I watched Happy Gilmore the night before my second lesson of the Golf Lesson Series. I needed some inspiration because I wasn’t playing well this past week.

Maybe I forgot what Joe taught me? Maybe I was thinking too much about my swing? All I knew was that I was very excited to head to Montammy Golf Club, for a quick 15 minute, free of charge lesson, where I met Mark DeLaura. I had a few minutes to warm up, hit a few not so great 7-iron shots and was ready to learn.

Mark walked over and I was so anxious that after he saw one shot I asked: “So what am I doing wrong?” Shockingly he already had feedback! The first thing he told me was to have more of an athletic stance. With a more athletic stance I had to move further away from the ball, bend my knees, lean over the ball more and stick my butt out. I kid you not, the next ten shots went straighter and about 30 yards longer than how I was hitting 2 minutes before Mark gave me his first suggestion. I switched to my 5-wood and Mark noticed that my tempo, which was great before switching clubs, drastically changed. He then suggested that I widen my stance a bit, which would allow the club to sweep through and my tempo came back almost immediately!

We then switched to my driver and learned that the distance between my feet was much too short so I widened my stance (shoulder width), kept my knees bent and my butt out and was hitting the ball great- a member of the club even commented that he thought I could hit further than Mark! (Obviously joking, but it’s always nice to be complemented).

I left the lesson with new feedback and can’t wait to hit the links as soon as possible!

The Golf Player Rating System: 1-10 (1=poor and 10=perfect)

• OVERALL QUALITY-8
• HELPFULNESS-10
• CLARITY-9
• PERSONALITY-9
• KNOWLEDGE-8

I will absolutely go see Mark again for another lesson!