Progress update

[Cassi]

I’m at the 30 day point and have not gone further due to the need to work through problems with stance. The problem as identified by Bryan was that I was leaning out over the ball too far instead of bending my knees and sitting back, creating a series of off-balance moves and unsuccessful ball striking. Changing my posture at setup cleared up the problem and I started hitting better and finishing the swing in a balanced position. So thank you, Bryan, very much for that help. Also thanks to Alex for time spent on the phone helping me to work through issues.

Following is my experience about this program so far:

1. I clearly misunderstood the correct beginning setup stance and where to place body weight. Throughout 30 lessons I thought I was doing it right – felt balanced to me. I understood the idea was to be in an athletic position, which, to me, is with the weight more towards the balls of the feet where one can launch the body into action. Perhaps this came from playing other sports that required it. So I basically was practicing the wrong position for months, but I’m now adapting to being balanced in the center section of my feet, which did feel awkward at first.

2. I question whether this system works as well for the average woman who typically has a lower center of gravity than men, and I wonder if that’s why I struggled with the set up posture.

3. While initially I felt bad about not doing the program daily, I now know I’ve needed more time to let my body (and mind) adapt to the movements and the concept.

4. At the driving range:

a. Pressing down with hands just prior to taking the club back while also squeezing arms together seems to help establish a more stable backswing.

b. Pressing away to the right with both hands when the shaft is parallel-to-ground during the backswing to create width is directly related to increased shot distance.

c. Creating pressure with my arms by pressing them together at the top of the backswing seems to start a downswing that prevents hitting fat.

d. Surfing the knees is a movement I can do during movement practice but never seems to happen when actually hitting balls. Maybe it is happening but I don’t feel it and if I try to make it happen I blow the shot.

e. Instead, what does work for me is combining the left hip thrust (back and up) with the feeling of pressing my arms together bringing them close to my chest in the “safe” position. These both result in solid ball striking and straight shots nearly every time. Also, when I perform them well I end up in a perfectly balanced position in a crescent shape with thighs together, chest high and club shaft along eye line. That being said, I’m not getting more distance and in some cases have lost some distance from my previous swing.

5. On the course:

For the most part, none of “a” through “e” above seems to be happening on the course and I suspect because of 1. Winter conditions and 2. My home course being very hilly with most shots being either uphill, downhill, ball above or ball below feet. Our pro describes it as a “Traditional shot-makers course with a New England layout at Cape Cod greens” which is a fancy way of saying it’s a tough course. For uneven lies I have to revert to my “old” swing with what feels to me is limited movement overall.

6. Finally, I’m hesitant to proceed with the remaining lessons until I establish some consistency on the course, but at least I know which movements to practice and can retrain my body if I hit a bad shot.

[David]

Cassi – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m just shy of day 30 and about to take my student/daughter to the range to see how she is doing with incorporating the movements. We may do a session or two at home off a mat into a net, though.

You do make an especially interesting observation with respect to uphill/downhill lies. Does anyone know if the program speaks to these common conditions on the second half?

[Cassi]

Hi David,
I have not seen any instructions or tips on how to handle uneven lies. Furthermore, I’ve only seen a few posts about using the driver, which initially was a problem for me but then once I corrected my posture as stated in my first post above, I began striking the ball better with my driver.

When it comes to uneven lies, I had actually gotten pretty good at dealing with them on a regular basis but only when using what I call my “old” swing, which consisted of limiting my back swing. For ball above feet, I take into consideration that the ball will curve left (to the degree it would if I rolled a ball along the ground) and vise versa for ball below the feet. I also adjust the degree of knee bend for these lies.

For uphill and downhill lies, I take practice swings to see where the club head is touching ground and adjust my stance accordingly while leveling my shoulders with the ground. I take a shorter back swing to retain balance. There is probably a better way but these techniques work for me. The only difference is that incorporating what I’ve learned through Tathata doesn’t work for me on these uneven lies. I hope that helps.