Well, we are finally starting to make some progress. After practicing with my arms outstretched and turning, I realized that I needed more torque or leverage with my shoulders. If I can feel as if my right shoulder is outside my left shoulder (I know it is not) at the top, then I can start the downswing with the inside of my right heel and come into the ball correctly. The way in which I felt this was to make certain I did not lose my spine angle on the way back. It feels like my face is moving towards the ball and ground as I get to the top of the backswing but that is simply me keeping my spine angle.
Patrick was very glad to see that I finally got the feel of this. Now, I am hitting several inches behind the ball because I am not used to coming from the inside and my head is all over the place. After about 20 minutes of twisting, Patrick said it is now time to focus on where my head is in the golf swing.
While many people focus on the head in the early part of the learning process, Patrick explained that the head is the last thing you should work on. You have to work from the ground up and the head is the furthest away from the ball, therefore it should come last. Well, minus the hands, but those will come very last.
I keep my head in a relatively good place on the backswing but when I start the downswing my head falls back. Patrick said this is because I was an arms swinger before and I used my head to try to get to the ball. Now, I am using my core to get to the ball. Instead of my head falling back, my head should stabilize and it should feel like my head moves forwards as I approach the ball on the downswing.
In fact, Patrick said seeing the ball out of the outside corner of my right eye would be ideal. I was seeing the ball out of the outside corner left eye. For me, it feels like my eyes have to be moving down and to the left as the downswing approaches the ball. After about 30 minutes of working on this, I was starting to get the feel and hitting the ball a bit better.
Patrick told me to think as if the swing stops just after impact. When doing this, I can really feel the release and rotation of the club at and through impact. In a month, we will likely be in a completely different place which is exciting.
Patrick explained it like this. “Once we get this down, we will be able to go full speed without any worries of cops on the road.” It has been a very difficult few weeks, but it will be well worth it in the long run.
UPDATE: Ahhh, it is now October 2020, I am 170 lessons in, and we are still working on my head on the backswing and through impact. It is amazing how hard the golf swing is. When I started this process, I never would have guessed I would be 170 lessons in and still learning much more every single lesson. Today, I am working on getting my entire upper thoracic turned while resisting with my left and hips. This has been a long process of getting much more flexible in my core, shoulders and arms.
