Graduate From the Range?

Written on 7-22-2020.

        I am on the back deck under our cover, and it’s a Wednesday afternoon.  It just turned 4:00, but it’s not hot for being just past the middle of July.  It’s been overcast here all day, so the temperature has been very comfortable.  We haven’t run the swamp cooler at all today.

On to golf…

I had my third lesson with Luke yesterday, and it was another good one.  The highlight came at the end when I picked out three different targets and came pretty close to each one.  I will revisit my note for his tips from that lesson first, and then I will write about those three shots.

Luke Tanner’s Third Lesson on July 21st, 2020

Exaggerate that lean, set up on the left side for a while

“Stack” the left side with wedges, shoulders more parallel to the ground higher right shoulder is better 

Braced left knee through impact

Same for right knee in backswing 

Good driver specific tip…

Slow down 50% to 60% and keep building up to 80%

My idea to “graduate” from the range

Start out with a super drive to my intended target (like rolling a double before I can move out while playing a board game)

Start with the Gap Wedge and get 3 out of 5 flush, no tee

1 good drive after each club, or I have to start over with the Approach club

Approach through 7 to start    

         

First, I would like to write that he acknowledged that I was remaining neutral/no more forward press.  I have really worked on that.  I had to ask him about it, but he agreed I was much better with that.

It’s hard to do a lesson while thinking of new things.  He gave me a tip for my footwork at the beginning, so thinking about that messed me up on all of the other stuff I have been working on.  Let me recount what he said.

For the footwork, he said to always keep the weight on the insides of my feet.  That was a hard thing for me.  It’s not something I can really feel, so I mostly just ignored it.  

I actually brought out my...

little homemade swing aid for maintaining a steady head.  To his credit, he didn’t laugh at me.  He just said something like, “Whatever helps.”  

Maybe he will make fun of me behind my back, but I don’t care.  I agree with what he said.  If it helps, use it.  

We talked about the whole keeping the head still idea, because I brought out my device.  He teaches that golfers should focus instead on the top vertebra on their backs and keeping that still instead of just keeping a still head, but I told him that doesn’t work really well for me, and it’s difficult to focus on a spot at the top of my back.  He said the vertebra thing keeps other students from being really stiff with the rest of their bodies, and he didn’t see that a a problem with me.  I actually remember that the thought of keeping your head down was a bad mental image, and I think that was what he was trying to tell me.  

I was using a wider stance than last time, but that was happening due to the idea that my trail leg lean in towards the target and become straight vs. having my back foot coming up on its toes.  He noticed and told me, so I decided to narrow my stance for the rest of the lesson, but I might go back to a wider stance to better match the model.

He told me to be aware of the reverse pivot and avoid it, of course.  He really liked, and wanted me to continue, leaning left at the start.  Good.  I figured out the benefit of that at the range at Riverview.  Why not move my head to the left at the start instead of moving there during the swing and causing errors.

I sliced my driver, so he had me swing with 50% power.  Better.  Then to bring it up to 70%, and I sliced again.  We brought down my speed again, however, and it improved again, so that was a great tip.  I liked last year when I could just aim left and swing as hard as I could.  Eventually, I would like to swing harder with my driver, but I know that will come with better technique.

Finally, I took some swings with my sand wedge, and they weren’t so hot.  He recommended I stack my wedge shots, so I asked for clarification.  He asked if I knew about “stack and tilt,” and I told him I had heard of it, but I didn’t really know what it was about.  Basically, it meant keeping my shoulders more parallel, and to not tilt away from the target at the start.  

The bigger takeaway was what he said after that, and it was to never swing my wedge at more than 90%.  If I can take my gap wedge and use a more controlled swing vs. using my sand wedge at full power, better to take the gap.  I remember reading something about Phil Mickelson where he recommended said the same thing.

At the end of the lesson, I asked him to help me come up with a realistic goal to be able to play on a golf course again.  I don’t know if it was something he could answer, but I am dying for a goal to get me to play on a course again.  I want to feel closure on the range, like I have accomplished something.  If I do this (fill in the blank here), then I can play again.  If I can’t do this (whatever it is), then I am simply not ready.  I told him I would text him later with a goal he thinks is realistic.  What would I have to do to be able to go out on the course once more, because that’s where I want to be, but I want to earn it?  

I decided to make my own goal, and I put in the notes from the lesson above.  After we were done, he gave me two larger than large buckets full of golf balls to use, and I went directly back to the range after our lesson.  I had gone to the range for about ten minutes before our lesson to try and warm up first.  I didn’t want to waste ten minutes of his teaching time with no warm-up swings, but I had barely begun my own small bucket before he came down ready to go about ten minutes before 9:00.  Oh well.  I tried.

We set a date and time for our final lesson together, and we decided on August 11th at 10:00.  My idea is to have him look at my full swing for the first half, and then to spend the rest of the lesson on putting.  I hope to only show off my new full swing during the first part.

During my range practice session after my lesson, I learned a couple of things.  First, I found a new routine.  Here’s what I did.  I find an intermediate target first on the same line as my intended target, and I line up my club to that intermediate target first.  I do that while holding my club in my left arm only, and that helps me remember to keep my arm straight by letting the weight of the club pull down my arm into an extended position.  I step into my alignment with my stance (remembering to tilt) while looking at the target.  After that, I put my right arm on the club, and I gently lift it up and put it back down to help release the tension a little bit.  Then I was ready to swing.

I focused on the very back of the ball, and that helped with the contact.  I am beginning to understand that accuracy and slowing down my swing (slowing it down only in my mind) were the keys to great swings.