When Tony and I first started, Tony was a 28-handicap golfer. Tony was struggling to hit any good shots and getting to a stage where he didn’t even want to play golf. As with many players, Tony had tried to sort his swing out himself but found YouTube to be little help. Advice from playing partners, although given with good intention, offered no solution either. Tony booked some coaching and it quickly helped to give him an understanding of what was happening and how to sort it out. We had a chat about any physical limitations and looked to work around those.
A straightforward adjustment in narrowing his stance to encourage his bottom half to work better made the difference. As a result, Tony quickly got through the ball better and an added issue of poor balance also improved. Tony was enthusiastic to do drills at home and the one drill with feet close together helped with balance and he still uses. He started to play better and with a plan moving forward he felt more confident and started enjoying playing again.
Midyear still playing off 28, Tony and I looked at performances on the course as his scores were not reflecting his improved shots as much as we would have liked. Short game was the weak department. We identified some mechanical issues which we sorted quickly. Once Tony had achieved this it was important that Tony didn't think as much about all the mechanical bits of the swing. We simplified the thoughts, initially, to taking the club back to 8 o'clock and through to 4 o'clock. We built on this with different clubs and scores improved. Tony said ' due to the guidance from my coach on my short game I now understand what I and my wedges can do. As a result, my handicap has come down from 28 to 22 in a matter of months.'
An understanding of what to do and why was key and working together Tony is now enjoying golf and looking forward to playing even better next year. As a bonus 2 trophies have made a good season even better. Well done, Tony.
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