Here is a Quick & Easy Golf Swing Lesson, Live and Real

The other day I was at the range. Where else? And I was watching and listening to a very capable LPGA
Golf Instruction giving a golf lesson to an older lady. This lady was obviously an athlete. She has very strong legs and was slight of build.

And it appeared that she had some golfing experience.

The lesson was more advanced than most I see on our range. Our LPGA gal was talking about swing sequence and the need to start the swing with a bump of the hip and dropping of the right elbow all in one move. Good stuff.

She was also talking about maintaining the proper angles in the swing ( I love angles)

So all seemed to be going along well. But the student was having trouble hitting a clean solid shot. Lot’s of thin and blocked shots. It appeared as if she just couldn’t get back to the ball well enough to deliver the clubhead solidly.

Our golf instructor also noticed that the students spine angle was drifting backwards on the downswing. This change in spine angle is a major mistake for a good player. It indicates that perhaps the hips and lower body are not in sequence with the arms and shoulders.

Or that there is too much spinning of the hips or turning, with out the needed bump or lateral movement.

The result of this spine angle change is a tilt of the spine away from the target.

When this happens it makes it impossible to hit down on the golf ball. It actually causes one to hit up on the ball. In addition it makes it harder to square up the clubface so that, often, you get a blocked shot to the right. Weak and ugly.

Ok that is what I saw and heard.

Our resident LPGA teaching pro was doing some serious thinking about this. As she was pondering, her student continued to hit balls with the same move, over and over.

The swing actually looked pretty good. But once you began to pick it apart piece by piece it was obvious that things were not as they seemed.

The move she was making is one that is hard to fix. It requires some innovation in the swing and it’s sequence.

There are some drills that could help. Toeing in your left foot sometimes will give you the correct feeling. But, although this is a good drill it does not actually correct the spine tilt in your normal swing.

Oh what to do !!

The question is whether to stick to the accepted swing rules as to sequence. Is it absolutely necessary to start this swing with a hip bump? Does this player need to start her swing from the ground up.

Or can there be a compromise that would work?

What creates this spine angle change in the first place? We know it’s the movement of the hips that occurs without the needed upper body movement. That is the torso and shoulders. And subsequently, the arms.

If they all moved in proper sequence there would be no spine tilt. The spine angle would be maintained and the up swing would be a downswing. Then the thin and blocked shots would go away.

What if we have the student start the swing with the upper portion of her body, arms more or less first, on plane and in the downward direction to the ball, from the inside?

This is exactly what our teaching pro did. The results were simple amazing.

Now the student was starting her swing with her shoulders, keeping them perpendicular to her spine and dropping her arms into the ” slot”

This delayed, ever so slightly her hip turn and got her into perfect sequence to attack the golf ball from the inside.

The change was hardly noticeable. The sequence of events in her swing looked almost exactly the same as before. But now the club was arriving at the ball with a descending blow. A divot was taken with each shot. And the shots were crisp and solid.

This is a great golf lesson. It is not always ” by the book” that good results are obtained.

Dare to try something different. Experiment with your own swing a bit. Learn how it should work and then if it won’t, change the sequence a little to see if it makes a difference.

The swing thoughts that reside in your mind are not always what you get. Learn to be more innovative when trying to improve.

No two people are the same, go back to basics when you are having troubles.

This LPGA teaching pro used a great technique to cure the swing for this gal. She bent the rules to fit the student. She did not bend the student to fit the rules.

This is as it should be!

Send me your swing in a video, let’s see if you have issues or not. No fee, it’s free.