Matt Taylor
New
This post may be so filled with platitudes that I sound like a yes man, but who cares -- it's the truth. And like Ricky Williams, I'm searching for the truth. Just not with Lenny Kravitz.
While Brian was stranded in NOLA for the hurricane, I managed to get an hour of his time at the practice range, as did a freind of mine who I play with on a regular basis.
I knew Brian was good, but this was ridiculous. I'm a 4 handicap, and, for better or worse, have been stuck there for quite a while. I get so tired of moving the same way at the ball with the same mistakes. My bad shots were always one of the same few things, constantly repeating based my timing or lack of it, depending on the day.
Last year, I finally decided to make a commitment to improve, to change everything if I had to. Even if I got worse, at least it would be different.
Over the past year, I took three lessons from a well respected AI and got back into The Golfing Machine. I learned a whole bunch from that AI (who is a really good guy and good teacher) and from the book. I would say my knowledge was ten times what it was before after these lessons and my readings. No regrets there at all.
But my swing was still the same timing battle it always was, my misses were still my same old misses, though I had made some significant improvements.
Brian, with only his naked eye, watched me make about three swings and found fault with my secondary axis tilt. That was something that I had certainly read about and studied, and I thought I had that part well under control -- I thought I had plenty of tilt. Brian showed me that I didn't, and managed to get me to understand how the difference feels in like 5 minutes. Easy. My ball flight got much, much higher, and there was no more fighting the timing -- I dare say it felt easy (I'll probably go shoot 100 tomorrow for typing that). I shot a 35 on the front nine at the Tournament Players club down here the first round after the lesson. And I didn't even have a chance to practice it at all because of Ivan. It should have been a 33, but I made some bad decisions. I missed some putts on the back nine and fouled up a chip or two, leaked some oil and shot 40, but at that point, I didn't care. I was ecstatic to have my motion feel different for the first time in years.
The most amazing thing to me was watching Brian work with my buddy. He's scratch, though he rarely plays well tee to green, and I've been watching his ugly swing for years not knowing how to help him turn his obvious talent into something. It took Brian twenty minutes to figure out this guy's problems. Twenty minutes.
I could have told the guy "you're wrist isn't flat" or "you're not on plane," but Brian could tell him why. And to see a swing that I was so familiar with get unwrapped like a christmas present by Brian was pretty impressive.
I'm totally looking forward to practicing this week, which is rare. My buddy is trying to incorporate the changes into his swing, but he plays for a lot of cheese whenever he's on the course, so he's less willing to make any adjustments while he's playing. But he can't wait to go to the range either, because he finally feels like somebody who knows what he's talking about gave him some good instruction.
To borrow an old rap game expression, y'all better reckognize.
Brian's the real deal.
While Brian was stranded in NOLA for the hurricane, I managed to get an hour of his time at the practice range, as did a freind of mine who I play with on a regular basis.
I knew Brian was good, but this was ridiculous. I'm a 4 handicap, and, for better or worse, have been stuck there for quite a while. I get so tired of moving the same way at the ball with the same mistakes. My bad shots were always one of the same few things, constantly repeating based my timing or lack of it, depending on the day.
Last year, I finally decided to make a commitment to improve, to change everything if I had to. Even if I got worse, at least it would be different.
Over the past year, I took three lessons from a well respected AI and got back into The Golfing Machine. I learned a whole bunch from that AI (who is a really good guy and good teacher) and from the book. I would say my knowledge was ten times what it was before after these lessons and my readings. No regrets there at all.
But my swing was still the same timing battle it always was, my misses were still my same old misses, though I had made some significant improvements.
Brian, with only his naked eye, watched me make about three swings and found fault with my secondary axis tilt. That was something that I had certainly read about and studied, and I thought I had that part well under control -- I thought I had plenty of tilt. Brian showed me that I didn't, and managed to get me to understand how the difference feels in like 5 minutes. Easy. My ball flight got much, much higher, and there was no more fighting the timing -- I dare say it felt easy (I'll probably go shoot 100 tomorrow for typing that). I shot a 35 on the front nine at the Tournament Players club down here the first round after the lesson. And I didn't even have a chance to practice it at all because of Ivan. It should have been a 33, but I made some bad decisions. I missed some putts on the back nine and fouled up a chip or two, leaked some oil and shot 40, but at that point, I didn't care. I was ecstatic to have my motion feel different for the first time in years.
The most amazing thing to me was watching Brian work with my buddy. He's scratch, though he rarely plays well tee to green, and I've been watching his ugly swing for years not knowing how to help him turn his obvious talent into something. It took Brian twenty minutes to figure out this guy's problems. Twenty minutes.
I could have told the guy "you're wrist isn't flat" or "you're not on plane," but Brian could tell him why. And to see a swing that I was so familiar with get unwrapped like a christmas present by Brian was pretty impressive.
I'm totally looking forward to practicing this week, which is rare. My buddy is trying to incorporate the changes into his swing, but he plays for a lot of cheese whenever he's on the course, so he's less willing to make any adjustments while he's playing. But he can't wait to go to the range either, because he finally feels like somebody who knows what he's talking about gave him some good instruction.
To borrow an old rap game expression, y'all better reckognize.
Brian's the real deal.
!