Wayne DeFrancesco | Wayne DeFrancesco Golf Instruction

Lesson of the Week: Gabe Reynolds, PGA

Gabe is a teaching professional from the North Texas Section who was instrumental in getting me invited to work with the staff at Preston Trails GC in Dallas. Gabe had seen some of my videos and suggested that the club spend its education budget money on having me down for 3 days to teach the assistants and to help them with their own teaching. This is the 3rd time I have worked with Gabe, and in the past two years he has won some major club pro events in his region.

No Excuses

By Wayne | Articles: In Golf as in Life

I recall reading Carlos Castaneda’s epic “A Journey to Ixtlan” my junior year of college, my first year at Louisiana State U. after transferring from Wake Forest. According to NCAA rules I had to sit out a year before playing for LSU, and I found myself with quite a bit of extra time on my hands, especially considering I had injured myself while lifting weights and was unable to practice or play. I took Spring Break and headed to Arizona in my yellow Chevy Vega to see an old high school classmate I had convinced myself was destined to be the love of my life, in spite of the fact that I had not seen her in years and had never even dated her in the first place.

Wayne D. Working on the Driver

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

My swings with the long clubs are getting better but I’m still wrestling with the tendency to punk out on my backswing pivot when my back muscles get tested starting around shaft parallel in the takeaway and extending to the top. You can see in the video how I start to straighten the right leg and let the motion move out into my left leg and hip, while at the same time my shoulders flatten and my right arm stays too low and pinched in at left arm parallel.

Basement Tapes: What is your Optimum Swing Length?

By Wayne | Videos: Basement Tapes

The longer I teach the more it occurs to me that for the non-tour player one of the biggest swing problems I see is the overuse of the right arm and shoulder in the attempt to produce “more turn” and a longer swing. When the right upper arm and shoulder are used to pull the left arm into the backswing further than it can naturally go the normal player will inevitably goof up the transition to the ultimate detriment of the impact area.

Online Students: Angus Bradford

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

It is always nice to have an opportunity to help a talented young player, and you most definitely see one here in Angus. The things I point out are pretty common for juniors like Angus who have not filled out physically and thus have trouble with managing the amount and type of pivot movement they utilize in the backswing. Angus does a nice job getting the club back up to left arm parallel, but to my eye he overturns the right arm and shoulder and puts it in a position where he can’t quite get the upper right arm back in front of him in the impact area.

Swing Analysis: Phil Mickelson’s “New Plane”: Really?

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I have stated in the past that Phil Mickelson hasn’t changed his swing in any significant way in at least 25 years, no matter what he says or who he works with. What is certain is that he always has something to say about his swing, and that he is one of the best when it comes to talking himself into believing that he is doing something different and better. After studying his “new” swing (he switched teachers again) I have come to the conclusion that…

Online Students: Wayne Miles

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Wayne is a 24 handicap golfer from Australia, and I have learned over many years of teaching that the higher the handicap the more I have to make sure that the player has the correct concepts regarding how the swing works in general. Wayne has the obvious backswing issues as far as technique goes, but he does a marvelous job of sequencing his swing and produces the potential for a lot of power in the downswing.

Swing Analysis: Jordan Spieth

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I have done Jordan’s swing before, but as he is kicking everyone’s butt nowadays I figured I’d take another look. I tried to imitate his positions in the mirror in my basement and found it impossible. Now, I’m not the most limber and mobile guy with all the problems I’ve had with my back, but I can still move around pretty good and most swings I can imitate fairly closely.

Online Students: Josh Rindfleish

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Josh has a nice, fluid move that would appear to the naked eye to have little to fix. However, upon closer analysis with slow motion video it becomes apparent that Josh suffers from the same pattern tendencies we see all the time with good players who aren’t hitting the ball as well as they need to in order to compete at a high level…

Online Students: Erik Ludtke Part 2

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Eric has made some nice progress implementing some of the suggestions I made in his first online lesson. As you will see in the side by side he has gotten his weight more out onto the balls of his feet, although he may have gotten himself a bit too much bent over from the waist.

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