Working with a teacher/Trust
A few weeks ago I decided it would be a good idea to get a series of lessons so this winter I could word on solid fundamentals instead of solidifying a bad swing. When I contacted the teacher I had settled on I explained that I have managed to get a swing that is consistent enough to shoot in the mid-80's, but is totally lacking (to my knowledge) in basic fundamentals, and that I would like to work on correcting the basic fundamental errors in my swing.
Our first lesson I explained that my "normal" shot is a heavy draw, and that most of my misses are thin. In fact, most of my shots are a little thin, the misses are just MORE thin.
After noting some basic set up things I might want to change, we worked on basic tempo. I was quite pleased with how this turned out, as after about 10 minutes I could noticeably see how bad my swing temp was before, and how much more solid I was hitting shots when I focused on it. All well and good. Then, he decides to work on my swing plane, and getting me not to come in from the inside so much. He said that it's not a bad thing, but that I just do it too much, and combined with other swing tendencies it was probably leading to too much hook. I've got no problem with that, and while I wouldn't mind keeping a little draw, it definitely could be reigned in a little bit. Here is the point of this rambling post: in order to fix this, he pretty has me practicing swinging the total opposite, i.e., TRYING to swing outside in and cut the ball. By doing this and videotaping during the lesson I realized really HOW inside out my swing was since what felt really uncomfortable and awkward looked pretty "normal" and straight through when viewed on camera. However, he still wants me to practice by working hard on the outside in swing. I don't feel comfortable doing this. I know I told him I was fine starting fresh, but this just seems counter-productive. Other than my driver (and even that has gotten pretty controllable with a little change in my grip), my hook/draw is never really that extreme, and I just feel like I could probably keep control of it through means other than totally changing my natural swing.
So how much do you trust an instructor? I'm tempted to just practice the things we worked on that I feel comfortable with, and overruling him on others. Smart? Stupid? Wasting my money? I know enough about the swing generally to know what parts/exercises are connected. Thoughts? Past experiences?
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