Dave Alvarado
New member
This afternoon I had a swing analysis at GolfTec and wanted to post about the experience.
My local GolfTec is based in the Golfsmith just a few miles down the highway from me. My appointment was with Justin, a mid-20's guy who has been coaching for about a year.
I showed up with my full bag, but just needed the 6 iron. Justin had me stretch and take a few practice swings, then hit a few balls on the launch monitor, all of which went off to the right (my typical hit). He then wired me up for motion capture, which involved basically putting on a belt thingy and a tiny backpack thingy that gave me a "tail", basically a really long cable that let me move around anywhere in the room. He had me address the ball then stand straight up with my arms at my sides so he could calibrate the machine.
All wired up, I then hit a half dozen balls or so, then Justin called me over to look at the video. There is a camera in the room facing straight at me and one facing down the line, so we could see both angles. The stuff I was wired up to did motion capture, so he could see things like what angle I was turning my hips and shoulders at every point in my swing. The video system also let him draw lines and pull up captured swings of various professionals.
My takeaway was good, but my swing fell apart by the top of the backswing. I turn my hips too far backward, sway too far backward, let my left elbow bend and cock my wrists too much, and end up on a much too vertical plane. Trying to get from that point to the point of impact is where all my swing problems are coming from. I'm on too much of a vertical down-swing, my contact is inconsistent because my swing plane varies, and I'm consistently hitting fat because my weight is on my back foot and I've swayed backward quite a bit.
After figuring out all the various things that are wrong, Justin got me started on some things to improve. The three items I have to work on right now are:
1. Keep my weight 60% front foot, 40% rear foot during my backswing
2. Keep my head centered
3. Keep my left arm straight--it should feel like I'm pushing the grip away from me at the top of my backswing
Just putting those three things into practice, I was suddenly hitting straighter and farther with less effort. I've always felt like I have to put a lot of muscle into hitting the ball to get distance, because my swing was horribly inefficient. As I add efficiency, I'm getting the same distance with less effort.
Since Justin's coaching style works so well for me, I went ahead and signed up for the full on lesson package, the "Game Plan 12-52" which gives me 52 half-hour lesson credits (a lesson a week) and 12 months of video practice, meaning I can book time in the video rooms to practice on my own when they're not being used for lessons. That way I can hit on a launch monitor and see myself on film at the same time to see whether I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing. It's not cheap--the total is about $3000. They do a finance plan, so I paid about $740 up front and will be paying about $210/mo for a year. For the next few months I'll be fixing my swing one piece at a time and practicing, then we'll probably transition lessons to on-course when I'm ready and the weather is better.
If you've been wondering about GolfTec, I recommend at least going for a swing analysis and seeing how you like it. Obviously your experience will depend a lot on whether the coach works well for you. I feel like I got lucky with Justin, but on the other hand the tools are all there to really get feedback on what you're doing--you get to see exactly what the coach sees. Instead of the coach watching you and trying to communicate verbally what you need to do to improve, he or she can communicate visually, showing you exactly what you're doing compared to what pros do. That type of feedback works really well for me, and I'm excited about improving my swing and my game a bunch over the next year.
My local GolfTec is based in the Golfsmith just a few miles down the highway from me. My appointment was with Justin, a mid-20's guy who has been coaching for about a year.
I showed up with my full bag, but just needed the 6 iron. Justin had me stretch and take a few practice swings, then hit a few balls on the launch monitor, all of which went off to the right (my typical hit). He then wired me up for motion capture, which involved basically putting on a belt thingy and a tiny backpack thingy that gave me a "tail", basically a really long cable that let me move around anywhere in the room. He had me address the ball then stand straight up with my arms at my sides so he could calibrate the machine.
All wired up, I then hit a half dozen balls or so, then Justin called me over to look at the video. There is a camera in the room facing straight at me and one facing down the line, so we could see both angles. The stuff I was wired up to did motion capture, so he could see things like what angle I was turning my hips and shoulders at every point in my swing. The video system also let him draw lines and pull up captured swings of various professionals.
My takeaway was good, but my swing fell apart by the top of the backswing. I turn my hips too far backward, sway too far backward, let my left elbow bend and cock my wrists too much, and end up on a much too vertical plane. Trying to get from that point to the point of impact is where all my swing problems are coming from. I'm on too much of a vertical down-swing, my contact is inconsistent because my swing plane varies, and I'm consistently hitting fat because my weight is on my back foot and I've swayed backward quite a bit.
After figuring out all the various things that are wrong, Justin got me started on some things to improve. The three items I have to work on right now are:
1. Keep my weight 60% front foot, 40% rear foot during my backswing
2. Keep my head centered
3. Keep my left arm straight--it should feel like I'm pushing the grip away from me at the top of my backswing
Just putting those three things into practice, I was suddenly hitting straighter and farther with less effort. I've always felt like I have to put a lot of muscle into hitting the ball to get distance, because my swing was horribly inefficient. As I add efficiency, I'm getting the same distance with less effort.
Since Justin's coaching style works so well for me, I went ahead and signed up for the full on lesson package, the "Game Plan 12-52" which gives me 52 half-hour lesson credits (a lesson a week) and 12 months of video practice, meaning I can book time in the video rooms to practice on my own when they're not being used for lessons. That way I can hit on a launch monitor and see myself on film at the same time to see whether I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing. It's not cheap--the total is about $3000. They do a finance plan, so I paid about $740 up front and will be paying about $210/mo for a year. For the next few months I'll be fixing my swing one piece at a time and practicing, then we'll probably transition lessons to on-course when I'm ready and the weather is better.
If you've been wondering about GolfTec, I recommend at least going for a swing analysis and seeing how you like it. Obviously your experience will depend a lot on whether the coach works well for you. I feel like I got lucky with Justin, but on the other hand the tools are all there to really get feedback on what you're doing--you get to see exactly what the coach sees. Instead of the coach watching you and trying to communicate verbally what you need to do to improve, he or she can communicate visually, showing you exactly what you're doing compared to what pros do. That type of feedback works really well for me, and I'm excited about improving my swing and my game a bunch over the next year.
