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This article was co-written with Rachel Bailey, Advanced PGA Coach at Pennant Hills GC, Sydney, Australia
Golfer – Joe, 49, Construction Project Manager, 13 handicap.
The Golf Coach (me) – Rachel Bailey, former Ladies European Tour player, 3 x winner on ALPG Tour. Diploma Sport Coaching.
Rachel Bailey Golf Coaching – Pennant Hills Golf Club, Sydney, Australia
When Joe first came to see me for lessons, he was struggling with consistent low hooks. This made for tee shots that were difficult to control and approach shots that just wouldn’t hold the greens. He essentially wanted to develop a ball flight that was higher, with less draw shape and would land more softly.
My main goal for Joe in order for him to stop hitting low hooks, was to reduce the amount and speed of forearm rotation. This would help reduce the amount of club-face rotation through impact that was leading to him consistently presenting that closed and de-lofted club-face. In order to do this I felt it was important to address a couple of key areas relating to set up and body movement. My feeling was that these were significant contributors to the issues outline above. They were also easier factors to control and train, in contrast to simply attempting to manipulate the hands and arms in the downswing and through impact.
The first priority was set up, I wanted Joe to develop better balance and establish a more neutral spine posture. You can see from the before video above that Joe’s weight is very much forward in the balls of his feet. Also his pelvis is neutral or even favouring the right. Both of these factors had a detrimental effect on Joe’s ability to pivot and turn effectively, because he was essentially off balance from both front to back, and side to side!
Once we had established a more balanced set up, we looked at developing better arm body connection and started working on a more efficient pivot or turn. This is where the GravityFit TPro played a key role, the feedback from backbow and bands gave Joe much greater awareness of his position and posture. The equipment combined with various movement pattern drills helped Joe gain a much stronger and quicker feel for both the width I was asking him to create, and for turning more efficiently from his upper back and ribcage. We also used a variety of grip positions on the TPro bands to assist with bringing awareness to club-face control and arm rotation.
The video above is Joe doing a simple takeaway drill using the TPro, I’m asking him to set up balanced in his feet, angle his spine away from the target and create width in the early part of his backswing, through a solid pivot from his upper back and ribcage.
You can see below from the last video in the series how much better his movement has become. In this one he is hitting some 3/4 shots still wearing the TPro for feedback on his movement.
Joe’s ball flight is now higher with significantly less right to left movement in the air. When I first saw Joe, he would hit up to 30m draws/hooks with his 7iron and low snap hooks with driver. This has reduced significantly and he can now even hit some fades as well, when he really tries! His handicap has reduced from 19 to 13 and is continuing to edge lower and lower.
For more information please or to book a lesson, please check out the resources below and don’t hesitate to get in contact:
Rachel Bailey – rachelbaileygolf.com
GravityFit – gravityfit.com/golf