Lesson #161 – September 23rd, 2020

Day three of PKU was definitely the most data I have received. Patrick wants me to keep my right hip very firm and stable and allow my left side to drive and pinch into my right hip. I have the habit of allowing it to fall back or pull up with it. He also wants my right elbow to tuck inside and stay inside my shoulder after the club reaches around my hip. This is extremely difficult for me as I still want to pull with my right elbow which pulls it outside my right shoulder. This is going to be a learning process to keep the right elbow in and the club face on plane. I am used to hooding the club or keeping it closed and keeping it manipulated to get back to the ball. Now, it feels like the club face is wide open all the to the top and definitely open as we transition to the downswing.

Today was the first day of intense downswing work. After getting to the top of my back swing, I use my right hip to get back to level, then Patrick drives my right lat through the impact zone. The first few times, the club face was wide open as my left elbow was not rolling as the downswing started. After a few of these, I started to notice that I naturally rolled the left elbow and the club was getting closer to square.

We really worked hard to get the right lat driving through impact. There was little to no focus on the arms or hands or what they are going to do. It is hard for me to just sit back and allow all things to fall into place as I have always manipulated the club with my hands.

Today I realized why Patrick wants to spend two days on the backswing and two days on the downswing and then blend them on Friday. When we are working on the downswing I noticed I was not getting as deep in my backswing. He said this is everyone and it is a balance that he has to keep to make certain his students continue to get depth but also drive through impact. What a challenge.

Let’s see if I can keep that right elbow in, continue to turn and then drive all the way through impact.

UPDATE: I am now over 260 lessons in and it is late April 2021. I am now allowing my left elbow to roll in much more naturally now after working on it for months. It is crazy how much I have learned and how far my body as come to create a very good golf swing. I am now working on speed at impact for the first time ever with the impact bag. Things are starting to get very enjoyable after years of hard work.

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