After spending the past two months trying to absorb information from here and on Brian's videos and DVD's and Ben Doyle's DVD, I made the journey to Louisville to get my swing patterns "blown up." It was well worth the trip.
As I tried to apply the information from here, the stumbling block for me was that I wasn't sure of what my beginning pattern actually was. For almost every swing issue I could theorize several causes. I got better practicing elements of both NSA and NHA (I figured there were elements of each that I needed, and I did).
After watching me hit for a short time, Brian improved my set-up (the open left hips had been bugging me forever, it turns out the hips were also very tilted) and started me down the path of his Soft Draw pattern. This almost immediately resolved the thing that has been driving me crazy for two years -I couldn't really hit any shots that were "push draw" that started right of target and curved to target. Instead, everything I hit started, at best, just a little left of target and went more left, and sometimes way more left. "Way more left" being the shot I have been fighting forever (with my handicap never lowering below the 5-6 range). After 45 minutes I actually was able to hit some soft draws (with some bad shots thrown in, with Brain explaining each bad shot in a way that I would be able to understand those shots when I hit them again, which I have). I was actually also beginning to really release on a few shots and had some real zip (by my standards at least).
It turns out that I thought I was swinging to inside to out but was instead doing the opposite and had a steep and reverse pivoting backswing. I just couldn't get to the inside of the ball without massive rerouting and falling back on the shot. (By the way, my description is not verbatim what Brian said, this is in large part my after-the-fact interpretation, Brian no dobt has a more nuanced view.) The steepness and reverse pivoting were, in part, the result of two years of working on 1PS and rotary swing concepts.
We then moved on to wedges, where I have been struggling to have any reasonable distance and have been ballooning everything. With the soft draw pattern and a focus on hitting out to right filed with some horizontal roll, I immediately started hitting much better trajectory shots and was having trouble dialing the wedge distance down, not up. (my steep swing, steering and cut action on almost every wedge, was really hurting my wedge game) I still have some work to do on sequencing with these shots, but Brian gave me a great drill (the "middle name drill") and showed me how to hit the shots. The mental image of that is still very clear.
The hour and a half with Brian cleared up all the things that had been nagging me most and left me with a clear idea of what was most wrong and needed to be changed to move to a better pattern (it's hard to have a worse pattern than, my "pull, pull hook, pull cut, reverse pivot" pattern). I left Louisville in awe - and I know that sounds corny, but other teachers I've worked with haven't come close to being able to do this.
Then I read more here about clubface and clubpath and went to the range. The information here about how to hit a fade or draw "the Manzella way" was incredibly valuable and was something I had never understood before. It was also something I could not have used before the lesson with Brian because I didn't know where my swing was and just absolutely could not get to the inside of the ball to apply the knowledge to begin with. This weekend on the range I was able to hit soft draws and harder draws in practice by changing my wrist (flat vs. arched), and swing arc.
When I played Saturday, I thought I was going to break 70 the way I was played the front nine but reverted to old habits a bit on the back nine. The first six holes were the best I have ever played. Before playing Saturday, I dropped a half bucket of balls and hit 20-30 yard pitches, a shot that has been killing me all year, and hit every ball except one great - clean, not a bladed shot in the bunch. It was a great feeling, not just because of the results, but because I was swinging so easily. Out on the course I ended up with one 40-yard pitch and felt like I could hit the shot without fear of hitting it thin and did hit an excellent shot. I walked a few holes late Sunday and hit approaches on the three holes I played to within eight feet.
I really can't believe that I played so much golf in the past decade without ever figuring out the dynamics of how to hit a true draw or even knowing what causes a draw (I had no idea about the actual science of path/clubface interplay). It makes one feel a little dim. Oh well.
I am looking forward to learning more and improving. I don't feel so much in the dark anymore.
As I tried to apply the information from here, the stumbling block for me was that I wasn't sure of what my beginning pattern actually was. For almost every swing issue I could theorize several causes. I got better practicing elements of both NSA and NHA (I figured there were elements of each that I needed, and I did).
After watching me hit for a short time, Brian improved my set-up (the open left hips had been bugging me forever, it turns out the hips were also very tilted) and started me down the path of his Soft Draw pattern. This almost immediately resolved the thing that has been driving me crazy for two years -I couldn't really hit any shots that were "push draw" that started right of target and curved to target. Instead, everything I hit started, at best, just a little left of target and went more left, and sometimes way more left. "Way more left" being the shot I have been fighting forever (with my handicap never lowering below the 5-6 range). After 45 minutes I actually was able to hit some soft draws (with some bad shots thrown in, with Brain explaining each bad shot in a way that I would be able to understand those shots when I hit them again, which I have). I was actually also beginning to really release on a few shots and had some real zip (by my standards at least).
It turns out that I thought I was swinging to inside to out but was instead doing the opposite and had a steep and reverse pivoting backswing. I just couldn't get to the inside of the ball without massive rerouting and falling back on the shot. (By the way, my description is not verbatim what Brian said, this is in large part my after-the-fact interpretation, Brian no dobt has a more nuanced view.) The steepness and reverse pivoting were, in part, the result of two years of working on 1PS and rotary swing concepts.
We then moved on to wedges, where I have been struggling to have any reasonable distance and have been ballooning everything. With the soft draw pattern and a focus on hitting out to right filed with some horizontal roll, I immediately started hitting much better trajectory shots and was having trouble dialing the wedge distance down, not up. (my steep swing, steering and cut action on almost every wedge, was really hurting my wedge game) I still have some work to do on sequencing with these shots, but Brian gave me a great drill (the "middle name drill") and showed me how to hit the shots. The mental image of that is still very clear.
The hour and a half with Brian cleared up all the things that had been nagging me most and left me with a clear idea of what was most wrong and needed to be changed to move to a better pattern (it's hard to have a worse pattern than, my "pull, pull hook, pull cut, reverse pivot" pattern). I left Louisville in awe - and I know that sounds corny, but other teachers I've worked with haven't come close to being able to do this.
Then I read more here about clubface and clubpath and went to the range. The information here about how to hit a fade or draw "the Manzella way" was incredibly valuable and was something I had never understood before. It was also something I could not have used before the lesson with Brian because I didn't know where my swing was and just absolutely could not get to the inside of the ball to apply the knowledge to begin with. This weekend on the range I was able to hit soft draws and harder draws in practice by changing my wrist (flat vs. arched), and swing arc.
When I played Saturday, I thought I was going to break 70 the way I was played the front nine but reverted to old habits a bit on the back nine. The first six holes were the best I have ever played. Before playing Saturday, I dropped a half bucket of balls and hit 20-30 yard pitches, a shot that has been killing me all year, and hit every ball except one great - clean, not a bladed shot in the bunch. It was a great feeling, not just because of the results, but because I was swinging so easily. Out on the course I ended up with one 40-yard pitch and felt like I could hit the shot without fear of hitting it thin and did hit an excellent shot. I walked a few holes late Sunday and hit approaches on the three holes I played to within eight feet.
I really can't believe that I played so much golf in the past decade without ever figuring out the dynamics of how to hit a true draw or even knowing what causes a draw (I had no idea about the actual science of path/clubface interplay). It makes one feel a little dim. Oh well.
I am looking forward to learning more and improving. I don't feel so much in the dark anymore.
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