Practice and Instruction
On Monday afternoon this week, the weather finally got out of the freeze zone and I was able to hit a bucket of balls before the sun went down at Golden Bear. I didn’t hit the ball very well, too many swing thoughts from my lesson the previous week. Most of the balls that were well struck were going dead right 15 to 30 degrees right of the target. I had problems with tempo as well, due mostly to lack of practice because of the very cold weather.
Yesterday afternoon, I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch to hit some balls. The weather was pleasantly warm and sunny, but there was still ice on the pond, see photo.
Well, I managed to make the short irons go straight, more or less, but the long clubs were all going right. The driver, well, let’s not talk about the driver, other than to say, if players were on the 2nd green, they’d be in danger.
Today, I went to a golf lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy, and what an outstanding lesson it was. While my swing had marginally improved from the last lesson (grip was good, posture better, much less sway on the downswing), my swing path still needed work. My main issue was that I wasn’t in a good position at the top of the backswing, and that’s where we spent the bulk of the time. First, he put a Swingyde on my 7-iron and that device, once I made a few swings, improved both my swing path and my release. Next, he focused on getting me into a good position at the top of my backswing. Once he got me to move into the right position, the ball started going straight and my clubhead speed was really improved.
Wow, just wow.
OK, I know it will take weeks or months to get this improved swing (a pretty classic Jim Hardy one-plane swing) grooved, but the improvement on the video was amazing.
Much work to do, but I’m feeling more optimistic than I’ve felt in the two years since I first broke 90.