Learn, Analyze, Improve
A Sound approach to improvement
The advantage of using technology to improve your golf game is that you will quickly know exactly what your club and ball are doing. A trained eye can then explain why what you are doing is causing the results you see. With this information we can gear an improvement agenda customized specifically to enhance your results.
What is a Key Indicator? A key indicator is a measurement by the GC2 that will dictate certain areas of concern and thus need training for improvement to occur. Key Indicators include: Centerness of Hit, Club Path, Squareness of Face to Target at Impact, Squareness of Face to Path at Impact, Attack Angle, Club Head Speed, Launch Angle, Heel/Toe Plane at Impact, Ball Speed and Spin Axis.
I like to focus on one Key Indicator at a time. I have found that narrowing our focus i.e. baby steps is that fastest way to achieve long lasting and meaningful change.
Learning and Golf
Every golf lesson should impart to the student one “pre-shot” thought and one “in-swing” thought.
Why only one pre-shot and one in-swing thought?
The answer is very simple and has more to do with the nature of learning than it does with swinging a golf club. My goal is never to change your swing, it is simply to show you how the club was meant to be swung. It is true that during that process your swing will most likely change but that change takes time and is usually much smaller than you think. I will quote Hank Haney "if you want to improve then you must be willing to change." One reason that I like Haney's approach to instruction is that he typically boils things down to a logical simple answer. If you want your results to be different then its logical to say that you better be willing to change whatever is causing those results. It is important to know that you will need to devote time to see results. Time to let new ideas and motions develop. Time to get comfortable with the evolution of what you think you are doing to become what you are doing. You might be thinking, “what if I have more than one problem that I need to fix”? That is a good question. The answer is that you work on only one thing at a time. The average backswing takes about four fifths of a second while the average downswing takes one fifth of a second. How many things do you want to be thinking about during that one fifth of a second?
Develop a Sound Pre-Shot Routine
Sounds boring I know. However the majority of “in-swing” mistakes that I see are the direct result of poor fundamentals during setup. There are many points of concern when developing a solid pre-shot routine. They include stance, posture, ball position, alignment, grip as well as your pre-shot thoughts.
Swing Plane
Almost all of my lessons with experienced golfers start with explaining the swing plane. The reason is because this is by far the most misunderstood aspect of the golf motion and the area that most players are in dire need of understanding to improve. Understanding the importance of swinging the club on plane and the problems that arise from not doing so is a vital step to understanding the relationship between the swing plane and the ball flight.
Lag
Developing and MAINTAINING lag during the golf swing is the most critical part of the swing in relation to club head speed and consistency. If speed equals distance, which it does, and if we want more distance then we better be prepared to discuss how to get and maintain more lag.
Impact Position
Commonly referred to as “the moment of truth” because it is during this millisecond that the result of your shot is determined. Although all golf swings are unique to their owner, proper impact position will have almost identical characteristics. There is a very specific sequence that occurs in the proper motion that leads to the hands before the handle, the handle before the shaft and the shaft before the club head.
