We are still at Knight’s Play due to Coronavirus. Today I learned that Patrick will not be going back to Old Chatham. I am not sure how I feel about this as OC has one of the best practice facilities in the Triangle. I will have to sleep on it to determine if I am sad or apathetic.
Over the last few days, I have really focused on stretching my core, lats and back rather than tinkering with my swing. I did this with my arms out like an eagle, with the resistance band behind my bank and just plain old turning while keeping my legs and feet stable.
Patrick could tell that I devoted quite a bit of time to stretch as I was able to get much deeper into my backswing. I still need to work on standing “long” at setup as I still have a tendency to slouch with my shoulders. I also feel as if my left shoulder is a little bit lower at setup. I got in a bad habit of really dropping my back shoulder way down which would make my front shoulder feel like it was extremely high at setup and takeaway. I really noticed this with the practice chipping motion. I am not keeping my right hip higher and my left shoulder lower in that motion. It helps me descend into the ball better.
Patrick turned me a few times and encouraged me to hit a few. Without even thinking about it, I hit some fantastic shots. My arms are naturally flowing with my body and I really feel my left shoulder getting under my chin and driving to the top of the backswing. In fact, I even felt the motion going towards second base at the top. I really feel this when I keep the triangle pressure points with my feet on the way back. If I can keep the pressure inside the ball of my left foot and the heel of my left foot, I can create quite a bit of torque.
By the end of the lesson I was hitting right barrel draws. It was fun to watch. I know I still have some depth to achieve in my backswing, but we have made a ton of progress.
Patrick really twisted me up at the end of the lesson. On the follow through, I need to relax my abs and core as the more tense it is, the less turn I have and the less stable I am. I am going to feel like I fall forward if I keep my abs tensed through impact and into the follow through.
Overall, this was a great lesson and I am starting to see results with the outcome of the shot. It has taken 140 lessons, but I truly understand what Patrick said early on about not caring about the results as much as the process of the swing. When I can really get my left shoulder under my chin while keeping pressure on my right foot, I hit the ball quite well. Now, more stretching.
UPDATE: Well, it is now March 2021, I am 240 lessons in and Patrick has trained me to not care about the result at all. I am 100% focused on my swing rather than where the ball goes. It is crazy that he has worked so hard to instill this in me. While I still do not hit the ball perfect every time, I am very aware of my mistakes with my swing that caused the issues with the flight of the ball. It is great to see those right barrel risers though.
