Larry Gude
Strung Out
...I brag on my nephew's golf swing on occasion on here, he of the syrupy, buttery, make you wanna give it up, wonderful extension and limberosity.
Well, he's 16 by end of summer, is right in his growth spurt, up over 6 feet now and probably 130 pounds. And he started catching up with my good drives and playing the same T's as me last summer. He'd finally reached the physical size and strength to make the clubs work as designed; compress the ball and send it on it's merry way.
So, on Easter, I'm watching him hit balls and his swing has fallen into all sorts of disarray as the uncle hasn't been around of late to keep him on the one, true path. Hunched over, Cramped up, weight too far forward, big loop outside on takeaway to compensate, follow through is out on his toes, just a mess.
So, we worked for a good two hours, mostly dry swinging, a few balls, on some basic stance and pre shot stuff he can concentrate on to make sure he's right when he gets on the course and got him fixed up into this just textbook set up, posture and alignment, balanced follow through he can hold. He looks awesome. Gave me goose bumps.
So, short story long, he plays yesterday and he calls me up with the post round report.
Par 71
He shoots 81
With 5 or 6 three putts. Says his short game was just crap. His short game WAS keeping him the upper 80's, low 90's. It WAS the strength of his game.
Par 3, 180 yards. 6 iron.
Short par 4, 245. 7 wood. On the green.
He's stoked. Hit 9 fairways, a bunch of greens.
His bad swings used to be either a high block or a snap hook, either one well into the trees. Normal ball flight is/was a fairly aggressive draw, fairly high.
Now, his misses are in the rough, the new ball flight is a soft, towering draw and when he tries to kill it, it goes straight meaning he's in good shape, lined up and good balance. Says it's just much more consistent. Say he's gotta go to the range and re-learn all his iron distances.
This is pure joy for me. He's a great athlete in the first place and is easily able to do what I am asking him to do and feel it and make the connections between balance and alignment and position errors and where they will tend to make the ball go. Plus he'll give up a bad habit right away so there is instant feedback between what he is doing and what he was doing.
I'm like a shade tree mechanic that gets to work with a race ready Indy car that just needs a few obvious things straightened out. "Go faster...turn better...put some air in that flat...make sure the tank has some gas in it..."
He'll break par before summer is over. And I think we've reached the point we've talked about since we started playing together when he was 6 where he'd say the same thing to me on every hole;
Look's like you're away, uncle Larry.
Well, he's 16 by end of summer, is right in his growth spurt, up over 6 feet now and probably 130 pounds. And he started catching up with my good drives and playing the same T's as me last summer. He'd finally reached the physical size and strength to make the clubs work as designed; compress the ball and send it on it's merry way.
So, on Easter, I'm watching him hit balls and his swing has fallen into all sorts of disarray as the uncle hasn't been around of late to keep him on the one, true path. Hunched over, Cramped up, weight too far forward, big loop outside on takeaway to compensate, follow through is out on his toes, just a mess.
So, we worked for a good two hours, mostly dry swinging, a few balls, on some basic stance and pre shot stuff he can concentrate on to make sure he's right when he gets on the course and got him fixed up into this just textbook set up, posture and alignment, balanced follow through he can hold. He looks awesome. Gave me goose bumps.
So, short story long, he plays yesterday and he calls me up with the post round report.
Par 71
He shoots 81
With 5 or 6 three putts. Says his short game was just crap. His short game WAS keeping him the upper 80's, low 90's. It WAS the strength of his game.
Par 3, 180 yards. 6 iron.
Short par 4, 245. 7 wood. On the green.
He's stoked. Hit 9 fairways, a bunch of greens.
His bad swings used to be either a high block or a snap hook, either one well into the trees. Normal ball flight is/was a fairly aggressive draw, fairly high.
Now, his misses are in the rough, the new ball flight is a soft, towering draw and when he tries to kill it, it goes straight meaning he's in good shape, lined up and good balance. Says it's just much more consistent. Say he's gotta go to the range and re-learn all his iron distances.
This is pure joy for me. He's a great athlete in the first place and is easily able to do what I am asking him to do and feel it and make the connections between balance and alignment and position errors and where they will tend to make the ball go. Plus he'll give up a bad habit right away so there is instant feedback between what he is doing and what he was doing.
I'm like a shade tree mechanic that gets to work with a race ready Indy car that just needs a few obvious things straightened out. "Go faster...turn better...put some air in that flat...make sure the tank has some gas in it..."
He'll break par before summer is over. And I think we've reached the point we've talked about since we started playing together when he was 6 where he'd say the same thing to me on every hole;
Look's like you're away, uncle Larry.