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Let’s start Jonathan’s lesson with the email he sent with his swing. I always like to get background info before I do an analysis, just like I would do in a face to face lesson by asking a few questions while the student warms up.
“I’ve been playing golf for around 10 years, roughly since my early 20’s. Got down to a high single digit on a very wide open course a few years ago when I was playing 3 times a week, but now am up to a 13.5 HCP and just get trampled by a course that’s tight off the tee. Plenty of distance already but want to strike the ball much better and hit it in the general vicinity of where I’m looking more often. I’ve had a few lessons but all was standard grip and posture stuff, so the swing I have now is generally what I built myself over the years just from playing. I miss big either way the push slice happens more often than the pull. Fats and thins are normal. Somehow have never figured out how to get it shallower in transition.
Quit playing for a while but had to start back for business reasons and got the bug again. I’m playing a lot of courses that I’ve never played so would like to get some consistency going (I’m sure you’ve never heard of someone wanting more consistency in their golf game). I am hitting balls most every day practicing more than ever and just want to be maximizing my time, working on the right things. Would love to have specific advice on drills and practice routines that will help me the most.”
Jonathan’s swing issues start with the start of his swing. I spend the vast majority of the time in the video looking at his takeaway and discussing how and why it is a major problem, and we can see the effects of the excess movement all the way through the rest of the swing. This is another example of the pattern nature of golf swings, and we have seen this pattern many times before, with the trigger move to get the swing started pulling the upper body up and back away from the original address position and forcing Jonathan to make a complicated recovery in the forward swing. The end result is a high hands delivery that would be difficult for anyone to manage consistently, but especially so in this case as the club is travelling at a high rate of speed. If Jon can tighten up the beginning of the swing I think he would have an excellent chance to make further improvements and hit the ball much better.
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