We are now at Knight’s Play for the foreseeable future until something changes with Patrick. Over the last few evenings I have gone to Hope Valley to hit some balls at the range. I was doing a great job of taking away and hinging but then I was way too fast allowing my arms to pull up. My hinge is better because Patrick will stand in front of me and hold the inside of my left elbow which causes my left wrist to hinge and my right elbow to tuck. After this, I go way too fast and lift with my arms.
I can get away with this with my wedges and short irons but when I hit an 8 iron or 7 iron, it is clanky. Patrick told me to slow down on the backswing as I am just getting quick because I am anxious to hit the ball. He did a few practice backswing stretches with me in which we went very slow and worked on a better rhythm. I could feel the slow speed allowing me to turn with my left side while supporting with the inside of my right foot and my right lat.
Patrick really took it a step further at the end by basically pushing my spine towards my chest after the takeaway. It feels like he is pushing up from the bottom of my spine towards my Adam’s apple. This really makes me feel the turn in my upper thoracic. The only way I can do this is if I slow down the step between hinging and allowing my upper thoracic to turn. Patrick wants me to really focus on slowing down the second half of my backswing.
I went to the Hope Valley range on Sunday, July 19th, 2020 and I was working on slowing the transition between the hinge and the turn of the upper thoracic. While it feel jerky, I can now feel my left side driving while my right side supports. It feels like there is a stretch in my lower right hip and lower right obliques. I did a few really good turns and crushed my 9 iron with a right barrel draw. I decided to hit my 8 iron. At impact, the hosel broke and the club face when flying about 120 yards. It was one of the weirdest feelings as I am used to weight going out in front of me and over my head after impact. That club face was about 120 yards down in the driving range. It was nice to see it was about 10 yards right of the target though. That means I am coming from the inside.
UPDATE: Speed on the backswing is so very important. It took me a long, long time to get better rhythm by turning with my body rather than pulling up with my arms. “Everyone is a lifter.” That is so true. Only the true scratch handicap guys can get to the top of the backswing without lifting while also pulling in with their right side. Just 240 quick lessons and you should have it figured out.
