her age. I think it is fantastic that you involve her in the game. I bet she is great!
 
woo wee! fireworks in the gray household tonight! i'm loving this!
 
woo wee! fireworks in the gray household tonight! i'm loving this!

The power just went out in our neighborhood so I go out and start hitting some birdie balls. Took the club straight back like the coach said but still hit a nice little five yard draw... Hey once a hooker always a hooker... I just want to have more control over those little 75 yd shots that need some knock down and stick it to em glue :eek:).......
 
having played with you, you are definitely a hooker. it's gonna take a lot of work and time to get a lot of that out. i say trust your coach, work hard at what he's teaching you and trust the process.
 
Great stuff guy's, I can almost picture it. Gray in a short leopared skirt and Kellybo's car with wide whitewall tires, hehe. Gray, you hooker.
 
having played with you, you are definitely a hooker. it's gonna take a lot of work and time to get a lot of that out. i say trust your coach, work hard at what he's teaching you and trust the process.

Good buddy it's almost like trying to start shooting basketball shots from the file line left handed!!!! Seriously it feels that weird to take the freaking club back towards the right side of your swing path and then reloop it square to square. Hmmmm I feel like I am roller skating with the shoes put on the wrong feet. right shoe on left foot and vise versa.... I got to change my swing so the fight is on..... I am getting a good old fashion arse whupping right now.... I feel light a one legged man in a butt kicking contest..... If I could have started out when I first started playing with the right swing path it would have been soooooo much better. I had to put my baseball power move from the inside out and now at 60 years old I'm gonna change. YEP I AM GOING TO DO IT!!!!!! OR SELL THE CLUBS AND CADDY FOR KELLYBO :O)...............
 
Pimp daddy Gray in da the house!


pimp.jpg
 
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