After 2 months of saving up, I finally have enough money for a weekend with Brian. I've set up my time and I'll be traveling to Louisville tomorrow morning. I know that I will make leaps and bounds during our time together. I will be writing a full review and hopefully posting some before and after video's.
My lesson with Brian in Louisville
- Thread starter zarro
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The Full Review
Ok, here it goes. I will preface the weekend a bit and then dive right into it. Like I said before I finally saved up enough money (1.5 paychecks to be exact). Unfortunately I did not have a stellar week leading into this weekend, culminating with the passing of my father on Friday evening. He always pushed me to pursue my dreams and this was the only way my dreams were ever going to start to materialize, so I drove my butt down to Louisville.
When I got to the range where Brian works I started warming up. I didn't hit any balls, but I did make some swings. I thought I was swinging the club pretty good. Let's just say that there is much more to this story. So I see Brian and I introduce myself and we go to work. I make a couple swings and we start fixin me up. Brian is very personable and is amazing to listen to whether the subject is Golf or anything else. Here are the things we worked on the first day at the range:
Set Up:
Putting:
Day 2
I arrive early and am eager to begin my lessons for the day. I thought we had made all the changes to my swing that we were going to make, nope, wrong again. We start hitting some shots and I feel I am definately making good backswing and having a good setup, but my downswing was funky. Brian identified the culprit soon, but it took 45-60 minutes to find a solution to the problem. He was very persistent in fixing the problem and we tried many other solutions before we found the one that worked. We both were excited to find a solution to the problem. We then moved onto the short game. We went over the short game matrix and I figured out real quick how hard a mid sole square/open face shot is. After our work on that we went to film a review video of our time together.
Overall my experience was worth 10x what I paid for it.
Note to Brian: Don't go raising your prices now, I already donated 1.5 paychecks to you, if you raise your prices I'll be able to see you less, that is a problem.
It's hard to describe Brian Manzella in words. The youtube video's and his instructional video's do give you some insight, but there is no substitution for taking a live lesson with him. Having his extensive knowledge bank, his eyes, his passion and excitement for teaching and his persistence in solving a problem are all things you can't get from any video. While I would like to see Brian more often, unfortuately geographically and financially it does not work out. But as soon as it does work out, you can bet I'll be writing up another stellar review of Manzella.
Perfect swing rating (out of 5)- 5 perfect swings
Ok, here it goes. I will preface the weekend a bit and then dive right into it. Like I said before I finally saved up enough money (1.5 paychecks to be exact). Unfortunately I did not have a stellar week leading into this weekend, culminating with the passing of my father on Friday evening. He always pushed me to pursue my dreams and this was the only way my dreams were ever going to start to materialize, so I drove my butt down to Louisville.
When I got to the range where Brian works I started warming up. I didn't hit any balls, but I did make some swings. I thought I was swinging the club pretty good. Let's just say that there is much more to this story. So I see Brian and I introduce myself and we go to work. I make a couple swings and we start fixin me up. Brian is very personable and is amazing to listen to whether the subject is Golf or anything else. Here are the things we worked on the first day at the range:
Set Up:
-Don't bend so far over
-Don't flex my knees as much
-Face the ball more
Backswing:-Don't flex my knees as much
-Face the ball more
-Don't arch my wrist
-Fly my right elbow in order to stay on plane better
-Work my hands more inside
We then concentrated on my downswing/finish for a while, but the real work on that came on Sunday We also worked on minimzing my swing thoughts.-Fly my right elbow in order to stay on plane better
-Work my hands more inside
Putting:
-I am trying to make an straight back-straight through stroke, but i THOUGHT I was trying to make an arc stroke.
-Don't have my shoulder's open, have them square so I don't have to pull the putter inside
-Don't close the clubface
After the range work, I follow Brian to a golf course so that we can play 9 holes. I feel very ackward on the course, but I actually hit a few good shots, with a trajectory that I really like. Brian did not play well, but he was worn out from a touch football game that he had played recently. Eventhough he was tired, the compression of that ball never changed. I made basically EVERY putt I looked at during that 9 holes. After the golf was over we went to dinner. I got to meet Mike Finney and his son Jackson. Unfortunately he couldn't stay because Jack fell asleep right before he walked into the restaurant. I kept listening to Brian intently about a variety of subjects because he is very knowledable about whatever he talks about. We part ways for the night and I am filled with anticipation of what the next day will bring.-Don't have my shoulder's open, have them square so I don't have to pull the putter inside
-Don't close the clubface
Day 2
I arrive early and am eager to begin my lessons for the day. I thought we had made all the changes to my swing that we were going to make, nope, wrong again. We start hitting some shots and I feel I am definately making good backswing and having a good setup, but my downswing was funky. Brian identified the culprit soon, but it took 45-60 minutes to find a solution to the problem. He was very persistent in fixing the problem and we tried many other solutions before we found the one that worked. We both were excited to find a solution to the problem. We then moved onto the short game. We went over the short game matrix and I figured out real quick how hard a mid sole square/open face shot is. After our work on that we went to film a review video of our time together.
Overall my experience was worth 10x what I paid for it.
Note to Brian: Don't go raising your prices now, I already donated 1.5 paychecks to you, if you raise your prices I'll be able to see you less, that is a problem.
It's hard to describe Brian Manzella in words. The youtube video's and his instructional video's do give you some insight, but there is no substitution for taking a live lesson with him. Having his extensive knowledge bank, his eyes, his passion and excitement for teaching and his persistence in solving a problem are all things you can't get from any video. While I would like to see Brian more often, unfortuately geographically and financially it does not work out. But as soon as it does work out, you can bet I'll be writing up another stellar review of Manzella.
Perfect swing rating (out of 5)- 5 perfect swings
Brian Manzella
Administrator
Zarro!
It was fun Jon.
Thanks for the kind words, and sorry about your Dad.
It was fun Jon.
Thanks for the kind words, and sorry about your Dad.
You'll accomplish a lot more in 1 hour with Brian then any other teacher you'll meet in your life.
Erik_K
New
Jon,
Can you expand on what you covered in the short game matrix, or have you been sworn to secrecy?
I haven't been sworn to secrecy per se, but I would find it unfair to Brian to detail what I was taught. I believe it is Brian's decision to choose whether he wants to release that information, either for a price or for public consumption. I hope you guys understand.
birdie_man
New
Sorry bout your dad z.
Good to have golf to keep you busy. Sounds like it was a good couple days.
Good to have golf to keep you busy. Sounds like it was a good couple days.
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