My audition for 'Amazing Changes'
 

I had my audition for ‘Amazing Changes’ his week when I had the pleasure of having a lesson with YodasLuke.

I was in from Dallas and had been tracking the weather for the day of the lesson. The forecast had slowly deteriorated from 10 days out and even the day before it was supposed to be in the high 40’s and cloudy. It turned out to barely eek out and 40* and actually started snowing halfway through the lesson. Fortunately we were in the indoor hitting area facing out to the range, so it wasn’t too bad.

Through the harsh reality of video, Ted was able to show me some pretty serious wobbles in my swing. :eyes: The worst of which was a looping swing that was well outside the swing path on takeaway, then came way inside on the downswing. As you could imagine, it took quite a few compensations to make decent contact. When my timing is good, I can play decent golf, but is difficult to sustain over a period of time.

I’d had other instructors in Texas to slap band-aids on my outside takeaway problem, but Ted was the first person to help me understand it was the lifting of my forearms in takeaway with no rotation that got me in such a bad position. Once that clicked, I completely understood what caused the problem.

Coming down was the opposite - I dropped my shoulder straight down and had a severe inside-out swing. (Ironically my position at the top was actually OK – but everywhere in between needed some help.)

Long story short, he did a fantastic job of getting me back onto plane. Amazingly when he had me swinging back inside as far as I could and what felt like OTT as much as I could – I was actually getting back to the plane line both ways.

From there he made other adjustments to get the clubface more square and also some help on getting much more efficient with my tempo/energy.

Best of all, he prepared a video CD of what we discussed about which I’ve absorbed like it was the Zapruder film.

I got out to the range today despite temps in the low 40’s. It’s still getting ingrained, but I was already beginning to see a LOT more consistency than I had in my old swing. And the best part is that now that I picked up Atlanta as one of my territories for work, I’ll be able to get back on a regular basis and make even more progress.

Thanks a ton Ted for exorcising a long standing demon in my swing and starting me on the path (no pun intended) to a better game!

Congrats Mantan. Yodasluke is a wonderful person. He dragged me along nine holes once. I should have been carrying his bag.

Tag Team
 

Another satisfied 'Swamp' customer . . .

Yay!

:) :salut:

And "I was there":occasion:

great progress
 

No audition necessary, you got the part. :)

I was happy to see your ability and willingness to go to the extreme. It's always a pleasure to get a new student with such a desire for change. I'm not so excited to get a student that comes with major flaws that says, "I really don't want to change much." Then, they take a few swings and it looks like a train wreck. Thankfully, you were not that person.

It was an unusual week for me. Saturday night, I flew to Southern CA to work with one of my Tour ladies and an LBG alumnus from our Southern CA School. 60 miles from San Diego, the pilot announced that the airport was closed due to fog, and the plane was being diverted to LA. Unfortunately, Lori was waiting for me in San Diego. As soon as I landed, I called her on the cell phone to give her the 411. A two hour bus ride to San Diego was awaiting me. The other student was going to dinner with his wife in Irvine, as I was landing. When he spoke to Lori, he said that he'd send his stretch limo to get me, in LA.

So, I'm in Southern CA from Saturday night through Tuesday, with great food and limo rides. I give lessons in flawless weather. We play at Pelican Hill (public, $250 green fee) on Sunday. We play at a private course on Monday with a $350,000 initiation fee. It was so private that they STRONGLY suggested that we not take any pictures. So, we only took a few. :naughty:

I leave all this to come back and teach on Wednesday in Marietta. Three of the four lessons that I give that day are given in the snow. What's wrong with this picture? :crybaby: :crybaby:

i'll tote yours
 

Stop it, stud. I should have been carrying yours!

No that's not true. You're being nice. You and Neil Kicked my butt. So did Tony (but he's from down under so it doesn't count). Neil Can pound the ball like you.

the four musketeers
 

That was a great group! I'd be happy to have it as a regular group.
1 Bush Aussie
1 Limey Brit
1 Yankee
1 Redneck
It doesn't get any better than that!

I had a lot of fun. Hopefully some day we'll do it again.

This shows what a great guy Ted is....despite leaving paradise teaching an accomplished player to come back to the snow to work with a teenage handicapped hack, he made me feel as welcome as anybody could. He was friendly, patient, knowledgable and really easy to work with.

Around here, a lot of instructors with his credentials would 'big time' the regular guy looking for some help, but Ted was the exact opposite.

Which is why I'll be getting my instruction in Georgia from here on out!