I’ll be honest. I have never hit a 7-iron this far before in my life. 190-201 yards of carry consistently in this range session is not usual for me. Maybe 175-185 consistently, but not 200 yards. On the golf course, I would never pull out my 7-iron at this yardage.
The thing is I wasn’t trying to hit my 7-iron that far. I was just trying to make the swing changes to my backswing that my coach suggested to me, and to get comfortable. Then low and behold it was working. I wasn’t swinging hard at all, just catching the center of the clubface as purely as can be, and voila– 200 yards. As I watch the video, I see how much better my golf swing looks technically, but not only that, it was also functionally better. So, it would seem clear that I should implement this change.
Insight: The changes I made here were to get a deeper hand path while keeping my arms connected on my backswing. The result is the club gets more on the swing plane as I tend to be too upright or steep, and that affects my ability to use my lower body on the forward swing.
Everyone should give their swing changes a chance, as they can take time to get comfortable with.. You also need to take video and see yourself. And journal or log your development, just like I did here with this video and this post, so that you can document and reflect on your golf journey as you evolve over the days, months, and years.
My students are invited to my digital coaching platform, and I encourage them to use it just like this. The cool thing is as their coach, I get to see their personalized “Space” or journal, and it helps me stay apprised of their ongoing development. So it helps both of us.
If you would like to become a student, contact will@mcintosh.golf to begin your journey.