After basically shanking the ball my previous lesson, I was a little concerned with this lesson. As is usually the case, a fresh mind and few swing thoughts made me hit the ball much better. Patrick continues to work on getting depth in the second step of my backswing. I go a little too fast and he has to hold my left arm which will allow my left side to drive the backswing. I am starting to get the feel of the right side pulling in as soon as possible in the backswing. I was allowing my right side to be fat which caused my circle to be more of an oval. If I can pull with my right lower obliques and then with my right lat at the top of the backswing, I feel the circle better.
Patrick was very pleased with my backswing and I started to hit the ball extremely well. My nephew Jacob texted me and asked if I wanted to play some holes at Knight’s Play. It ended up working perfectly.
After the lesson, I played 18 holes with Jacob. I am hitting the ball dead straight but lacking distance. Patrick said my lack of distance is because I get short on my backswing when I am aiming at the pin or actually playing. This is something I will have to work on while he watches me play at Knight’s Play.
Overall, it was fun to get out there with Jacob and play 18 holes. No birdies, but a bunch of pars and some really good iron shots.
UPDATE: These were the good old days when I was starting to understand depth on the backswing but was really only getting a half backswing. It makes me wonder just how short my backswing was when I started with Patrick. There really wasn’t a backswing at all. Now, in March 2021, I have more depth than ever and I am starting to actually hit my irons a decent distance. Now, if I can just keep that right crease while driving under with the left upper thoracic.
