It is always darkest before dawn. How fitting. After a horrendous 9 holes yesterday, I focused on the drill with my right hand under my left hand and then turning to the top of the backswing. With a smooth hinge of the wrist after take away and getting a deep shoulder turn, I then understand the importance of the right side being soft on the downswing. On the downswing, I feel the weight of the club cause my left elbow to fold in and allow my body to get the club back on plane. There is some cleaning up I need to do, but this exercise gets me back to impact at the Patrick Kelley chipping motion.
I am going to do 10 an hour for the foreseeable future as this takes the right hand out of the golf swing and allows my left side to get soft on the transition and into the downswing. I know it will take many, many reps and practices to get this, but I now have the mental picture of what the golf swing is.
Patrick cleaned it up a little bit by putting my thumb on the top of the grip so my left hand could support the club after the hinge at the top of the deep backswing. He then moved my right hand even further under the left which will be a stretch for me to practice on. On the downswing, I should feel the tension only on my wrists and nowhere in my body. As I approach impact it will feel like my left shoulder and left hip are going down and the right shoulder and right hip are actually higher. I know this isn’t the case, but it is the feel. This is covering the golf ball.
After impact, I keep my arms soft, keep my right hand under my left wrist and use my right lat to get all the way through. Patrick added holding my head back while doing this but that will be a finishing touch I will have to work on once I get to the ball. Getting to the ball is amazing, getting through the ball is elite.
I did really good in my lesson as I knew when my shoulder turn got short, I had a check mark swing. When I got great depth, I could feel the hinge, right side being soft and the driving to the ball. I hit some really good shots. Patrick mentioned that now we are going to have to work on rhythm and polishing the swing.
I cannot explain how much relief I feel right now. There was nothing more frustrating than not understanding what Patrick was trying to get my body to do. He could put me in the positions, but I couldn’t get there myself. I still had too much right hand and right arm and way too much tension on the left side on the downswing. Right hand and right arm on the backswing and left side tension on the downswing is a recipe for disaster. Sadly, this is almost every amateur in America.
Now it is time to go to Vegas for the weekend with Dani and Carrie.
