Get those hips swinging
This afternoon after work, I had a lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my good driving the last time I played last Friday, and also how bad my irons had been. My main issue on the course was inconsistent contact with the ball. Sometimes I hit the ball fat, sometimes thin. I just could never make solid contact on the ball. He had me hit a few balls with the pitching wedge so he could see what was happening. The first thing he noticed was I didn’t have enough shoulder tilt. We fixed that easily, I just setup the same way I do when I hit the driver, plus a little more forward lean of the club. This change helped immediately with making better contact on the ball.
Next, we noticed on the video that my hips were nearly square to the line at impact. That looks like my main issue right now. We worked on getting my left hip to turn properly so that my hips are turned toward the target at impact. This change was a little hard to get used to, but certainly necessary. He wants me to initiate the downswing by turning my hips to the left. I thought I was doing that, but it was clear on the video that I wasn’t. He gave me a drill to help with that. I hit a few balls trying to get the hip turned properly, and on the occasion when the club hit the ball, I made powerful contact on the ball.
Next week, we’re going to work on my position at the top. The clubhead is quite a bit open at the top, so that’s what we’ll work on next week, and also check that my hips are turning properly.
I’m making progress, more slowly than I’d like, but I’ve had little time to practice due to work schedule and bad weather.