t u r f t a l k
A Teacher’s Lesson Notes b y To m F i t z p a t r i c k
T he teachers at the Leadbetter Academy create game improvement plans that focus on fundamentals. Let’s take a journey through four lessons of notes from their right-handed student who hits a fade and averages 95. He has back stiffness and plays twice a month. He dislikes pitch shots that scream across the green. Grip: The club is weakly held high in the left palm. The right hand is loose. Both hands lack wrist angles! Fix: Place your palms flat against each other to create symmetrical angles at the back of each wrist. The handle runs diagonally from the base of the little finger to the middle of the index finger. (photo 1) Looking down, the player should see two to three left hand knuckles. The left forefinger aligns towards the right eye. The life line of the right palm covers the left thumb. The right forefinger aligns towards the left eye. Feel pressure with the last three left hand fingers and the right thumb/forefinger. Posture: Upper body is out over the toes. His right side & hip are too high relative to his left side. His left arm is not visible from down the line because the shoulders are open. Ball position is forward with an open face. Fix: Let the arms hang in a relaxed, balanced fashion then clap your hands to get rid of tension. Push the hips towards the target so that the spine is angled back. Your left hip should be higher than your right. Drill: Create better body angles by flexing your knees and extending your arms behind you as if you were to dive into a pool. Then rest your upper arms lightly on your chest. Touch your right knee with your right hand to lower the right side (photo 2). Pivot: Early body turn leads to a flat shoulder plane, resulting in the arms lifting to complete the backswing. On the downswing, the body hangs back on the right foot and doesn’t unwind to the front foot, causing the club to not shallow onto the correct plane. Fix: Synchronize the arms and body by having them complete the backswing at the same time. First, move the left shoulder downward as the right shoulder moves upward to create a more angled shoulder plane. Then,
move forward to the front left foot as you complete the backswing. This creates lateral movement to the front leg so that your shirt buttons are ‘covering’ the ball. Finally, complete your body rotation to the finish with the knees touching. Drill: Do the three-step pivot drill above by placing a club behind you, along the top of your shoulders. It’s a great stretch! (photo 3) Swing Plane: The left arm separates from the chest on the takeaway causing the club to move inside. The arms then lift to the top resulting in an overswing—one that lacks any width at the top due to the right arm going behind him. The downswing is steep and over-the-top. At impact the club and arms are one straight line, with the grip above the original plane. Club contacts the ball on the heel with an out-to-in path and open face. Fix: Start with the ‘grip in, club head out’, keeping the left tricep pinned across the chest. The left elbow points to the ground, not out (clubface feels closed). The club points skyward with the right wrist fully hinged 1/3 back. Shallow the club on the downswing with the right palm facing skyward briefly as you move to your left toes. The left wrist should cup inward after impact and the right arm extend and hinge upward. DRILLS: • Grip the right wrist with the left hand to do the 1/3 move above (photo 4) . • Stand with your back close to a wall then swing without nicking the wall. • With your feet a foot apart: As you complete your backswing, step towards the target with your front foot. This should shallow the club plane.
1. Grip
2. Posture
3. Pivot
Tom Fitzpatrick is a Leadbetter certified instructor. He is an active realtor with Scenic Sotheby’s Intl Realty. Reach him at (850) 225-4674 or visit tom.scenicsir.com
Tom Fitzpatrick
4. Swing plane
4 2 | T H E T H I R T Y- A R E V I E W | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 2 0
Made with FlippingBook HTML5