I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
For the longest time, my swing has been inside and flat, which I then tend to re-route a bit steep down into the ball. When things go well, I hit the ball an okay distance and with a little cut. I can play to about a 2.x to 3.x index with that swing, but that's about it.
For the past few years I've worked on keeping the club away from me and in a better position at the top. For a short spurt in each of the past two years I was playing effortless golf and seeing the results. My short game (which I neglected to try to fix the long game) was then my limiting factor, but even without the greatest putting, chipping, and bunker play I managed to get to a 1.8 index.
But I haven't stayed there. I'm self-taught to this point, and I'm looking for an instructor. I don't care for the instructors at Lake View (they're great if you're 65 and you want to break 90, I guess), and Whispering Woods is going to have a new range later this year with a teaching academy at one end.
I understand the need to commit to a series of lessons - I don't need or really even want a "quick fix." I want to work hard, even if it takes a full summer, and get rid of some old habits.
My preferred ballflight with every club is a high fade. I say high, but really the height comes from good ballstriking. When I'm playing well, the height comes effortlessly because I get good power and make good contact.
So I found a guy who's going to be "the" instructor at the golf course three minutes from my house (Whispering Woods), and I just got off the phone with him. Potential problem: he's a "stack and tilt" guy, and I've never cared for the stack-and-tilt swing. I don't like the lower trajectory, I don't like hitting draws, and everything I've seen says there are problems with S&T and the driver. A few of the S&T guys on Tour (Aaron Baddeley for one) are moving away from S&T. But at the same time, I've not really investigated things, so who knows whether I'm even right or what.
Now, I talked to him about that briefly, and he said by way of assurance that S&T is more about good geometry, and developing a simple, repeating swing, and there are components of the swing that he can use to accomplish anything. He said there are components that can hit the ball higher or lower. He said, obviously a sound golf swing will let you move the ball in either direction, but you can take some S&T pieces to build a golf swing and default setup that will produce a fade.
He told me he's good friends with Bennett and Plummer, and before they started working with Tour pros they developed the swing to work with beginners, because they make contact all over the ground, and the main thrust of their early work was to get people to make the low point of the swing in front of the golf ball (which hints at why it's not the best swing for the driver, potentially).
I told him that I'd probably like to use our first meeting as a sort of "get to know you" session. That I'd show him my swing, show him my old swing, show him what I've been trying to do, and see if we're a good fit, etc.
I know quite well that I really do not want to go full S&T, but it sounds like he understands S&T and just looks to apply pieces. I think that a good golf swing tends to have the same "pieces" throughout it, so I'm not worried about that - but if you're not an "S&T Method Teacher" (for want of a better phrase), why tell a potential student that you're "A Stack and Tilt Certified Academy"? Why pigeon-hole yourself? Or maybe it's just marketing, with "S&T" being kind of a hot (though cooling somewhat) phrase.
So there it is. This will be "the" guy at my home course, so developing a relationship with him will work out if I like what he does. But I have reservations... The first meeting will be key, and I suppose I don't really have any questions, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd like to hear them.
P.S. The wife will also be taking lessons, but she's a beginner, so I'm not as concerned about the "swing methodology" she'll learn so much as that she has fun.
For the longest time, my swing has been inside and flat, which I then tend to re-route a bit steep down into the ball. When things go well, I hit the ball an okay distance and with a little cut. I can play to about a 2.x to 3.x index with that swing, but that's about it.
For the past few years I've worked on keeping the club away from me and in a better position at the top. For a short spurt in each of the past two years I was playing effortless golf and seeing the results. My short game (which I neglected to try to fix the long game) was then my limiting factor, but even without the greatest putting, chipping, and bunker play I managed to get to a 1.8 index.
But I haven't stayed there. I'm self-taught to this point, and I'm looking for an instructor. I don't care for the instructors at Lake View (they're great if you're 65 and you want to break 90, I guess), and Whispering Woods is going to have a new range later this year with a teaching academy at one end.
I understand the need to commit to a series of lessons - I don't need or really even want a "quick fix." I want to work hard, even if it takes a full summer, and get rid of some old habits.
My preferred ballflight with every club is a high fade. I say high, but really the height comes from good ballstriking. When I'm playing well, the height comes effortlessly because I get good power and make good contact.
So I found a guy who's going to be "the" instructor at the golf course three minutes from my house (Whispering Woods), and I just got off the phone with him. Potential problem: he's a "stack and tilt" guy, and I've never cared for the stack-and-tilt swing. I don't like the lower trajectory, I don't like hitting draws, and everything I've seen says there are problems with S&T and the driver. A few of the S&T guys on Tour (Aaron Baddeley for one) are moving away from S&T. But at the same time, I've not really investigated things, so who knows whether I'm even right or what.
Now, I talked to him about that briefly, and he said by way of assurance that S&T is more about good geometry, and developing a simple, repeating swing, and there are components of the swing that he can use to accomplish anything. He said there are components that can hit the ball higher or lower. He said, obviously a sound golf swing will let you move the ball in either direction, but you can take some S&T pieces to build a golf swing and default setup that will produce a fade.
He told me he's good friends with Bennett and Plummer, and before they started working with Tour pros they developed the swing to work with beginners, because they make contact all over the ground, and the main thrust of their early work was to get people to make the low point of the swing in front of the golf ball (which hints at why it's not the best swing for the driver, potentially).
I told him that I'd probably like to use our first meeting as a sort of "get to know you" session. That I'd show him my swing, show him my old swing, show him what I've been trying to do, and see if we're a good fit, etc.
I know quite well that I really do not want to go full S&T, but it sounds like he understands S&T and just looks to apply pieces. I think that a good golf swing tends to have the same "pieces" throughout it, so I'm not worried about that - but if you're not an "S&T Method Teacher" (for want of a better phrase), why tell a potential student that you're "A Stack and Tilt Certified Academy"? Why pigeon-hole yourself? Or maybe it's just marketing, with "S&T" being kind of a hot (though cooling somewhat) phrase.
So there it is. This will be "the" guy at my home course, so developing a relationship with him will work out if I like what he does. But I have reservations... The first meeting will be key, and I suppose I don't really have any questions, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd like to hear them.
P.S. The wife will also be taking lessons, but she's a beginner, so I'm not as concerned about the "swing methodology" she'll learn so much as that she has fun.
And I kept improving, too, so it's not like I've been stuck for awhile. But two years now I've been stuck, so I'm moving on to get some help.
