Lesson at Coyote Ridge
This afternoon, I had my first lesson with Jeff Kennedy at Coyote Ridge. I warmed up for a few minutes with a 7-iron and we started the lesson. Jeff had me hit a few balls and started fixing my stance. I had too much weight on my forward (left) leg and was straightening my right leg on the backswing. We spent a few minutes working making sure to balance my weight evenly between my feet. He had to correct me several times, because I always wanted to put more weight on my left foot. He said my grip was perfect and my posture good.
Next, he worked on my alignment to the target. He demonstrated to me that I was lining up right of my target, thus, I’d trained myself to have to come over the top in order to get the ball back to the target. He also had me stand closer to the ball was I was too far away, which tended to make my balance poor. Once I had my weight balanced, my alignment to the target fixed and the ball the proper distance away, I started hitting the ball straighter and my balance was much improved.
He then gave me my driver and he showed me the proper way to line up with the ball off my left heel. He made sure my weight was evenly distributed between my feet and that I added a slight spine tilt right. He had me not hover the club, but instead set it on the ground and swing from there. My driving was immediately improved, very little side spin at all on the ball and good directional control. And once he had me swinging harder at the ball, with good distance as well.
None of this instruction was any different from what I’d worked on with Alan in 2007, but I’d gotten bad habits again by not having regular instruction. I’ll not make that mistake again. I’ve found the right instructor.
I was very, very pleased with this lesson, and I’m going to continue working with Jeff weekly to make sure I get the changes embedded in my thick skull.