At Last IMPACT Today's lesson we got to impact. It took me three lessons to get the first move hip slide and dropping hands into slot. Now we start working on the impact position. This will take a while. Mostly I need to turn the hips after the slide and keep my hands ahead of the club face. Easier said than done. Today's drill seem simple enough it is the three step hip turn drill with impact bag or ball. Golf Tec has all the bells and whistles. Today he set it up so a buzzer would go off when I hand turn my hips enough in this case 28 degrees at impact. Below is the videos of the lesson

The It has been awhile since my last post. With Thanksgiving and other things took me a while to make some new progress. Today was a break out practice session. Still working on bring the club down into the slot.  Was getting this ok but had no idea what to do from there looked at a couple of things that helped on line. The first was Great pics of the best long hitters in the game. I tired to get from the slot to those positions. Not that easy I decided that the problem was I had no idea what my right wrist was supposed to do during the swing this video from Herman Williams helped a lot. He also has it in a blog format. at As soon as I understood this stuff I was able to make get to impact with out flipping and with forward shaft lean and hips and shoulder open 20 + degrees. I still have a long way to go. Most swings I am missing one or two elements. But I am able to feel what I am doing. I have next lesson Tuesday so should get a full swing video posted.

Starting the first move down. It is a hip slide or bump here is a look at first swing and today's still images to compare.  Then all lessons are next.

Felling pretty good about progress so far.

before the lesson swing

I have not posted  the last three weeks.  I have been working on getting my arms connected. Today,s lesson we moved to the top of swing position while still moving forward on staying on connected.

I fell very good about today's lesson

Very good results from last week got my turn down 

Today we starting correcting my flying right elbow.

The photo at top is pre-lesson swing six weeks ago and today after lesson on the right

Full Picture video

This video show pretty much what I am try to get to.

This one show exactly how I  learned my bad swing.

The Connected Golf Swing

After my last lesson I felt I was understanding the connected golf swing and weight shift. At yesterdays practice session I could not feel it at all. Was getting no turn swing was all arms once more. Checked for some drill to use and these three that have helped me get that feeling.  First drill which has helped a lot. I was losing all freedom in my swing trying to do everything correctly. This drill help be to feel the freedom of the swing. I think I was overcome by paralyses of analyses. This drill allowed me to stop thinking and just swing. When I went to practice today. My numbers on the monitor for half way back were Shoulder turn. 49 degrees and hips 28 degreea. This an improvement from yesterdays numbers of St 20 hip turn 20.                 This is  Shawn Clement A very good you tube channel

This is the towel drill I can not do it with a towel so I use a sock under each arm.

I can not find the third video it to do it you simple put the club in your navel and your hands down the shaft then turn back it helps you get the fell of turning the shoulders and hips not just the arms.

Good Luck 

Moving weight to back foot.

I finally  feel like I am making progress. I was trying to keep my head in place during the back swing which was blocking me from shifting weight and creating a full turn.  This fells like my first breakthrough. Here is the lesson.

Swing Before Lesson

The Lesson

Swing After Lesson

Owwwwww

Took last week of and today at practice could not do anything right. Poor set up no shoulder turn, to much hip turn. Swaying. It is so dam frustrating.

Golf Tec Third Lesson

Third lesson today. I am physically drained. Working on connecting upper body. also started to work on grip. Keeping club in left hand fingers instead of palm. This forced me to use forearm muscles in different ways. tiring out my hand and arm. I severed the ulnar nerve in left arm 30 years ago, also rotator cuff surgery last year.  Unrepaired  rotator cuff tear in right arm and six vertebra fusion in upper back.  I am posting the entire lesson below. I am taking a week of from lessons next week but not from practice. I think I will need the extra week to get this stuff right.

Also pretty happy weight  today 229 down 21 pounds in first month

Full swing before lesson

Learning a new Move

For me even the smallest change seems to be hard to make. During my lesson given one small but significant change to work on for the next week. Drills are prescribed to work on. The first practice it seems like I will never get it. The second practice I can do the move but other things change for the worse. Practice 3 and 4 are used to cement the feeling of the new change and get rid of all the other things that crept in. So far I have been able to achieve the change before the next lesson and we go on. Practices at golf tec are normally about 45 min. During that time I general hit around 20 balls lots of swings with know ball an lots of time review the last swing on the video and sensor monitors.  With out the feed back it would be much harder to get were I am going.

Lower body is your foundation

Found these on the web both give a good look at how you should keep you lower body still.

Calm lower body  fancyfootwork

lesson 2

Before

After second lesson

Wow after yesterdays lesson I feel like I have had a big improvement. We have not worked on anything except the knees and hip rotation. two weeks ago I had none at the start of today's lesson I was over rotating He gave me a new drill which was to swing with a large ball (not one of Mine) between my legs This limited not only rotation but also the back swing..  Still lots to do but I am happy so far.

Short Game Practice

Hit about 80 short pitch shots from 40 yards and 20 yards over a trap. First 40 were all good, as in no miss hits. Could have been closer. Next 40 not so good some chilly dips and other miss hits.  Last 6 were good. On putting green for about 30 min. Alignment with new putter very good. Need lots of work on distance control. Lag need lots of work. However the last 4 ball two putted all of them from about 40 ft.

Weight Loss and fitness

Lets be real if you think golf is an athletic sport then you have to try to be in the best shape you can. You are not a body builder or a track star but you need flexibility and power. In order to do this your body needs to work as well as it can. At 59 by best athletic days are long past. I can not longer do anything as well as I could at 29. However I sucked at golf at 29 39 and 49. I have a very good chance to play my best golf in my 60s before the real decline starts. I have modest goals I do not expect to play scratch or make the senior tour. I just want to shoot constantly in the 80s Now don't get me wrong a 79 or a par round would be great.

I started the quest to build my swing on Aug 10th Since then I have lost 17 pounds down to 233 from 250 I still need to drop another 40 by goal is to do it by June 1st.   I have been easing into it. Today I take it up a notch and put a schedule to it.

Sept Schedule

Monday:  Stretching including three AIM exercises (see early videos)

Tuesday: Strength  Training Squats and ten exercises for golf  (see early videos)

                Golf Tec lesson

Wend:     Stretching including three AIM exercises (see early videos)

Thursday: Strength  Training Squats and ten exercises for golf  (see early videos)

                 Golf tec practice session

Friday:     Stretching including three AIM exercises (see early videos)

                Golf tec practice session

Saturday: Strength  Training Squats and ten exercises for golf  (see early videos)

                 Golf tec practice session
Sunday     Short game practice, Golf tec practice session

This will be used during Sept. My goal is to drop 10 pounds and keep improving
May add some strength work in the gym and some bike and swimming.

   

Learning to rotate and adding in strength training for golf

Last two days of practice have shown promise. Started to stop the sway it will take more time and practice. Have been stretching and doing therapy as shown early also starting to do some strength work to get stronger for golf. Being 59 I have lost a lot. Below some videos of some of what I am starting on.

Lesson 1 of 25

First true lesson today. First were swing review and getting signed up. So today we begin. Still need to focus on pivot and not sway..  Instructor says only work on what we are working on do not try to fix other parts it will only slow us down. I think he is right I fell like I should be able to fix total swing at once. However he explained that you need to own the small changes to move on and keep them.
drills o for this week chair drill and line up the clubs drill together.

Actual Golf Tec Lesson 8/28/12

Here is a link to my swing analysis by Steve Bishop it is called a  Skill Cast  this was  before my first lesson. I can't see any way to post a link to the analysis by golf tec.  But Steve did this one for me and it talks about many of the same things.  I watch it almost daily and pick up. Something new ever time. If you are trying to change you swing you need a swing analysis buy a top pro. Steve has a Blog with lots of great insights on the golf swing.

Flexibility and rehab

I am doing a lot of stretching and rehab work do rebuild my flexibility and strength areas of damage, both rotatory cuffs and both elbows as well as a fused back.  Her are some videos of things that seem to be working. All have either been recommended or approved my my PT

These next few videos are from Charlie Mardach He has is one blog and you tube channel. The method is Awareness Through Movement. It is a very interesting concept. I had never heard of it. He Explains it on this blog oage

what-is-the-feldenkrais-method 

practice 2

objective:  Stop Sway, One piece take-away stop flying elbow.

Still swaying a bit when I take a full back swing. Have to think about turning into my back leg. take away looks pretty good good Y on line. Finally was able to keep elbow in. Still need lots of work.

Love the video feed back I only hit about 25 balls.  But made more progress than I would have hitting 200 with no video.  Drills I have been doing

First practice session

Did my first practice at golf tec, You can schedule unlimited practice time using the video and measure devices. Working on stopping sway turning in a  a barrel. Relly helps to have the video feedback.

New Putter

Putting has always been the best part of my game. That being said since I came back I have been having problems with alignment. I tired several putters at the shop. Fell in love with the odyssey two ball blade putter. Found one for $119 on line ordered it yesterday.

Flip

I woke up this morning to read this

I think this is a chick flip.

Both pros said the same thing. It is the result of what proceeds it. I do not do it when I chip. but here is a fix.

On the more positive side. I have lost 10 pounds this week.  Now the first 10 are the easy ones but a good start. On the bad side my golfer elbow are rearing their ugly head. was worried about hitting off mats even those they are very padded. Will have to get another McDavid Band. and where them all the time not just when swinging.  Right one was so bad at one time I could not even bend it with baring any weight at all. Have to be very careful at practice.
 

Second Lesson all most.

Went in a made the commitment for 25 lessons on At Golf-tec. Will be doing it over the next 20 months. Did not really have a lesson today. He did check my set up and it was much improved. He wanted me to bring it back a bit went a little overboard on the him lean to get behind the ball.  I develop a hip sway while working on the one piece take away so want be to do the swing in a barrel idea with a chair behind my right  hip to keep the sway away. Not trying to turn my hips over much just come back two half way with no hip sway and Y intact.None of what we have done so far is part of the 25 lessons package so the first 90 min swing annalist. and today were free. The cost of the lessons breaks down to $57.00 each which is at the low in of lessons in this area. Right Now I fell overwhelmed by how many things I have to change but the pro says not to worry we will just take it one thing at a time.    This is how I understand it/

T

Having a great time learning to use all my new toys.  below are the same photos with hip and Knee angle measurements. It show good improvement but I still need more knee flex and lest hip. Thanks to my Free golf info pro for showing me at least indirectly how to use this stuff and swing academy and how and why I need to make the changes. The Golf tec pro said the same thing and their software also did the measurements however I do  not think you can add your own videos when you are not on their program.  I got the tour tempo book and down loaded the app. I am very impressed It seems to improve my mechanics along with the tempo. I have a drill for the house using a lunge whip instead of a club do not want to break the walls, ceiling or roof. It is just the write length to keep me on swing plain if I get to steep I hit the low spot in the ceiling were the air duck is I am standing there just for that reason.

before lesson

Two days after lesson.

  

I did my swing review at Golftec on Friday : It was pretty extensive. So far I did not pay him any thing or even sign to pay for the 90 min we just spent. If I sign up for a lesson plan then there is no charge for this first one. We went over a lot of stuff As I knew my swing is very over the top. I thought it had improved but after seeing it I have know idea how I can even hit the ball. It is more than just the videos they put a senser on my shoulders and hips and it measured a lot of things including shoulder and hip tilt, shoulder and hip turn. and a lot of other things. set up was not to bad he had me do a few tweaks. Turn right foot in. Close hips a bit. added a little knee flex stick ass out, and move left arm on top of pec. That was done at the end of lesson. after he had critiqued entire swing major problems were. Take away all arms. lack of connection flying left elbow over swinging. casting the club hands leading the swing. resulting in outside in swing. to name a few. Now there was no hard sell he gave me all the paper work for the the different options. 10 lessons over three months cost/ lesson $90/lesson 25 lessons over 6 months $65/lesson 35 lessons over 9 months/ $56/ lesson. scheduled another lesson and told me to take it home review it and we could talk about it at next lesson. Young guy seem to know his stuff he played on some of the mini tours. 

Gave me drill to work on for the week to improve my set up have been doing them during commercials.  Here are some before and after photos.

Getting started on my new swing

I have decided to rebuild my golf swing. From past experience I know I do better when others hold me responsible for my goals. So this blog is not only an outlet for me to review and write down my experiences but to hopefully get a few people  interested enough to comment and keep me on task.

The plan after today into is to post my progress complete with swing videos, drills used. instructor lessons, etc. I know it will befit me  to write it down I hope you find beneficial on your quest or at least interesting.

About me:

Stats. :  Age 59   Height 5' 11"  Weight 238* Wrist to ground 33" right handed
Driving distance 240  150 club 7,8 Iron.
Typical ball flight Woods: High fade or slice.   Irons: High push
Average score with no mulligans 100
Strengths Putting,  weakness everything else.

One Year Goals: Lose 40 pounds, get in better shape with more flexibility, Develop and consistent repeatable swing. Score in the 80's consistently.

The Plan:   Commit to taking 25 lessons over the next 10 months. Develop a practice plan and use it daily.  Use tour tempo lessons and skill along with the lessons.  Have an open mind. Use internet tools to help me. v1golfacademy.com Swingacademy.com ,  Freegolfinfo.com , hermanwilliamsgolf.com .

The Lessons: I have decided to sign up for lessons at my local golftec. I went for a swing evaluation and was impressed with system and my instructor it is a pretty $$$ commitment but the lessons are below the local average if you commit for at least 25 lessons. I also have a pro who  I met on Freegolfinfo.com who told me he would work with me for free. He did a very intensive swing review for me using Swingacademy.com and I learn a lot from this. It is very tempting to just have him work with me. I fell however that I would have a hard time learning the things I need with out someone physical in the room with me to help me fell the positions. I hope that he will agree to review my plan and swing videos as I value his input and it gives me another way to understand my swing and what I need to do to make changes. 

My Current Swing: I felt that I was making progress on my swing over the last two months after quitting the game for over 5 years out of frustration. However after I saw it on video I have now idea how I can even strike the ball at all. It is hard for me to let anyone see it but how else will you know how much improvement I make.

So there it is. In the words of Timothy  Green, I can only get better