As a longer term student here I wanted to talk about hitting plateaus and some recent breakthroughs I have made. When I started in the school almost 3 years ago I was returning to golf after raising my kids (or watching my wife do this while I drove the car.) I went from barely being able to break 100 to shooting pretty consistently in the mid 80’s (sometime flirting with breaking 80 and other times having huge blow-up rounds in upper 90’s.) I saw major strides in a short period but then I hit a plateau which lasted for years. I recently have started hitting the ball better than ever and yesterday broke 80 for only the 3rd time in my life. Here are some things that have helped me move to another level this year:
Practice More than I play-I frankly prefer playing to beating balls but this just doesn’t work if you want to make any progress. My big “aha” moment on the range: do the drills in the schools instead of just speed hitting balls while trying to keep the 10 stack and tilt core swing thoughts in my head. I will do the famous 2.8 drill but the “straight-arm weight forward drill” is my go to and the one that has made the biggest impact. I try to hit at least 30% of my bucket with wedge shots. I then spend a good chunk of time in the short game area and using the gate drill for putting. There are weeks I will just practice and not play but I try to practice at least 3X a week. As Ben Hogan said “the secrets in the dirt.”
Right Shoulder Down-I have been obsessed with left shoulder down for years but I found I was still hitting the ball fat quite a bit. I was ignoring the downswing and getting my right should down to flatten the swing out. This combined with really trying to get my belt buckle up in the follow through has made a huge improvement in compressing the ball. My swing thoughts now are mainly focused on left shoulder down on the backswing and the right shoulder on the downswing. When I forget about those two things bad things happen.
Driver Set-Up Position- I have been incredibly inconsistent with the driver which can be a score killer. I had the ball way too far back so I now have it much further up closer to my left heel. I then have made a bigger angle away from the ball by tilting back much more. I then have a feel of staying behind the ball in the down swing with much longer arms. This may be breaking S&T rules but this feel has me hitting the best drives of my life. I use a similar but modified version for my fairway woods and longest irons.
The journey if full of ups and downs but if you follow the system and practice you should see major progress. Just prepare for plateaus and breakthroughs along the way.
Great Post and thanks for the share and inspiration!
On target with practice!
Although this is only my 2nd season here, I am happy with my progression. For me it's layers, I have to build upon a foundation and add as I feel ready to add the next piece, (If that makes sense).
For me the hardest part was getting use to ball position, and getting rid of the moving ball location and working the grid in my setup. And feel there is just a bit more of a tweak in there this year. As I have to find that consistent ground contact spot. After working with Divot Board, I realized for me it is just a bit further back than the 1 clubhead length inside left heel.
I don't know @Tom Saguto would give this a endorsement but I have found in the short time I been here. You do have to make this system and approach your own. We are not all the same and are not here to become robots of each other, (at least my belief). And with battling the reverse of lift and drop (due to junkyard right shoulder), My shoulder tends to want to fly up before then downswing. But the things here have helped and game is improving.
Yearly handicap dropped 5 points last year. And agree wedges and shorter irons I give more time to. Especially with driver getting real consistent end of last year.
Besides all the things we incorporate here. I find the big enlightenment is to know your game. Yes, we all know the sayings drive for show putt for dough. But that is the truest for amateurs as our green hitting percentages are lower. Know the shots we can make and can't, there is no shame in staying within your game. If you don't, blow up rounds will ensue. The only time I will try that out of the box shot is if am having a good round and swing is clicking that day.
My 50 cents.
Give this a look , be great to have you join some of the Saguto Academy Alumni!
https://myrtlebeachworldamateur.com/
Awesome post, @Matt Kelton!! Congrats on your great round yesterday, and thanks so much for sharing your improvement and for summarizing your experiences in terms of what has worked best for you in this process.
I'll go ahead and pin your post to draw more attention to it. @Tom Holt, based on recent dialog you may garner some helpful morsels from Matt's valuable words of wisdom.
Matt - what you're describing with regard to the longer clubs really isn't a deviation from S&T "rules" and is certainly within the boundaries of the system. Since we're setting more weight forward with these clubs while keeping the upper torso and head in place at address, it is naturally going to create the type of tilt you are describing. And yes - I do want you to have that "behind the ball" feeling in the downswing because it suggests that your lower body is working properly while your swing center and low point are remaining intact. Well done!
Thank again!
Tom