We are still at Knight’s Play due to Coronavirus. Patrick was very pleased with my backswing progress as I am not turning with my core without allowing my left hip to fall back. I am also using the back side of my left lat much more as I get into the 3rd part of the backswing. Patrick held my left arm as I turned and I actually used my left side to continue turning rather than pulling with my arms or my right side.
I still need to work on part 4 which is keeping my right lat stable and a form of resistance rather than pulling up with it. I need to pull into my core with my right side rather than pull up to the top of the swing. If I can keep my right lat stable and passive it feels like the top of the swing is much flatter than I am used to.
We worked quite a bit on the downswing which was challenging. I am to re-establish my left knee to right above the left toes, then I am to get my belly button turning as my left nipple feels like it is going under my left arm. This is hard to do while keeping my left leg stable. I want to allow that left leg to collapse. I also need to work hard on relaxing my right shoulder and allow my right core and right lat to do the work to come under. When I stress with my right shoulder, I tense up and cannot turn with my core.
After contact is when it gets really challenging. Patrick wants me to keep my left knee over my left toes. I am then to drive under with my right lat while my arms are soft and elbows inside the shoulders. I am not quite flexible enough to get to the top as my left knee wants to break down and my left side doesn’t have the ability to stay long. I have a lot of lat stretching to do.
It was a difficult day in terms of turning and stretching but fun to see just how far I’ve come. My focus this weekend will be turning without using my arms to the top of the backswing, then relaxing the right shoulder and allowing my right core and lats to drive under the shoulder.
Patrick also added a new layer to the chipping motion. I was allowing my right hip to fall down when addressing the ball. He lifted my right hip up to make it feel like it was higher than the left hip. I know this is not what is actually happening, but this is what it feels like. This allows me to bottom out the club right at the ball. In fact, I am now starting to understand what the bounce of the club is.
Right now, it feels like my right side is very “high” at impact, but this is because I have been dipping my right side so much at address. This is something I will have to get used to over the next few days when I do hundreds of chips.
UPDATE: We are now over 230 lessons in and I still have the tendency to want to drop the right hip. Instead of dropping the right hip, my right shoulder should feel like it is behind my right hip and should come under with the practice chipping motion and the full swing. My upper right side has been a work in progress on the backswing for several months but we are getting closer and closer. Golf is such a hard game.
