You were -- and are -- a marvelous student. Thank you for your dedication and for coming to my lesson tee!
It took you 21 hours to get here:
Bus to Oslo (two hours);
Plane to Newark, NJ (with layover);
Plane to Atlanta, GA;
Private car to Cuscowilla.
But once done . . .
We made it happen, didn't we? A few hours everyday for five days, and we covered the waterfront.
One thing I won't forget:
That little 65-yard knock down you hit on our last day -- first shot and with its character called by me -- in front of the teaching pros at Cuscowilla (and under that pressure!) . . .
Bang!
You hit the red-and-white pole, the "candy cane", dead center on the first hop!
Can't make it up!
Not to mention all the 'cracking' irons and drives you hit -- also with 'gallery' pressure -- with your new alignments. Especially your new grip, shoulder alignment, start up with its coordinated pivot, arms and hands, new Top with its 'structure' and radically different clubshaft alignment, start down waggles putting you in the 'slot', right knee action and wrist roll through impact, and the new 'arrow through the ears' finish.
Amazing.
Nowhere near the 21.5 handicap player swing you had when you arrived!
Then, on the course our last day. Your first drives sailed long and true against the blue October sky. Later, three tee balls over water requiring almost 200-yard carry. Every single one on line and dry!
I am so proud of you, Air.
Bustin' every button.
That's why I called everyone over to take a look. Not to put pressure on you, but to show my fellow teachers just how far one dedicated student could come in such a short time. And you delivered.
Ha det bra, my friend!
I'm back. The time difference gives me a time bonus when we travel in this direction, but the jet lag will be sustained a couple of days ...
You make me speechless...
Your enthusiasm is overwhelming. I enjoyed my good shots almost as much as you did. But what I appreciate even more in the long run is that you taught me the motions - for the motion makes the shot - and you got rid of my old trash and made me a seer and taught me all the motions I need (to work on). I actually think I got it - it's not that difficult to understand the way you explained it to me and corrected my wrong doings - almost without mentioning TGM, with one important exception: extensor action - a huge eye opener.
I can never thank you enough for your expertise and kindness. If I win in the lottery, I'll make the trip again.
4 days at Cuscowilla. More details. But you must be exhausted. All that travel. You need a vacation.
You are right. The traveling and the blisters in my fingers were the hard part. All the other hard work was like a vacation in its self, now I feel like a bear going into hibernation.
I have made some notes for my own sake - I can share some of them if you want to know more. But not now - it's way too late already (here).
-The MacDonald exercises were perhaps the most important element in getting me a brand new swing. The brush - brush motion back and thru and how the knees and hips work is basic. That also means that I now will be lifting the left heel 1-2 in. off the ground in my (longer) shots.
-I had to leave my belief of being a hitter - and that meant that the adjusted address position has come in instead of impact fix at address.
-There was a lot of aiming with sticks at the baseline (the magic right forearm and flying wedges?)
-We did some Taly training. Let the arms and hands do the work, not the wrists.
-Do not waggle over the ball with the wrists only - waggle both flying wedges just like when training with the Taly.
-Then learning the finish. The arrow thru the ears (shaft) must be at right angles to the baseline, not pointing backwards to the right of it.
-A stronger 3 knuckles grip.
-Learning to have my left shoulder pointing more to the right at set up.
-In my case it's advisable to have a somewhat closed stance to the baseline.
-High hands, but avoiding to have the left wrist uncocked at address.
-Don't just do this with the longer clubs, but give yourself space also on the shorter shots with a wedge.
-The right arm bent with a limber right elbow - not sticking out too much.
-Learn to drag the wet mop in both directions, so that the takeaway also has its lag in the mark time rhythm of the MacDonald exercises/brush- brush technique.
-At impact let the shoulders be square to the target line instead of moving to the left. Right shoulder lower than the left.
-Then the tricky part for me: The rolling of the left arm in the downswing/thru stroke.
-The importance of the last 3 fingers of the left hand and downtoning the right index finger.
-A better position at the top.
-The down stroke waggle
-A lot of club throwing.(real throwing of clubs on to the range - I'm pretty good at it)
-How to start down.
-Learning to kick in the right knee in the downstroke/thru stroke to get the ball in a better path and to get the weight a lot more into my left side than I have been doing.This is especially important for me because I had problems performing the left hip bump.
-A somewhat more rounded backstroke.
-Trying to avoid hitting straight down the target line but have a feeling of going a little accross it , but just the opposite way that I had always done (avoid OTT, out-to-in)
-Then extensor action and a lot training: shot after shot with different clubs - a lot of drives. And corrections and comments when I didn't get it right and trying to do it more and more correctly.
-Keep the head stationary. Don't let it be drawn to the right when doing extensor action.
-With the driver the ball is more forward than I was used to. Peg the ball up so that half the ball is over the head of the driver on the ground.
-Also chipping and pitching. The short bread and butter shot, cut shots, knock down shots, bunker shots, putting.
-If the divots are too deep - move the ball more forward in the stance.
-And a geometrical slideshow and some practical shot making on the course.
To mention some of the things I needed to work on.
I have certainly forgotten some other things that should have been mentioned and I could perhaps have gone more in detail, but that's all I could find in my notes.
And the social side has its own wonderful history, well worth remembering...
-The MacDonald exercises were perhaps the most important element in getting me a brand new swing. The brush - brush motion back and thru and how the knees and hips work is basic.
-I had to leave my belief of being a hitter - and that meant that the adjusted address position has come in instead of impact fix at address.
-There was a lot of aiming with sticks at the baseline.
-We did some Taly training.
-Then learning the finish.
-A stronger 3 knuckles grip.
-Learning to have my left shoulder pointing more to right at set up.
-High hands, but avoiding to have the left wrist uncocked at address.
-The right arm bent, but limber - not sticking out too much.
-Learn to drag the wet mop in both directions, so that the takeaway also has its lag in the mark time rhythm of the Macdonald exercises/brush- brush technique.
-Then the tricky part for me: The rolling of the left arm in the downswing/thru stroke.
-The importance of the last 3 fingers of the left hand and downtoning the right index finger.
-A better position at the top.
-The down stroke waggle
-A lot of club throwing.(real throwing of clubs on to the range - I'm pretty good at it)
-How to start down.
-Learning to kick in the right knee in the downstroke/thru stroke to get the ball in a better path and to get the weight a lot more into my left side than I have been doing.
-A somewhat more rounded backstroke.
-Trying to avoid hitting down the target line but have a feeling of going a little accross it , but just the opposite way that I had always done (avoid OTT, out-to-in)
-Then extensor action and a lot training: shot after shot with different clubs - a lot of drives. And corrections and comments when I didn't get it right and trying to do it more and more correctly.
-Also chipping and pitching. The short bread and butter shot, cut shots, knock down shots, bunker shots, putting.
-And a geometrical slideshow and some practical shot making on the course.
To mention some of the things I needed to work on.
I could have gone more in detail, but all this was specific to my old swing, which was a mess.
And the social side has its own wonderful history, well worth remembering...
Great stuff Air. Thanks.
Those McDonald drills are something else arent they. So much for Lynn "just working outa the yellow book".
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