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Dean is 65 and just now trying to become a PGA member, which means he must pass the Player Ability Test (PAT) in order to continue to earn credits toward his Class A status. The score required is usually around 155 to 158 for 36 holes, which may not seem very low, but for someone who has never really played competitively it can be quite stressful to have to shoot a number. Dean is in great shape for his age and has no real physical limitations, so we should be able to address what he described as his number one concern, solid contact and control with his irons. After watching him hit some and filming it was obvious that he was way too flippy at impact, with almost no forward lean at all. Dean has been following the website and knew that his hips were not “in the box” in the downswing, which is what we addressed first. I noted that his posture at address looked suspect and that his balance looked back in his heels, and I told him that for an early extender that kind of set up is the last thing he wants. We discussed how to compress into the ground in the backswing and how to keep the hips deeper in transition, and then turned our focus to impact, where we worked on punch shots, more specifically on supinating the left forearm and adding flexion to the left wrist while adducting the upper right arm and elbow to have the hands lead the clubhead into impact. By the end of the lesson Dean felt like the ball was coming off the face much better, and he looked forward to having time to practice and incorporate the new information.
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