With it being the second week of April, Patrick got a little more aggressive today. Now that I understand that the top of the backswing sets the angle with the right hand holding the “platter” and the right elbow facing down or even in towards the armpit (if possible), it is time to actually start going after the ball and hitting it.
Patrick started by getting me a bit deeper in the backswing to the point in which the club feels like it is going towards second base again. This time, I have to keep my right elbow down and in as I continue to the top of the backswing. At this point, I am to remain very passive with my shoulders and slowly sit with my right obliques.
From there, Patrick grabs my right knee and throws it to the inside of my left knee. This causes the right side to drop which is in turn causes the shoulder to drop. As this is happening, I am to keep the angle with my right hand and right elbow while gently rotating my left elbow towards my belly button.
This more aggressive move gets me to the ball with some speed. I have to remember to start the downswing with my right hip and lower right obliques. When I do this, I hit the ball very, very well. I also noticed that the deeper I get into my backswing the less I want to use my arms.
Patrick said that any time I start to hit behind the ball or I feel as if my shoulders or arms are taking over, get deeper into the backswing. The deeper we get into the backswing, the more you want to use your body rather than your arms, hands or shoulders to swing the club.
Patrick took it a step further and showed me what releasing the club is. After he throws my right knee at my left knee and the club gets just about to the ground, my lower right lat pushes towards the ball of my left foot getting my upper body to move forwards and through the ball. If I do this correctly, it is very heavy on my left foot. I have never done this before so it feels quite unusual.
As the right lat gets the upper body over the left foot the arms extent well past impact. The club face should be on the target line, the arms should be extended and the club should be about one foot off the ground. From here, the upper right lat drives the upper body towards the sky towards 10 o’clock if the target is noon.
This is not easy and will take some stretching and exercises as my upper body has never finished through the ball. When you get to the very top, the right hip pushes towards 9 o’clock and the enter upper body turns with the club being over your head.
I did not expect to hit the ball well at all, but I was stripping it each time I had a full backswing and I sat into my right hip to start the swing. If I do this, the arms are very passive and almost feel like jelly.
I still don’t have the finish of the swing and it will likely take months and potentially years. It is amazing to see how Patrick can move two or three things around and I hit the ball well. Every time I move some things around, I hit the ball all over the yard and start to create bad habits.
I am very glad that I am going to him two times a week because if I tried to figure this out on my own, I would be a complete mess. Now I just have to trust what he tells me, follow directions and not try to deviate from the path.
In three weeks I will actually be playing rounds of golf. I am not sure how I feel about that at the
moment.
UPDATE: It is now late July 2020, I am 144 lessons in and I am still working on allowing my right lat to drive through impact. For my entire golf career I pulled the club through impact and especially after impact. Not only did I do that, I used my right leg to try to drive my body to create power. This is a slicers paradise. It has taken two full years to take most of my legs out of the swing and get flexible enough to get a full backswing and down and through impact.
It is fun to see where I was 100 lessons ago as I have learned so much in that amount of time. While having strong legs can help stabilize and created a powerful golf swing, the legs do not drive to create power. This was very hard for me to learn. When learning the correct golf swing, don’t give up.
