A Break-through Golf Teacher?

[ryunin]

I'd like to share this story and ask for your opinions. I'd been practicing golf without a teacher, rather a texbook, online instruction and videos for about a year.  A month ago this teacher at this driving reange where I go every week gave me a great tip for driving. He managed to make me hit several straight drives in a row. Wow. I thought this guy must be something. I decided to give it a try and have my first lesson. ( Up to that point my HCP if anyone would try to measure it would be about 45, so I could have a sloppy 9 hole but it was more frustration than fun). This young teacher gave me a lesson with my 7 iron and told me to forget the driver for a month or so. He corrected some basic flaws and I was happy. I thought we would get regular lessons. Today I went to the driving range and wanted to ask about something. My new etacher wasn't there, but this very experienced, senior teacher was there and I thought I would ask him. As he answered my question he gave me this tip how to practice off mats. Don't use rubber tees with irons. Never. Show me how you do it, he told me. I showed. He said: You must hit the mat much harder, hit down to the mat, but not at the ball, but a few inches in front of the ball. I asked about the health and irons, will these be affected? He said, to my surprise, no worries, you won't harm your body or clubs. OK, I tried to do it, but it was a bad fat shot. You must hit here, he showed a spot in front of the ball. Just collect the ball on the way to this spot. I tried. Wow! I mean W O W. I had never felt anything like that in golf until that moment. The way I felt the ball meeting the clubface was all new to me, not only it felt flush, but had this amazing dynamics to it.

OK, enough dreams, but this really happened. My question is: How come such a basic thing is not taught in general on the net, on youtube, in articles? You hear about divots all the time, but I can imagine divots are great when you play in grass, but until today I thought practicing divots hitting off mats is impossible. But if you try to hit the spot a few inches in front of the ball, what happens? You come down to the ball, collect it, without hitting the mat ( just like on a fairway you touch grass before hitting the ball, but not the ground under the ball), and after and only after hitting the ball you hit the mat. The question is whether this is really harmless for your arms and hands, but the way you hit the ball is light years away from some kind of sloppy hitting balls of the mat. Sorry if I am telling you something 99% beginners know already. If this is a common technique, why isn't it pointed out in articles and youtube golf videos? I have been spotted by several teachers at the golf driving range but only this guy told me this secret today. And it may have changed the way I will play irons forever. It was becoming boring to hit irons, it felt like... cannot use the word here, you know. So don't you think this technique aiming at a spot few inches in front of the ball is absolutely essentila for mat practice? Of course, I suppose this technique will beatifully show playing on fairways and at last I will see some of my own divots, which I haven't seen yet.

[cipher]

Not trying to ruin your fun or anything, but it is a bad way to try and teach you to get your weight forward a bit at impact hitting down on the ball. It may have caused you to hit the ball a bit better but is not really a true fix and is not a new "tip" either. I have heard it taught, sometimes in other ways, but is basically telling someone to hit the ball on the downswing before they hit the ground. No new concept there.

[ryunin]

I know this is nothing new - taking a divot is something I have heard about at least a million times. What is new to me to do it when practicing hitting balls off the mat. I mean what else are we supposed to do when hitting the ball off the mat? Nobody has ever told me to hit a spot in front of the ball on the mat. I only noticed most golfers hit the mat at the driving range and even my first teacher told me to hit the mat, but he didn't tell me where to hit it and how hard to hit it. It seemed he expected me to hit the mat right where the ball was,  which is very different from what the new teacher says and has very different result. The new teacher makes me actually make a divot, even if we cannot see it as it is a mat and it has no shape memory or something, but this new teacher definitely wants me to take a divot. Nobody has told me to practice like that with mats. I always used rubber tees to avoid the unpleasant contact with the mats, which must have led to topping balls when playing in grass. I don't usually top when I play in grass as I am not afraid to hit down, especially in rough. But once it is a tight lie or even quality fairway, where I hardly ever play, I am lost as I am not used to hitting hard in front of the ball. So to me this instruction is not new, but essential. Why it is not popular with people, I have no clue, that's also why I am posting here.

[ryunin]

Plus, with this technique there is no danger you'll get used to bouncing the clubhead behind the ball and getting away with it. You feel very clearly whether you've hit the mat before the ball or after the ball. As I said before, when the ball is hit correctly, you don't even feel you've hit the mat, as the compression of the ball is your last and strongest memory. You feel absolutely no resistance from the ball or the mat. It feels a bit like hitting a kind of jelly ball, which reshapes immediately after the sudden compression. I am sure good golfers are familar with this experience. Maybe the arms and hands may be sore after the practice, but that would be due to the fat shots, not the right compression shots.