By Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Derek is a good example of what professional golfers go through when they try to play for a living: it’s incredibly hard, and when you’re a good player but can’t quite break through Q-School and get status it gets frustrating to the point where you consider not doing it anymore. Derek was just about there […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Derek has been somewhat inconsistent in his play on the Latin American Tour this year, and since he has U.S. Open Sectionals at my old club Woodmont in Maryland he stopped by Woodholme for a look. Derek’s issues usually start with a sitting trigger and a shut clubface in the takeaway which winds up having the club across the line at the top, and to help uncross the club in transition he tends to push his lower body out from underneath him. His backswing has improved quite a bit, but I still see some early addition of knee flex without adding any right hip depth. I suggest that we move the ball slightly back in his stance and try to maintain height in the takeaway instead of lowering immediately, while moving the upper right leg back so that the leg movement is more balanced and not moving out into the left hip as he gets to the top. He accomplishes this nicely with the iron, but with the 3-wood he still wants to drive both knees toward the ball in transition. When we see that we talk about trying to increase pelvic tilt in transition by twisting the right hip more inward and driving the upper leg what feels to be behind the left leg. He has a good chance to do this now that his right leg is deeper, and the club is not crossed at the top, and when he manages to keep his pelvis deeper while staying out over the ball he achieves more space for his right arm and more right lateral side bend on his approach, which affects his path and makes it less of a swipe across the ball. We go back to check the iron, which looks and feels good, then end with a few more 3-woods which also look and feel better.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Derek is on the cusp of being a high- quality Tour player, but he has been held back by inconsistency in his ball striking. His pattern since we have first worked has been to overuse his right arm and shoulder in the backswing, cross the line with the shaft at the top, and then move both his knees forward toward the ball in transition.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
I probably shouldn’t use the word “poorly” in the title of this short paragraph as for most people the way Derek hits the ball would be other worldly, but in trying to qualify for the Web.Com at 2nd stage you either have to have your ball striking in order or you must get it up and down constantly and make every putt, which doesn’t happen very often. Derek’s own assessment of his performance was that he just didn’t hit the ball at a high enough level, so we did pretty much what we always do, which is look at the swing he brings with him and try to figure out what it’s doing, why it’s not working as well as it needs to, and get it to improve.
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Both players responded to the pressure and fired nice final rounds to advance to second stage, where the pressure only increases. Making it to the final stage is a key moment in any professional’s career, and missing guarantees another year of chasing qualifiers and mini-tour events. There really is no getting around the importance of getting through second stage, and there is no pretending that it is just another tournament.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
If you have watched my previous posts you will find that, like with most good players, you end up working on the same things most of the time. Every player has tendencies that they don’t particularly like, and when they compete a lot it is hard to continue to address the issues as it feels as though the thought process on the course can be too mechanical.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Derek has made the first two cuts on the Latin American Tour and feels as though he is close to breaking through with some better play. He is hitting the ball better and the swings you see here tell you why. His issue with crossing the line at the top has been corrected by rotating the forearms more and opening the face, and in general the backswing plane looks great.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Derek is about to start another season on the Latin American Tour, and his swing is really rounding into shape. By opening the clubface more aggressively in the backswing and all the way to the top Derek gets the club right on plane instead of crossing the line, which makes a big difference in his downswing and approach to impact. The rotation of the club with the left hand and wrist serve to externally rotate the right shoulder from left arm parallel to the top, which puts both the shaft and his upper right arm in better shape to initiate the sidearm throwing motion that will allow his hands to advance more forward at impact. As you will see this simplifies an already clean, simple looking motion that is powerful at the same time. I fully expect Derek to play well and continue to advance in his attempt to make the PGA Tour.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
I am particularly proud of this video/lesson as it took an already very good swing and made it better. In fact, I would have to say that this is one of the best swings I have worked with. By the time Derek left to head up to the Traveler’s 4-spot qualifier (in which, by the way, he shot 64 to lead the qualifiers by 2 shots) I was shaking my head at how good this swing looked.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
I have high hopes for Derek. He has simple, powerful and efficient swing that needed a few tweaks when he first came to see me and now is really rounding into shape. Our first item in this 2- day session was to get the posture more up on the balls of the feet with the pelvis tilted a bit more. From there we wanted to quiet down his trigger movement, which was too much of a bounce and sit back thing with his pelvis getting more level right off the bat. This allows him to get the right hip deeper without having it sit under him.
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