What I learned from my lesson

Ok had my first lesson today. My instructor had me stand up a wee bit straighter, flex my knees a bit more, and he moved my right thumb a bit to the left. He gave me two things to think about. One was to take the club back straightback slowly and the second was to think about making good contact with my left arm.

The results were great. Straight golf shots. Consistent trajectory for each club. I can now hit the driver. And I have a more relaxed easier swing.

If you are new to the game like me, find a pro. I think its worth it!

We shall see how long it takes for all of this to fall apart!!!!

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Thanks

Andy

I recently decided to go to a golf pro to work on my irons and got a couple good things out of it:

He got me to take the club back less inside so that when the club was parallel to the ground (about halfswing) the end of the club would face the target and the toe of the clubhead would point to the sky. From this point all I had to do was raise the club up and it'll always on the correct plane on my backswing.

Also he stood directly behind me and told me to reach back with my right hand (for right handers) to pretend to shake hands with him (imagine doing this in the backswing). This helped in creating a wide arc for more power and accuracy.

I was also not transferring my weight correctly as I shifted forward a bit too early on my downswing (I should keep weight to back-center until I make contact with the ball).

I'm not sure if these tips will help anyone else out, but it made my irons further and alot more accurate.

Excellent tips. Ill try the handshake at the course tomorrow if we dont get too much rain from this hurricane

I wish I could report good results from my lessons, but they didn't help me at all. The instructor was nice enough but I was unable to accomplish most of the things he asked me to work on, which is why I'm back to figuring out things for myself. I can't afford to try a different instructor.

I'm trying to imagine the handshake thing...seems to me that by the time my right hand is back that far it should be a lot higher than handshake level. Am I missing something?

As for weight shifting in the downswing...the whole downswing lasts about a fifth of a second. How is one supposed to make weight shifting adjustments in that time?

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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

Hi Todd,

I just borrowed some books from the library. One of them had the exact same drill with the handshake. I think it's a good tip but like you said, the exact height and position is a bit subjective. I think what it's good for is helping you get the feeling of the hinged right wrist together with the arm/elbow angles, but it stops short there so better not to stick to it too strictly or it might hamper your natural swing.

Supposedly, the weight transfer should start even before you are the top of your backswing. Just before you reach the top, you should already start to do the forward transfer.