Golf Practice twice then lesson after Golf School
After my week at Golf School I had one day much-needed rest before going back to the golf range to put what I’ve learned into my golf practice sessions. Last two golf practice sessions on Sunday and Monday where identical, in accuracy, ratio of good shots to bad shots and performance levels. However my constant over ridding issue is in the downswing and follow through.
Still not turning the hips and transferring my weight on to my left foot, consequently I’m using my arms to pull the club down rather than using the hip and body turn. These has the knock on effect of being in a very square position at the point of impact and as the hips haven’t got out-of-the-way my follow through results in an out to in swing path with arms still being chicken wing. Result, ball goes mostly left and distance is restricted.
During my slow golf practice swings I can perform the full swing as it should be, especially with the hips having been turned at impact and my arms being straight in follow through. At full speed hardly any of this happens. Therefore I’m now going to practice more at slow speed for a few balls, then move into a full speed swing and back and forth again. Hopefully this will give me a better feel and get my muscles used to the correct swing.
To try and prevent me from swinging out to in I now use a head cover on my alignment aids at the golf range. As you can see from the picture. I also use the second club without the head cover as a marker for how far I need to be stood from the ball. The ball is always placed three balls from the end of the centre club. These setup changes have drastically improved my ball striking as I now duff significantly less shots. Now when I do duff a shot I get more feedback, as I either hit the head cover or sometimes pull the club in way to much at impact and hit the centre club, that hurts. Overall my golf practice sessions are now very strictly formulated to ensure I’m not just hitting balls.
On Tuesday I had my first golf lesson of the year and showed my Golf Pro the images that where taken at the golf school of the various parts of the swing. I could tell by his facial expressions that he was slightly concerned at what they had been teaching me. The fact is, and I knew this prior to going to the Golf School and that was he’s been teaching me a Two Plane Swing whereas at the Golf School they had been teaching me a One Plane Swing. I should have mentioned this when I was there, unfortunately I forgot. Neither swing plane is wrong, which one is good for you depend on many factors; however mixing one methodology with the other will only result in disaster. If you don’t know which one you’re doing I strongly suggest you make sure you find out, this article might help.
Fortunately I had only had two golf practice sessions prior to seeing my Golf Pro, and hadn’t really grooved anything in that time, so this lesson concentrated on getting me back on the Two Plane Swing. Especially in the backswing which was now very much on a One Plane. I actually mentioned at the golf school that this felt like I was swinging the club back way to far and felt like a significant change to what I’m used to. I should have really realised this considering my Golf Pro had previously said my backswing was coming along well and had told me he was teaching me a Two Plane Swing. Ah well lesson learned when seeing another Golf Pro make sure you ask you current pro what you need to tell the new one, so that you don’t all of a sudden find you’re being taught something completely different. I also think they should ask really, especially as I’d told them about my Golf Challenge and that I had a Golf Pro, I think I’m going to provide them with some positive feedback.