December, 2015 | Wayne DeFrancesco

Lesson of the Week: Billy Lincoln

Billy is a website member from California and when he saw that I was going to be in Phoenix he took a quick flight over for a lesson. Billy was a 1 handicap before he broke his back in a car accident in Mexico and now is a frustrated 5 even though he has gotten his strength and mobility back. I always watch my students hit a few full shots while asking them about their background and how they feel about what they are doing at the moment, and sometimes I can spot some obvious things right away that I know will be a big help, even before I film the swing.

Lesson of the Week: Ben Gravley

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Ben is a New Yorker who does some business in Phoenix and L.A. so when he saw on the website that I was going to be in Phoenix he contacted me for a lesson. He usually works with a fellow former LSU Tiger Jason Magee, and Jason was nice enough to let me work with Ben at the back of the range at McCormick Ranch where Jason teaches.

Papa DeFrancesco at 94: Still Swinging

By Wayne | blog

It’s such a bonus to still have my father around and doing well at 94 years young. He recently self-published a book on math theory (way over my head) and is now designing an attachment to make power washers clean more efficiently. He was always a whiz with numbers (he worked for NSA and DIA before anyone even knew what they were) and he can take apart and put back together (fixed) just about anything. He became interested in golf in the late 50’s and joined Lakewood, where I’m now the Director of Instruction, as a charter member in 1959.

Online Students: Byron Miles

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

How cool is it to be giving a lesson to a good player from Australia when I’ve never been close to Australia in my life? Very cool. And this is a very cool swing to look at because it does so many good things. You could pretty much tell that it was Hogan influenced even without Byron’s comments, so when I compare it to Hogan’s swing a couple of major differences emerge, and when he makes the changes I think it will improve his ball striking dramatically and fairly quickly.

Playing for Money: Trevor Murphy

By Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money

Trevor is a WEB.COM player who missed his card this year and doesn’t have status. I got a chance to play 9 holes with Trevor when I was out at Whisper Rock with Kevin Streelman. Trevor is a good player that hits the ball a long way with a tendency to miss-hit a little left. I offered to take a look at his swing if he wanted and Trevor was interested so we hooked up for a lesson.

Lesson of the Week: Jack Gallagher

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Jack is a long time website member and a regular contributor to the forum. He likes to think in detail about his swing and jumped on the opportunity to come over to McCormick Ranch for an hour face to face lesson. What you will see is a very nice motion that again needs slow motion analysis to figure out why it doesn’t work better.

Swing Analysis: Wayne D. on What Starts the Downswing

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I’ve been teaching for over 30 years now and I have never wavered from my belief that the forward swing is initiated from the ground under the right foot. There are many opinions that it starts elsewhere, most notably with a rotation or “bump” of the left knee, but here I show Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan doing nothing of the sort. Sequence is of huge importance in building a solid golf swing and it would make sense to have a clear, accurate picture of how the best players do it.

Online Students: Nathan Maust

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Nathan came for an in-person lesson back in April and between then and now he has fixed up the hardest thing for people to fix — getting the hands back to the ball at shaft parallel on approach to impact. We still have some things to work on but they are mechanics with the main thing being a sequencing issue where everything is leaning and moving forward at the same time in transition.

From The Vault: Practice round from the 2001 PGA

By Wayne | Videos: From The Vault

Here’s one from the 2001 PGA at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Fred Funk always set me up with some nice practice rounds. Here I play with and show swings from Curtis Strange, Tom Kite and myself. There’s also a couple of bonus swings from Tiger Woods and Jesper Parnevik.

Online Students: Phil Pfeiffer Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

This is Phil’s second online lesson and when I compare it with the first one he looks like a completely different person. Starting with the down-the-line view we focus on is Phil’s set up where he’s overdone it a bit by getting too bent over and too far from the ball. The takeaway has improved with the wrist not bowing right away and his right hip has gained more depth, which is another nice improvement.

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Monthly Archives: December 2015