A free private lesson...

Are you still complaining about it?

If I were to give a free private lesson then it would probably be to a fellow coach or a very good player. I do find the better a player is, the easier he is to teach.

He/she normally has much better coordination, can feel what his body is doing and just as important, he knows where the club is in relation to his body.

On that particular evening we were discussing Ben Hogan’s theory on the importance of sustained pronation of the left wrist at impact. I would go into this conversation in detail but as it is miles away from the message I am trying to get across on this site, I don’t think I’ll bother.

I had also had enough of this topic and decided to throw a great little teaser in Peter’s direction. I bated him with this,

“Do you think a non-golfer, giving you a free private lesson, could get to the bottom of your main swing error and give you a perfect fix within minutes of meeting you?”

Peter loved this question because he knew I was going to back it up, so he said,

“Patrick, that would be difficult because I don’t let anyone give me a lesson or analyse my swing, except myself.”

“That’s OK because this guy isn’t going to analyse anything he’s just going to find the error and fix it.”

Peter laughed and said, “ OK Patrick I’m intrigued, but how are you going to demonstrate this.”

"Well Peter I'm going to give you a free private lesson and I am setting this challenge: the first time I hint that I have the first idea about the golf swing, I'll treat you to dinner."

Peter has very expensive taste so I composed myself before putting my head on the block on the driving range the next day.

Peter was standing there with his bucket of balls and I was now ready, so I started, "Peter, I would love to see you swing with one of your golf sticks. Could you show me how it goes."

He obliged and took out a club hit a few balls.

"Hey, that swing looked pretty smooth to me. Was that a good swing you just made?"

"Well yes." He replied, "Did you like my slow take-away."

Oh I like him. He was already tempting me with some golf terminology but I was about to let him know I wasn't going to slip up that easily.

I know I was inviting him to entice me with more golf biomechanics but I was happy to move in this direction.

"That's easy." He continued, "I get far too flat on the back swing when I'm swinging poorly." "

"How do you know you are getting flat?"

"I can feel the club very close to my shoulders at the end of my backswing.""

"That's interesting, where would you like to feel the club at that point?"

"Well, much more upright with the club shaft level with the top of my head. Could you give me a tip that would help me do this."

"I'd love to give it a stab, if I may." I replied.

Peter laughed again, I'm sure he was still hoping to eat out at my expense because of this free private lesson. He nodded and curtsied sarcastically at the same time.

"Have you achieved this upright position before? "

He confirmed that he had and I continued,

"And that enabled you to hit the ball better?"

I then bombarded him with an array of questions which he answered reluctantly. I think he was beginning to realise that I was using his own expert knowledge to solve my assignment.

He had by now told me that his flat swing was a ghost in his cupboard and he would love to change it. He also described how well he hit the ball when he did and how his enjoyment of the game moved to a heavenly level.

"So why don't you change?"

He then explained that when he did find a swing that was on a more upright plane, it happened with no conscious effort and disappeared with the same mysticism. He stressed again that he loved when it was there and had learned to accept that it would disappear again.

That was the reply I was waiting for and this was the turning point where I felt that this free private lesson was going to cost me nothing, so I pounced.

"What do you feel you are doing when it's more upright? Will you show me?"

At this point Peter was great, he came into his own and eventually demonstrated a wonderful upright swing and added a very dynamic downswing to his demonstration.

A couple of minutes later he was getting very comfortable with his more upright swing and suddenly stopped in shock and exclaimed to me,

"Patrick, that was fantastic, you are the first person who has ever been able to get me consciously swinging more upright without it feeling uncomfortable. How did you do it?"

I told him (to no avail) that he had actually done that part himself. I was merely responsible for asking the relevant questions, which enabled him to locate an inner memory for something his body had already performed.

The conversation continued in this direction for quite some time and Peter kept asking how I had really done it.

I ended the discussion with,

"Peter I helped you consciously find your swing without using golf knowledge, instruction or fundamentals. It's the way we are all going to teach in years to come."

Do you know what he said after that, at the conclusion of his free private lesson, where I had performed what he almost called a miracle?

"Patrick, you know I love you but sometimes you are such a bull shi++er."

To this day he thinks I used some instructional magic but I am glad to report that he recently told me that he manages to find his upright swing almost at will.

To read more on this free private lesson technique go to the private member intro page where all the sectrets of this intriguing lesson will be revealed.

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