best instructor/ tips

[landshark]

just curious for those that have taken lessons, who they really like and the teaching ideas that worked best for them.

also, any one certain tip or suggestion that just 'clicked' for you and helped you progress?

[Richmond Golfer]

A good tip is to just swing a rope as a golf club and get it to snap through the impact zone. If you cast or get armsy the rope will sag all over the place. Stop at the top of the backswing to get the rope laying over your back and then pivot through. Great for the tempo and the transition. Check your set up in a mirror before you start, each time, to ensure you have a good knee flex, bend at the hips and straight upper back and head so that heads off the chest for a full motion back and through. Can do it anywhere and at first it may seem impossible but with practice you can "crack the rope" and really build a dynamic swing powerful swing.

[BrettSmith]

Hey there sharky,

Sight unseen of course, and operating with no pertinent information about your game- let me serve something up here that is an irrefutable common demoninator of any high quality ball striker: FLAT LEFT/BENT RIGHT.

Evey tour player you ever see will feature a flat left hand at and through impact- with the small exception of limited few specialty shots. In fact, there should be a slight bowing of the left to accentuate the bent right. Most golfers lose integrity of this flat left structure coming into impact and flip with the dominant right. The experienced or "seasoned" golfers I work with will actually flip slightly and roll the hands- both are damaging.

Ben Hogan first wrote of this dynamic back in the '50's with "pronation and supination", but one thing the old master did not do was lay out a way to train it, and I will be the first to tell you that the technique can feel awkward to the uninitiated. Here is how you should consider going about it:

First, give yourself a static orientation with no golf ball involvement. Get your hands on a frisbee or small plate. Now, with projectile in hand- CONNECT your upper left arm to your torso and hold out in front of you. Set or cock the left hand and start working rotary motion of the body as you hold that set in your left hand. Now, if you were going to sling that frisbee or plate a long way down an intended line of flight, you would wind up with the body, retaining that set in your left and rotationally sling the left hand back to a flush, straight position at your release point. POWER is generated ground up by the rotary, coiling body and transmitted through the lead hand- which cannot break down. CONSISTENTY starts with a connected left arm (to the torso) and a flat left. Another image is to "thwack" a golf cart seat with that same move. If you wanted to budge that cart, with a back hand- it better be flush and you better show up big with the body... same amount of effort with all shots there amigo.

bSmith Out

[Leek]

Those are some great posts.

Here's my favorite. It's a concise description of a perfect pivot and swing:

At address, bend over from the hips enough so you can reach the ball with little or no knee bend, and still can reach past your shirt seam with your left hand (not with a club).

With the butt of the club pointing as near to your belt buckle as you can, use your stomach muscles to move the grip end of the club in the takeaway, as if the head and was stuck in the ground. Use your hands to reach for the spot you want to hit at the the top, pulling all the slack out of your body, all the way down to your left foot.

From the top, start down by using the ground to stretch all the pinch-able fat and skin from the left side of your torso. Make a motion that would throw your arms right off off your body if you had detachable arms like a Mannequin. These arms should hit the ground near the target line just ahead of the ball. RESIST moving the "bowtie" area forward. Stay as bent over as you can and finish with your hands as far from your left ear as you can.

[landshark]

brian manzella couldn't have said it any better!