Lessons from Hale Irwin

Lesson from Hale Irwin
Friday, December 8, 2006
Lyle Anderson Cup Tourney
Hokulia Golf Club, Kona, HI

1. There is NO certain tempo. Tempo of swings are very individualized and usually are in direction relation to the golfer’s personality.
During my lesson (in front of 40 people), I was a little nervous. Hale told me to just swing a few times to loosen up. Loosen up? More easily said than done. Anyway, I duffed the first few balls, which certainly didn’t help my confidence. Hale asked the audience for suggestions for me. Someone yelled, “she is a little fast!”
Hale was quick to point out the relationship of the swing speed and my personality. “Hence”, he added, “the tornado.” And there you go.
I explained to him that I have a fast downswing through the ball and recently upgraded my shafts from ladies’ to A-Flex. I was assuming that since I now have stiffer shafts, I really need to accelerate through even more rapidly than before. My mistake was that I not only accelerated the downswing, but the backswing as well.
Lesson learned: swing as fast as I want on the way down to fit my personality, DON’T speed up the backswing!

2. Opening the stance so the feet aim to 10:00 and 2:00 is better than both aiming at 12:00.
I am a very linear thinker. I’m mechanical and technical to a fault. So when someone tells me to do something…within 10 rounds of practicing and playing, I’ve already managed to OVERDO it. Opening up the feet (which I always laughed at and thought people looked like ducks) helps the hips turn through the swing instead of trying to pull the arms around the hips and torso.
Lesson learned: Just because I see many of the pros with feet straight forward, doesn’t mean I have to do it.

3. Don’t sway! Just because we know the biomechanics of the swing doesn’t mean we always can feel what our own bodies are doing.
I’ve taken myself through the Titleist protocol medical evaluation. And all the tests which lead to an automatic sway (tight hips/lack of torso and pelvis rotation/weak core) I passed with flying colors! But until someone told me and I actually saw it with my own two eyes on video, I had no idea that it was one of my swing faults! Therefore, swaying is not a physical limitation for me. I can stop it…now that I know what it feels like NOT to do it.
Lesson learned: Get a video snapshot of your swing from down the line and from the front. Watch yourself. It is amazing. We all fall into our own comfortable faults when we don’t get lessons enough.