'I stopped coming over the top ... and broke 80'
TG reader Mike Cooper, Halesowen GC, West Mids
Back in June my handicap was 20 and I was shooting in the mid 90s. My stock bad shot was a weak, high slice. Through the summer of 2020 I booked a series of lessons with local coach, Steve Thomas. He videoed my swing and showed me I had a massive over-the-top downswing move which I was not aware of. He also put me on TrackMan, which revealed I typically swung out-to-in by around eight degrees.
I was given a series of constraints-led drills to change my shape. Steve positioned a foam noodle or a range basket with a cane through it to block my old out-to-in shape and encouraged me to swing in-to-out; he cured my cupping left wrist by getting me to move my left shoulder more downward during the takeaway; he cured my chicken-wing, buckling left
elbow by getting me to swing with a ball squeezed between my arms. I could see results almost straight away and by the end of the process my path had shifted 11 degrees, to three degrees in-to-out, and I started to hit the ball a lot further – from around 205 yards to 250. Results swiftly followed; I broke 80 for the first time ever, shooting a 77 and a 79, my growing consistency was
rewarded with the Halesowen Order of Merit and I got my handicap down to 13.7 in not much over six months. It was all down to having the right coach with the right approach.
Interviewee Mike Cooper (Steve Thomas Golf customer)
TODAYSGOLEER.CO.UK ISSUE 413