Unspoiling the Walk, Part II
What an ordeal, learning a new golf swing. Or unlearning the old one, to put a finer point on it. From my high school summers hitting the range every day with Alan and Eddy (and occasionally Russell, whose favorite wood in his bag was his Louisville Slugger) to my Casa CHAnG days hitting the range a few times a week with the housemates, I've spent countless dollars on countless buckets of balls, reinforcing terrible swing habits that are extremely difficult to unlearn now that I'm finally getting real lessons from a competent instructor.
So take it from me; if you want to pick up golf for the first time, don't do it recreationally. You'll save a lot of money and aggravation by ponying up for lessons and learning the correct swing right off the bat, rather than wasting countless cycles at the driving range grooving a flawed swing that will only increase the difficulty and frustration levels of the lessons you inevitably end up taking anyway. Put another way, its easier to build something right the first time than it is to build something wrong, tear it down, and build something right in its place. Just ask the Stanford Stadium guys.
Of course, if you didn't have someone like me giving you such sage advice when you first started, but you've managed to develop a functional swing anyway, the decision to take lessons is more difficult. I'm exhibit A. Through my first three lessons with my instructor Katie, I felt like I had learned an incredible amount from her about the mechanics of the swing, but when I actually put it into practice, everything completely fell apart. Not only did I not have a new and improved swing, but my formerly functional, albeit marginal, swing no longer worked either (just look at my round on Saturday), and I found myself in no-man's land. Let me tell you, it's a shitty place to be, and I can totally understand if you wouldn't want to join me there. If you are happy with your swing and already have fun out on the course, why bother with the hassle that I'm going through? But if you want to raise your game beyond its current level, it's where you have to be willing to go, because it's not going to happen through repeated range visits, which just groove your current swing and make it more consistent, but don't fundamentally improve it. Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice does. :)
The process of overhauling one's swing requires a lot of patience, which isn't my strong suit, but a lot of that comes from faith in the instructor, which I have in spades. Katie is awesome. I trust that my struggles are building towards something positive, and she isn't just ruining my swing. Of course, in my case, there's not a whole lot for her to ruin anyway. It's not like I'm Tiger Woods, who has gone through two major swing overhauls in his short career, despite both times having won multiple majors with the previous one. Now that's gutsy. But still, I managed to have some fun with my old swing, so my faith in Katie's ability to ultimately lead me to a better one helps keep me sane.
It has also helped to have Hubert going through the process with me, struggling in and working our way out of no-man's land together.
I think I saw the first really positive signs of that progess today (lesson #4) when Katie gave me some adjustments to make, and I suddenly found myself hitting the ball more cleanly (instead of slamming the mat, which used to be the norm) and with a square face (as opposed to the consistently open one to which I had long ago adjusted by simply aiming 20 yards left on every shot).
Of course, it's inaccurate to say that it happened suddenly, because this really has been a methodical process, with one or two new pieces to focus on each week. But whereas earlier those pieces were ruining my old swing without any evidence of improvement, I now feel like the pieces are starting to gel into a cohesive swing.
Now when I look back at my old swing, I see a lot of obvious flaws. My new swing still has some of the same issues, because old habits die hard, but at least I recognize them and am finally starting to see how correcting them is leading to improvement. I still seek consistency, but I'm more than happy to hit the range now to achieve it. The light at the end of the tunnel is looking more like open space and less like an oncoming train.
Next week, I get to put my revamped swing to the test as Hubert and I hit the course for a round, with Katie guiding us through the first three holes with instruction and advice before sending us on our way. This ought to be interesting. :) In the meantime, I have my study guide (His body swings his club as if independent from his head!):
So take it from me; if you want to pick up golf for the first time, don't do it recreationally. You'll save a lot of money and aggravation by ponying up for lessons and learning the correct swing right off the bat, rather than wasting countless cycles at the driving range grooving a flawed swing that will only increase the difficulty and frustration levels of the lessons you inevitably end up taking anyway. Put another way, its easier to build something right the first time than it is to build something wrong, tear it down, and build something right in its place. Just ask the Stanford Stadium guys.
Of course, if you didn't have someone like me giving you such sage advice when you first started, but you've managed to develop a functional swing anyway, the decision to take lessons is more difficult. I'm exhibit A. Through my first three lessons with my instructor Katie, I felt like I had learned an incredible amount from her about the mechanics of the swing, but when I actually put it into practice, everything completely fell apart. Not only did I not have a new and improved swing, but my formerly functional, albeit marginal, swing no longer worked either (just look at my round on Saturday), and I found myself in no-man's land. Let me tell you, it's a shitty place to be, and I can totally understand if you wouldn't want to join me there. If you are happy with your swing and already have fun out on the course, why bother with the hassle that I'm going through? But if you want to raise your game beyond its current level, it's where you have to be willing to go, because it's not going to happen through repeated range visits, which just groove your current swing and make it more consistent, but don't fundamentally improve it. Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice does. :)
The process of overhauling one's swing requires a lot of patience, which isn't my strong suit, but a lot of that comes from faith in the instructor, which I have in spades. Katie is awesome. I trust that my struggles are building towards something positive, and she isn't just ruining my swing. Of course, in my case, there's not a whole lot for her to ruin anyway. It's not like I'm Tiger Woods, who has gone through two major swing overhauls in his short career, despite both times having won multiple majors with the previous one. Now that's gutsy. But still, I managed to have some fun with my old swing, so my faith in Katie's ability to ultimately lead me to a better one helps keep me sane.
It has also helped to have Hubert going through the process with me, struggling in and working our way out of no-man's land together.
I think I saw the first really positive signs of that progess today (lesson #4) when Katie gave me some adjustments to make, and I suddenly found myself hitting the ball more cleanly (instead of slamming the mat, which used to be the norm) and with a square face (as opposed to the consistently open one to which I had long ago adjusted by simply aiming 20 yards left on every shot).
Of course, it's inaccurate to say that it happened suddenly, because this really has been a methodical process, with one or two new pieces to focus on each week. But whereas earlier those pieces were ruining my old swing without any evidence of improvement, I now feel like the pieces are starting to gel into a cohesive swing.
Now when I look back at my old swing, I see a lot of obvious flaws. My new swing still has some of the same issues, because old habits die hard, but at least I recognize them and am finally starting to see how correcting them is leading to improvement. I still seek consistency, but I'm more than happy to hit the range now to achieve it. The light at the end of the tunnel is looking more like open space and less like an oncoming train.
Next week, I get to put my revamped swing to the test as Hubert and I hit the course for a round, with Katie guiding us through the first three holes with instruction and advice before sending us on our way. This ought to be interesting. :) In the meantime, I have my study guide (His body swings his club as if independent from his head!):
posted by Chang Kim at Thursday, July 27, 2006
2 Comments:
hm...i took three group lessons, but i don't remember the instructor telling me very much...perhaps i should lay down the cash sooner than later
i agree with you about learning proper technique from the beginning....a guy who teaches himself how to serve in tennis will never serve as accurately or as hard as a guy who has been coached to do it properly (tennis, my only area of sports expertise)
Well, I sense improvement, but it's still very much a work in progress. My instructor is good, but it ain't gonna happen in 4 lessons, unfortunately. :)
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