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Michael was a scratch player up to the age of about 40, when due to family obligations had to stop playing for an extended period, a scenario that I am finding is fairly common: a good player taking time off then struggling upon returning to the game.
You can see reasons for both Michael’s good play and recent struggles. He has a nice, fluid motion with good sequence and plenty of clubhead lag, and as a result he leans the club forward on the ball for good contact.
On the negative side we see some things that need work. Michael exhibits a common swing pattern that includes moving the hands away from the body in the takeaway with the right arm pinching and the arms way in front of the body at left arm parallel. This outward move in the takeaway encourages the left arm to move across the chest late in the backswing in order to create more depth, which in turn leads to the hands dropping behind him in transition, which in turn leads to the hips pushing forward toward the ball instead of driving 45 degrees left of target to start the forward swing. The problems here are compounded by the fact that he lifts during the backswing then tries to hit the ball from the inside with a draw.
My suggestions are consistent with what I usually prescribe to change this pattern to one that will allow the body to bend more as the swing progresses and will get the club more in front of the body as the hands approach impact and exiting more around on the plane to the left. It all starts in the takeaway and then moves to the sidearm throwing concept that should help him move his hands more outward toward the ball and have the body wanting to open up faster as it drives more to the left with the hips deeper and the right arm moving more in front of the chest. This is a pretty classic case and will be a good one to study. It will be interesting to see Michael’s swing again after he has a chance to work on my prescribed changes.
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