Improvement: Peter Procops, PGA Part 1

This is a series of lessons that begins in July 2013 to present and will continue as long as new lessons occur. I’m going to publish these once a week or so, some will be a couple of short lessons combined into one video. I asked Peter, and he was gracious enough, to comment on his lessons and give everyone some insight on what he went through to get to where he is now. The hope is that anyone watching and reading can be encouraged to keep working as they witness what can be accomplished.
 
Peter is a fellow PGA professional who played the South American tour (Tour De Las Americas) for 5 years and Golden Bear Tour (Mini Tour) 5 years 1997-2001. Our first lesson starts with a focus on transition and posture. He had some of the classic issues you see here on the site of loosing posture and coming out of the box causing less space for the right arm approaching and through impact requiring high hands and a more complex release action. Peter was also going through some back problems and some of the swing issues he was having are common when that is the case.
 
Peter’s Commentary:

I’ve worked with many fine teachers before but always ran into a dead end.
I heard many good things about Wayne and liked the fact that he had a nice playing record.
During this lesson Wayne made me aware that by not lowering and using the ground as leverage on the forward and down swing I was putting more stress on my back.
This 1st lesson was a great start towards our final goal:
A solid efficient swing!
 
I never knew how to develop a dynamic swing until I met Wayne. I always pulled the club inside off the takeaway (due to rotating too early) getting the right arm behind me, hence crossing the shaft at the top. This caused my arms to get stuck behind me on downswing and the only way to square the club was to time it with a flip of the hands.
 
My biggest challenges were:
 
1- Fear of hurting my back swinging this way. I had surgery in 2008 and hurt it again in May of 2013. My back was bothering me swinging my way so I decided to give it shot.
Another fear was, can I do it?
 
2- My posture was comfortable starting low so beginning high and lowering during the swing was foreign and seemed impossible not to mention the thought of putting more stress on my body.
I understood the great players did it but try playing competitive golf for 35 years and changing your swing at 51 with some back issues. Not easy but Wayne assured me that by using the ground as leverage I would take the pressure off my lower back having a more efficient swing.
 
I had to shadowbox lowering on the back swing each and every day and make sure I properly opened my hips and back by stretching thoroughly before each practice session.
I had no mirror but I filmed constantly. The first day as I was setting up to swing I had someone take the butt end of a driver face on and when I swung to left arm parallel, push on my belt buckle so I would feel the lowering to the top. Once I got that timed I hit balls that way…Quality not Quantity was my motto, thinking about this move morning, noon and night. Playing the script in my head made it easier in the long run.
 
Note: I would spend a minimum of 1 hour lowering on the backswing the first few days then I started working the same on the forward swing until my next lesson. But I never stopped thinking about it until it became a habit.
 
I had to video everyday until I got the feel… Slow swings not caring where the ball went was key.
 
PP

 
Click here for part 2

Join the forum discussion on this post