I was very frustrated coming into this lesson as I had played with my nephew Jacob on Sunday at Knight’s Play and couldn’t miss. I even hit a 6 iron about 180 yards with tremendous spin. So much it ruined one of their greens. Then I went out to Hope Valley on Monday and I hit the ball left of left all day. Every single club was 20 to 30 yards left with my driver being completely unplayable. Ugh. Why?!
Patrick asked me to hit a few and told me that everything is fine, it is just my transition that is extremely fast. If level is a 5, I was at an 8 or 9 with every swing. There is no way I was going to be able to hit the ball well unless I slowed down. We talked about allowing the club to get to the top and then using the right obliques to start the downswing.
He did some practice exercises with me and held the club and my hands at the top of the backswing. He told me to start my downswing as he was holding my club. This gave me the feel of actually allowing my right side to start the downswing rather than jerking across with my shoulders. If I can start the downswing with my right side and keep my shoulders back it feels as if my right side wants to “drive” the ball through impact.
After about five or ten practice swings, I started to realize just how fast I was going. The only way to lag the club is to slow down tremendously and allow the club to get to the top of the backswing, pause, then transition. I know there will be plenty of times I get on the course and I go too fast, but at least now I know what is causing the extremely left shots.
Mikaila had her 4th lesson today and she is getting better and better with a deeper turn. She really never gets stressed with the golf swing as she is just happy to be out there with me. I need to put that in my mindset at one point. I envy her ability to just not care the way that I do.
UPDATE: Ohh, the days of hitting it left of left. Well, I am now 153 lessons in and this is still my miss when I get fast. One day I will have some patience and rhythm but it is going to take time. I am officially tow years int the process and I still struggle to slow down and have a smooth transition. Part of this was I have always pulled with my right side to the top of the swing which makes it very hard to control the speed of the transition. We are working on it though!
This content is supported by Charlotte NC Orthodontist Dr Chad Johnson.
