Hello all. I originally posted my "before" swing and a brief golfing history here http://www.brianmanzella.com/forum/golfing-discussions/13460-one-more-last-chance.html
I was able to have a lesson with Brian on May 7 in beautiful NOLA. Let me tell you, even if Brian taught a pop out, laid off, POS swing, NOLA is worth the trip. Took my wife, stayed right by the Quarter, and had a heck of a time. Walked everywhere we went, and I still gained five pounds from the food. Good lord, it is good.
Back to the lesson, I was trying to perform a hybrid NSA/SD pattern with not much success. Brian watched me hit about three or four shots and then started in. I was consistently swinging about 4* outside in and hitting a pretty weak fade. Brian asked me to get both my hips and hands a little more in, and using his hands showed me how/gave me the feel. On the very next swing, I swung about 4* inside out with a clubface that was about 3* open. Probably the first draw I ever hit in my life. For the rest of the iron swings I made, there was no one outside in path. After I hit about five draws in a row, Brian said "Fixed Scott in one swing, you're telling me I couldn't fix Tiger? No offense, but we're talking about Tiger." I was not offended.
Some other tweaks we made during the iron swing portion of the lesson...as many here noted, my right shoulder appeared to be over plane. On my backswing, Brian had me just relax that right shoulder. Next, I had a pretty ugly head lunge forward on the downswing. Rather than having me work on holding my head back or addressing the problem directly, Brian worked hard with me on the "one last point". His comment was that this would eat back into the head lunge. As I think the video demonstrates, the improvement in that area after just a week has been pretty good. Finally, on the one last point, Brian noted my right hand looked funny. Turned out my right hand grip was much too weak. We strengthened that up, and I was hitting it pretty darn well.
Next we went to the driver. I have never been able to hit it worth a crap. Long story short, it was a much different swing than I was putting on the irons. Extremely in to out, often hitting the ground before the ball. Brian had me concentrate on a slow mo backswing and swinging to the one last point. Still was having difficulty at the end of the lesson, but had a plan in place.
The first few days on practice back were hit and miss, but a little less than a week later, everything clicked. All of a sudden, I'm hitting it consistently better than I've ever hit it on my best day. The swing feels very effortless and powerful. We've had a lot of rain, so I haven't been able to play a full 18. I have been around a local par three course, and feel like it is just point and click to hit a green. Even when I feel I've hit a bad shot, I'm right around the green for an easy up and down. I really have gotten rid of swing thoughts other than just "relax".
I'm more hopeful than I've ever been about the game, and owe a huge thank you to Brian. Maybe I could have found a teacher locally to teach me what he has through NSA, SD, this forum and our two hour lesson, but my experience tells me I could not. It is sad that it takes such huge amounts of money for travel, etc to find a decent golf instructor.
Here are a couple updated videos. Wasn't able to get any at the range, but these are hitting a foam ball in my back yard with a sand wedge. Hopefully you'll be able to get the drift.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fQZGB3FnJa0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fQZGB3FnJa0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZK1rIkd8Hc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZK1rIkd8Hc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
I was able to have a lesson with Brian on May 7 in beautiful NOLA. Let me tell you, even if Brian taught a pop out, laid off, POS swing, NOLA is worth the trip. Took my wife, stayed right by the Quarter, and had a heck of a time. Walked everywhere we went, and I still gained five pounds from the food. Good lord, it is good.
Back to the lesson, I was trying to perform a hybrid NSA/SD pattern with not much success. Brian watched me hit about three or four shots and then started in. I was consistently swinging about 4* outside in and hitting a pretty weak fade. Brian asked me to get both my hips and hands a little more in, and using his hands showed me how/gave me the feel. On the very next swing, I swung about 4* inside out with a clubface that was about 3* open. Probably the first draw I ever hit in my life. For the rest of the iron swings I made, there was no one outside in path. After I hit about five draws in a row, Brian said "Fixed Scott in one swing, you're telling me I couldn't fix Tiger? No offense, but we're talking about Tiger." I was not offended.
Some other tweaks we made during the iron swing portion of the lesson...as many here noted, my right shoulder appeared to be over plane. On my backswing, Brian had me just relax that right shoulder. Next, I had a pretty ugly head lunge forward on the downswing. Rather than having me work on holding my head back or addressing the problem directly, Brian worked hard with me on the "one last point". His comment was that this would eat back into the head lunge. As I think the video demonstrates, the improvement in that area after just a week has been pretty good. Finally, on the one last point, Brian noted my right hand looked funny. Turned out my right hand grip was much too weak. We strengthened that up, and I was hitting it pretty darn well.
Next we went to the driver. I have never been able to hit it worth a crap. Long story short, it was a much different swing than I was putting on the irons. Extremely in to out, often hitting the ground before the ball. Brian had me concentrate on a slow mo backswing and swinging to the one last point. Still was having difficulty at the end of the lesson, but had a plan in place.
The first few days on practice back were hit and miss, but a little less than a week later, everything clicked. All of a sudden, I'm hitting it consistently better than I've ever hit it on my best day. The swing feels very effortless and powerful. We've had a lot of rain, so I haven't been able to play a full 18. I have been around a local par three course, and feel like it is just point and click to hit a green. Even when I feel I've hit a bad shot, I'm right around the green for an easy up and down. I really have gotten rid of swing thoughts other than just "relax".
I'm more hopeful than I've ever been about the game, and owe a huge thank you to Brian. Maybe I could have found a teacher locally to teach me what he has through NSA, SD, this forum and our two hour lesson, but my experience tells me I could not. It is sad that it takes such huge amounts of money for travel, etc to find a decent golf instructor.
Here are a couple updated videos. Wasn't able to get any at the range, but these are hitting a foam ball in my back yard with a sand wedge. Hopefully you'll be able to get the drift.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fQZGB3FnJa0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fQZGB3FnJa0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZK1rIkd8Hc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GZK1rIkd8Hc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Last edited:
