I had a lesson Sunday morning with JT, a scratch to 3 handicap, and a 5-year veteran student of the PPGS. I see him around two to four times a year minimum, and usually in two to three hour sessions. He has to travel at least four hours to see me. He called me for an emergency session because he had a real important tournament this week and was having problems.

I started the lesson with my usual big question: “What’s the problem?” JT said he was hitting a lot of power blocks right, and then some big pulls to the left. Then he tells me that the shot that really scares him: shanks, or hosel rockets as I call them. As soon as I heard that, together with the army golf, (left…right) I was sure that the main culprit was one of two issues.

First, if you read my hosel rocket article a few weeks ago, you know that the main cause I’ve seen over the years is too much lateral left leg drive. With JT, having quiet leg action because of having wide knees, that option was likely not on the table.

Option 2 was likely the main cause, because of the army golf game he was experiencing. Anytime I hear and see shots being blocked right and then pulled left…the big bad problem is the BIG A: Alignment. Remember the Surgism for alignment is, “90 to 95 percent of all problems arise out of alignment.”

So I set up the camera, had JT warm up, then I filled out my Diagnosis and Prescription analysis sheet watching him hit balls. He started with a wedge, then a seven iron, to a four iron to the driver. Overall, the setup of grip, stance, posture, with side knees, and heavy right all looked good. His swing tempo was good, he was swinging with a limited turn and was solid as steel with his wrists and forearms at the top of his ¾ backswing with all the clubs.

What I did see as issue #1, was his age old problem of a little too much left knee moving inward in the backswing which for him caused his hips and torso to slide or sway a little right in the backswing. JT has the PPGS trademark “wide knees” at address. But he is weak on applying and maintaining the outward pressure during the swing. Answer here is we worked on applying the outward pressure and maintaining it through impact. (More on this later)

SO, jumping out at me like a deer in the headlights was his hip and left leg pulling left fast, and hard, just like a rotational swinger. I was just about in shock, but had to compose myself to find the problem. I will give you all one guess, right now, as to what was killing JT. It was classic bad alignment.

His wedge was lined up 10 to 20 yards right. His seven and four irons 20 to 30 yards right, and his driver was as far as 50 or more yards to the right. I filmed his swing, to get the left hip and knee pulling left on tape before I made any swing comments. With the taping done, I then had him set up with his driver, re-affirming his target was the lone big pine tree at the other end of the range. His first walk-in, using his pre shot routine, was perfect for that moment. He was aimed at least 50 yards right. I told him to not hit and hold that stance as I went to my bag and grabbed my Alignment Arrows. I placed one touching his toes and asked him to walk away and come behind and take a look. As soon as I grabbed my arrows, he knew alignment was the problem, so one quick glance at the toe line, which was right of the pine tree, took everything he had not to throw up. This was 50 to 60 yards right, which was serious right, and serious bad. To throw in a little levity, I added that this was a definite qualifier (for the 5 handicap and lower category) for the Swing Surgeon’s “Aimed Farthest Right of the Year Award.”

We worked on his “Making the H,” pre-shot walk in routine, stressing checking out, that is actually looking down at his toe line to see that it was at least 25 yards left of his aiming line. I also mentioned that he will likely feel like his stance is open, and that he needs to periodically check out setups on the course, placing his club across his toe line before hitting a shot and after shots, even good ones, and definitely after bad ones, to check his aim. (Note: you can take your stance, place your club touching your toes, or even place another club before your stance in the right alignment. Either way, you must do this without slowing up play, or face a penalty in a tournament. Or, you MUST, in the case of the extra club, pick it up. Leaving it on the ground would be using an outside aid and be punishable with a penalty.)

Finally, once we worked on the alignment, the last fix was to work on his weight transfer, which gave me my lesson for the day. We had to get his forward upswing beginning with a lateral shift, “The Bump,” as I call it. When we bump, the left knee must remain flexed, as the weight shifts over and onto the left knee, leg and foot. The left foot must roll over to the outside edge, not remaining flat, as happens with the left hip rotating, pulling and straightening the knee onto a flat foot. Anatomically, a flat foot means a straight and or locked knee, and a flexed knee is in harmony with a foot with the weight rolled over to the outside edge.

JT was starting his backswing too often with his patented left knee and hip slide to the right. I stressed that he had to focus on setting the outward pressure in the knees and maintaining it in the backswing to keep his torso stable, centered and level. That was the key to the limited turn, 3/4 backswing. Then out of my mouth, came the real revelation and jewel of the day for me. It was a reminder of something that had slipped to the back and dark recesses of my mind. I stated with emphasis, “The outward pressure, especially in the left knee, is important and may be even more important for remaining stable to be in place to receive the weight after impact when we swing up and stand up on the flexed left knee for a balanced T-Finish.” Despite its importance, it had been a long time since I have thought of and used that statement in a lesson. It was good to have brought it back into use.

Another good lesson for the student and for The Surge!

P.S. If you want the kind of confidence JT had when he left my tee, go to:

http://www.peakperformancegolfswing.com/dvds/

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