Susan and I met for lesson number 4 and things seem to moving right along. We’ve progressed nicely from explaining and understand the proper strike dynamics and have begun incorporating those dynamics into a broader swing perspective. On out last visit we expanded Susan’s action and introduced a slight wrist hinge on the back swing and follow through thereby increasing her swing arc and club head speed all the while maintaining a simplicity in her action.

Along with the wrist hinge we also addressed the importance of stability. As the arc of the swing progresses from a chip shot to a fuller move the body has a tendency to to sway or rock laterally to and fro. With most people, as with Susan, the excess sway is very hard to detect, internally. An external influence, such as a club gently held up against the head, will do the trick. Once Susan felt the handle of the club make contact with the right side of her head, on the back swing, she began to counter the movement and stabilize her action.

THE CLOSED FACE

Last week we discovered two detrimental characteristics with Susan’s swing as we moved into a fuller action. First, was a closed club face and second was a plain that was far too flat, both of which were occurring on the back swing. So, this week we spent a good amount of time getting Susan to feel comfortable with a club head that rotates with her body, as apposed to one that stays square to the target.

As mentioned on the last lesson blog, many newer players have a fear of missing the ball with the club face. Understood. In more detail, newer players fear the club face will glance the side of the ball and ricochet the ball to right, commonly referred to as a shank (actually, this isn’t technically a shank, but you get the idea). This fear manifests in a club face that is held firmly square to (or facing) the target as long as possible during the back swing, down swing and follow through, thus severely stifling club head speed, causing the player to over swing. Other effects of this closed club face action are low trajectories, leftward ball flights and thinly struck golf balls. This is very common among newer players.

THE RELEASE

We had to get Susan releasing the club. The first step in this endeavor was having her feel comfortable opening the club face on the back swing. Even the sound of that is a little scary, especially to newer players. “Opening” the club face implies artificially twisting or manipulating the club during the backswing. Actually, what Susan had to accept was simply allowing the club face to rotate naturally with her body’s rotation. This is indicated by having the toe of the club pointing up by the time the shaft of the club is parallel to the ground, on the back swing. From this position Susan is better equipped to feel the club rotate to a square angle for the strike and a closed angle on the follow through, discovering that the club face rotates through the impact area like how a two way door swings through it’s threshold. To facilitate this action I encouraged Susan to rotate her right hand over her left hand through impact and into the follow through. A good drill to cultivate this move is to hit golf balls with the right hand only.

A few tries and Susan started to feel the benefits of the release in terms of the effortless club head speed, the higher trajectories and much straighter ball flight.

Thanks for reading..Check out Susan’s perspective here: http://funhappyenjoy.com

Andrew

Well, Susan and I met again and picked up right where we left off from lesson number 2. We emphasized stability, rotation and, of course, the downward strike, all of which are slowly beginning to sink in and take root. With a little reminder here and tweak there Susan’s ability to achieve a clean strike with efficient, effective movement fell into stride rather quickly. Now, time to change our focus, somewhat.

BUILDING STRUCTURE

Now that a solid layer of fundamentals has been laid down it seemed appropriate to begin building the outline and basic structure of Susan’s swing upon this foundation. There are a few basics to swing structure; one is the width of the swing arc or radius, two is the plain on which this arc swings.

When addressing ones swing plain and swing structure I find it very effective to use video feedback. The reason for this is spacial awareness. That fact is one’s own spacial awareness is very subjective. Susan ‘felt’ as if she was swinging the club to a certain position on her back swing, and that position ‘felt’ correct. After seeing her swing on video she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “There’s no way the club is that far off plain.” What Susan was feeling wasn’t what she was doing….this is why Tour Professionals take lessons. What we think we’re doing in a golf swing is very often completely different from we’re actually doing in a golf swing.

Susan’s backswing was far too low, flat, inside and shut to achieve a clean strike without requiring a burdensome amount of manipulation on the downswing to pull it off. However, this radical manipulation was part of Susan’s “hit reflex”. So, conforming her backswing to an appropriate swing plain was only half the fix since her hit reflex compensated for such a poor starting point. After seeing the vid Susan corrected her swing plain, but had diminished returns due to the persistent and complicated hit reflex which was still reacting to the old, flat, inside and closed position. The new, more ‘on plain’ back swing was much simpler and made it way easier for Susan to strike the ball, yet her hit reflex didn’t find it trust worthy. Susan’s strike pattern, hit reflex…whatever you want to call it…still felt the need to over manipulate club head through impact. It wasn’t until after a lot of repetition and a conscience, unnatural change to her hand action that both the new swing plain and a more simple hit reflex began to complement one another.

Thanks for reading..Check out Susan’s perspective here: http://funhappyenjoy.com

Andrew

So to review, the first and most important thing we covered with Susan on our first lesson was the concept of the downward strike with an iron. Our second lesson we spent a little time revisiting the basics of the strike and then added a couple key elements to the building of a full swing. I also took this opportunity to explain and emphasize the importance of a proper warm up when it comes to practice.

A PROPPER WARM UP

When we step up to a fresh bucket of golf balls on the driving range, and it’s the first swing of the day, the first thing to establish is solid club to ball contact. I see too many new players begin a practice session by taking full swings right out of the gate. The problem with this is that your muscles are not warmed up, there is no blood flowing, and thus the sensitivity required to feel where the club head is relative to your body is inadequate. This often results in a series if miss hits and shanks.

The proper way to begin a practice session is with very small, controlled swings with an 8 or 9 iron or pitching wedge. There should be 2 goals in mind at this stage. The first goal is to establish clean club to ball contact. Even with an abbreviated, slow swing you’ll be able to tell when a ball is struck well and when a mis-hit occurs. With a small, controlled swing it’s much easier to make the minor adjustments we all have to make, during our warm up, to achieve good contact.

The second goal is to establish a proper connection between the rotating body and the swinging arms. It’s very common when cold for the arms to ‘out-swing’ the body, meaning the body just isn’t warmed up enough to turn as fast as the arms can swing. A good thought to accomplish this connection is to always keep your arms in front of the body as it rotates during the back swing, down swing and followthrough.

ADDING ON

Now that Susan was well warmed up and making solid ball contact it was time to graduate from a short, chip shot like action into a slightly fuller expression of a golf swing. We aren’t ready just yet to make full swings but it is time to add a couple very important elements to her action that lay a good foundation on which to build a full swing.

WEIGHT SHIFT

The first ting we explored was weight shift. Susan discovered on lesson one the importance of having your mass distributed to the left side to ensure the club strike the ball first and the ground second. What we discovered on this lesson was how critical it is not to shift any weight to the right leg during the back swing. It feels very natural to shift almost 100% of ones mass to the right leg during the back swing and it does contribute to the overall fluidity of movement. However, nothing can sabotage a clean strike like excess sway and weight shift away from the target. At set up Susan had a 50/50 weight distribution. Back swing…50/50. Down swing….full distribution to the left side.

This new found ‘rigidity’ on her back swing was surprising to Susan as well as somewhat restrictive, but it allowed her to attack the ball from a much better position and slightly steeper angle, resulting in cleaner strikes and better ball flight.

THE HINGE

The next area we explored was expanding the arc of the swing or the club head’s range of motion. We did this by adding a simple hinge of the wrists on both the end of the backswing and end of the followthrough. While having Susan maintain the same length arm swing as on lesson one, this new set-release action increased the arc of the club head without adding to the complication of the swing. With a slightly longer arc Susan was able to increase her club head speed without having to swing the club or her arms any faster, therefore maintaining controll. Once again, Susan experienced a much longer and higher ball flight.

Thanks for reading..Check out Susan’s perspective here: http://funhappyenjoy.com

Andrew

Well, we had our first lesson and all in all I think it went very well for Susan. The first order of business was to see where she was in terms of her ability and if her current action reflected any inherent misconceptions she may have had, which is pretty standard for the first lesson with a new student.

WHAT WE STARTED WITH

After watching a few swings with a 9 iron, sure enough, there were some things that needed to be addressed right away, first and for most was the way Susan was trying to strike the ball. Other areas such as swing plain, weight shift and mechanical issues will be delt with down the road, as of now her concept of the strike (or more accurately misconcept) was preventing a lot of other important movements from taking place. So that’s what we started with…(full breakdown of the downward strike here…THE DOWNWARD STRIKE)

Like many students I see who are struggling with their game Susan was consciously trying to help or lift the ball into the air. This manner of striking a golf ball is completely counter to the intent and design of an iron. Trying to lift the ball into the air produces a weak strike and fails miserably at transferring any quality energy from the club-head to the golf ball often leading to a shank or missed hit golf ball. In the rare occasion Susan made contact with the ball the ensuing flight was much higher then a 9 iron should be and the overall yardage was way short of what she is capable of producing with that club.

HOW WE FIXED IT

We started with what could be called long chip shots…placing the ball back in her stance, predistributing her weight to her left side (Susan is a right handed golfer), using an abbreviated backswing and having her keep her arms as straight as possible. Now, the tricky part: getting her to hit the ball THEN THE EARTH…One thing that is common with many new golfers is there reluctance to take a divot. Having picked the ball off the ground for so long Susan was no exception, but I had to convince her that it was ok to aggressively smash the earth, but to do so after smashing the ball. A very effective way of accomplishing this is with the focal point of the eyes. The club-head generally hits the ground where the eyes are looking, so I had Susan focus her eyes on a spot about 3 inches in front of the golf ball (on the target side). I even placed a tee there so she would have something to focus on. I then asked her to smash that tee as hard as she could, not concerning herself with the golfball. After a few attempts and a few misses she finally caught one right on the sweet spot and the ball shot off the club-face in a way she had never felt before, flying much further than she expected with such a short, easy swing.

HOW WE FINISHED

After a few more successful strikes Susan’s swing started to ‘buy into’ the concept of the downward strike. Feeling more comfortable with each try and with a much shorter swing than when we started Susan began hitting the ball the same distance as before  but with a much easier and more controlled action. In a short period of time she began hitting the ball much further than she’d ever experienced.

Now with this first step in place we can begin to address the other fundamental issues with Susan’s swing.

Thank you for reading and check back soon to see what those issues are and how we are going to tackle them. Our next lesson should be in about a week or so.

Thanks, and see you at the course!

Andrew