My First Lesson
I’m going to pat myself on the back here and give myself a little bit of credit. I understand my swing and its mechanics better than I thought. I met with my instructor Brad for the first time, and we talked about my experience, where I wanted to get to, and the areas of my game where I think I have the most problems. He also wanted to know about my swing.
I told him that I know I have an over-the-top swing that creates spin which is why I slice the ball. I also explained that I didn’t always understand why something did or did not work. That while I knew what the problem was I have no idea how to correct it.
Also, in full disclosure, this isn’t the first lesson I have had in my life. I did work with an instructor a long time ago when I wanted to get back into golf and then last year, but both were for a couple of lessons. My lesson last year redid my grip, stance, and some other base-level things.
He took a few looks at my swing, recorded some of them, and then we talked. The first thing that he said was that I was correct that I do have an over-the-top swing, which made me feel good because I at least knew what one of my numerous mechanical problems was.
I was then informed that I have an over-the-top swing because I don’t activate my lower body all that much, and most of my swing and speed is generated from my upper body. So, this creates a giant variance between my takeaway and my downswing. (As seen in the image below.)
We really worked on the shift of weight and the turn; I was given some drills to this at home.
Another observation he made was how tight I kept my upper body and because of that, I tense up on my club which also contributes to the over-the-top swing. I am not letting my elbow drop naturally and bringing the club through, basically, I am overcorrecting that error with more wrist action. But we will get into that more in the future. Right now…. It’s all in the hips.