After you watch this video, be sure to go back and watch the first “Student Lesson” [below] with Brian that we did in early June. I have seen Brian once in between these two pieces, and what is apparent is something that holds true in general when teaching decent players who want to get to the next level. Depending on how long they have been playing (and fighting the limitations of their technique) we usually end up working on the same things for at least a few lessons. It usually takes 3 or 4 times for a student to stop being “shocked” at what the video shows. I always encourage my students to take advantage of video technology as a means to make any practice session more efficient and effective. Simply filming and viewing a few swings will give you instant feedback regarding what the ideas you have in your head are doing to your normal swing motion.
Brian has a large feel deficit when it comes to the length of his swings, and not being able to control that length adversely affects his ability to control the quality of impact and thus the distance control on all his shots, both short and long. In cases like this I will risk the student’s frustration at working on the same things and do just that: it is essentially useless to try to advance very far past the ability to hit a proper punch shot. However, the skills required to hit that shot are far broader than just the ability to control the length of the backswing. Learning to properly strike the ball with the desired amount of swing is the essence of the vast majority of my teaching.
Part 1