I took my lesson with Mike Jacobs, a protoge of Ben Doyle. All I told him at first was that I wanted the lesson taped (which he did) and that I was a beginner who would like to build a G.O.L.F. machine,
We started with grip and set-up. Then we worked extensively on chipping, with a slight lower body movement, rather than strictly with my arms. In fact, Mike's most frequent comment was that my shoulders were too stiff and that my upper body is far too dominant in all of my swings. As you might surmise, he advocates swinging, although he did show me both motions when I asked him to. As an aside, I find it weird that I shank chips frequently, while almost never shanking a full swing. To me, it looks like I am making contact off the toe, but Mike said that I was hitting the hosel.
After about 40 minutes we worked on some fuller swings, which started as 3/4 swings, but I did sneak in some full swings. Again, I was told that I have to loosen up my arms and shoulders dramatically. At the end, we went back to chipping, which was better then.
Overall, I was fairly happy with the lesson. Mike was very patient and personable. My only misgiving is that I saw some horrific things that were never addressed when I watched the tape at home: almost no right wrist bend on the fuller swings, a lifting of my arms almost over my head on those swings, and a very early release. I wasn't flipping, but I didn't see any lag either. I'm hoping that Mike just wanted to focus on one thing at a time, which today was quieting my upper body, rather than having it go all over the place. I found out that he is teaching indoors this winter, and I will probably take a few more lessons with him.
Thank you for your suggestions for my first TGM lesson.
gumper
We started with grip and set-up. Then we worked extensively on chipping, with a slight lower body movement, rather than strictly with my arms. In fact, Mike's most frequent comment was that my shoulders were too stiff and that my upper body is far too dominant in all of my swings. As you might surmise, he advocates swinging, although he did show me both motions when I asked him to. As an aside, I find it weird that I shank chips frequently, while almost never shanking a full swing. To me, it looks like I am making contact off the toe, but Mike said that I was hitting the hosel.
After about 40 minutes we worked on some fuller swings, which started as 3/4 swings, but I did sneak in some full swings. Again, I was told that I have to loosen up my arms and shoulders dramatically. At the end, we went back to chipping, which was better then.
Overall, I was fairly happy with the lesson. Mike was very patient and personable. My only misgiving is that I saw some horrific things that were never addressed when I watched the tape at home: almost no right wrist bend on the fuller swings, a lifting of my arms almost over my head on those swings, and a very early release. I wasn't flipping, but I didn't see any lag either. I'm hoping that Mike just wanted to focus on one thing at a time, which today was quieting my upper body, rather than having it go all over the place. I found out that he is teaching indoors this winter, and I will probably take a few more lessons with him.
Thank you for your suggestions for my first TGM lesson.
gumper
The great thing is that they all emphasize different things. 
