We are still at Knight’s Play due to Coronavirus. It is always the darkest before the dawn. After working on getting the back of my left lat to drive under I started to feel the full shoulder turn. I was allowing my left knee to collapse but I was getting the feel of my left side turning my upper body. Patrick quickly cleaned me up by holding my left hip in place while allowing my torso to turn and then my left lat to turn under.
After I did this a few times, I could definitely feel the torque and stored energy of the shoulder turn. Patrick suggested I hit a few balls and the first one I hit felt completely different. It felt like my right elbow was miles ahead of my left elbow. It has never felt like this before. I also had much more room between my legs as my left leg was not collapsing in. I could now feel my right leg and leg knee staying on plane and falling inside the back of my left knee.
I got a little excited because I was feeling my right elbow lead my golf swing. This is something Patrick talked about very early but I never felt it. We continued to work on my turn which was fantastic. Patrick basically held off my left hip and left knee, spun my core, then allowed the back side of my left lat to drive to the top. I still have a bad habit of allowing my lower right side to get a little “fat” or “bloated” at the top of the backswing but this is something that can be remedied with many stretches and practice swings.
For the first time in a very, very long time, I feel good about making contact with ball. I was hitting my approach wedge about 125 yards with very little effort. I still get a little jumpy in my backswing and don’t complete my turn. Patrick always says that we have to get a full shoulder turn if we want to have a good golf swing.
It will be interesting to see where things go from here, but today was definitely a day I had been waiting for for quite some time. Now, as the shoulder turn gets better, we will eventually start working on the arms and hinging the wrists. For now, we are perfecting the backswing and shoulder turn. This content is supported by Lakewood, Colorado emergency dentist Dr. Brian Levitin.
UPDATE: This was just another step in a very long journey. It is now late February 2021, I am over 230 lessons in and we are still working on my left side remaining firm in the backswing. As Patrick always says, “it is easy to let things collapse in the golf swing.” This is so true when it comes to the legs, the hips and the shoulder turn. Basically everything. I have remained committed and have completely rebuilt my body for the golf swing. It is fascinating to understand just how hard it is to create a golf body and a true scratch golf swing.
