One Plane Swing: The Saga continues

[leftylucas]

Lesson # 2 today with Pat Ladouret and I feel alot better about the conversion. I am seeing good progress and in practicing I did achieve what seemed very effortless swings with good results, less ball dispersion. I think that the swing should be called the ON plane swing. Old habits are still creeping in but I am staying on it and I think I will reap the benefits down the road. Pat has already helped me with my set-up position and my backswing is getting consistently in good position and certainly feels much shorter but Pat asures me that I have plenty of backswing.

I am really happy I am doing this now and have the time to practice before we are actually on the course. My third lesson is next week and I hope that I see more improvement. Pat is very encouraging and gives excellent feedback, I would recommend him to any one who is thinking of taking a few lessons.

Thanks to BC Mist (Lyle) once again for the heads up. BTW Lyle I just received my SMT455!!

Luc

[golfgearguy]

I've read Hardy's teachings, and I've watched his (few) students: Jacobsen, McCarron and they look great. They put alot of emphasis into strength and stability in order to hold their posture in this further-forward posture for this swing to be effective. Can you upload your swing?

[leftylucas]

I have a camera, I will upload it but I have not gotten the swing down 100% yet. It has only been 2 weeks with 2 lessons and 2 indoor practices but every little bit helps.

Luc

[BC MIST]

I have a camera, I will upload it but I have not gotten the swing down 100% yet. Luc

Besides Moe Norman and Ben Hogan, name another golfer who has their swing down 100%. It is an admirable goal.

[leftylucas]

Good one Lyle, I tried to come up with some names but to no avail. Well maybe my profile on Tiger Woods 06!! I guess I will have to settle for a swing that I am almost 100% satisfied with. I mean, if we cannot tweak, where would we all be, not on these forums, right Lyle?

I have always tweaked my equipment over the years as my game improved and thought that it was warranted but I am more excited about the swing change than anything new and shiny in my bag. Kinda funny.

Luc

[BC MIST]

Good one Lyle, I tried to come up with some names but to no avail. Well maybe my profile on Tiger Woods 06!! I guess I will have to settle for a swing that I am almost 100% satisfied with. I mean, if we cannot tweak, where would we all be, not on these forums, right Lyle?

I have always tweaked my equipment over the years as my game improved and thought that it was warranted but I am more excited about the swing change than anything new and shiny in my bag. Kinda funny.
Luc

No one can deny that it is always exciting to put some new and shiny sticks in the bag. The problem is that many do so with the mindset that the cubs are going to improve the player's game significantly, do not, disappointment sets in and more clubs are bought.

When you makes swing changes as you are doing, that will make you a better ball striker in time, you realize just how good the "old" clubs actually were.

[dH]

I sent him an email awaiting response I'm excited to start getting some one plane lessons as well! Had some over Xmas and it made a huge difference only problemis I've lost it all and doing what I used to do. *when I had no swing :S*

[leftylucas]

I can only tell you to keep at it as I started indoors this winter and now I am actually playing pretty well with it knowing that I will continue improving. I remember a while back doubting the change was good but now I would never go back.

[Gangrel]

Where can i find some contact info for the instructor?

I have been a "natural golfer" or whatever you want to call it almost from day one. Just happened when I took lessons through the City i ended up with a guy who's name escapes me, but taught the one plane swing.

I have struggled with trying to perfect it with not much consistent success.

I think a few lessons with a teacher would help considerably......

[dH]

It's Pat @ Cedharillgolf.com or just call them and ask to talk to him. I'm booking some lessons later this month when I"ll be around more.

[Gangrel]

It's Pat @ Cedharillgolf.com or just call them and ask to talk to him. I'm booking some lessons later this month when I"ll be around more.

Thanks man. I fired an email off. Hopefully he's still giving some lessons, or even some group ones.


After a few summers of trying to perfect what i learned through the city lessons, hoepfully he can help me out.

[dH]

Agreed I emailed him and got a reply. Heard he's good from numerous sources and lets get seroius. ONe plane is where it's at!

[leftylucas]

He is definitely still giving lessons, he is my instructor and I had a lesson on Monday. Pat is a very efficient and methodical teacher. He assesses your swing, finds your tendencies and then works on what you want to achieve. I can tell you that he has brought my swing a long way and the biggest commitment has to be from you to work on those drills that will groove the swing. Good luck.

[Gangrel]

hmmm, he got back to me and i need to phone him and set something up. I just have never taken lessons before, and am wondering if I should get 3 1/2 hour sessions or go for 5?

Any suggestions?

I'm not looking to perfect my game here, just get a bloody consisten swing for now, and I'll worry about the rest later.

[dH]

5 pack is what I'd do. NO sense in just starting 1 or 2. And I don't think 5 is enough to perfect the swing

[leftylucas]

5 pack is what I'd do. NO sense in just starting 1 or 2. And I don't think 5 is enough to perfect the swing

i agree completely, I took 5 lessons in the late winter & early spring and one more this week and i know I will be seeing Pat again this summer. It is also a question of your own progress. We are not Tiger Woods, give a swing change 1 year before you can really play 100% with it.

[Gangrel]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably take up the 5 pack.

I'm not looking to be Tiger. I'd like to break 100, but more importantly I just want to find some consistency!

Nothing aggrevates me more then grooving a few shots down the middle-ish, and then the next few holes topping the ball or pulling it off to the left.....

[leftylucas]

I'm not looking to be Tiger. I'd like to break 100, but more importantly I just want to find some consistency!

Nothing aggrevates me more then grooving a few shots down the middle-ish, and then the next few holes topping the ball or pulling it off to the left.....

Well to be sure in any swing change there will be that inconsistency as you learn a new way of hitting the ball but I can tell once you keep at it consistency is great with what Pat teaches

[dH]

Tell me about it Or Shooting a 65 on the front and 46 on the back!

[Gangrel]

Well, as i mentioned before, I've already been taught and been using a one plane method, and in fact never learned the "real" way, so I should be able to pick it up even easier.

I should have gone for more lessons aside from the City of Ottawa ones I took, as hitting 9 irons into a net didn't teach me much aside from how to hit a 9 iron......

but it at least proved to me right off the bat that a one plane swing is easy to grasp... at least mentally.

[Gangrel]

To revive an old thread.....

Well, for one reason and another, I didn't end up getting lessons from this guy.... next year, I promise!

Anyway, here's what my summer has been like, and I was wondering if any of you single planers have any advice or tricks?

Short irons are pretty good, at least for me. I mis-hit the ball still, and sometimes pull the ball low and to the left (I'm right handed) but for the most part get the ball up and usually straight.

Long irons are kinda *meh*. Once in a while i can hit a good one....

But my real problem is my woods, off the tee and also on the fairway (when I end up there)

I seem to be *constantly* hitting the ball off the heel of the club, and maybe even hittting down on the ball, thusly shoving it left, and maybe 20-40 yards off the tee box. When I DO make contact, it's a lovely slice......

Off the fairways, it's the same thing.

I've tried setting up further away from the ball in an effort to hit the ball with the face more of the club, but that doesn't seem to be working.

Any one had this same problem and have a suggestion?


Next spring, come hell or high water I'm going to contact Pat(??) and sign up for some real lessons.....

[byerxa]

Sounds like the classic over the top move. Coming from the outside-in and too steep. Short irons OK but longer clubs pull-sliced is a classic symptom. Note that you should be taking some sort of divot with every club (except for the driver off the tee), but they all should be relatively shallow.

Take it from me, you need video lessons to get this sorted out, regardless of the type of swing you want to adopt. Once you get set up with the proper swing plane you will be amazed at the difference.

[Gangrel]

Well, I'll re-re-revive it.

I finally had a lesson with Pat last night. I agree with all the other statements in here, he's very nice, I didn't feel intimated or anything at all. And I didn't feel rushed either. My 30 minute lesson actually was over an hour I think.

We didn't do anything techincal, no grip, no stance (aside from learning target line, which i always used to forget!) and that "less is more". His goal was to make me 50% better in one lesson, and he did. By the end all of my shots went right of the target line (instead of going anywhere left OR right of the line, hence, we cut out 50% of the direction the ball might go), and I finally was swinging the club in-out, whereas i used to do the good ole out-in.

I made a few fat shots, misfires, but at no point did he make me feel bad. It was more "why do you think you did that?"

My most important lesson from last night was "the thing that controls initial ball flight is the club path". If the ball goes right, i'm in-out. Left, out-in. And it all felt so simple.

I signed up for 4 more lessons at the end, and he said we would get to grip and all that eventually, but he said that he knows I can "do it".... unless of course he's just buttering me up for more lessons, but I think i believe him.

[Powerdraw]

dont want to bust a bubble, but personnaly i think clubFACE has alot to do with initial ballflight...i think both factors have an influence but an open face to out-in is a push fade-slice and a closed face with out-in is a pull fade-slice. Doesnt it sound like the face is initial direction?

i might be wrong.

[byerxa]

dont want to bust a bubble, but personnaly i think clubFACE has alot to do with initial ballflight...i think both factors have an influence but an open face to out-in is a push fade-slice and a closed face with out-in is a pull fade-slice. Doesnt it sound like the face is initial direction?

i might be wrong.

Club face open or closed relative to the club path causes the side spin. However, with a proper club path (and grip, etc.) the club face is going to naturally want to be square. If you are out to in you have to abnormally close the club face to get it square to path, and vice versa. Therefore club path is generally the root cause. It is an uphill battle trying to use your hands to compensate for a poor swing plane/path.

[leftylucas]

Dont worry Gangrel, Pat is not the milking kind, he is one of the good ones, beleive me. I will be back to see him this year in any case.

[Gangrel]

Dont worry Gangrel, Pat is not the milking kind, he is one of the good ones, beleive me. I will be back to see him this year in any case.

Oh, I only met him once, and I can tell already he's not milking me. As he put it, i hope to learn how to "keep teaching myself" and a basic understanding of WHY the ball is doing what it's doing so i can diagnose my own problems, as we all get into bad habits from time to time.

My next lesson is on Wednesday, so i hope to learn even more.

[leftylucas]

I am at that point. I can tell what I did wrong. I will be seeing Pat this summer again for sure

[Gangrel]

Ugh. 2nd lesson last night. My future in-laws-to-be-probably were in town until Sunday, so I didn't have any range time. Baddddd idea.

Took some 7 iron shots, again, no posture, grip, nothing, just to get ball flight.

Then, he takes me to another hole and we get out the driver to hit off a tee.

7-iron shots? All pretty good, one "miss" off to the left which is only a miss because it was a little left of the target line.

Driver? Well, I don't know if it was the longer club or not, but i swear my old swing came back. Out to in, hands finishing behind my head, which means cutting across the ball.

I really need to go to a range and try harder to ingraine the in-out feel!

Does anyone use those short Medicus clubs? Do they work for indoor use??

[Gangrel]

Well, my summer is going from bad to worse. Long story short, I haven't seen Pat in a while as i wanted to really cement the lessons so I could go back and learn something new instead of wasting lessons going over things I've been told already!

Now it seems I'm either back to 80% of the time doing out-in and having everything go left (or a slice), or I'm not making solid contact.

One question I have..... is it possible to have an in-out swing, but still pull the ball left due to a faulty grip->club release??