OK, this is going to be long, go get the popcorn. Someone says to me, “how’s the gold coming along?”, literally I said, “Oh, just chipping away at it!!!” 🙂

So 3 days ago, not one shot fired at the driving range, and remember, I am only using mid and short irons NOT blasting away with a driver.

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LET ME SET THE SCENE FIRST

My daily routine consisted of sessions, both of which embrace PROCESS and RESULTS driven practice.

The first session is at home with TV, mirror, fake grass and practice balls.

The TV is a major part of it. I am watching Golfing With Aimee on YouTube. She is an awesome pro golfer and super funny AND she seems to be the golfing equivalent of MTM, very conceptual, throwing frisbees and playdough etc. etc.

Her 5 beginner lessons, (sound familiar) break it right down – stance, grip, backswing (kills me), downswing, follow through and so on.

After a week, I am still trying to make the stance, without a club, 100% automatic, I’m close but not there yet… I am going to go and try it right now… (this is my life now, build Ultimate Level, rest watching a video, practise swings, build course repeat repeat repeat eat repeat repeat sleep and so on!)

Still a very slow process… feet shoulder width apart and slightly angled (<5%), cross arms, bend forward from the hips (straight back), bend knees slightly and weight in front of feet, not in the heels; so many elements to nail. NONE OF THIS IS NATURAL but is crucial to lasting improvement. I have done this maybe 2,000 times this week (btw today is Monday and I bought my clubs last Wednesday. The first post of this thread I was in the airport was last Tuesday).

The second session is at a golf driving range and I'll talk more about that as we go along.

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OK, so back to now, in the last two days, if my playing continues to improve as much as it did yesterday and the day before that, I will have a handicap under 20 sooner that I would have imagined, but remember, NO EXPECTATION! Remember the burden of expectation? But also we know by now, the roller coaster of learning, today could be my worst ever, I certainly won’t be trying to better the previous two days, I will stick to EXACTLY the same routine and happily observe whatever the outcome. Then tick the box of “practise complete” NOT that was the best day or that was a shit day and get frustrated. Frustration is an absurd waste of time. Patience and observation are gold.

For the last 2 days I am doing 3 sessions – home (videos and foam practise balls), driving range and on to the golf course (hilariously devastating!)

I WONDER HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE HUMMED OR TAKEN A BCH BREATH OR DONE AAAHOOOH READING THIS #WindWorksSecret

2 days ago, the grip and backswing started feeling more comfortable, the grip I’m actually fine with but the angle of the backswing must be done slowly in the mirror over and over and over…. and over and over and over, and then you forget about it and just swing and see what happens.

Aimee has a really simple “rotate and push” process with arms on hips, elbows pointing out, 45 degree rotation on backswing, weight on left then hips then push square to the right with weight transferring to the right foot. All feels foreign and seems to have no direct familiarity with my gold swing. #therestheproblem

Clearly I see what she is doing, it is right and it works BUT that is not what I have been doing right handed for 30 years.

AND THAT IS THE COOL BIT FOLKS!!!

I am going to stop shortly as this could go for hours – The relevance of this process for me is that for years I was a “chops” player not an “air” player, meaning, strong as possible in the chops and as much force as I could muster to make those strained chops operate.

The same goes for golf. You use your “body”, not your “arms” to hit the ball. The word “swing” suggests a movement of the arms and assumes the body will do the right thing, just like “blow” the trumpet. Catching on???

For thirty years I knew I was an “arms” golfer, not a weight transferring, rotating “body” golfer and it always drove me nuts. Anyone who understands golfs recognises instantly the beauty of the mastered golf swing.

HOME and RANGE are a mix of Process practise and Results practise, the COURSE is all about results.

So my first drive on the course 2 days ago using a 3 wood (that I had not yet touched) went like this- whack…splash… straight into the creek 10 metres in front of the driving area. I laughed out loud!!! I don’t think I hit one decent ball for the 9 holes, but I didn’t care.

YESTERDAY GOES DOWN IN HISTORY
After my sham round 2 days ago I went home and watched all of the beginner videos again and practised on and off for three hours.

Then yesterday I started filming my practise at home. What a sensation. What we THINK we are doing and what we are ACTUALLY doing can be starkly different. I picked right away what I was doing wrong, mostly with my downstroke and rotation. I watch Aimee with intent and copied making the adjustments, filmed again and it looks much better and surprise surprise the ball was connecting better.

There are four phases to the backswing, 1/2, L-L, 3/4 and full and she likes to get on to L-L pretty quickly but she says to stay on the 1/2 (Tic Toc) swing “until you make a good connection”. She also says “do this many, many times for me, until you make a good, consistent connection with the ball”.

I wasn’t making a good, consistent connection with the ball yet I was keen to explore the L-L and full swing; this has obvious parallels with your playing development.

So I spent most of yesterdays HOME session filming the 1/2 swing. The connection was getting better and better.

THEN IT HAPPENED!!!
Mid-session, watching me then watching her and copying, things got gradually better, more natural, less conscious and then “IT” happened and I caught the moment on video, the equivalent of my first “coffee moment”.

I went to take a backswing and notices my arms were the first to move… my ARMS WTF?! Move your hips Greg, “rotate then push”. Guess what happens when you rotate your hips??? Your arms follow!!! The backswing is not an arm movement, it is a body movement that the arms RESPOND to! (See what I did there???)

Taking that to the RANGE was awesome. I practised heaps of 1/2, L-L then even some 3/4 and for the first time full swing.

By the end, I hit 9 of 10 shots using a 9 iron and full swing that were better hits than I would have ever been able to hit right handed. I could feel the arms follow the rotation and weight transferral and with loose wrists, the ball was flying and it did not feel like I was hitting the ball. #sympatheticoscillation

In my mind, there was no ball, there was just calm, smooth process, the ball just happened to get in the way. MY 7 irons were not so good and maybe only one 5 iron shot fired. #rangeexpansion

So I head to the COURSE already knowing none of that amazing RANGE experience would follow me. My first drive went over the creek, I actually struck it ok (remember I have not used my 3 wood in practise yet) but to be honest, whilst the rest of the 9 holes was far better than the day before, I didn’t experience the phenomenon from the RANGE, the flow, rotation, weight transfer once for the whole game. The ball striking was cleaner in general but I still lost 5 balls in tress or water.

As I say to my student, I don’t care if it sounds good, I want it to be right! Meaning, for ongoing development, the process must be pure.

Yesterday is in the past. Today I watch video one, work on stance and will observe what happens today. Will I shoot 5 under par? Unlikely! Will it be better than yesterday? Who cares!

A week ago facing the wrong way and swinging in reverse was nuts, now it’s becoming part of who I am.

If you are not watching the Foundation Level videos at the start of each day and working on correct process i.e. relaxed expansion of the breath, calm release, sympathetic oscillation, then you might be a little impatient, expecting results that are not a reality.

Have an ACE day!!!