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This video, which actually comprises two lessons given three weeks apart, is a perfect example of the need for video analysis and the difficulty that even the most diligent students have in incorporating changes into their swings. Derrick is a smart, capable player who understands what he is trying to do and practices to that end. After 3 weeks of working on the couple of things we decided he should do to improve he fully expected to see positive results. Alas, as is often the case, the player’s feel does not equal what is actually happening. Derrick was understandably shocked when his swing looked essentially the same the second lesson, but after I explained that this is a common occurrence and that it takes few times to underscore the most stubborn and difficult flaws in the swing we got down to work and continued trying to attack the problems.
The thing that non-teachers such as Brandel Chamblee don’t come close to fathoming is the long term process that students must go through to actually change their swings for the better, and that working on “fundamentals” such as grip, posture, tempo, rhythm and balance is fine but is only a beginning to the effort to effect an overall change in pattern. The work is much more complex and involved than Chamblee would allow (he would say it was just teachers being overly technical so they could extend the lesson and charge more money, which is as insulting as it is stupid), while the process and progression of a long term commitment to improvement takes all the experience and expertise that I have accumulated over 25 years of teaching. These students are volunteering to pay me for my knowledge, and it is my job to give them the best I have to offer. You will not find me sitting in a chair offering conventional “tips” that perhaps may be just what a talented Tour player needs but is nowhere close to what the average hack needs to bump his game up a level.
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