Jerry's Tips

Did much better today at the range. If I can remember to not sway forward on the downswing I can eliminate the topped balls, which was a problem I was having previously. I'm still pushing shots to the right, but I will just have to compensate for that until I can correct it.

"Can you do me a favor?" Jerry said.

Jerry was the golfer practicing in the station to my left. I only assume his name is Jerry because after he would hit an errant shot I would hear him say "Jerrrrryyyyy!", and then mutter things. Jerry had arrived about 10 minutes after me, and had been there for another 10 minutes or so before asking the favor. He was deliberate in his practice, much like me, taking his time between shots, thinking about his swing.

"Sure" I said, thinking that he wanted me to watch a swing of his, and see if he was dipping, or swaying, or lifting, or any one of the multiple things that can go wrong during a golf swing.

"Can you bend your knees just a little?" 

Whoaaaa!! What's up with that? Briefly the thought crossed my mind that he might have been watching my swings a little to closely, and since his view was from my backside.....

"And exhale just before you start the swing"

Ok - we're cool - it's a swing tip! He told me I am just a little too straight legged, and that an exhale before the swing loosens the shoulders allowing for a better turn.

Now, the pressure was on, as I needed to incorporate these two additional swing thoughts with the dozen I cycle through already. Thankfully, these were easy ones to implement - bend the knees and take a breath. I lined up my shot, knees bent, exhaled, and hit it pure - the first pure shot of the day. I was happy, and Jerry seemed happy. I said "thanks for the tips" but Jerry had his mp3 ear-buds in and didn't hear me. 

Of course, the next shot was not as good, nor the next, but the fourth, eighth, and various others were. These were good tips from Jerry. I wanted to reciprocate with a golf tip, but the teacher-student relationship had been defined, and honestly, I don't like to give tips except to complete rookies, for I know that an incorrect tip can set a golfer back a couple range tokens at minimum.

I did, however, look for an opportunity to compliment him on a particularly good shot, and after one of his shots produced that nice contact sound from the mat, and I could see the ball soaring long and straight, I gave him a "Nice Shot". 

He didn't hear me (earbuds), which was probably a good thing, because he let out a "Jerrryyyyy!" and muttered.