Today was a day in which Patrick pointed out a major flaw in my swing. If the swing is four parts, I do one or two parts and skip the other ones which cause me to compensate on the downswing. Patrick showed me that the take away should get my left hip to where my belly button started. After that, my lower left obliques should drive my upper body off the ball. I do not do this. I try to stay on the ball and spin. Instead, I need steps 1 and 2 to get my upper body behind the ball. Then, once I feel the backswing is three quarters of the way finished I am to do the “turn, turn, turn”. I want to do the “turn, turn, turn” way too early.
When I do this, I have so much more time. I also notice the feel of my right heel coming off the ground with the leverage created with the turn. This is the feel every time Patrick does my turn for me but I never feel it when I am doing it myself; especially when I go to the range.
If I can be patient and get off the ball with my left side before the “turn, turn, turn” there is a completely different feel at the finish of my backswing. It is hard for me because when I do this, there is just a lot of time back to the ball and I want to use my hands or arms.
Patrick also introduced the process of getting my hands and arms inside the target line. After I get to the top of the backswing, I leave my hands and arms away from my body and turn. Patrick moved my hands closer to my right ribs on the first move down on the downswing. He then wants me to keep my arms there while my body turns. By doing a few of these, I understand just how much I still use my arms in the downswing.
On a few of my three quarters swings I could actually feel my arms staying back while I transitioned and approached impact. I know there is still a lot of work to do on my legs, but I am slowly starting to improve the circle of my swing. Once again, not having a country club membership makes it so much easier as I realize I have so very far to go to be able to hit the golf ball correctly.
