Good point. I've been playing almost two years--three if you count the summer of 2003 when I got out maybe 4 or 5 times to try it out. But this is the second season of playing regularly and trying to do it right. Last year I didn't have lessons but was trying to master the one-plane swing, to no avail. This year I decided to start over with the "classic" two-plane swing. I took lessons, about every other week. I didn't find the lessons to be all that helpful with the full swing. They did help with short game though.

Initially, the instructor taught me the standard opening and closing. I went to the driving range and practiced and practiced, hitting thousands of balls, to no avail. I just couldn't get the timing down, and my ball striking was worse than what it was when I was just going by trial and error (and that was pretty bad). Frustrated, I went to opening the face less--feeling as if I wasn't opening it at all. I didn't say anything to the instructor about it; I just started doing it that way, and my ball striking improved. The instructor, if he noticed at all, didn't say anything, but congratulated me on the improvement. Last night was the last lesson, which was why I wanted to go over the whole opening/closing thing one more time.

So for now I'm sticking with what I'm doing, but as you say, if I see a hook developing I'll know I have to modify it.

To me, the first priority is to be able to address the ball with a feeling of confidence that I might actually succeed in hitting it in the direction of the target. I'm closer to that goal than I was at the beginning of the season, but I'm by no means there yet.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller