Stratton Mountain Golf School - Day One
I am just back from attending a 3 day session at Stratton Golf School in Vermont. While the weather did not cooperate -- pouring rain, temperature in the 30s, and even some snow on Wednesday morning -- I had a grand time. The golf pros did a nice job of identifying numerous fundamental flaws in just about every aspect of my game without overwhelming me. Here is the rundown of the 3 days:
Day One
About 40 golfers arrive for the 3 day session. We all meet at the registration center at the school. My initial thoughts were surprise that 2/3 of the students were women. The golf pro makes some jokes about the fact that it is pouring rain and only about 38 degrees outside and introduces the golf pros. They have 13 instructors assigned to small groups of 3-4 golfers, split up by handicap. They also have 3 roving instructors (although I only saw one of them actually "rove" around the groups over the next several days). I am placed in a group with a retired physician named Harry who has been to the school on two prior occassions (....hmm... is that a good sign or a bad sign), and two guys (Frank and Rich) from Mechanicsville, NY in the fuel oil business. Our instructor, Jeff, is from Wisconsin and is in his 5th summer at the school. He also teaches golf in the winter in Boca Raton, Florida.
By 9 am, we are on our way to our first station -- woods. Jeff has up warm up for 10 minutes and then they shoot video of our "before" swing for later analysis. On my video, I drive the ball about 30 yards on the ground.....
After the video, Jeff stands behind me as I drive the ball. I hit 6 shots in a row around 200 yards down the middle and am feeling great about my swing. Then Jeff starts to talk. First, he wants me to lift my hands a few inches so that the wood is more upright on the ground and the "loft" of the club a bit higher. Then, he wants me to open up my stance by moving my right leg about 2 to 3 inches further to the right so
that my weight is more on my back foot than my front foot. Then he wants me to work on my back swing by fully extending my left arm so that the club is further away from my body and extending higher over my head. Then he tries to get me to make sure my weight is on the inside of my right foot when by swing is fully "back." Lots to think about.
I try to do as much as I can to adjust my swing per his instruction but I don't reallly understand what he is saying as I've never really thought about the mechanics of my golf swing. He starts to physically move me thru the backswing and gives me a drill holding my golf club at my waist with my thumbs tucked into my pants pockets and asks me to move back and forth along that plane so that I can feel how he wants my hips to rotate. I try my hardest to make the adjustments and the ball goes around 250 yards but on a straight line 40 yards to the left of center. It seems that once I make some adjustments to my swing, other things I've done to "compensate" for my fundamental flaws get exposed. Lots to work on.
90 minutes later, we move on to the next station, which is putting and chipping. The putting green is not covered so they've set up an indoors putting station. The first thing Jeff does is change my putting grip so that I don't use my wrists. He then gets me to putt using my arms and shoulders. I can see the difference right away. After 45 minutes of doing this, we go outside, under a huge canopy, to practice chipping from off the green to the pin. Again, Jeff starts with the setup. I soon see that I've been chipping wrong and make the changes he suggests. Open stance, feet close together, weight on left foot, no wrist action. The ball pops up and runs down the green. I've got no feel for distance but that is a matter of practice. A good session.
We break for lunch, which is at a restaurant 2 miles away. Jacqui has the car so I catch a ride with Harry. We compare notes over lunch and have a good time.
After lunch, we stay inside and watch the video of our swing. I am bored immediately. Until I see my swing on the video and actually see what Jeff was noting during the morning. Turns out to be a very helpful session. 45 minutes later, we go outside to work on long irons. I take a 4 and 5 iron with me. One of the roving instructors, Rich, spends about 30 mintues with me working on my backswing on an individual basis. I start hitting my irons beautifully.
We then go to the station they have set up for 30 yard pitch shots. They stress technique and setup. Of course, I've been using the wrong setup to date. I try what they want but I've got no feel for distance. And I was not happy with the loft of my pitches. A frustrating session.
End of day one. Off to the golf course to practice what I've learned. Just before I leave to go there, I learn that the golf course is closed, however, due to the massive amount of rainfall over the past 48 hours... almost 3 inches.
I drive home to Jacqui. Actually, I drive to the home of one of my partners who has a family vaction house about 15 minutes from the school in Londenderry, Vermont. It is a really comfortable home in a beautiful setting
Jacqui made some sausage and lentil soup with some rolls. We watch some TV and go to bed early. Surprisingly, I don't feel too sore although some Advil helps.
Snapped on 05.17.02 || More Golf Photos || Comments
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