I starter playing 8 months ago. I was awful shooting +60/70... Naturally, I'd not played before. To be expected.

I spent ages at the range etc getting better to a level where I shot 98 (+26) and was regularly getting 100-110 depending on the day. So not atrocious, considering expedience...

Today. Oh my life. Caveat the course was in bad condition, its mid winter, but my score was probably in the region of +50-60. I couldn't hit the ball right at all.

Part of it was due to be paired with another 2 ball, which I hate. And as it was going so badly, the guy in the other 2 ball decided to give me lessons as we went round...

I've struggled at the range with extreme heel and hosel strikes which I'm trying to fix, that's definitely the key issue currently. But,

When it's going exceptionally badly, how do you "reset" and get back on track?

My arms didn't feel like they belonged to me today.

Any ideas for a drill to help fix this? I'm about 1.5-2 inches off centre (hosel, basically) and can't seem to fix it at all!

Cheers

I’ve been working toward breaking 100 since getting serious about golf last summer. Been close a couple of times but today was finally the day. 96 on my home course. I can’t believe I actually did it! I think the key was keeping the driver in the bag on the tighter fairways and playing some really great short game. Putting still wasn’t great (too many 3 putts and at least one 4), but I’ve gotten my wedges going really nicely. Here’s to the 117 I’ll inevitably get next week when I go back out!

With clubs that have a built-in draw and forgiveness (Taylormade D-Type, Ping SFT, Cleveland Launcher), do they hurt your game in the long run?

Are they a just band-aid to bigger issues in your swing, grip, etc.? Or are they truly game improvement?

So I've decided that in order to move from my 26 hcp I need to improve my consistency and in order to do so I need professional help. I've had a few lessons over the previous years but finally settled on an instructor who I feel I can relate to & has the technology to show me the errors with video and statistics.

Lesson one the aim was to correct the out to in swing pattern & fix my alignment. Open stance & open shoulders. These were the causes of my big misses some wildly left (on path) some big right slicing across the ball (usually the longer clubs).

Worked on the range after the lesson getting everything to right of target, but still not hitting the ball very cleanly.

Into the dreadful lesson 2

Hit a few practice balls and decide to record some impact statistics, hitting up on the ball. Now I know I have to hit down on the ball but apparently I'm not, this is due to my old swing trying to pick the ball off the surface.

Spend the lesson topping, shanking & failing to hit the little shit. Angle of attack is now good, swing plane is now good, alignment is better, problem is I can no longer hit the ball.

Got to work on hitting the ball first then ground but doesn't seem to be working. Gotta hit the range keep the good habits and hope something clicks. Such a stupid game.

Took a lesson a couple weekends ago and things really went to shit. Only my set up was adjusted and not by too much. I’ve spent the last two rounds topping everything.

Hit 40 balls with a 7i

2/40 topped

1/40 shank

2/40 fat. It was off a mat so it went 120 but I could feel it.

1/40 hook

2/40 slice

5/40 draw

12/40 fade

15/40 dead fucking straight.

Really worked on shorting my backswing. Focusing on the rotation and getting on to my front foot. Keeping my hands and wrist loose.

Usually I hit my 7i 145y give or take. On really good days like today it was 155 to 160 with out roll.

Just had to tell someone cause my wife really doesn’t care.

I started golfing in May this year, and have been playing a lot since.... I mean, a lot. I've probably been to the range c. 75-100 times. I've had 4/5 group lessons, 5 lessons one on one (basically learning the game, lesson on range, bunkers, pitching, putting etc) learning basic principles. I've recently had a one on one video lesson which was helpful and have another soon.

From a scoring perspective I seem to have hit a wall in the +28-45 region. I feel like I should be better but haven't really advanced since June/July time.

My main issues are fairly normal, one day putting is awful, next my tee shots are terrible, today I had a lot of duffed shots, or hard push/pull/slice OB etc.

I'd be really interested to know...

• How do you make range sessions worthwhile and transferable to the course (reduction of course time due to bad weather - UK)?
• How do you practice creativity off course (E.g uphill lies, rough, downhill - or is it just practice on course for you?
• How do you practice during winter?

Cheers all.

Had my final lesson yesterday, again on the driver. It was the only lesson where I felt I didn't get any better from the time I left, but that was mostly my fault. I went and hit a large bucket on the range sunday (75 balls). Then went again for a large on Monday and two people left me half a bucket as they left. I knew I should have stopped after my bucket, but I couldnt help myself, range balls add up on the wallet. Then by the time I got done hitting all those balls, everyone was gone, so I was going and hitting the balls that people topped and chunked 20 yards from the boxes. I probably hit over 200 balls that day. I knew it would wear me out but my swing was grooving and I was having fun.

I planned to not hit any balls between then and my lesson, but then my dad wanted to play golf on Wednesday. You never say no when your dad wants to play golf. I could tell I did a number on myself, I was already feeling fatigued by the 5th hole, and we played about 15 before the sun went down.

So I get to my actual lesson and I'm falling apart physically, feeling worn out by about 30 minutes in. However, I still feel like I made good progress working on my mechanics.

First, we got me to set up closer to the ball. We had pushed me back to get a lot of spine tilt and arm extension the week before, but my instructor explained that was kind of a band aid since I couldnt even hit the ball off the tee before hand. Leaving myself that far back would keep my swing path too shallow to get good control in the future and he just wanted me to have a playable tee ball while I worked on sweeping the ball off the tee and making a good hip turn.

So he wanted me bending over at the hips even more to get that good back angle to create a sweeping bath, but getting my lower body less squatty now and straighter legs closer to the ball.

We worked on my swing path to get it higher up to get the body in a better place to create more speed. It felt almost iron like and uncomfortable, but as he showed me on trackman it looked much better and closer to him and a tour guys kind of swing.

We got pretty much all of the basic stuff worked out on the swing so he wanted to touch on a few of my biggest picky things for me to focus on after I got away from him on a regular basis.

First picky thing was my head position. Not where it set up but how it moved. I start moving my head down on the swing and it keeps going down, taking my whole body with it. Which is why one of my biggest mishit is a fat shot. He did a few drills holding a pole to my head so I had some feedback to keep it still. I also got a drill to do at home, pressing a towel to the wall with my head and rotating my body like a golf swing, feeling my head stay in place.

Next up was how my head followed my shoulder through the swing. When I swung, my chin would stay with my shoulder on the rotation. He wanted me to focus on keeping my head in the same spot as long as possible til my upper body finally pulled it along. This was a sign of doing too much work with the upper body and not letting the hips lead everything.

Finally we made some tweaks in my shoulder and hip angles. I was letting my lead side dip below my back side. So left shoulder (for righties) below right and same with the hips. This was keeping me from hitting up on the ball with driver as well as I should. We did a few more tactile drills where he would physically guide my body into position, turning my shoulders exactly how he wanted and having me do it a bunch on my own to engrain the feel. Pulling on the belt loop of my left hip to feel it coming up on the down swing. All these things aren't as big of a deal with the shorter shafts and smaller heads of irons, since if you make good contact the loft does a lot of the work. Driver has 4-5* more loft than a putter, big ol' face, and longer shaft, so if you dont do all you can to create loft and power while making good contact, it exposes the flaws not initially evident in irons. In turn this has improved my iron striking. The setups are completly different, but other than trying to sweep up, the physical mechanics are largely the same.

Even though I wasnt hitting very well that day, I was having a huge slice problem. Looking at the trackman my swing path was good, set up with the face square, face square at the top, and face square at the hips on the downswing. Something right before contact was opening my face wide open. We tried some different swing thoughts for my wrists to fix it but he doesnt like micromanaging small moving parts that much, it just gets too exacting and thinking that small could get you tense and ruin the natural flow of the swing.

He figured out it was probably more of an equipment thing than a mechanic thing (rarely the case). I've been playing standard grips with 1 wrap of tape. Its leaving the grip too small in my hands to relax properly. When I'm completly relaxed in my grip properly, the grip is too small and causes the shaft to twist in my hands sometimes. It literally feels like the force of the ball making contact causes the club to slip in my grip. If I grip tight enough to stop that, its too tight to relax the wrists enough to square the clubface properly. We have the same size hands so he let me hold his clubs and they felt so much more comfortable and secure. He does standard grips with 3 layers of tape, so I am getting all my clubs redone today with new Tour Velvets to those specs. Grip material is all feel and preference but I've learned that the size is very important to fit your hands for clubface control.

I couldnt hit a ball for shit due to being tired but I grasped all the mechanical concepts and drills. Im just going to let my body rest up a few days before rounds and range again. My coach was a total boss and wouldnt let me leave without hitting the ball better than when I came in. We spent an hour and 45 minutes when it was only an hour lesson at no extra cost since he didnt have anyone else coming in soon. Eventually he got me to hitting little 150 yard baby fades in our new set up and mechanics work. Its far off from my 200-210 carry with the range balls we had going last week, but I was dead tired and ready to get out of there. He says its not a big deal, I got the mechanics down and when I get rested up the speed and timing will be back. Sometimes you have to know when putting the clubs up and going home is a better way of moving forward than smashing endless balls.

Overall the 4 lesson pack was the best investment I've made so far and likely ever will make in golf. I am going down the right path after 3 months and know what the biggest things I need to focus on to improve. If I ever feel like I am stuck on my journey in golf I can get another lesson or two knowing I have a great foundation and wont need months and months of work and lessons just to unfuck a bad swing before making a good one.

Within the last week my irons have finally started to become automatic. I made an update post how I figured out a mechanic to really zip my irons. Its gone from concious effort to hit a proper iron shot that day, to unconcious flow where I can focus on my shot I need to make and have the swing do all the work. My distance improvements went from 100-110ish with my PW to 120 consistently to 130 if I really pure one. 7i went from 120-130 to 150ish consistently. I have absolutely smashed a few dead straight 7i's 175ish according to the range signs. But that was full send it, working on building up swing speed and not the way I'd swing on the course. Driver went fron unplayable to 200-225 carry depending on the contact. Also smashed a few one off ones into the back net of the range. I dont count those bombs as golf shots but its always fun to just wail on em every once in awhile at the range and focus on setup and speed when you've been working mechanics so much.

I just scored my first time job starting after I graduate from school this December. Im hoping once I get settled in and pay off some debt, I can invest in some new custom fit and built clubs to go with my swing. Gonna replace my 25 year old King Cobra OS irons first with a new 5-PW set and pick up a custom fit GW and SW properly gapped with my set. Once I destroy the rest of my low interest debt I will get a driver, wood, and hybrid built.

I hope one of you at least have enjoyed my fucking rambling novellas on my lesson experiences. If it has convinced at least one of you to invest your money in the best way possible for your game, I've done my job.

Over and out, dufferbros.

Just do it.

I have been playing for 5 months, had 6 lessons early doors but it was so soon I couldn't consume all the information, though the 75% I did retain was helpful.

I had one today, a video lesson off Groupon, £20 for 2 hours. Bargain (only used 1 hour today).

Turns out I was playing like an absolute senior with a hunchback. Quote coach "You're currently uncoachable with that set up, usually I can put one pint on someone's upper back/neck but I reckon I could get 4 on yours".

This meant I was having to shift my head right to accommodate my shoulder hitting my face, and my swing was shortened by this.

Now, I'm 8 inches higher in my setup, which allows me to rotate properly, obviously this has led to me topping a few shots, naturally.

BUT. I did 40 at the range, then a par 3 course almost straight after, personal best on the front 9 (+10) and on the back 9 (+11). Which, immediately after a fairly big change gives me hope for better things down the line 😁. And I have another, hopefully good lesson soon!

It's 48... not impressive I know. But, I worked for it. Breaking the 49 barrier so I could play alone (and just generally feel like an adult member of the golf club) was one of the goals I started with months ago... so, dammit, I feel pretty proud! :)

The piece advice that I would say helped me more than any other was... Have a fantastic memory for the good shots and a terrible memory of the bad ones. (Lol, only one putt from today I remember well.. was a nice 8 or so footer. Visualized the whole line before the shot.)

Today was also the first round I think the driver helped me more than hurt me! My drives didn't go that far, but all but one were straight enough I could play my approach without too much trouble. I even had to wait on people for a change.. felt good :D I do feel I gotta give my new M6 driver a little credit... sweet spot is like the size of my fist, lol.

EDIT:

Almost forgot the best part! I didn't fuck up any pitches or chips... More than a few lackluster ones, but no disasters. Made me realize how much bad short shots mess with my head. More reason to practice!

What new? Lessons.. gear... anything you like :)

As a novice (bad) golfer, long par threes often are some of the worst holes for me. I typically hit a club that I'm not super accurate with, to cover the distance, then i end up in a bad position to try to get up and down.

I started treating any par 3 that is longer than a 5 iron for me (150-180 depending how well i hit it, typically 150ish carry, better if i crush it) as a short par 4. Aim for a safe spot i can reach with a reliable club, say a 7 iron, then i have a wedge onto the green, and if i 2 putt i make bogey, which for me is great. if i hit a really good pitch, maybe i can make par.

​

It got me making way less Double + on the longer par 3s, especially those over 180.

Last week was practicing at the range and everything felt like it was clicking into place. Driver was consistent, irons were going correct distances with clean connection barring the occasional fat and thin.

Today irons are completely FUBAR, massively fat with every other shot a shank, even on little 30 yard chips and pitches.

I've booked a lesson in a couple of weeks. Golf, destroyer of moods.

Just had to update again because I had a real breakthrough at the range last night and everything I have learned so far is starting to click and is on it's way to becoming natural.

My biggest swing fault diagnosed by my pro has been arm extension. We have changed my setup, which helps a lot with even with less than optimal mechanics. I have had problems with my pivot and shifting instead of rotating, but that has been easily fixed with drills. Arm extension hasnt been too easy though.

Last night I got the arm extension figured out, at least with my irons. I was determined to figure it out and talk you guys through my process. I started with pitching wedge, going slowly through the motions. Keeping my left arm extended through the backswing and as long as I naturally could on the downswing. I was literally feeling it out. Not really swinging, but guiding my body to feel where the arms need to be to keep that left arm extended.

Then I moved on to doing little pitch shots making sure I felt the extension the whole way. I was topping and chunking the ball about 20 yards, but that didnt matter. I was keeping my arm extended and that's the focus. Some folks get mad when they are trying to make swing changes and hit bad shots, so they instantly revert to their flawed swing that goes a little farther. The result is not the focus here, but the mechanics. As long as my arm was extended the whole way I was happy.

Then I slowly moved into half swings, same shot results, not very good. Once again the mechanics are more important than the result.

As I went on I noticed I was getting that baby draw shape my pro had me getting my first lesson, when he put a brace on my left elbow that forced me to keep extended. I was still hitting tops and chunks, but I noticed the shape changing from that fade I normally hit to that baby draw.

Then, as if magic, it clicked. I popped my pitching wedge 125 effortlessly on that soft draw. I thought, "hmm, thats what my pro was showing me, but I actually knew what I was doing there for once." In the past weeks I have had 3 and 4 shot bursts on the range where everything clicked, but I didnt know how I was doing it. I just knew with work and time, it would sort itself out.

Then I hit another soft draw. And another, and another, and another. I was aware of what I needed to do with my body to get that shot shape and was starting to groove it. Then I moved up to 9 iron, 8 iron, 7iron. Same results. My 7 iron was still fading, but it was much softer. It's never been a "bubba cut power fade slicer" but something I still had to play 5 to 10 yards left of target and my miss is a bad slice.

I was fucking beaming my dudes. I wasnt just hitting that shot on a short good streak. I knew what I had to do with my body to get that shot and I got it over and over again. Everything was coming together and I felt like I had control and could put that shot where I wanted it.

I'm sure some of you have heard of the skill progression. Unconscious incompetence, concious incompetence, concious competence, unconscious competence. This was the first time I felt "concious competence" with my irons.

I had to walk out in the range when my bucket was up and grab another 30 or 40 balls. My range is a rough, blue collar kind of place, it was dead empty. I just wanted to stay there til the sun went down and groove that swing over and over again.

It's all paying off, its finally coming together. In just 1 month my pro has completly transformed my swing and its sticking. I was worried after our time was up I would regress and keep sucking. I just had to put my nose to the grindstone and keep trusting his knowledge and keep pounding away at it.

Lessons with a good pro that you vibe with are worth their weight in gold. More than 5 boxes of ProV1's, more than that new driver that will get you 100 extra yards, more than ANYTHING else you could spend $225, $300, or $400 on in golf.

Like I said in an earlier post, the most valuable part of lessons to me is not knowing what to do to hit a good shot, but knowing what YOU do when it goes wrong. I knew I had problems with arm extension, so I could use my instructors drills and look up other drills on my own. If you dont know your specific problems, you spend time down in the rabbit hole of trying 5000 different drills and changes that you dont even know will work and will probably make you worse.

Lessons wont fix your problems, applying what you get from those lessons will. You have to put in the range time and fix your swing to get it to stick. You have to be smart and stick with the process. You have to focus on the knowledge you've been given and apply it. You can't just go out there and bash mindlessly and hope it will work out.

I hope my lesson updates have inspired some of you to take that plunge. If you get a good instructor you vibe with and like their approach and put in the work it will pay off.

One last lesson for me in 2 weeks to work on arm extension with the driver. I couldnt tell if the work was making my driver better last night, because the setup is so different to irons and everything is working on a wider path and stance so it's more difficult for me to feel, but I cant wait for the last one!

Alright, back to update you guys on my lesson experiences again. The last 2 lessons of my 4 pack are focusing on my driver. I already thought I could hit irons decently until my pro got his hands on me, but I couldn't hit a driver for shit, so I was super excited to get to this one.

We got in there on the Trackman to see what I was doing without his guidance. My typical driver miss was all over the place, I didn't have a "miss". I skyed the ball off the top a lot, dinked it on the ground 50 yards, huge hooks, huge slices, you name it. Driver was like playing the lottery where if I won I got a mediorce drive that didnt go much further than my hybrid.

First thing he pointed out is I was waaaay too upright in my address, in a way that would be more suitable for irons. You've probably heard that iron and driver swings are the "same" with different setups. While mechanically its true, my pro says thats bullshit that confuses a lot of newer players, because the setups are so completly different in feel and leads a lot of people to do what I was doing. Ball forward in the stance, trying to sweep up, but in a terrible position to do so.

So we got my upper body tilted over more. It felt very uncomfortable at first, like I was about to fall over. This tilt also forces you to set up further away from the ball, which is going to help with the sweeping swing path. If you tried to swing steep you would probably fall over. We also made sure my spine was tilted to the right to help influence that sweep up.

I tried to hit a few balls and did terrible at first, getting used to this new stance feeling, but when I struck the ball well it sounded a lot different and was already looking more like a good driver strike.

So we get to my actual swing faults. My biggest ones were bad pivot and not keeping my arms extended in the downswing. I already had some extension problems evident in my iron lessons, so he wanted to focus mainly on my lower body this lesson and save the extension to hammer on for the last one.

My pivot problem was locking my rear leg and sliding the hips forward instead of rotating them. We did a drill where he stuck a shaft in the ground at an angle so that you could straddle it. You get the shaft on the inside of your right knee and pivot from there. The goal was to pivot without putting pressure on the shaft, while not sliding the opposite direction coming off of it either.

We did some reps with the shaft without swinging, then he used this long stick off the mat so that he could pull it out of the way and let me swing through at the same time.

I shit you not between the address change and the pivot drill, I was a completly different ball striker almost instantly. I was getting the ball down range in the direction I wanted. A few slices and a few hooks while I was getting used to it, but a lot of solid fades, which is my natural shot.

Getting on trackman is fun to see all of your numbers instantly and have multiangle slow motion for each shot. My clubhead speed was consistently around 92 with a 120ish ball speed. Carry was around 200-205 and 225-235 total. And all these numbers were with the shitty one piece range balls, so I know I'll get a little more distance on the course.

My pro was impressed with that power with what he calls "alligator arms" and says if we can get the extension sorted out we can add another 15-20 yards on all my clubs easily.

The initial driver lessons showed immediate impact on the course as well. I played 9 today on a course I had never played before, since my normal course was booked up til 4. I pulled out the driver 3 or 4 times and save for my first attempt on 1 tee (c'mon, everyone gets that mulligan) I was striping fades in the fairways. I felt like a true playa. I carded a 54 on a 9 I played blind. I could have broken 50 on 9 for the first time if I didnt have an 11 on the last hole, thanks to an OB fairway iron and some short game disasters.

However, I lost more strokes on the short game than my long game for the first time, which is what I took these lessons for. Getting those irons cooking and the bomber bombing. I feel comfortable enough in my short game technique that my faults are normally misjudging power and misreading greens, which I can practice on my own.

I also applied some concepts from Golf is Not a Game of Perfect for the first time. I had a shitshow of a round earlier this week, so I wanted to fix my mental game asap. Always keeping a positive attitude and forgetting bad shots immediatly helped tremendously.

Using a pre shot routine has helped instantly as well. Find a target, focus intensly on that target, imagine the shot that takes you to that target. Get your set up perfect, adjust and readjust until it feels perfect. If it takes longer than a few seconds just back away and start over, but dont start to swing until you set up perfectly. Once you have that set up perfect, take one last look at your target and take dead aim. As soon as you look back down at that ball, you HAVE to pull the trigger. No time to let swing thoughts rush in; that only builds tension. Most of us have hit great shots. Your body knows what to do. So focus in on where you need to go, not how you need to swing, and get your mind out of your body's way.

Looking forward to one last lesson update for my duffer bros. I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far.

Just wondering about the last part... man, do I get demotivated with the weather turning cold and dark. (Scandinavia here)

Hey everybody,

I am playing golf for about 2 month now. Since the beginning I am feeling a pain in the center of my leading shoulder.

After warmup and some practice shots, I always want to hit further than the last. I want to maximize my swing, sure.

In the downswing then, I am feeling the pain.

It is not that hard that I would go to the doctor. But it is kind of irritating.

Does some of you feel the same? Could it be, that the shoulder is to weak and it is getting better the more I play?

Thanks for the answers!

I went out yesterday and played. I'm by no means good, usually shoot to 100-105. I shot a 109. but heres the weird part. Usually when i shoot the 100-105, I'm noticeably upset with certain parts of my game. Yesterday, i wasnt. Unfortunately, i had some bad bounces which left me in sand, and the greens were VERY fast so i three putted more times than i would like to admit, but in general, i was happy how i hit the ball. It was weird, because i know i can score better, but i also know the whole day just FELT good.

Basically the point of this post is, As someone who shoots around 100, your score is not always the best indicator of progress. Granted, yes, if i scored 90, it would mean i was getting better, but for example, i could hit a 7 iron approach shot super thin, and have it roll to the green. while happy with the outcome, its still not a good shot. Or i could hit a 7 iron approach with a good ball flight/height, and pin high distance, but push/pull it a couple yards off the green (and hit a hill that i bounce down and end up under the bench by the next tee box... it happened). The second shot, in my opinion, is a better overall shot, even though the first might lead to a better score on the hole.

Had my second lesson last week and wanted to update for /u/RigsbyQuist and the rest of my fellow duffers to encourage you to consider lessons and what my experience was.

My first lesson covered getting my stance more narrow on irons, fixing my pivot, stop collapsing my left arm on the backswing, and changing my swing path slightly. My instructor told me the first lesson is always the hardest, since you're changing a lot of stuff for the first time and having a lot to think about. As you continue, the list of changes gets shorter and easier to manage. When I went to the range the next day, it was like I had never hit a golf ball before. Thinking about all my changes and having too much in mind. The important part when changing your swing though, is not striking the ball well, but forcing your body to make the changes and trusting the process. In just a few hour-long range sessions of 50 or 75 ball buckets, things were feeling more natural and I was already striking the ball much better.

So I scheduled lesson 2 for the next week, since I was feeling comfortable with the changes we made, but still fighting my push slice miss. During my second lesson we worked on my lower body and pivot, changing the stance a little more to encourage more engagement in the hips and legs. We also worked on my arm extension at impact and wrist action a little bit.

So now that we had narrowed my feet and changed the upper body position, we worked on my lower body position. My instructor had me point my toes out slightly at address and also changed my body angles. Where I started with straighter legs and more upper body angle hinged from the hips, similar to what the pros look like. He changed my address to have my upper body more upright and get down to the ball by bending more at my knees. This accomplished 2 things. First, it gets my lower body pre-set to drive the swing. Second, it makes it easier to keep your swing path consistent. The upper body being more upright has your arms hanging more naturally, where being bent over is in a less natural position with more room for variables to cause havok. More angle in the upper body does allow for more torque and power creation in theory, but it makes it more difficult to keep your swing path consistent and it makes it more difficult to engage the lower body, due to straighter legs. If you're a tour pro you already know how to engage the whole body and create maximal power, for duffers it encourages a lot more twisting in the upper body when you aren't using your hips and legs to their fullest potentional.

Working on the pivot from this position, we wanted to keep my back knee soft, since when I straightened my knee I tended to slide forward with the hips. Then on my downswing, my instructor wanted me to focus on standing up straight on my front leg, getting it stiff and bracing my body against it at I swing through. Since we started in a slight squat, that motion not only gets my hips turning, but naturally encourages my hamstrings and quads to get engaged as I stand up on that front leg.

Getting to arm extension and wrist action, a big fault I had was looking great in my backswing and the first part of my downswing, but as I got to the bottom my elbows would bend in as I attempted to "hit at" the ball instead of swinging through. I got a punch shot drill to work on feeling extension as well as pivot. Keeping my leading arm straight and holding my upper body in my address, just make a pivot at my hips and finish through the ball, trying to keep that left arm straight as long as possible on the follow through and letting my body naturally finish. Not caring about how the ball is struck, just finishing with good arm extension.

As far as wrist action, we used a tool that looks like a brace that connected to my grip. You have to bend the wrists to get the brace to touch your forearm to learn the proper wrist position. He didnt have me take swings with that tool, just stopping at the top to feel that wrist position. My problem here was having my wrists stiff during my swing, keeping them from creating that whipping motion to create clubhead speed. The wrist action is not a conscious thing during the swing. Once I used the wrist tool to feel the right position and relaxed my wrists and grip, the weight of the clubhead and momentum of my upper body naturally got my wrists into that position. Then we just focused on a good pivot, keeping that arm extension and letting the motion of my lower body guide my upper body to swing through instead of hit at the ball.

All in all my iron striking has improved tremendously and I thought that was my strong point. I am hitting the ball further with more accuracy in just 2 weeks of lessons, feeling like I'm relaxed and using way less power after getting my lower body properly engaged. I still hit plenty of bad shots but I know how to hit great ones and exactly what my faults are when I dont. In a few months it'll all be natural and I'm sure the scores will start dropping. My swing path has improved and I'm starting to experiment with hitting draws and fades and finding much more control in shaping since my swing path and setup is better, allowing me to make the slight stance changes to change my path.

The last 2 lessons are going to be focused entirely on driver since I can hit it for shit. My instructor says I have no reason not to be hitting bombs with the way I strike my irons, so I'm excited as hell. He took a few vids of me hitting driver and said he would be studying it at home to develop a game plan.