Dan Whittaker lesson review.

So about my lesson the other day with Dan Whittaker. Well to start with I was initially a wee bit concerned that a 4 hour lesson would be over kill, perhaps not good value for money, I mean what if I did not get along with the guy?

In hindsight I need not have worried. It was worth every penny and I could have spent another few hours there with Dan quite happily. Although I was tired afterwards, that was as much mental tiredness as physical because there was a lot to take in.

The day started with me warming up and Dan filming a few swings from different angles and we talked about my game. I was hitting the ball OK so was quite interested to see what he would say. We then went up to the teaching studio and got to work. I was very happy to see that everything we did was recorded and that I was to be given a copy of the lesson to study afterwards. This is a critical thing because there is no way you could remember everything over the two hours we spent working to understand my swing,what needed to change, why and how.

The first thing was my grip. It was full of holes and not functioning as a unit, Dan correctly predicted the wear on gloves that I get, he also recommended thicker grips to suit my hands. Essentially I had to both strengthen my grip and make it one unit. As with everything Dan shows you real examples of what he wants to see via video or pictures of his students doing it. Not some pro who you can't really relate to, but real blokes who have taken lessons right there in the studio before you.

We then went onto my swing. The good news is that I do a lot of things already pretty good and not a whole lot had to change. Dan is quick to praise what's good not just pick apart the bad.

My set up and posture was hurting me badly, slightly twisting my spine angle. Because of that my right hip went high on the back swing with my straight right leg and I lost posture, pushing my upper body to much over the ball. Then in the down swing I don't transition, instead I spin out my hips, leaving weight on my right side and causing me get narrow and have to scoop the ball through impact. Seeing it clearly in slow mo was a bit of a ego killer!

Dan explained why I shank short shots, why I sometimes hit fat or thin's and why my shot shape was unpredictable.

And what do I do well? Apparently I set the club great on the back swing, on plane, layed off with width and in perfect synch with arms in front of my body at the top.

The changes I needed to make were in mainly in set-up, leg/hip work and then the big one was foot work and transitioning to my left side. When I made these changes something magical happened. I got a solid strike with visible extension through the ball and my scoop vanished.

Obviously this is a work in progress and a lot of practice is needed to make real changes, but wow just getting a bit to my left side gave me a wonderful solid, natural draw that penetrated instead of just launching airborne like before. the most amazing thing is that it feels like you actually controlled the shot rather than before when I never knew what result to expect off the club face. It's hard to explain but it feels great to think you have some real control over the ball flight.

Dan gave me a lot of drills to do to help ingrain the changes I need and the results I have already glimpsed just motivate me to do the drills and put in the work. I still have a good way to go with my swing, I'm still spinning out and leaving my arms behind, especially on short shots which can equal the dreaded shank. But I feel at last I have the knowledge and the road map to get to where I want my swing to be. And the best thing is it's not a million miles away!

A lot of stuff from Dan can be found on the Gotham Golf blog (click his name in the list of tags towards the bottom right of the blog) and on Golfwrx's instruction forum where he goes by the name  DFW1500.

I'm including a short clip from my lesson file here to give you a taste of what it is like.