GolfTEC Blog

Chris Robicheaux — GolfTEC Cool Springs, TN Coach — talks about what it took to get one of his clients down to a 2 handicap.

Brad Waite came to see me at GolfTEC Cool Springs in August of 2007 with a desire to learn a better way to play. He was a good player in his own right — already with scores consistently in the high 70′s to low 80′s. Brad was interested in learning more about the golf swing in hopes that he could gain distance and develop more consistent ball striking. His end goal was to become a scratch golfer.

Identifying the problems

My first impression was that Brad had a natural motion that flowed well, but it was very loose and lacking some key fundamentals. He had a tendency to straighten his right leg and roll the club well inside of the correct plane during his takeaway.

This motion left him with no weight shift, an unstable lower body and a very disconnected arm position at the top. All of this caused two problems in Brad’s downswing: unhinging his wrists too early and relying too heavily on timing to hit the ball well.

We had a long discussion on how these motions in his backswing were preventing him from reaching his goal of being a scratch golfer. To succeed, he was going to need to learn and apply better fundamentals in his swing.

Making the changes

Brad committed to the changes that same day and hasn’t stopped yet. We spent the first few months working on a good setup, weakening his grip and stabilizing his lower body. From there, we began to work on the hands and arms — achieving a connected and compact top position by getting rid of any wasted movement.

The new position now allows Brad to fire the clubhead through the ball powerfully and consistently, with no early release or scooping action around impact.

The results speak for themselves

It is a night and day change in both the look of his swing and the resulting ball flight. What Brad notices the most is the sound and feel of the ball leaving the club face. He will tell you that the solid shots produced by his old golf swing don’t even come close to the solid shots produced by his new swing.

I have the pleasure of playing with Brad once a month. Watching the transformation of his total game over this two-year period has been very rewarding. Through the ups and downs of the swing changes, he stayed committed and willing to learn.

Brad now hits a nice medium-trajectory draw with every club in the bag. He has learned a new way to hit wedges and feels that he can control the spin and amount of roll out on chips and pitches. He is currently a two handicap. And I believe he will be a scratch by the time next year’s golf season comes to an end.

As a Coach, what impresses me about Brad is that when we started he was already beating most of the golfers he played with on a regular basis. He didn’t really need to change anything to succeed in his games. But he made a commitment to invest his time in quality practice and learning the fundamentals of the game. And Brad has now come out on the other side a much better player — able to enjoy the game in a whole new way.

Comments on Brad’s story? Thoughts on a similar experience?

A guest post by Dave Hillman — GolfTEC El Toro, CA Store Manager, Director of Instruction — on finding the right balance between instruction and practice.

You just saw your swing on video and your instructor pointed out the swing fault that is keeping you from reaching your golfing goals. Once you accept the fact that your swing wasn’t nearly as good as you thought, you are faced with one question:

How do you fix it?

If you think that by just taking a lesson you will improve your game, then you are actually only 20% correct. And if you’re 20% correct, well, you’re 80% wrong. The reality is the other 80% is practice.

Your body and muscles have to adapt to this new swing change. Doing drills is a great way to get your mind off of the mechanical change, and just focus on the new movement. You can do these drills at GolfTEC, at home, or on the driving range. Take a lot of practice swings — without a golf ball! This could take anywhere from a week to a couple months to dial in.

Now you need some feedback

At home you can use a mirror, which is great for some of the drills, not so great for full swings with a golf club! Video is the best feedback, and utilizing a practice membership at GolfTEC makes it so easy to view what you are working on.

Start hitting the ball

So you’ve got a feel for the drills, and the feedback you are getting from the video is looking pretty good! The next step is making contact with a golf ball. You still have to get the center of the clubface on the ball. Slow it down while hitting golf balls! It will take some time before you are striking the ball in the center of the clubface. Again, this process could take weeks to months before you start seeing desired results.

So after learning what swing change is recommended, most of the work is in your practice routine. Drills, practice swings without a ball and being patient with shorter and slower swings when hitting golf balls will get you on the path to better golf.

What if there is more than one recommended swing change? Well, you’ve got to have patience and practice if you are going to make a serious change to your golf game!

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