Lessons after 15 years

DuckSlice

So I'm heading for my first lesson in 15 years or so today. A bit nervous in case he says my swing is ****e but also excited as he uses trackman and Boditrak.

Wondering what are others experiences with lessons after a long time of going it alone?

GreeBo

etxp wrote: »

So I'm heading for my first lesson in 15 years or so today. A bit nervous in case he says my swing is ****e but also excited as he uses trackman and Boditrak.

Wondering what are others experiences with lessons after a long time of going it alone?

Have you seen your swing on video over the last 15 years?

Thats always fun

DuckSlice

GreeBo wrote: »

Have you seen your swing on video over the last 15 years?

Thats always fun

I have, and I think its ok, slight over the top movement but functional, which is where the fear is coming of what he may or may not fix. time will tell I suppose.

Would love to have a video from years ago to compare.

blue note

I saw my swing for the first time ever last year. I just thought who is this exceedingly attractive absolute hacker of a golfer!?

Lessons are great and the video / trackman are great to illustrate where you're going wrong. And to improve you need to understand that.

Enjoy it. And remember there are no immediate fixes. To improve you'll need to work in a change. That'll probably mean a step back to take two forwards.

elgstring

I have only ever known over the over the top and had a lesson a few weeks back to introduce a draw. Gob smacked by the instant impact, added 10-15 yards on each club which really is a gamechanger for me as I struggled a lot with distance before. Still a lot of work to be done but like you I was nervous beforehand so all I would say is commit to the changes and you'll be fine, I wish I did 4 years ago!

GreeBo

My only lesson advice is to focus on doing what they ask you do to rather than focus on trying to hit it well.

If you keep trying to hit it well as you make swing changes you will just waste your time, depending on your level you should always hit some really ropey shots during a lesson, otherwise you probably arent changing anything. Its supposed to feel awkward and weird when you make a change.

Expect some unmentionables!

copacetic

etxp wrote: »

So I'm heading for my first lesson in 15 years or so today. A bit nervous in case he says my swing is ****e but also excited as he uses trackman and Boditrak.

Wondering what are others experiences with lessons after a long time of going it alone?

Had first lesson ever about a month ago and 1 more since, well worth it as it’s an eye opener someone who sees 10 people a day with same issues, spotting yours straight away.

I’m struggling a bit with the teaching method, I’m video only, whereas find data probably more useful and possibly prefer ‘feeling based’ ideas to directions. I.e feel like you are doing this, to get the result. Rather than just ‘do the result’ if you get me.

Certainly I’m sold on lessons, but looking to probably change teacher to someone more suited to me.

You’ll have to really commit, my worst shots are much worse now as going through the process and have created big two way misses that are hard to play safe with. My best shots now are proper golf shots though, the most surprising is thing is the sound of the really good ones compared to where I was.

DuckSlice

Just back from the lesson, very happy with it. Have a couple of things to be working on now. Which is what I really wanted because I was working on things which I thought I was doing wrong when I was on the range.

On the irons I was doing good things up until half way down on the downswing where my hips were stopping causing me to present too much loft at impact. Was showing 27* at impact. Done a few drills and got that down to 20/22 with the 7 iron. This was then changing my path to slight in to out. Feels a bit strange and I did have a few unmentionables.

On the driver I was hitting slightly down around -1.5/2, couple of swing thoughts to get the attack angle up. Was a much more easier feeling than with the irons. Also the strike was very to the heel so was losing a lot of ball speed. Could feel the difference when hitting up and out of the middle the few I did catch well. Managed to get a few 150 balls speeds so was quite happy. Again had a few ropey shots but not the same as the irons.

Very happy with the lesson and looming forward to working on the tips and drills he gave me.

Loved the way he used trackman and Boditrak to show me the differences and what I was doing wrong.

DuckSlice

Couple of range session in after the lesson and I'm seeing some small improvements. I can do the drill no problem for the irons but finding it difficult to incorporate it into a full swing. Hard to stick at it when you hit a good shot with the new swing feelings and don't see it go as far as my current swing, but have to stick at it for the greater good.

Driver have saw a bit better improvement, but i'm probably practicing too much and get fatigued if that makes sense.

Between working on the two things last night I hit about 150 balls. Should I be reducing the amount of practice or maybe I'm not doing enough?

GreeBo

etxp wrote: »

Couple of range session in after the lesson and I'm seeing some small improvements. I can do the drill no problem for the irons but finding it difficult to incorporate it into a full swing. Hard to stick at it when you hit a good shot with the new swing feelings and don't see it go as far as my current swing, but have to stick at it for the greater good.

Driver have saw a bit better improvement, but i'm probably practicing too much and get fatigued if that makes sense.

Between working on the two things last night I hit about 150 balls. Should I be reducing the amount of practice or maybe I'm not doing enough?

I wouldn't see any issue with hitting 150 balls, but you might need to build up to it to avoid losing form (same as any exercise really!)

What is the drill? Did the Pro give any indication on if you should even try to do it for the full swing? (Some drills such as keeping a glove under your armpit arent really for a full swing)

DuckSlice

GreeBo wrote: »

I wouldn't see any issue with hitting 150 balls, but you might need to build up to it to avoid losing form (same as any exercise really!)

What is the drill? Did the Pro give any indication on if you should even try to do it for the full swing? (Some drills such as keeping a glove under your armpit arent really for a full swing)

Its a fairly simple drill, you put a dot with a marker on the bottom of the clubface and the middle of the clubface and you have to feel the dot in the middle hits the ball before the bottom one. Fairly easy drill, and when you watch a video of me doing it you can see it stops me flipping the club, but when I go full swing I go back to my old habit.

I probably need to build up to it. he said to do the drill for 10 or so shots then start bringing some speed into it. Maybe I shouldn't be doing full swings yet.

More I do the drill with small swings I suppose the easier it will be to get it into full swings.

blue note

etxp wrote: »

Couple of range session in after the lesson and I'm seeing some small improvements. I can do the drill no problem for the irons but finding it difficult to incorporate it into a full swing. Hard to stick at it when you hit a good shot with the new swing feelings and don't see it go as far as my current swing, but have to stick at it for the greater good.

Driver have saw a bit better improvement, but i'm probably practicing too much and get fatigued if that makes sense.

Between working on the two things last night I hit about 150 balls. Should I be reducing the amount of practice or maybe I'm not doing enough?

It's a personal preference on the number of balls. My concentration goes when I hit too many balls and I start ingraining bad habits as opposed to fixing them. So if I'm going to the range I try to hit at most 80 balls, but possibly even just 50 but really making them count. If I'm going for the 80 I'll be working on a couple of different shots.

GreeBo

etxp wrote: »

Its a fairly simple drill, you put a dot with a marker on the bottom of the clubface and the middle of the clubface and you have to feel the dot in the middle hits the ball before the bottom one. Fairly easy drill, and when you watch a video of me doing it you can see it stops me flipping the club, but when I go full swing I go back to my old habit.

I probably need to build up to it. he said to do the drill for 10 or so shots then start bringing some speed into it. Maybe I shouldn't be doing full swings yet.

More I do the drill with small swings I suppose the easier it will be to get it into full swings.

Your full swing might be too long....flipping is frequently caused by over swinging.

Once your shoulders stop turning your backswing is over, if you keep going you are disconnecting your arms and body and bad things happen!

To increase the length of your backswing you need to become more flexible in your back/shoulders, shoving your arms back is "faking" it.

GreeBo

blue note wrote: »

It's a personal preference on the number of balls. My concentration goes when I hit too many balls and I start ingraining bad habits as opposed to fixing them. So if I'm going to the range I try to hit at most 80 balls, but possibly even just 50 but really making them count. If I'm going for the 80 I'll be working on a couple of different shots.

Yeah, you deffo need to avoid just robotically whacking balls for hours.

DuckSlice

GreeBo wrote: »

Your full swing might be too long....flipping is frequently caused by over swinging.

Once your shoulders stop turning your backswing is over, if you keep going you are disconnecting your arms and body and bad things happen!

To increase the length of your backswing you need to become more flexible in your back/shoulders, shoving your arms back is "faking" it.

I defo don't overswing, I have a shorter swing than Rahm

I suppose one step at a time, maybe I'm trying to do too much.

GreeBo

etxp wrote: »

I defo don't overswing, I have a shorter swing than Rahm

I suppose one step at a time, maybe I'm trying to do too much.

Nobody thinks they overswing!

BigChap1759

Seeing my own swing on video just makes me depressed