Video shocker!

I pleaded with Dave the new pro I saw tonight at short notice at the Golf academy, 'Please cure my shank'.

He watched a few balls and I even shanked one for him. Then we went up to the video studio and he videoed a shot.

It's a shame I don't have a copy of that swing to show you because it was shocking, no really, dreadful. I wonder how the hell I hit the ball at all and no wonder everything went left!

It's my fault and a bad trend, I seam to miss interpret instruction into an extreme version of what I'm told. In an effort to hit down on the ball I have developed the most amazingly steep over the top, out to in swing combined with an anti slice closed club face which has given me my pull hook.

So instead of an inside to out shank, I had the opposite a big time out to in shank.

Taking the club back way outside the line I almost can't do anything but come back over the top, it was disappointing, frustrating and almost embarrassing to see it. In 3-4 months I had taken a decent swing and screwed it into a crap one.

I have a video of my last lesson in march and the video of my swing today after he told me to flatten the down swing and stop holding the face closed on the back swing. It was bit better on the second video today almost like the swing from march, but still a bit steep? So we headed down to the range and the mirror and I basically went back to one of my early lessons on swinging from the inside. Rotating open the club face on the back swing and holding my left wrist flat at the top instead of cupped. All typical high handicapper lesson stuff.

When I flattened out the swing plane on the range I hit a true draw again, not a pull draw that I have been playing, but rather a genuine start to the right and draw back to target shot.

The swing felt very, very different, more like a swing around my body and not hitting down on it at all. In fact the pro told me to forget hitting down on it until I have cured my shanks and I agree.

I'm not going to go near a course with card in my hand until I have this swing grooved and I have sorted my pitching & chipping out. So for me it's hitting balls at the range and the practice area for the foreseeable future.

Another thing is for sure, different pro's tell you different stuff, I have decided that I always will have video lessons so I can see what the hell they are on about from now on, and that I'll have a lesson each month or two just to make sure I'm keeping on track.

Anyway I'm relieved to have a more substantial idea of what has been going wrong and something to work on to cure it.


March 2010, 5 iron.


June 2010, 8 iron.