Last winter when I was out here in Phoenix I took 10 lessons from GolfTEC, which improved my golf game a lot. I had a free lesson from a referral and they offered me another free lesson because my coach moved on. So of course I took them up on the offer, especially since I’ve really been struggling with my game this year. The lesson was on Wednesday of this week.

Here’s a video of my swing at the start of the lesson.

Next is the video of a swing at the end of the lesson.

I had two 30 minute lessons, so I booked them together since I didn’t plan on signing up for more lessons. We were able to cover quite a bit in the hour and I’ve already started working on some of this stuff at the range. Here are the notes he wrote for me:

• Grip: Not quite as much of a long left thumb. Somewhat is okay. Right hand crease in line with left hand crease.
• Hands slightly ahead at address with your irons and the upper body tilted right.
• Feel like the hands finish in front of the right hip pocket at the top with extension.
• Low hands and high club head at the top.
• Lower body engages earlier to stop your back swing.
• On the down swing, the head should stay back behind the ball with the weight already back to the left….the left hip will rotate around the pivot point of a posting left leg.

Here is a video with thoughts from the instructor.

Below are a bunch of stills with audio to go with each of them.

I’ve always had a very “armsy” and “handsy” swing, which is inconsistent because it relies so much on timing. I’ve usually hit slices, but there are days when my timing is different and I’ll hit big draws. Other days it’s completely different from shot to shot. It’s a frustrating way to play golf.

While working on some of these changes today at the range a buddy gave me one of the best golf tips I’ve ever heard to fix this problem. I’ve taken lessons from 5 or 6 coaches in the last 12 years and none of them have been able to get me to understand the role the arms play in the golf swing. Today, a golfing buddy made it click for me.

He told me to feel like I’m hooding the face of the club (keeping it closed relative to my path) going back, which will keep my wrists and hands from getting too involved. It also helps my arms and chest move as one piece in the back swing and everything will be more on the target line. It’s one of the most awkward feelings in the world because I’ve been playing with my arms for so long, but it was feeling a bit better by the time I emptied a jumbo bucket of balls.

I’m excited to keep working on that because I think it has the potential to improve my game more than any change I’ve ever made. It also will prevent me from making such a long back swing because it’s impossible if the arms and chest are working together. I can’t wait to be dipping below 80 again because I’ve been getting a lot of 90+ scores so far this year.