The Golf Guru Show

Video in instruction can be a valuable tool if used correctly. There have been documented cases of video abuse by golf instructors or students that just love to look at themselves. I use video mostly to help my students bridge the gap between FEEL AND REAL. In my opinion, this is a big part of what separates expert golfers from the average ones. Amateurs have much bigger bridges than Professionals. A Pro has a better feel (good or bad) of what is going on with their golf swing than the amateur. For example: If you have been following my blog lately, I posted a list that I wanted for Christmas which included 10 passionate golfers to work with. Well, I found one under the tree today in the likes of JM (he knows who he is). JM had a lot of thoughts about what he was trying to do with his golf swing and (because he follows my blog, hint, hint) most of them were excellent golfing ideas. But until we put his swing on video were we able to 1)see what was actually happening and 2)focus in on a couple of root causes of all the gobbledygook that were effects of these causes. JM was a 95 to 100 shooter with a lot more ability than that (if he is reading this, as I am sure he is ……we already discussed his potential). I feel I can get him shooting into the 80’s fairly quickly. Lets look at feel vs. reality: 1)feel (he thought grip was strong: real: it was neutral at best and too much in the palm. 2)feel (he thought his takeaway was on plane and that he wasn’t flexible enough to turn: real(he was overturning his hips and shoulders which moved the club way to the inside and rolled the club face open. All of these events caused JM to lift his arms up to the top of his backswing and swing outside  to in on the downswing. As a result, a weak face with poor contact occurred. As soon as he saw his swing on video, these errors were very clear as he was even rehearsing a pretty good takeaway. So it was my job to get him to focus on the two ro three things that we would work on (Grip, initial takeaway and backswing shape)and explain how this progression will help his overall shape and contact. Then I gave him a drill to help him solidify the correct feel. Here is the drill that I gave him to practice

PROGRESSION AND PATTERN DEVELOPMENT

My friend John Graham (johngrahamgolf.com) came up with the word pattern development, (which I love) so I am using it for this description. Every golf swing is like a fingerprint. It is very difficult to completely change the pattern…..But……If you change the correct pieces or the cause of the problem, other things start to behave differently. As soon as we got the club head on the other side of JM’s hands (on plane) and a shorter turn with a flatter left arm at the top of his downswing, his downswing flattened out about 40 degrees to the positive side (toward the plane line). The ball flight went from a weak fade to a straight or slightly pulled draw that went 20 yards farther. Needless to say he was very pleased and was excited about the direction we were going. Why? 1)Because he saw positive change in his skills to strike the ball and 2)We now had a plan for improvement that was visibly measured through the use of video. He now understands what his swing should look like and the ball flight that matches in order to improve. The two images that will allow him to practice in the mirror at home are 1) the club shaft should remain in between the forearms and 2)the left arm needs to match his now steeper shoulder plane which shortens the swing a bit.

FOR THE COACHES

Guide the student in their learning by helping them focus on what you want them to see and not pointing out every little thing that they do wrong. Start with the positives and then focus on the areas that you want to work on. If you over do it you will do more harm than good. Trust me, I am a recovering “overuse video addict.” Hi my name is Jason…….you get the point.

Thanks JM for allowing me to post this lesson and thank you for spending an hour of your valuable time on a cold snowy day. I look forward to seeing your improvement.

See you on the lesson tee,

Jason