When I started these lessons I could barely hit a golf ball once out of five tries.
Even when I did manage to hit the ball on the fifth or sixth swing – and with Barrie resorting to holding my head in place to stop me from moving – the direction the ball might fly was always a mystery.
So I am very pleased to say that at our last lesson – on Saturday when the rainstorm was bringing trees down – I not only hit every single ball that I took a swing at, but I also consistently made good contact and sent them straight.
Next week, Barrie said, we would work our way through the rest of the golf clubs. After that, a real game of golf.
“You’ve got a golf swing now,” Barrie told me. “It’s not perfect, but nobody’s is.”
He did correct a couple of things. The first was my grip: without changing the way I was holding the club, Barrie told me to rotate my left hand incrementally inwards so my palm faces a little more down than up.
It’s a really small difference but it gave me a stronger grip, and that actually made a big difference in my range. We’ve been using a seven-iron and most of my shots are now landing beyond the 100 m flag – instead of outside the driving range.
Somewhere along the line I started standing a little too close to the golf ball. This kind of sums up my whole experience learning to golf: once one new thing is introduced, out goes something I was doing fine with.
Barrie showed me a way to double-check this. When you’re setting up for a swing – but before you’ve gone into your backswing – let go of the club with your right arm and just let it dangle.
It should fall back to right where it was when you were holding the golf club. If not, you’re either too far away from the ball, or too close.
Next week: All of the other golf clubs.
