Great lesson with Paul the Pro

I had some annual leave on Tuesday, Mia was with Granny, Clare was in town and Adam was at nursery so I dedicated the day to golf. I went to the course after dropping Adam at nursery and tee'd off in -2degC at 0715. Round 1 was a quick one and got me warmed up and I managed to play OK with a round of 87 (against par 69). I felt like I had left a LOT of shots out there with some very, very fat misses so when I got back to the clubhouse to discover that every Veteran in the club had come out to enjoy the weather for their Tuesday Stableford, I asked Paul if he had any time for a lesson and we booked it for 30mins away.

I immediately noticed a Massive difference between trying to learn from feel and watched lessons, and being taught by a Professional that is watching and can give practical, real-time input and advice. My idea of a clubface squared with target was WWAAAAYYY off! When Paul lined my clubface up, I felt like the face was pointing 25deg left. Paul explained that having the face open as far as I did promoted an inside to out swing which was very 'armsy' and 'flippy'. He told me that my alignment and backswing were great, but to hit the ball effectively I wasn't transferring my weight to my left foot and my posture was hyper-extended which was restricting my hip turn and weight transfer. He did  say which one was more likely to be the root cause, but I can't remember (it was either posture or clubface, I think).

We hit lots of shots with the 8 iron and I found it very hard to keep my arms from firing too early. I've got a drill to practise with and when I get the timing right, the strikes and results are amaze-balls!

After the lesson, the course was lots clearer, so I headed back to the 1st tee for round 2. After 6 holes Max called to say he'd be there in 20 mins, so I went down 7 and back 18 to head back to the first for 18 more holes with Max. I was starting to get a bit fatigued by the end of that 18 and was glad to be getting off my feet in the bar. The holes after my lesson with Paul had some frustrations but on the whole, I was very happy with my progress.

I left the course at 1630 exhausted, but satisfied.  44 holes of golf and a lesson had taken their toll and I was looking forward to some food.

This morning I was catching up on clips I had missed from Mark Crossfield and saw this one first.



It struck a chord with me, but if I hadn't had a lesson with Paul I would still be none-the-wiser about my clubface issues. So as Mark says regularly "go and see your local Pro".

When I have my clubface lined up properly, my posture correct, transfer my weight to my left side without sliding and relax my arms (that's the hard bit) my strike are beautiful. Sounds simple.

Am I aiming too high?

Today and last Saturday I played to my handicap (20) receiving 37 points in todays stableford comp and last week was a medal and I was 20 over par. I feel as though I should have been happy (at least satisfied) with my effort and results from today and last weekend. I'm not. I feel like I could (should) have played so much better.

I don't feel like I am useless, or that I should give up, but I can't help but feel disappointed with both rounds of golf. It's a bit silly really. I should be ecstatic that in my first ever medal (stroke play) competition, I didn't let my nerves get to me and I didn't have any card-wrecking holes. I should be satisfied that I played twice in a row to my handicap. It is just SO FRUSTRATING knowing that at least 10 shots were fat. It is also frustrating the pants off me knowing what it is I am doing wrong.

Why do I get back into my old swing so easily? Why do I forget my own advice and disregard my own plan for my round of golf? I was going to re-create the impact position before each shot as part of my pre-shot routine today. Do you think I did it? Like faaark. Maybe three times???

I know my swing is improving. I know it will take time to get the new swing to be consistent and to feel relatively natural. The drills from Mark Crossfield on youtube are definitely helping to improve my swing, unfortunately the new swing is yet to improve my golf game. By the time the new swing starts to feel a bit more comfortable, I will hopefully be getting a few lessons from Paul at C-Y-M. Hopefully Paul will have something to work with by then and not something to try to fix too much.

Anyway, I've got a few practise rounds coming up before my next competition, so hopefully my strikes will be a bit better by then.