maveric74
29th March 2016, 08:23 PM
Hey all,
Haven't posted in a while. While I have still not stepped on a golf course and played a round of 9/18 holes, I have been visiting the driving range and getting used to my brand new golf clubs. But I was keenly aware that as a beginner/casual player, I needed to take some lessons. Which I finally did..today! Here's my thoughts.
1. I should have booked this (my first lesson) as soon as I got the clubs! Get a lesson, not a clinic first.
Got the clubs around Jan but with a combination of work/personal life/complacency/a bit of fear, I waited until now. I also opted for a lesson over a clinic. A few reasons. Being time-poor, I could choose when I went to a lesson. With a clinic, I had to commit to 4 weeks (at least) of turning up at a set time each week and having already paid for it not having the option to change that. My work-life balance is not regular 9-5 so the individual lesson suits me great. Besides the 1hr I spent today (Yarra Bend, Peter Knight - exceptional coach!) with the coach was one on one and focused solely on improving aspects of MY GAME alone. Yep, a bit selfish but sheesh! I'm not much of a social butterfly anyway :-)
2. All those years wasted :-( Get a lesson. Even if you have been playing for years.
Just getting the fundamentals right felt so damn good! And I had all these years even when I did play casually admittedly that I could have taken ONE lesson! It would have made a world of difference. I plan on continuing my coaching for a while, let's put it that way :-)
3. The correction felt so ALIEN, so WEIRD...at first.
Yep! I listened, really listened and put into practise what the coach and the video analysis wouldn't lie about :-) The swing I had been swinging with all my life was basically inefficient. We just needed to eliminate all the extra bits and trim it to the most essential bits and that was that. It felt weird and foreign and alien at the time, but after the session I still had close to 50 balls left to hit. So I took to the driving range and practised my new found skills and what was weird and foreign and alien 5 minutes ago now started feeling, weirdly enough, ok. Just breathe, focus, set, execute. Repeat. :-)
4. Today was the worst. EVER..But next time will be better
The first 30 minutes of my lesson, I was wondering what the hell was going on. Even with my bad swing and posture, I could hit the ball reasonably well. But now with the correct posture and the swing I was spraying them left, right and some in the centre! I wanted to give up but kept faith (go back to the coach's words of wisdom and the video analysis) and soon enough I was middling them ok. It clicked in my head and it made sense and then I wasn't reaching out or trying to hard, I was just a good robot :-)
5. Practise! Practise! Practise!
This will be different for each one of us. But if you have bothered to get clubs, have got a lesson etc. why do you play golf? For me, it's focus and concentration and peace and quiet from my maddeningly busy work-life balance. I mentioned selfish earlier. This is purely for me. Something I want to do for myself. Just to see for once how good I can be with some coaching and actually enjoy playing golf and look forward to getting out there for a hit :-) There's no competition..just me trying to beat me :-)
Here's a few before/after comparisons just as a reference.
Enjoy!
40655406564065740658
Haven't posted in a while. While I have still not stepped on a golf course and played a round of 9/18 holes, I have been visiting the driving range and getting used to my brand new golf clubs. But I was keenly aware that as a beginner/casual player, I needed to take some lessons. Which I finally did..today! Here's my thoughts.
1. I should have booked this (my first lesson) as soon as I got the clubs! Get a lesson, not a clinic first.
Got the clubs around Jan but with a combination of work/personal life/complacency/a bit of fear, I waited until now. I also opted for a lesson over a clinic. A few reasons. Being time-poor, I could choose when I went to a lesson. With a clinic, I had to commit to 4 weeks (at least) of turning up at a set time each week and having already paid for it not having the option to change that. My work-life balance is not regular 9-5 so the individual lesson suits me great. Besides the 1hr I spent today (Yarra Bend, Peter Knight - exceptional coach!) with the coach was one on one and focused solely on improving aspects of MY GAME alone. Yep, a bit selfish but sheesh! I'm not much of a social butterfly anyway :-)
2. All those years wasted :-( Get a lesson. Even if you have been playing for years.
Just getting the fundamentals right felt so damn good! And I had all these years even when I did play casually admittedly that I could have taken ONE lesson! It would have made a world of difference. I plan on continuing my coaching for a while, let's put it that way :-)
3. The correction felt so ALIEN, so WEIRD...at first.
Yep! I listened, really listened and put into practise what the coach and the video analysis wouldn't lie about :-) The swing I had been swinging with all my life was basically inefficient. We just needed to eliminate all the extra bits and trim it to the most essential bits and that was that. It felt weird and foreign and alien at the time, but after the session I still had close to 50 balls left to hit. So I took to the driving range and practised my new found skills and what was weird and foreign and alien 5 minutes ago now started feeling, weirdly enough, ok. Just breathe, focus, set, execute. Repeat. :-)
4. Today was the worst. EVER..But next time will be better
The first 30 minutes of my lesson, I was wondering what the hell was going on. Even with my bad swing and posture, I could hit the ball reasonably well. But now with the correct posture and the swing I was spraying them left, right and some in the centre! I wanted to give up but kept faith (go back to the coach's words of wisdom and the video analysis) and soon enough I was middling them ok. It clicked in my head and it made sense and then I wasn't reaching out or trying to hard, I was just a good robot :-)
5. Practise! Practise! Practise!
This will be different for each one of us. But if you have bothered to get clubs, have got a lesson etc. why do you play golf? For me, it's focus and concentration and peace and quiet from my maddeningly busy work-life balance. I mentioned selfish earlier. This is purely for me. Something I want to do for myself. Just to see for once how good I can be with some coaching and actually enjoy playing golf and look forward to getting out there for a hit :-) There's no competition..just me trying to beat me :-)
Here's a few before/after comparisons just as a reference.
Enjoy!
40655406564065740658