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I had the good fortune to travel in the direction of Marietta and felt it might be my only opportunity to see Ted Fort. I called him and even though my schedule was very up in the air, he accomodated me in every way. From the first time I talked to him, I was totally impressed with his confidence in his teaching method. I had not read "The Golfing Machine", but I had read many posts here and on Manzella's forum. Ted said he would have me compressing the ball before I left. That confidence and great positive attitude convinced me I needed to see him. So, I made the trip to see Ted for a half-day lesson. I asked him to give me everything he had because I didn't think I could make it back anytime soon. He obliged my request, and we bascically covered most things in the half day.
He quickly determined that I was trying to mix swinging and hitting. He
started to show me the hitting stroke. Man, what a hitting demonstration.
He murders the ball. It was very impressive. He first got my grip straightened out, which wasn't too far off. He then focused on my setup, by getting the left wrist straight, hands in front of ball at address, and a bent right wrist. He had me lower my right forearm closer to my body to get more right wrist bend. I am 6' 6" tall. He then talked to me about extensor action and how to put pressure in my grip at the proper places in order to assist in maintaining extensor action. He had me then practice the right forearm pickup with this extensor action. I hit a few balls and in fifteen minutes I was compressing the ball. He pointed out the unique sound associated with compression. It was an exhilarating feeling to compress the ball and gave me immediated confidence in what he was teaching me. He told me before I came that compression would happen and it did. He said he can do this for anyone and I believe he can. We proceeded to talk about the angle of approach and a bent right wrist at impact. These are my two biggest problems. I am an over the top player and I do not hit the ball as far as I should. He had me hit many balls while he watched from behind and I began to hit some that were compressed and I was on the correct angle of approach. It rained almost the whole session, but he has an awesome building and setup that allows you to continue to hit. His computer setup is awesome and lets you compare your swing to before and after. That helped tremendously. I hated when the lesson was over, but it was my best experience in golf. I have played three times with this swing with no practice sessions. I have hit the ball more crisply than ever. I still have trouble with throwaway and the finish swivel and still get over the top, but not near as much as I use to. The guys I play with have been shocked and jealous of the change. I'm writing this to tell any of you who have a chance to see Ted Fort , it will be a great experience. He is a wonderful teacher with a great attitude and he loves what he is doing. This is a great website and we are lucky to have Ted as part of it. Thanks to all of you for your posts. Scott