Just Got a Lesson, Help Needed

[Nail]

Hi guys, so I just went for a lesson because on driving because it is costing me strokes every round. 

Anyway after hitting a few balls and him videoing me etc., he said I am throwing my hands up and away from me after impact and leaving the face open whether trying to hit a draw or a fade. 

He gave me a feel to work on but I’m struggling with it, he wants me to feel like I am throwing a ball about four feet to the left and behind me (I’m right handed). I’m finding it hard to imagine, he also said imagine trying to hit my left leg with the handle of the club (obviously I won’t hit it as my leg and hips are turning and moving out of the way)

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Or other feels to achieve the same thing?

 

[Vinsk]

Have you read through this post? Have you posted a video of your swing? If your instructor is trying to get you to arrive at impact with a less open face there so many ‘feels’ one can have to obtain this. Read through this posted link:

 

[checkerfred]

1 hour ago, Nail said:

Hi guys, so I just went for a lesson because on driving because it is costing me strokes every round. 

Anyway after hitting a few balls and him videoing me etc., he said I am throwing my hands up and away from me after impact and leaving the face open whether trying to hit a draw or a fade. 

He gave me a feel to work on but I’m struggling with it, he wants me to feel like I am throwing a ball about four feet to the left and behind me (I’m right handed). I’m finding it hard to imagine, he also said imagine trying to hit my left leg with the handle of the club (obviously I won’t hit it as my leg and hips are turning and moving out of the way)

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Or other feels to achieve the same thing?

 

I am definitely doing this too.  I've had some lessons and still struggle with it.  My hands go way out away from me then really high.  Sometimes my timing is good and I'll hit a draw but then there's times I'll leave the face open and hit blocks/pushes. 

[Nail]

7 hours ago, checkerfred said:

I am definitely doing this too.  I've had some lessons and still struggle with it.  My hands go way out away from me then really high.  Sometimes my timing is good and I'll hit a draw but then there's times I'll leave the face open and hit blocks/pushes. 

Yes that’s what happens me too. 

8 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Have you read through this post? Have you posted a video of your swing? If your instructor is trying to get you to arrive at impact with a less open face there so many ‘feels’ one can have to obtain this. Read through this posted link:

 

Hi, ya I’ve read through that post lots of times but it was only when he recorded me that I could see what he was talking about. I don’t think it’s just an open clubface he wants me to change, I think he wants my path less in to out too, much closer to neutral I think. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Nail
Misspelled a word

[DrvFrShow]

18 hours ago, Nail said:

Yes that’s what happens me too. 

Hi, ya I’ve read through that post lots of times but it was only when he recorded me that I could see what he was talking about. I don’t think it’s just an open clubface he wants me to change, I think he wants my path less in to out too, much closer to neutral I think. 

 

A block is a split second away from a draw. Now release the club.

[Nail]

11 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

A block is a split second away from a draw. Now release the club.

Yes true but my path is also too in to out. He wants to change my path too 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 9/3/2019 at 4:51 PM, Nail said:

Hi guys, so I just went for a lesson because on driving because it is costing me strokes every round. 

Anyway after hitting a few balls and him videoing me etc., he said I am throwing my hands up and away from me after impact and leaving the face open whether trying to hit a draw or a fade. 

He gave me a feel to work on but I’m struggling with it, he wants me to feel like I am throwing a ball about four feet to the left and behind me (I’m right handed). I’m finding it hard to imagine, he also said imagine trying to hit my left leg with the handle of the club (obviously I won’t hit it as my leg and hips are turning and moving out of the way)

Does anyone have any experience with something similar? Or other feels to achieve the same thing?

 

 

12 hours ago, Nail said:

Yes true but my path is also too in to out. He wants to change my path too 

As to your first quote, this is a common problem. I do it, my buddies do it, I see a lot of people do it! We call it by any number of names. "Not finishing my swing", "Quitting on my swing", "Not finishing at the target", "Not letting my hands go" etc. These are all "feels". 

And for your second quote, if your path is too inside to out, that's also a problem. Your instructor has video of it, so it's not just opinion or conjecture. 

You remind me of so many amateurs who have become comfortable in their swings, no matter how bad they are. I don't doubt that you are struggling with the new feel, because any change in the golf swing is very hard! Tiger Woods took a year and a half to two years to hone a new swing enough to take it out on the Tour! 

My opinion is, your teacher has you diagnosed pretty well. Do what he tells you to do! No matter how painful or how slow the progress. You will wind up a better golfer for it! 

 

[Nail]

3 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

 

As to your first quote, this is a common problem. I do it, my buddies do it, I see a lot of people do it! We call it by any number of names. "Not finishing my swing", "Quitting on my swing", "Not finishing at the target", "Not letting my hands go" etc. These are all "feels". 

And for your second quote, if your path is too inside to out, that's also a problem. Your instructor has video of it, so it's not just opinion or conjecture. 

You remind me of so many amateurs who have become comfortable in their swings, no matter how bad they are. I don't doubt that you are struggling with the new feel, because any change in the golf swing is very hard! Tiger Woods took a year and a half to two years to hone a new swing enough to take it out on the Tour! 

My opinion is, your teacher has you diagnosed pretty well. Do what he tells you to do! No matter how painful or how slow the progress. You will wind up a better golfer for it! 

 

Don’t get me wrong I want to do as he says. I don’t doubt he is right, I just wondered had anyone any other feels for the exact same thing, one that might work better for me, I’m struggling with those feels, not because it’s uncomfortable. 

 

[dennyjones]

Read this thread:

5s of great practice

[boogielicious]

6 hours ago, Nail said:

Don’t get me wrong I want to do as he says. I don’t doubt he is right, I just wondered had anyone any other feels for the exact same thing, one that might work better for me, I’m struggling with those feels, not because it’s uncomfortable. 

 

Improvement takes time. And getting feels down so they are easy to use on the course takes time too. Be patient. Some changes can be quick, but I found path changes take longer. My swing is pretty inside out too. I worked for 6 months on one priority piece and it improved things, but now I am making changes to be less inside out.

If you are filming your swing, focus on working the change by doing slow swings as @dennyjones pointed to. Some practices, I don't even take a full swing. Work each section of the swing too (called mapping). 

Example: When I work on the backswing, just go to a mirror and do the backswing only and watch my positions in the mirror just to the top.

4 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Read this thread:

5s of great practice

Thanks.

[billchao]

11 hours ago, Nail said:

Don’t get me wrong I want to do as he says. I don’t doubt he is right, I just wondered had anyone any other feels for the exact same thing, one that might work better for me, I’m struggling with those feels, not because it’s uncomfortable. 

I don't understand, didn't your instructor work with you on your feels with drills and stuff during the lesson? Did you mention you were struggling with it? It seems odd that you walked away from a lesson confused about what to do.

[Nail]

3 minutes ago, billchao said:

I don't understand, didn't your instructor work with you on your feels with drills and stuff during the lesson? Did you mention you were struggling with it? It seems odd that you walked away from a lesson confused about what to do.

Yes I said I was struggling with those feels but I suppose he expected me to struggle with it and work on it maybe. What I am struggling with is what he is trying to achieve with these feels, I’m not sure and I probably should have made that clearer to him. 

He wants me hitting straight balls as opposed to something with a lot of curve which makes sense I suppose

 

[billchao]

6 minutes ago, Nail said:

Yes I said I was struggling with those feels but I suppose he expected me to struggle with it and work on it maybe. What I am struggling with is what he is trying to achieve with these feels, I’m not sure and I probably should have made that clearer to him. 

If you swing too far in to out, the fix is to swing more out to in so your path is more neutral. That's an overly-simplistic explanation but that's the gist of how these things work. The idea is if you start working the opposite extreme into your practice, your swing ends up somewhere in the middle.

[Nail]

16 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you swing too far in to out, the fix is to swing more out to in so your path is more neutral. That's an overly-simplistic explanation but that's the gist of how these things work. The idea is if you start working the opposite extreme into your practice, your swing ends up somewhere in the middle.

Ya that makes sense because he said I was throwing my hands up and high to the right and he wants me to work on low and left so maybe somewhere in the middle is ideal. 

[iacas]

It sounds like you got a horrible lesson, TBH.

IMO the instructor should have:

• Diagnosed your priority. Maybe he did this.
• Explained what you were going to work on, why, and how. He only seems to have partially done this.
• Have you demonstrate it. He doesn't seem to have done this.
• Give you drills with checkpoints so you know if you're practicing it properly. He doesn't seem to have done this.
• Record or film or have you at least hit several shots while doing this, so he can verify once again that you get it. He didn't do this.
• Make absolutely sure you know what you're doing before you leave. He didn't do this at all.

If that's accurate, this is why I so strongly dislike so many instructors out there.

[Nail]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

It sounds like you got a horrible lesson, TBH.

IMO the instructor should have:

• Diagnosed your priority. Maybe he did this.
• Explained what you were going to work on, why, and how. He only seems to have partially done this.
• Have you demonstrate it. He doesn't seem to have done this.
• Give you drills with checkpoints so you know if you're practicing it properly. He doesn't seem to have done this.
• Record or film or have you at least hit several shots while doing this, so he can verify once again that you get it. He didn't do this.
• Make absolutely sure you know what you're doing before you leave. He didn't do this at all.

If that's accurate, this is why I so strongly dislike so many instructors out there.

This is what I was afraid of. I have read your thoughts on lessons before and the guy is really nice but ya I walked away very confused tbh. 

He told me what he wanted me to do but wasn’t very clear as to the why and what end result he wanted. 

When I put up a my swing thread here I felt I got better feedback and ideas than I did with his lesson and as a result my irons have come on leaps and bounds since. 

When I get a chance I’ll video a driver swing and post it here on my swing thread and see what you guys think

 

 

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Nail said:

When I put up a my swing thread here I felt I got better feedback and ideas than I did with his lesson and as a result my irons have come on leaps and bounds since. 

When I get a chance I’ll video a driver swing and post it here on my swing thread and see what you guys think

Awesome. Looking forward to it.

Two ideas:

1. Consider becoming a Supporter.
2. Ring up the fella and give him a chance to explain himself. Maybe he'll have you back. Can't hurt (much) and you have almost nothing to lose at this point.

But even if you do #2, still do post it here. Haven't seen an update since May from ya.

[phillyk]

If this is the priority, I've had people do toe up drills or feel the right palm/hand slap the back of the ball, then follow through over and behind your left shoulder.  Sometimes I may strengthen the grip if this carries through the rest of the clubs.  If you take swings using only your right hand, you'll see it's pretty easy to get the toe back up after impact. But use only the left hand and it's tough.  Going a layer below this though, I see early leg extensions or people getting stuck in the turn to cause the face to stay open at impact, so my inclination would be to start there.