I had a father call me to talk about a lesson with his 7-year-old son, Jack. He loved practicing and playing and was already winning junior tournaments in his age bracket. He went on to tell me that Jack had been getting lessons from two different pros, was getting some contradicting points, and was beginning to have trouble. The pros were both teaching the popular rotational 'turn-the-back-to-the-target backswing and finish, with the chest way left of the target. I straight up told him that I would likely be teaching Jack a swing much different from what he had been getting. If Dad was willing to take the chance, I was sure Jack would be OK with it. I promised him Jack would hit it better right in the first lesson. Dad finished up with two final points about Jack. He was a lefty and had a real strong grip. I finished up by saying lefty is fine but Jack would have to change his grip and I would not compromise on it.
When I met Jack and his Dad, I got straight into asking Jack about his goals and where and what did he want to achieve with his golf game. 'I want to be real good, play on the high school golf team, get a golf scholarship to play in college, and play on the PGA Tour.' Impressed with such a quick and direct answer, I asked Jack if he was ready for all the hard work and practice it would take. He again answered, without a blink, a resounding, 'Yes.'
I asked him the strengths and weaknesses of his game and what he has been working on from his lessons. He said that his short game and putting were real good, but his irons and woods all tended to be hit thin left, high and weak and then an occasional pull to the right. (Remember Jack is a lefty ' and he's 7!) I asked him what he had been working on from his lessons and he said that they wanted him to turn his back more to the target in his backswing, and finish more around to the right with his chest. I asked him to show me where they wanted to see the shaft at the top of the backswing and he demonstrated deep, inside and laid off at 10:00 o'clock. Everything was right on script for the rotational swing theory.
Finally, I asked him to grip a club. When I pointed out his grip was super strong he said he knew. I told him, in front of his Dad, that if he wanted to work with me there was no compromise and he had to learn to grip it with a square/neutral grip. I told him he could get away with the strong grip now because his length didn't hit balls long enough to get into trouble. But I emphasized that when he grows bigger and stronger, one day his little pull hooks and blocks that stay in play now, will all of a sudden be reaching the rough, woods and hazards. Changing now, will be a lot easier than later and make him a better player now and not need any big changes that will be more difficult to do a few years down the road. He agreed and the lesson began with me watching his swing and filling out my diagnosis and prescription sheet.
Jack had a really good swing. His setup was overall very good and athletic. His stance was shoulder wide and his feet were flared and under his knees. He had a good takeaway with lift as I like to see. What I really liked was that he kept his front foot down and knee quiet. His backswing had too much turn but only went a little past 90 degrees and nowhere close to his back turned to the target. His backswing was just short of parallel with his irons and just past parallel with his woods, and with his shoulder turn they were a little deep. His club was laid off to 10:00 o'clock as he showed me earlier.
The first problem I worked on was the shoulder turn. I got him to simulate skipping a rock and stopped him at the top of his arm swing to throw. I laid a club across his shoulder and showed Jack that he had not turned his back anywhere near 90 degrees. I then asked him if he ever saw a hockey player swing and hit a puck? He said yes and I asked if they turned their back to the net. He said, 'No.' He said that tennis players and baseball players don't either. (Remember, he's 7.) To which I said that golf is the only sport in the world that turns the back to the target to hit or throw a ball. I then added my trademark question and answer Surgism of 'Did God give golfers a dispensation to play by their own set of rules? I DON'T THINK SO!' I think Jack was impressed.
Next I used the light club versus heavy club to show him through feeling the weight of the club and seeing the position of 12:00 o'clock light club, 10:00 o'clock heavy club. With him feeling and realizing the difference, I then moved onto the finish. I showed him his wrap around, El Foldo, Huggy Bear finish where his arms just folded around his chest like cooked spaghetti. I demonstrated the T-Finish with the hands and club finishing over his right shoulder with the hands almost touching his right ear. With the high T-finish I also added the re-coil and relax (R & R) of the arms pulling the club back down in front of the body, with the hands near his belt buckle, and the club pointing at the target to be the final finishing place, in balance.
We made around 20 to 30 practice swings, feeling and grooving the backswing and finish. Jack grabbed the ¾ vertical club limited turn real fast, but his finish was still prone to the El Foldo spaghetti arms wrapping around his body. (He thought that was funny.) We worked on just the T ' Finish and the R & R more intently, with good practice swing. and holding and feeling the finish for 20 or more swings until it looked pretty good. Then a few more complete swings that looked good and Jack had earned and was ready to hit a ball. (Note: I believe lessons are not ball beating experiences. They are learning experiences. First you learn in the mind (you have to get the pictures and feeling in the mind first, as the mind tells which muscles to move and how and when through words, sight and feel, then you make good practice swing without a ball.) When you make a number of good swings you have earned your golf ball. This is also a great way to practice. After a bad swing on the range you have to make a few good practice swings to earn another ball.) I reminded him that in our earlier talk that I promised him that if he listened and learned and made good practice swings, that when he earned his golf ball he would hit a good to better shot than he has been hitting by the third ball and that was only if he was a slow learner. (Big frown.)
Well, using a 7 iron, Jack hit a good shot on the first, a better one on the second, and after the third he looked at his Dad and said that was the best shot of his life. With those successes I took him up to a fairway wood. He made three really good swings and hit three really good shots. We topped it all off finishing with the driver. Again Jack hit three really good shots, all of which he said were the farthest and straightest he ever hit. With that, I declared school was out, gave Jack a high five, shook his hand and told him to go out and win his tournament next week. (He did.)
Jack's improvement and better swing and ball striking are typical of what my students experience in the first lesson, whether they are 7 or 70. You get better right from the first day or the first lesson when you use the PPGS! Guaranteed!
The Surge!