Today was the first day of a new mindset for me. I have attempted to stop obsessing and I have zero weight in terms of having to play in tournaments or get back to Hasentree or Hope Valley. Now that I have cancelled my memberships, we can go as slow as I want. And, as was expected, when I did this, I would start to hit the ball better.
Patrick and I talked about my trip to the UNC Finley range on Saturday in which I went as slow as possible yet still hit a handful of shanks. I told him I didn’t feel my left side turning around and going back behind me. He said, “that’s ok”.
We did our normal stretches and then he told me to grade my chips. He explained that my heavy chips are because I stop my core and use my hands right before impact. This was important knowledge to have. Then, he told me to hit some balls, so it was time to test it.
I went as slow as possible on the backswing. I got into my crease by using as little of my hands as possible. I then continued slowly through the take away. Then, Patrick said, “turn, turn, turn” which I did and I hit the ball great. What I was missing was turning my upper thoracic back behind me. I wanted to stay on the target line the entire way back. Patrick explained that once I cover the ball on my backswing, I then need to “turn, turn, turn”. I am not going to analyze this at all. I am going to allow him to say it to me until it becomes second nature when I should do it.
By the time I hit my last ball it was a 10 out of 10. Patrick wanted me to grade my backswing and then my transition. The final was a 10 and a 10. It is crazy to think my mind was so jumbled and I went down rabbit holes when all I had to do was go super slow on the take away and allow Patrick to tell me when to “turn, turn, turn”.
I am not getting overly excited as when I do that I make mistakes. I am going to take this lesson, digest it and start the building blocks of mental strength. The next lesson will be fun as Patrick has learned how to get me to go slow and tell me when to turn.
I still have a tremendous amount of work to do on getting my upper body to cover the ball on the downswing but that is Patrick’s job over the next few weeks. No practicing again until Patrick is watching me.
