My lesson with Brian

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lia41985

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Today I had my first, and God willing, not my last lesson with Brian.

Brian watched me a hit a couple of 6 irons and dove right into it making some changes.

First, my grip. Starting with the left hand, he moved the grip a little more along the palm with a shorter thumb. The right hand, which was to weak, was adjusted such that my life line would now be overlapping my left thumb.

Second, my arms. My right arm, to paraphrase Brian, looked like it had Viagra surging through it--much too straight. Brian had me put some bend into my right arm. The left arm was basically okay and only changed because of what we did next.

Third, my hands. They were sitting way too low so Brian had me put them up some.

Fourth, my feet. They were way too narrow. Brian had me feel like I was standing "three times as wide" with more knee bend and a higher chest.

Fifth, my backswing. Brian noticed my arms collapsing into me and not getting off my left foot enough. Once I adjusted the backswing and posed the top Brian said I got into a position that was the best top of the backswing position he had seen all year :)

Sixth, my downswing. Trackman showed me swinging 5 to 6 degrees inside out. Woah. Brian had me work on the carry and incorporated the hurdle drill to work on this feeling. This was the hardest change I worked on. Brian could tell I was motivated and gave me some added incentive by telling me that only two people had done the hurdle drill right the first time. Perked up to become the third I proceeded to miss the mat :(

The next hardest change was what I had to do with my body on the down and through swing. This was the seventh thing we worked on. Brian wanted me to get more into my left side, then turn, and get into back extension. He literally got down on his knees and gave me a "boost" by using his hands. The turn and back extension were tough to incorporate but when I was able to incorporate these two components with the carry I was able to hit a really high soft draw.

Basically, my previous pattern was all a result of my flawed setup. The new setup felt awkward at first but I got over it after a couple of balls. Right now my focus is on working on the downswing, specifically the carry, getting to my left side, then turning, and then getting into back extension. I noticed that this was a lot easier when I slowed down my rhythm and got the sequence right.

Brian is a great guy. He made the experience really fun. He had the proprietors of the range laughing like crazy. Speaking of crazy, Trackman was showing that my new irons, the Taylor Made R11, were routinely recording a smash factor greater than 1.4 :O

As I said, God willing, I'll definitely see Brian again after having worked hard on my game. Because Pittsburgh's not very far I'm definitely going to try and make a couple of trips to see Kevin Shields. One of Kevin's students was there, working hard with Brian. He had an impressive game.
 
Wow, seven things?! That's the difference between a good student and a "slow" student. I'm afraid I'm gonna hear "NO, do it again." for the entire lesson.:)

1.4 smash with an iron is pretty strong. Between that and the Viagra coursing through your veins, you might be do for a urine test.:eek:
 

lia41985

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mgranato: I'm juicing, you got me :)

Eyeoffish: We got some light rain but under the covers of a range that wasn't a problem.
 
the source of most of my problems with golf is that i'll read something like this and find some way of convincing myself it applies to me so i can have the fun of giving it a whirl. a good lawyer will find a way to argue a case for anything if it suits their side won't they lia.

here's my most recent range session: drivers091111 - YouTube
 

lia41985

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mrose: Haven't seen your video yet but you're absolutely right. Individualization! Focus on your own game.
 

dlam

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Brian is very observant of the golf swing.
The left hand wedding ring up was really unnatural position for me in the follow through.
Over the past year I have found neutral left hand grip has not work for me.
A strong left hand hold on the club at address .works really well for me...my left hand naturally releases into that wedding up position.
 
Nice write-up lia - sounds like a great lesson.

What was the rationale for the last change - the left side, turn and back extension sequence?

Oh, and what's an average smash factor for an iron? Presumably this must vary with loft - but what else would have an effect? You're not going to get spring-like launch off an iron, are you?
 
Oh, and what's an average smash factor for an iron? Presumably this must vary with loft - but what else would have an effect? You're not going to get spring-like launch off an iron, are you?

Dynamic loft will influence the smashfactor. Spring-face (or thin-face) irons do exist with an cor of 0.829!

link : Iron Designs | Tom Wishon Golf Technology

at that link read the following two section.

First Thin Face Forged Steel Set of Irons, 2000 - Snake Eyes Fire Forged Irons and

First Set of Irons with Variable Thickness Titanium Face, 2009 – Wishon Golf 870 Ti Irons
 
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Lia, I am hoping you can share some insight into the changes Brian made in your setup. I to have a narrow stance and struggle to get to my left side. I have never considered widening my stance because I assumed (probabley incorrectly) that would make it harder to get to the left. Thoughts?
 
Lia, I am hoping you can share some insight into the changes Brian made in your setup. I to have a narrow stance and struggle to get to my left side. I have never considered widening my stance because I assumed (probabley incorrectly) that would make it harder to get to the left. Thoughts?

Hmmm, maybe there IS a happy medium! I have always had a wide stance, and I recently had a lesson and was told one thing I should work on is a narrower stance because I was tending to get stuck on the back foot because I wasn't really turning with that wide stance, and I was hitting more fat shots than I care to talk about.
 
mrose: Haven't seen your video yet but you're absolutely right. Individualization! Focus on your own game.

Thanks Lia but I think I'll continue to experiment and tinker. Without having looked at the video you probably aren't in a great position to make a judgment on where my focus should or shouldn't be.
 
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