Golf Galaxy Dartfish Lesson

Today I had a lesson at Golf Galaxy. I had been working with my course's PGA pro, but I decided to take a lesson at Golf Galaxy because they use the Dartfish video analysis system. Not only that, but they also have an online "locker" system that allows you to watch videos from your lesson online.

Tiger and I, side-by-side, and hey my swing plane isn't that bad.

Being a visual learner I knew this lesson would really help me and I was not disappointed. The video analysis is definitely a HUGE help to me and I think from now on I am going to use Golf Galaxy Lessons for all my full swing work and will use my local PGA pro (who I really like) for all of my short game stuff.

So now that I am done pimping the Golf Galaxy Lessons service, what did I learn? Well the big thing was my hands. Basically my hand movement was all wrong and I was flicking my wrists instead of rotating them. The pro corrected my movement, but I think this one is going to take a little while to get used to. It definitely explains why I was slicing it and topping it though.

The right hand side is my first shot, left is my improved hands action.

The other big thing was my lower body timing. It was great to see my lower body movement on video and get confirmation that all my work was paying off. However, the one thing we noticed is I am not starting my lower body movement early enough. So that will be my other focus for the week.

Heel down drill and pre-cocked hips drill

I've been using the step drill a little (see my post from a few days ago), but I haven't been integrating the movement too well with my full swing. So for tomorrows session I plan on using this drill as well.

Another cool drill I've found, that I think will really help with my lower body motion is the pre-cocked hip drill. Its a little tough to explain, so checkout the video here.

Up and down week of practice

After my practice session wednesday I was really enthusiastic about my swing. I had been doing some lower body drills and my lower body action felt great. The really exciting thing is that my ball striking was great during this practice session. I didn't have time to get out on the course but I am pretty confident that I would break 90 with that swing.

Unfortunately, things weren't so great today. I worked through the same drills, but probably moved from drills to full swings a little too quickly. Sadly I was slicing the ball badly today and instead of just focusing on my drills, I kept catching myself making the mistake of trying to fix my slice, instead of just focusing on my lower body movements.

So even though I hit 250 balls today, I feel like today is a wasted session. The only thing I gained from today is the realization that I need to stay more focused on my drills.

I'll be back on the range tomorrow. Focusing on tempo and lower body. If those things go well, I'll probably start moving up the body a little and start working on my spine angle.

My Golf Practice Strategy: Break it, Drill it, Use it, Take it

One of the reasons I feel I'll be successful in reaching my goal of becoming a scratch golfer is my background playing and coaching hockey. Over my years of coaching I think I've figured out the best way to teach technical movements and through my years of playing I have figured out what it takes for me to learn a new movement. So here is how I approach my practice sessions:

Break it down

The first phase of coming up with a good practice plan is figuring out what I need to work on. For the most part this is already decided. Right now I am working through my swing from the ground up. During my last phase I focused on my feet and knees and now I am focusing on my hips.

Once I have a good idea of what I need to work on I research the topic by talking to my PGA pro, reading my books and searching the web. Usually I have a pretty good idea of what the desired movement should look like, so I just focus on finding some drills that will help me feel the desired movement. Once I have a few drills picked out I'm ready to head to the driving range.

Drill it

I really feel that drills are the key to rapidly improving my golf game. A well designed drill will help you instantly feel how things are supposed to work. They usually force your body to do the right thing.

I start all my practice sessions with a quick warmup of stretching then move to the range and do some pitches and half shots. After that I do some full swings focusing on my tempo and will usually do one of my tempo drills. Once I feel warm I'm ready to get to it.

I usually try to stick with one club as I run through a drill and hit about five to ten balls at a time. Focusing on taking my time and really think about what the drill is trying to do.

Use it

Once I've done my five to tens reps of a drill I try to make a few golf shots really focusing on integrating my new skill into my swing. After a few swings I go back and perform the drill again. As a session wears on the ratio of drill swings to normal swings decreases. So at first I might hit ten drill shots followed by three normal shots and after doing that a few times I'll do eight drill shots and five normal shots. Once I've gone through a few rounds like that I will often move to a longer iron.

Take it to the course

This is where the new skill is really put to the test. I like to try to play nine holes after a driving range session. When I'm out on the course I try to think about my new skill as much as possible. I also try to assess whether or not I've properly integrated that skill into my game. Especially after a few holes. If on the ninth hole I'm using my skill properly, I know I'm probably ready to move on. If I'm not using it properly I usually start over from the beginning.

So here is how a typical session might work:

Warmup

Pitches and half swings: 20 balls

Full swings for tempo: 10 balls

Pistol drill for tempo: 10 balls

9 Iron

Step drill: 7 balls

Swing: 3 balls

Step drill: 7 balls

Swing: 3 balls

Step drill: 5 balls

Swing: 5 balls

Step drill: 3 balls

Swing: 7 balls

6 Iron

Repeat the same sequence as above

9 Iron

Repeat the same sequence as above, but now using the pump drill

6 Iron

Repeat the same sequence as above

Play nine holes.

Developing a smooth golf tempo

The more I learn about golf, the more I realize tempo is the key to this game. Nick Faldo dedicates and entire chapter of his book to tempo. And in a day and age where people have become so concerned with 300 yard drives or 100MPH club head speeds, I think we are at risk of forgetting the importance of tempo. Just look at Fred Couples swing:

I think everyone in the world would be happy with a swing like that. So how do we get there? By working on our tempo.

I've been using these two drills to improve my tempo.

Michael Breed's The pistol grip drill

This is a great drill I learned from watching The Golf Fix. All you do for this drill is make your regular swing but with a pistol grip on your bottom hand. That means no thumb and no forefinger. Here's Michael Breed explaining it. I started using this drill yesterday, taking five shots with the pistol grip and then a few shots with a regular grip. It really forces you to have a nice tempo. My one suggestion is that you do some half swings with this grip too.

Nick Faldo's Close Stance Drill

I ran into this drill reading Nick's book and it had an immediate impact on my game. In fact it was the first time I started using drills on the range. Up until I tried this drill I had been a 'beat a bucket of balls' kind of guy. Here is Sir Nick himself explaining it:

Make sure to watch the whole video. Nick also talks about counting your swing which has also helped my tempo.

One last thing I should mention. Tempo in golf isn't just about the full swing. In fact it might be even more important in the short game. You can't figure out your distances on half and quarter and in between shots unless you have a consistent tempo.

Same thing goes for putting. If you have a nice consistent tempo its going to be a lot easier to control your pace.

Golf Swing Breakthrough: The Left Hip

Watching this video was a real breakthrough for my full swing.

I had been slicing the ball pretty badly with my driver and after attempting a number of quick fixes I realized there must be something more fundamentally wrong with my swing. The more I thought about it the more I realized I was doing something wrong with my left side. Luckily I stumbled upon this video and now I really understand what it means to clear your hips.

I've been doing a nice hip clearing drill I saw on The Golf Fix. You just setup normally and then point your front toe down the target line. From there you try to make a full swing. You won't be able to get much of a backswing but on your down swing you'll really get the feeling of your hips being rotated.

The next step for me is to get a good weight transfer. I've heard the various swing thoughts like 'crush grapes' or 'squeeze a sponge' with your front foot. However, I've never really grooved this into my swing properly. This video has a great weight transfer drill though:

Hopefully I'll be able to work on this one tomorrow. It feels like I am getting really close to having a nice consistent swing (HAH, famous last words).

Shaping my plan

At first becoming a scratch golfer seems like an impossible task. I mean, just four hours ago I had a tripple bogey six on a par three. On that round I lost three balls in the water and only got on one green in regulation and this was a short course, with 4 par threes. Yikes!

I feel my big advantage over your average golfer is my background as a former minor pro hockey player and as a coach. I'm very comfortable with breaking things down into simple plans and focusing on single elements of my game at a time. I'm also comfortable with sticking to my plan, even if it means I won't always see immediate results. Remember, I want to be a scratch golfer, not just lower my score. So I need to learn to do everything properly. No quick fixes here.

At its highest level my plan is a lot like most people's plans. I want to break 100, break 90, break 80 and so on. Inside of each of those goals I have a number of statistical benchmarks I want to achieve. For example, in my goal to break 100 I want to first focus on getting on all greens in regulation + 1, and limiting my round to 38 putts. To break 90 all I just want to get on all par threes in regulation, all par fours and fives in regulation + 1 and drop my putt count down to 36. Pretty simple, eh?

At this point my main goal is improving my ball striking. Improving my putting could really help my scores, but my main goal isn't just better scores. It's becoming a scratch golfer.

This is a great article on the statistical goals needed for breaking 80.

At a high level my plan looks something like this:

Phase 1: Break 100

Well, I am pretty much here already. I was +15 on 9 holes yesterday, so I just need to drop two strokes. Its pretty easy to target those shots. I had at least three miss-hits. So all I need to do is improve my ball contact and those three shots are gone.

To get my ball contact more consistent I am just going to focus on my lower body mechanics and my tempo. Most of my effort is going to be focused on ball striking in this phase. However, I am going to start adding tempo work into my putting practice. I also plan on spending a fair amount of time working on my pitching and chipping in this phase since these "easy" swings help me make consistent contact.

Phase 2: Break 90

Again this goal isn't too daunting. The big goal here will be to continue to improve my ball striking but really focus on my chipping and putting. My ball striking just needs to be consistent here all I need to do is get on the greens in regulation + 1.

Phase 3: Break 80

Well, this is where it gets a little tougher. Greens in regulation is the key here. Which means I need to focus on improving accuracy and distance with my irons AND my woods. At this point I am hoping to have pretty good mechanics with my full swing, so it will mainly be a matter of tempo.

Phase 4: Low Handicapper

I think the big separator here is the short game. Getting chips and pitches to within six feet of the hole and being able to consistently drop putts from 5-6 feet. Never two putting and playing a smart conservative game.