Never had a lesson! (until now)
07/11/08 09:42 Filed in: My Rounds
I've been hacking away at this great game since I was
about 14 years old, and I've never had a lesson!
Well, that's not entirely true: my dad took my sister
and I to a kid's golf clinic when I was 14 and that
was my introduction to the game. Through the years
I've never been more than an average golfer and never
took my game too seriously. It was a fun pastime and
a reason to drink beer, and that was about it. Until
about 4 years ago, that is, until, in my late
forties, I kind of thought "Why not me?". Why
couldn't I be more than an average golfer? Why
couldn't I regularly break 100? Why couldn't I break
90? Why couldn't I eventually break 80????
Well, over that last few years I was able to regularly break 100 and have broken 90 several times, dropping down to 84 in one round in June of 2008. My improvement, however, seemed to level off and even reverse as of late, which is why I'd been thinking more and more about an idea that had been luring in the back of my mind lately; Why not go for a lesson with a PGA teaching pro?
I've been playing regularly at a course near my house, Riviera Country Club in Holly Hill, Florida, and my son has been going for Saturday morning clinics with the local pro, Donnie Klem. I'd even spoken briefly with Donnie on a couple of occasions about the possibility of actually scheduling a lesson.
Then, last week, I did it! I mentioned to Donnie once again that I would like to get a lesson sometime, an he said, "How about Tuesday at 11am?" "OK", I said, "sounds good to me."
I showed up at the appointed time not knowing what to expect, but with an idea of what I felt like I needed to work on. I had been getting off the tee OK lately, and my short game was passable. What was killing me was the inconsistency of my second shots. Time after time it seemed like a good drive would be followed by a fat iron shot out of the fairway, or a poorly struck approach shot falling short of the green. I have also noticed that the length of my iron shots was significantly shorter than many of the guys I was playing with. My distance off the tee was acceptable, but my irons were falling short.
I told Donnie, the pro all of this and he went to work on my swing. It turns out that my self-taught, thirty five-year-old swing was based on a swaying of the hips instead of a turning of the shoulders and my grip was on the strong side, with a hint of tension thrown in. This was producing high, floating iron shots that tended to drift to the right, costing me distance and accuracy. Donnie showed me a couple of things to work on, with the intention of producing a more powerful, lower, right to left, draw shot, which should tend to zing the ball more sharply to my target. It felt strange at first, but then I got it for a while. For about a 15 minute stretch in the middle of the lesson, however, I could hit nothing but nasty, ugly little shanks. Donnie then had me perform a drill that involved placing my feet closer together in a very narrow stance. This helped me to feel the proper shoulder rotation better, and I started to hit the ball more precisely once again.
I had a round scheduled right after the lesson and off I went, armed with a few tips from Donnie. The round went OK, and I ended up shooting a 90, which wasn't bad considering I somehow managed a 9 on the par 5 17th hole! There were a few of the little ugly shanks sprinkled into the round, including one on 17 that contributed to my quadruple bogey.
More importantly, though, I actually had 5 make-able birdie putts in the round, two of which I made. I hit a 5 iron 3 feet from the hole on the par 3 12th, and hit a 4 iron to 8 ft into the wind from 160 yards out on the par 4 15th. I also closed the round by sinking a 5 foot birdie putt on 18 following a 9 iron approach to the green.
I trip to the driving range a couple of days later produced amazing results, as I was able to drop ball after ball into small circles around my targets, making me more excited that I have been in a long time about the potential of my game.
Obviously, it's too early to tell if my lesson is going to produce miracle results, but I have to think that having a trained pro watch you swing and give you direction woould have to produce better results that self-intruction from a guy who's never broken 80!
I guess I should have gone for a lesson years ago!
Well, over that last few years I was able to regularly break 100 and have broken 90 several times, dropping down to 84 in one round in June of 2008. My improvement, however, seemed to level off and even reverse as of late, which is why I'd been thinking more and more about an idea that had been luring in the back of my mind lately; Why not go for a lesson with a PGA teaching pro?
I've been playing regularly at a course near my house, Riviera Country Club in Holly Hill, Florida, and my son has been going for Saturday morning clinics with the local pro, Donnie Klem. I'd even spoken briefly with Donnie on a couple of occasions about the possibility of actually scheduling a lesson.
Then, last week, I did it! I mentioned to Donnie once again that I would like to get a lesson sometime, an he said, "How about Tuesday at 11am?" "OK", I said, "sounds good to me."
I showed up at the appointed time not knowing what to expect, but with an idea of what I felt like I needed to work on. I had been getting off the tee OK lately, and my short game was passable. What was killing me was the inconsistency of my second shots. Time after time it seemed like a good drive would be followed by a fat iron shot out of the fairway, or a poorly struck approach shot falling short of the green. I have also noticed that the length of my iron shots was significantly shorter than many of the guys I was playing with. My distance off the tee was acceptable, but my irons were falling short.
I told Donnie, the pro all of this and he went to work on my swing. It turns out that my self-taught, thirty five-year-old swing was based on a swaying of the hips instead of a turning of the shoulders and my grip was on the strong side, with a hint of tension thrown in. This was producing high, floating iron shots that tended to drift to the right, costing me distance and accuracy. Donnie showed me a couple of things to work on, with the intention of producing a more powerful, lower, right to left, draw shot, which should tend to zing the ball more sharply to my target. It felt strange at first, but then I got it for a while. For about a 15 minute stretch in the middle of the lesson, however, I could hit nothing but nasty, ugly little shanks. Donnie then had me perform a drill that involved placing my feet closer together in a very narrow stance. This helped me to feel the proper shoulder rotation better, and I started to hit the ball more precisely once again.
I had a round scheduled right after the lesson and off I went, armed with a few tips from Donnie. The round went OK, and I ended up shooting a 90, which wasn't bad considering I somehow managed a 9 on the par 5 17th hole! There were a few of the little ugly shanks sprinkled into the round, including one on 17 that contributed to my quadruple bogey.
More importantly, though, I actually had 5 make-able birdie putts in the round, two of which I made. I hit a 5 iron 3 feet from the hole on the par 3 12th, and hit a 4 iron to 8 ft into the wind from 160 yards out on the par 4 15th. I also closed the round by sinking a 5 foot birdie putt on 18 following a 9 iron approach to the green.
I trip to the driving range a couple of days later produced amazing results, as I was able to drop ball after ball into small circles around my targets, making me more excited that I have been in a long time about the potential of my game.
Obviously, it's too early to tell if my lesson is going to produce miracle results, but I have to think that having a trained pro watch you swing and give you direction woould have to produce better results that self-intruction from a guy who's never broken 80!
I guess I should have gone for a lesson years ago!
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