This year is the first year I have a beginner come to me and say he wanted to learn the form correct right from the beginning. He had tried the range a few times with no success and wanted to learn the right way. He bought 10 half hour lessons and we went to work.

He grabbed a 7 iron and we started with grip and the such. After those things we started working on how to hit the ground where you are looking. He had no desire to hit the ball. He wanted only to work on form.

It was the first time I had to convince a student to hit the ball. I knew this student would be a wonderful example of what I had always preached. If you could get someone from the beginning to learn how to create a good impact shape right from the beginning they would get good very quickly.

He has a full time job and practices during his lunch hour. We did a whole bunch of drills to get the shape of impact good. At his 8th lesson, I convinced him to take a full swing. After a couple shots he hits this super solid 150 yard 7 iron. High with a little draw. Nice divot after the ball and “the sound”. There’s a very particular sound to a solidly struck golf shot.

He looks at me and asks if that is what it should look like. I laugh and say yea. It was probably the 10th fullswing he’s made with me. I keep trying to convince him it is time to move on to some other clubs. He puts up a fight because he wants the form to be good before he adds new clubs and ideas.

He learned very quickly the power the ball has over him and the psychology of the swing. We started working on that during the 9th and 10th lesson.

Today we had our 12th lesson and we finally went over how the set-up and swing changes with the rest of the clubs. I love giving beginners lessons. I look forward to this particular lesson every week. If only he knew how many people would kill to hit just one shot like he did.