Lesson With Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach (Part Two)

Welcome to the second part of my lesson with Paul Foston at the London Club, courtesy of Golf Monthly. If you read the previous blog, this was a prize on the Golf Monthly Forum (http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/).

In the second part here, Golf Lesson With Paul Foston (Part Two) we've just taken a break for a heavy rain shower, but we're back out, and I'm still desperately struggling to implement the changes Paul wants to make to my game. There's an element of frustration creeping in as I can't seem shorten my swing on the way back and on the way through.

As I said in the last blog, the changes are significant and a major inherent flaw I have of always adding six inches to the length of the back swing, which is making the change to a shorter swing very hard. Real and feel are proving two difficult things to align. I'll get there. As you'll see, when the ball isn't there I can get into a great position back and through but put that stupid ball in the way, the brain and body refuse to talk to each other.

It was a frustrating situation for me. Paul was trying to impart some valuable information in a limited time frame. It's not how I usually have my tuition as I tend to block book lessons, so the teaching professional and I have more time to make a change, for me to take these away and work on it, and then present the revised swing back for the next lesson. There was a lot of information Paul was giving me and I understand, trust and respect his input but with the over swing a major barrier, incorporating these so quickly was proving hard, with the pressure of Golf Monthly covering the event, the windy damp conditions, and the glare of the other golfers using the range and wondering who the heck this rubbish golfer was and why he's getting so much attention.

Let me reiterate what I said in my last blog. I wasn't trying to ignore what Paul was doing. It was my own technical inability preventing the change. I've made a conscious decision not to take any tuition for the moment and get conflicting input and advice from my current teaching professional. That isn't taking anything away from what my current tutor is doing, but the advice Paul gave me has made a lot of sense and on the rare occasion I got it right in the video the difference was clear. I simply don't want to many swing ideas and thoughts in my head,

My plan going forward is take the changes and drills from the London Club and work as hard and diligently as I can. The season is drawing to an end and there aren't too many competitions to worry about. I can simply focus on taking the club back on a better path and not outside the line as I currently do and then focus on that troublesome short back swing and flat (or bowed) wrist position. I can't really move onto rotating into impact and then onto the shorter swing until these first two parts are ground in. Don't forget to check part one of the video here Golf Lesson With Paul Foston - Part One to get the full picture of the lesson and what Paul is wanting me to do.

In the last part of the second video, you'll see how Golf Monthly (and other magazines) get the pictures for this instruction articles that appear in the magazine and on their social media content. Again this was something out of my comfort zone and was getting a huge amount of attention from everyone else on the range.

I'd like to repeat my thanks to Jake from Golf Monthly, Paul Foston, Dan the photographer and the London Club for their hospitality. It was a different sort of lesson, but one I really enjoyed. I have a lot to work on but the thing that really excites me is seeing that what Paul wants me to do will make a difference. As a golfer over fifty years of age, this will be a last chance to make the big changes I need to incorporate into my swing if my "Quest For Single Figures" is ever to come to fruition. As ever I'm driven. If you have ever seen any of the short introductions all of my video on my youtube channel (Three Off The Tee Channel) you'll see they all contain one message "A Golfing Obsession".

I am obsessed by the game and trying to be the best player I can. I've often heard the "you try too hard" or you practice too much" or the classic "you're thinking too much" comments. You know what? They may be right but I've always ploughed my own furrow in this journey to single figures and enjoyed the successes and the knock backs have only strengthened the resolve.

What I'll do now is go away with the stuff Paul showed me and grind it away over the winter. I plan to go back down to Kent and to Paul Foston's state of the art studio (Paul Foston Golf Academy) at some point between the new year and the start of the 2018 season to show him where my swing has got to and ask him to cast a keen eye on where I am and suggest how I go forward ready for the next (perhaps final) assault on single figures.

Stay tuned to this blog and the youtube channel for details of my progress. There will also be other interesting video content on the youtube site. While you are there don't forget to subscribe, thumb up the videos and leave any comments you have and I'll make sure I respond,