Date: Feb 18th 2023.
This was my penultimate lesson with Sandy and an opportunity to review what we've been working on. I feel there's been a bit of regression with my irons in recent weeks. I've continued to struggle with my transition and weight transfer to the lead foot, producing an inconsistent strike with a significant distance dispersion (up to 20 yards long/short). Part of this might be getting used to my new irons, but I think there is something more fundamental going on.
Issues found
Grip - has become too weak again. It's immediately apparent from the wear pattern on the palm of my glove that my grip has slipped back a bit. It's better than it was, but it has more improvement to go. From getting it to a stronger position after lesson two, it has gradually gone back to more neutral. We looked at photos of various professional golfers and I now have a much better mental picture of what we are trying to achieve with both hands.
Posture and weight distribution at setup - I've moved everything too far left at address, resulting in my eyes being almost ahead of the ball and a poor shoulder tilt. This is contributing to an early release through my swing as I try to get out of my own way.
Changes made
Grip - now back to a much stronger position again. I am using the logo on my glove as a visual aid for my left hand and I'm also more comfortable with how my right hand should look too. The images of professional golfers really helped.
Swing transition - the stronger grip makes the club look more closed and given the handsy action of my old swing, that is closing the club face at impact and producing a big draw/hook. Sandy has suggested working on this mostly at the range and possibly going a bit weaker when I'm on the course. I think I should just go strong all the time and get used to the shape - there's nothing like the trees at Ladybank to act as a motivator!
Drills - We used a ball-throwing and a step-swing drill to help me get the feel for better, more natural, rotation. They definitely help with that feeling of moving weight onto the front foot while still completing the backswing. We then did some chipping before moving on to full shots again, all the time working on that lower body movement. I used the ball throw and the step drill between shots to reinforce the rotation and feelings. The challenge is still to get my hips to move faster and stop my arms and hands from getting too far ahead. The ball throw and practice swings with the step drill seem to be helping with this the most. When I get the sequencing right there is a nice straight/modest draw flight but when I don't then there is a hook. Given the time it takes to complete a swing, the changes here are really minor but they are certainly not easy to implement.
Sandy's comment was that my swing is generally very good, but these changes will help improve it further. They are small changes, but not easy to implement.
Conclusion
Changing a bad habit with my swing is hard and will take time to cement. But I can see the improvements they can bring and the hard work will definitely be worth the effort. I will continue to work on the step-through and ball throw routines in the garden but I would really like to invest in a mat and net rather than having to go to the range each time I want to hit actual shots. Any suggestions for economical garden solutions would be much appreciated. I'm also interested in the outgoing Rapsodo launch monitor too, especially now that it's been so heavily discounted due to the new model coming out.
My next lesson will be on March 9th at which time the outdoor range will be open again. This will allow us to assess my setup and aim better than we can indoors. Fairway mats are still in use until the end of March but I think it would be really good to get a playing lesson once we are back playing from grass again.
Wish me luck.
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