Great lesson today

[hls2k6]

I went by land, sea and plane (except there was no plane) to take a 90 minute full swing lesson with Michael today. The 7.5 hr round trip was definitely worth it, even though I now know I have an obscene amount of stuff to work on.

An hour into the lesson, my misses were way better than the best shots when I arrived. (It turns out that gripping the club 25* open makes the ball go high and weak right-- especially if you fan it open going back. who knew!?) The only bad thing is I'll be hearing the click of my wrist breaking that tic-tac in my sleep tonight!

Thanks again, MJ. Can't wait to get back and work with you some more, and I'm super excited for the clinic with you and Brian in August. I feel like I'm finally on my way to playing the golf I've wanted to for so long, instead of putting in tons of work on the wrong things.

-Mike

[trickyric]

I am glad you made the pilgrimage. I have found that my time with MJ and Bmanz has made my understanding of the golf swing so much better to the point that when I go back to south Florida I am able to keep working on my game with a clarity that I have never had before.
I was a PGA member back in 1986 and left the industry simply because I knew how much I did not know! if only i could have met these men back then (however I think I would have had to wait for MJ to get out of the 3rd grade ) I may have had a different career, but I am pretty happy meeting them now and I think if you can get back to them regularly you will find that your ability to play this game will grow beyond anything you ever thought it could be.
IMHO
Ric

[Michael Jacobs]

I went by land, sea and plane (except there was no plane) to take a 90 minute full swing lesson with Michael today. The 7.5 hr round trip was definitely worth it, even though I now know I have an obscene amount of stuff to work on.

An hour into the lesson, my misses were way better than the best shots when I arrived. (It turns out that gripping the club 25* open makes the ball go high and weak right-- especially if you fan it open going back. who knew!?) The only bad thing is I'll be hearing the click of my wrist breaking that tic-tac in my sleep tonight!

Thanks again, MJ. Can't wait to get back and work with you some more, and I'm super excited for the clinic with you and Brian in August. I feel like I'm finally on my way to playing the golf I've wanted to for so long, instead of putting in tons of work on the wrong things.

-Mike

Mike,
Enjoyed working with you very much, always nice to work with an enthusiastic & eager student. I think you are well on your way to improvements, there is a lot to do but I think in short time you will have a reliable swing pattern. The tac tic training aid is a must for your training so that you can monitor what you are doing with that left hand.

Unfortunately, you were putting a lot of work into very inefficient movements that were not your fault as you were doing what you were told. Now you have a guided way to improvement!

Glad the trip was worth your while and I look forward to hearing about your progress and seeing you again this summer

[Michael Jacobs]

I am glad you made the pilgrimage. I have found that my time with MJ and Bmanz has made my understanding of the golf swing so much better to the point that when I go back to south Florida I am able to keep working on my game with a clarity that I have never had before.
I was a PGA member back in 1986 and left the industry simply because I knew how much I did not know! if only i could have met these men back then (however I think I would have had to wait for MJ to get out of the 3rd grade ) I may have had a different career, but I am pretty happy meeting them now and I think if you can get back to them regularly you will find that your ability to play this game will grow beyond anything you ever thought it could be.
IMHO
Ric

Ric,

Thanks for the kind words ... FYI in 1986 I was in the 3rd grade!

[hls2k6]

Thanks, Michael. I'll be working hard on everything you taught me 7 days a week, and will come back for more help as soon as I've got yesterday's fundamentals incorporated better.

Question: given that I was holding my irons 20* open (at least) and saw them as square, is there a good chance I'm doing the same thing with driver and fw woods? Wish I'd thought to ask about that in person, but glass broke between my ears about 75 minutes in!

[hls2k6]

I was thinking of turning this thread into a running diary of results and the occasional question, if no one will find that too annoying.

I put in 90 minutes of practice tonight with my tac-tic and am getting quite adept at being click free in the back swing and well past impact. I hit nothing but 7 irons including 20 from the fairway to close out my practice session. They're going generally straight & high with a 5 yd draw and every decent shot from the grass was as long or ever slightly longer than the longest shots yesterday.

I'm no good at the twist-away, as though I somehow lack flexibility in that part of my wrist. I'm going to spend sometime working on it without a ball. For now, flat enough to not snap the tac-tic is a HUGE improvement from just a day ago.

I also suck at the swivel but not nearly as badly as 24 hrs ago. I am having good results & improvement with letting my left arm rotate into the shot and then making sure the arm folds wedding ring up instead of holding on/chicken winging it.

Swinging back with my left shoulder dropping into my right foot more is an instant success, and for some reason seems to help me get my hands inside without my left wrist breaking down.

Thanks again, MJ!

[hls2k6]

I've managed to put in a couple hours practice every single day this week. Thoughts and questions below.

Good news: I am swiveling like a champ without even thinking about it. In fact, after just a week's practice, I can't not swivel.

Bad news: I can't twist-away to save my life, however, but I'm having decent luck keeping the tac-tic quiet until well after impact. Twisting away just seems anathema to swinging smoothly for me, but I'm trying.

When I groove it and find some semblance of timing, I'm more than a full club longer than I was a week ago. That's definitely not every time, though, and I probably need to come back soon to learn the next steps we didn't get to last week. Should I maybe take a video sometime next week to see if I'm on top of last week's lesson enough to move forward? Also, I tried the driver tonight, which was an absolute hook-tastic disaster.

What can I do about an over-active, collapsing lower body? I was hitting the ball terribly for a bit, then I focused on posting that left leg through impact (really stomping it into the ground) and things were instantly fixed.

Also, how can I avoid slipping into tilting (to the point of not turning behind the ball at all) when concentrating on the left shoulder coming down into my back foot on the backswing?

Thanks!

[Michael Jacobs]

Thanks, Michael. I'll be working hard on everything you taught me 7 days a week, and will come back for more help as soon as I've got yesterday's fundamentals incorporated better.

Question: given that I was holding my irons 20* open (at least) and saw them as square, is there a good chance I'm doing the same thing with driver and fw woods? Wish I'd thought to ask about that in person, but glass broke between my ears about 75 minutes in!

It is possible that you were addressing the woods with the same type of club face. Here is an easy way to check, take the first groove of the club and match it up to the edge of a mat to see the alignment of the face. Its an easy checkpoint for wood face angle

[Michael Jacobs]

I was thinking of turning this thread into a running diary of results and the occasional question, if no one will find that too annoying.

I put in 90 minutes of practice tonight with my tac-tic and am getting quite adept at being click free in the back swing and well past impact. I hit nothing but 7 irons including 20 from the fairway to close out my practice session. They're going generally straight & high with a 5 yd draw and every decent shot from the grass was as long or ever slightly longer than the longest shots yesterday.

I'm no good at the twist-away, as though I somehow lack flexibility in that part of my wrist. I'm going to spend sometime working on it without a ball. For now, flat enough to not snap the tac-tic is a HUGE improvement from just a day ago.

I also suck at the swivel but not nearly as badly as 24 hrs ago. I am having good results & improvement with letting my left arm rotate into the shot and then making sure the arm folds wedding ring up instead of holding on/chicken winging it.

Swinging back with my left shoulder dropping into my right foot more is an instant success, and for some reason seems to help me get my hands inside without my left wrist breaking down.

Thanks again, MJ!

Good to hear you are making sense of it all and seeing some progress! I wouldn't worry so much about what the extreme the left hand is moving towards, we will be happy with the silent tac tic. Let's not look for anything beyond that! The trunk movement I added to your pattern increases side bend and allows the arms to take a much more favorable path.

We like a running diary of how you are doing, after all that is what this web site is.. a place for my students to grow and continue their education. Keep the diary going!

[Michael Jacobs]

I've managed to put in a couple hours practice every single day this week. Thoughts and questions below.

Good news: I am swiveling like a champ without even thinking about it. In fact, after just a week's practice, I can't not swivel.

Bad news: I can't twist-away to save my life, however, but I'm having decent luck keeping the tac-tic quiet until well after impact. Twisting away just seems anathema to swinging smoothly for me, but I'm trying.

When I groove it and find some semblance of timing, I'm more than a full club longer than I was a week ago. That's definitely not every time, though, and I probably need to come back soon to learn the next steps we didn't get to last week. Should I maybe take a video sometime next week to see if I'm on top of last week's lesson enough to move forward? Also, I tried the driver tonight, which was an absolute hook-tastic disaster.

What can I do about an over-active, collapsing lower body? I was hitting the ball terribly for a bit, then I focused on posting that left leg through impact (really stomping it into the ground) and things were instantly fixed.

Also, how can I avoid slipping into tilting (to the point of not turning behind the ball at all) when concentrating on the left shoulder coming down into my back foot on the backswing?

Thanks!

I would strongly advise not trying to do any extra twisting away of the left hand beyond just a quiet tac tic. If you do, you are going to develop the hook you are describing. Remember, it is very easy to over do certain things which I then have to scale back in future lessons. You may want to now make the adjustment of the impact hand location address to now a mid body hand location for your address. I had advised you during our session that I would make this adjustment next time I see you but it sounds like the time for you to make the adjustment for this is now.

I highly recommend taking some video and posting it on youtube or sending it to me at mike@xgolfschool.com and we can take a definite look at what is taking place instead of my speculation from your descriptions.

You then asked:

"What can I do about an over-active, collapsing lower body? I was hitting the ball terribly for a bit, then I focused on posting that left leg through impact (really stomping it into the ground) and things were instantly fixed."

This I will take a look at when you send a video or come for your next session... our initial focus was on club face control, this is more like the 'next step'

You then asked:
"Also, how can I avoid slipping into tilting (to the point of not turning behind the ball at all) when concentrating on the left shoulder coming down into my back foot on the backswing?"

The tilting you are describing is known as leaning left on the backswing.... Correct this by a flatter trunk move.. placing the club across the chest trying to make the flattest trunk move you can while the left chest feels like it bends down about 15 degrees.

Let me know if you need clarification on these topics, but sending the video is highly recommended!