After getting the feel for driving the hip bones down and into what feels like your toes, I am starting to understand the importance of posture throughout the golf swing. When I do this, I can really feel the control of the backswing by using my core rather than my arms and hands. I can also feel my strong grip maintaining throughout the entire back swing rather than breaking down.
As with any addition to my swing, the first few balls I hit felt weak and powerless. After getting a feel for the flexibility needed in my lower left obliques, I was able to get through the ball.
Today, Patrick added holding the angle off on the downswing. In essence, when I practice the downswing, I should hold the hinge as long as possible even if it keeps the club off the ground through the downswing. I also learned you should feel skinny as you get to the top of the finish. I was pulling with my left shoulder. Instead, you should driver under with your right side and into your right lats while keeping the left shoulder on the target line rather than flying out and to the left.
Over the next few days I have to continue to work on my hips and posture, holding off the hinge throughout the downswing while also keeping my left and right elbows soft (good luck!) and allowing my right side to finish the swing and make my upper body feel skinny with the follow through.
One final touch Patrick added was to use my lower left obliques to finish the top of the backswing. When I get to what I think is the top, I can then stretch and drive with the backside of my left core. This is what gives the torque and a more steep shoulder angle at the top of the backswing. That is something that will take time, but I am not starting to feel the very top of the backswing which is completed with the core and not the arms or hands.
It is going to get very cold over the next few days so there is a good chance I won’t have a lesson with Patrick for a week or so. We will see what happens with the weather.
UPDATE: I am now on lesson #193 and we are still talking about holding off the hinge with the club face staying behind the right pectoral muscle all the way through impact. When practicing this, we still don’t care how high the club is off the ground. The more important part is to keep the club face lagging behind while driving under with the right side.
With every single lesson, it fascinates me just how hard the golf swing is. Those with natural talent are so very lucky.
