The last push

-Editor’s note: due to the talismanic properties of simply airing my concerns in this forum, my subconscious has offered up the solution of patience, along with the memory of Tiger Woods saying it took 18 months for him to implement a swing change on the course. By his reckoning then, I’m just over halfway home… and I’m certainly no Tiger Woods. End of note-

Hi Tyler!

I’m stuck.
I’ve been working daily for ten months, and with your help have revamped most of my concepts, and made many small physical changes which are largely invisible to the untrained eye but I now know make large differences to repeatability and quality of striking.

I feel almost like the GSA motion is a large Trojan horse I’ve built next to the one I’m currently using and have used for years, and am having a difficult time making the actual move to the other framework- really inhabiting it and using it.

Does that make any sense?

Another inhibitor is my ego. I’m used to about a 160-162 ball speed, and in a dedicated range session, I can faithfully reproduce GSA principles, but I can only implement them at about 94% power(148-150 ball speed). With a controlled GSA swing, I can get a nice little cut with driver the and the flight I'm looking for with short irons and all of those wonderful things(I’ve included a couple of flighted 58s on video- I’m especially proud of those), but on the course I can’t get myself to take that distance hit and commit to the GSA move beyond about the first three to five holes. I know over time the speed would return, and it’s just my ego and lack of discipline holding me back, but I just haven’t been able to take the plunge.

Have you had other students with this problem? What would you advise?
Moving forward a set or two of tees? Wearing a different colored shirt? I kid around but I’m ready for any kind of hoodoo. I’m proud of some of the things I’ve been able to accomplish and would love to take this new GSA car on the road!

Your student,
Zach

I've seen a few people lose speed as they adopted parts of the STS (Stock Tour Swing) but it's rare. Usually, golfers hit the ball further because they are getting more compression and using their body better.

Sometimes golfers lose distance, so we always try to work through the components of speed to see where its gone. Did we add more loft, hit the ball more off center, lose quality of contact etc? Did we actually lose clubhead speed? or just ball speed?

The answer to those questions can help determine where the distance might have gone. How far we hit it isn't constant. About a month ago I was driving it really well for me. I lost about 20 yards off that recently because my speed was 2-3 MPH down and my contact wasn't quite as good (more on the toe). I looked at a video and my spine movement is a little bit restricted, but it's mostly because of my body. I need to do a little work on my shoulder to feel more comfortable with my full load at the top.

So I guess the big question is, did you lose speed? If you did, where do you think it went? Do you have a video from pre GSA to compare to now?

Tyler

Edit: blue outfit is one week later progress freezer

You said in a video that some of your favorite discoveries came when you thought you were doing something but found out you weren’t in fact doing it…
That’s me. A buddy of mine is a teaching pro up in Nashville and he came down and gave me a lesson and physically put me where I need to be in transition (steep body shallow arms) and it was wayyyy different from what I’m used to feeling- I only thought I was making the GSA swing. When I get the transition more correct; it goes at least as far as I’m used to. My apologies for my doubt, and my sincere thanks for your saintlike patience.

Just for kicks I’ve included real world and range reps of both tee shots and approaches, so you can see what I have currently and where I’m trying to take it.

Many thanks 🙏
Zach