Joey's Golf Bag

This afternoon, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to attend the Swing Master clinic that is held every Saturday and Tuesday at noon. Today, Alan Niederlitz was my instructor.

I paid for the clinic and went to the putting green to practice. The putting green to the west of the pro shop is being renovated to a new strain of dwarf bermuda, so will be closed for a while, so I went to the other putting green to practice. That particular green isn’t in very good shape at the moment, a victim of the soggy weather here in Dallas. I first spent some time hitting short putts, did some speed drills and then practiced putting around the green at different holes. My putting was not particularly good today.

Next, I went to the instruction area to warm up before the clinic. I warmed up pretty poorly, even got out the iPod with Tour Tempo to no avail. I told him about my mishap with breaking shafts and then he asked how I was hitting the ball. I told him I was hitting the pitching wedge through 8-iron well, but the rest of the clubs weren’t being hit well. First, he had me get out the driver and I told him I was tending to hook the ball. I hit a few drives and they were hit pretty well. He then had me get out the 5-wood and I described how I tended to hit the ball thin and with a hook. He had me hit a few shots while he watched, which were surprisingly well-hit, considering how poorly I’d warmed up. He then adjusted my setup a bit to give me more shoulder tilt and that helped. He then had me get out the driver again and adjusted my stance, hand position and ball position. I then started hitting the driver very well with good distance even though I was hitting into a pretty strong wind.

Next, we got out the sand wedge and watched me hit a few balls with it. He moved my ball position back a bit in my stance and moved my hands more toward the middle with less forward tilt, and also moved my feet a bit closer together. It took me a few swings to get used to the new stance, but it is clear that that was the main issue with the wedges. He then checked me hitting short and mid-length pitches; with some more practice, I think I can get back to being a good wedge player.

This was a very, very good swing clinic today. Alan can always fix my swing and get me back on track. I really need to go see him more often.