A Golf Lesson For The GolfBlogger

A Golf Lesson For The GolfBlogger

For nearly a month now, I have struggled with my swing. My ball flight was erratic; I could not find the bottom; even my normally reliable short game failed.

I needed a lesson or three.

For some time now, my go-to guy for swing fixes has been Washtenaw Golf Club Head Pro Zach Szawara (here is his lesson page). He is no-nonsense and doesn’t overwhelm me with information. On the range at Washtenaw, Zach watches my swing and ball flight and then provides a direct bit of instruction.

In this case, I had fallen back into my old habit of having an overly long backswing. Overly long, as in John Daly-esque. With a backswing that long, my left elbow breaks down, and I struggle to get the club on plane. At the same time, I’m losing power in my effort to get the club into the ball.

My problem is that my backswing doesn’t feel long. Even on ones that felt impossibly short, Zach reported (and showed me in video on his phone) just how long it was.

We first worked on developing a feel for where to stop in the backswing. Then we worked on how to transition from that point to the downswing because my transition felt odd with the shorter backswing.

In a couple of rounds since then, I am hitting more good shots than bad. Some are still erratic; a few have been very crisp and precise. Most fall somewhere in the acceptable zone. It is a bell curve, and I am ok with that.

My short game also is better. Zach surmised that my pitching and chipping failures were the result of a cascading series of failed adjustments. He evidently was correct. Another small fix lay in ensuring that my clubface on those shots is actually on line with the target.

I plan to go back for some regular lessons this fall. My golf season never really ends (I now have played in 102 straight months in Michigan), so it makes sense to try to get things on track through the fall.