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If you play the first part of this video and try to do your own analysis before you get to my own comments, you should stop reading this copy now and come back to it later, as the idea is for me to summarize what you are about to see.
The student, David Brown, is a first timer, and when I watched him hit a few to start I was impressed with the amount of speed he was producing and the fluid nature of his action. The actual ball striking, however, was much less impressive, a collection of weak, thin, high right shots with no compression and little quality. Immediately (I have seen this many times before) I surmised that impact was weak due to some clubhead throwaway, which was shown to be the case when we looked at the video. My standard attack in this case starts with a discussion of proper impact, and I am always certain to make sure that the student fully understands the proper approach, delivery, and exit of the club through the impact area, as well as the concept of compression as opposed to lifting or scooping the ball. If the ideas are there then it boils down to positions, motion, and, most importantly, the “feel” of a quality strike. Thus, punch shots are in order, which translate immediately into the short game, and then into the full swing. When David hit a quality punch shot with good form and a nice divot it was an eye-opening event for him, and a satisfying one for me.
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