Lesson #1
April 20th 2019
At address I noticed your right arm looked much more dominant than the left which can cause your shoulders to point left as well as an early release of the golf club, aka fat and thin shots. I drew a line representing your ball position on this particular shot. Just want you to always be mindful of your ball position because that can have a big influence on that kind of shot you’ll hit. On your backswing I noticed your weight was staying centered over the ball and not a lot of pressure was getting to the back foot. From that position the only chance you have to hit the ball relatively straight is to release the hands early and change your posture. On the follow through we want both our hips and shoulders pointing at the target. You can see your hips are still closed compared to your shoulders which tells me you weren’t able to rotate properly.
From this side which we call “down the line” I noticed your posture made your weight too much on your toes which will cause you to stand up in order to re-balance when you swing. This also encourages a very “over the top” move which we can see your shaft comes down very steep and over the plane. The club head is very outside the line which means the only direction it can go is left. To hit a straight shot you have to keep the face open which will then produce a slice.
First thing we did was change your setup. I made you get closer to the ball and stand more upright. Now your weight is more centered and balanced on the balls of your feet. The headcover was to make sure you didn’t start hitting every shot on the heel since you now feel much closer to the ball. Another thing you may notice is the way the shaft angle changed with the new setup. The clubhead is much more soled to the ground which will help produce straighter shots.
We touched on the concept of releasing the club at the target rather than at the ball. Making a throwing motion toward the target forces your body to move more naturally with your weight shifting forward and the club releasing after the ball. Your first couple swings after this still had some early release but the angle was less severe than when we started.
Then I introduced the step drill which serves the same purpose of throwing clubs. You can see your positions improve right away while doing this drill. Your back foot is off the ground and pushing toward the target, and the shaft is leaning forward and in line with your wrist/arm.
Here’s the aftermath. Setup looks very nice, weight centered and balanced. Through a little self discovery you found how to load better into your right side and get the pressure on your heel. The pictures on the right show the difference, bottom before and top after. With your leg straight and no pressure on the back foot your turn was restricted and therefore your arms had very little depth to them which promotes a steeper angle of attack. Once you started to load into your right side the leg actually maintained some flex and your hands were able to get deeper behind you. The angle of your arm is now flatter which helps get the club shallow on the way down. Big improvements in this lesson, let’s keep it rolling!
From down the line the positions are massively better. The shaft is barely above the plane and the clubhead traces the line all the way through impact with your back foot coming off the ground and your hips/shoulders are both facing the target.