Lesson #68 – August 6th, 2019

The challenges of the golf swing continue. I am to the point where I don’t even know why I am trying to hit the ball. I am hitting the top of the ball, the side of the ball, the outside of the ball. Basically everything but right behind the ball. Patrick remains very positive and has said my backswing keeps getting better and better.

As my backswing gets better, it exposes my downswing. I never realized just how much I come over the top and it is mostly because I use my arms and legs in the golf swing. Exactly what you should not use. From the outset of my lessons, Patrick has told me the core is what creates the golf swing. We are now a year into lessons and I still cannot use my core to create the golf swing.

It is extremely frustrating to hit the ball so poorly when I actually try to hit it. It is amazing that Patrick has no issues with this. He continues to work on getting my backswing deeper. By deeper, that means with the core and not with my arms and shoulders.

I still have the tendency to allow my arms and shoulders to lead the backswing which is not ideal. Patrick will hold my left arm and tell me to “travel” with my core. I really need to learn to travel more with my core on both the backswing and the downswing.

I know there will come a time when this all clicks, but it has yet to happen. The exposure of my downswing has been one of the most challenging parts of this entire swing change process. Hopefully I get it sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: We are now five lessons into the “not getting the ball off the ground”. During Lesson #65 on July 26th, 2019 I started not being able to actually hit the ball. Today, in October 2020 (over 165 lessons in) I can now joke about this with Patrick, but back then it was a tremendous challenge. Today, I am still getting the feel of “traveling” with the left side of my core. We are getting closer and closer but I am still not completely there yet. The golf swing is fascinating.

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