Online Lesson with Dan Carraher - Updated 6.6.20

Just wanted to post about the experience I had from an online lesson with Dan Carraher. First let me say I have spent 1000's of dollars of the last 2 years getting lessons from high quality instructors and trying to improve with not much luck. Always been a poor ball striker but managed to scrap it around the course due to a solid short game. I sent in 5 videos to Dan on the skillest app, 2 DTL 7 irons, 1 face on, and 1 driver FO and DTL. I didn't get the best of angles but I managed.

Dan responded within 24 hours with an 8 minute analysis video of my swing and 2 drills. No crazy terminology, straight to the point of what I needed to work on. What I found amazing was he nailed my misses without me even telling him. He said I struggled with pulls with the irons and big blocks with the driver which is 100% true and I've never gotten rid of them.

My issues: too laid off and not vertical enough on the backswing which causes me to steep the shaft on the way down.

Fixes: Get the shaft more vertical on the backswing which will allow the club to lay down.

Overall: 10/10 A+. I will be working with Dan online the rest of the winter and next year as I try to get my game ready to try an qualify for the TN State Am.

Can't recommend enough!

YES, he's great with on line video. I've done 2 months of videos, and have the same comments. You don't have to fit into the box (method) of other instructors: namely GG (worked w one of his instructors) and Slicefixer (in person for 3 yrs).

This was my first online lesson ever and I'm quite impressed. I've been doing mirror work, working on what he said. It'll take time to fix, but 100% worth it. I have a tendency to get flat, head move forward, get slightly steep on downswing. Hopefully getting more vertical will eliminate most of these items.

I just wonder who had an online lesson with Dan and did not get the back swing drill with the stick. My guess is that 90% needs a steeper back swing with more right wrist bend and less forearm rotation.

I agree, I right around scratch and this is still my biggest fault. I just wish I would of had it addressed earlier by previous instructors.

I’d raise my hand except it’s on an alignment stick. Been working on this for a year and minutely is better. So frustrating. Hoping the planemate will help me out

No stick for my drill, just working on right forearm moving up in BS, no forearm rotation, plenty hip turn, and getting club deep (butt over heels from DTL view). But yes, I was much steeper after all this.

How's it coming? Making a big difference?

I too have taken lessons online from him and been there to see him twice and planning to get back in January. A few pieces of advice.

Blindly do what he tells you to do. Blindly do the drills he tells you to do. If you cannot make the moves he's asking for at 100% (you won't) then go to 50%. If you can't at 50%, do it in slow mo (still with ball). If you can't do it with a ball then take away the ball and do it in the mirror. There was a term I liked that I saw from a guy named Mike McLaughlin on instagram called, "Change the picture". Do whatever it takes to make the move regardless of the result while you're working on the mechanics. Depending on where you're at in the playing season, mix in target only practice where you're athletically swinging and not worrying about the mechanics. If it's winter where you're at, I'd say you don't need to rush into that since you have a few months off between now and playing season. You can look at this as a positive as you have months to work on the mechanics and can then start working in practicing for the course when mid February comes. If you have the ability, go see him. There is no substitute for seeing someone in person and them watching you hit multiple balls. I would recommend doing this after working 6-8 weeks on exactly what he is telling you to do now (see #1) as you're going to need time to actually get somewhat proficient at what he's telling you to do. If you are not getting it, cannot see how to change the picture and have the ability you might want to go see him then. He's pretty damn good and does an extremely good job of explaining cause and effect in what he's seeing. Case in point where he's telling you to work on getting the backswing less laid off, hands more in on the way back as it will force them to go out on on the way down and the shaft will shallow in transition.

Impact from the video I sent in for my first lesson in August 2018.

A few weeks after first in person lesson, December 2018

April 2019, Good Looking Shank. First shank I could ever say, "well that looked really good on video".

I was given the same drill after an in-person lesson.

After watching me hit 2 balls, he straight up told me my swing was too flat which created bad angles.

He told me to do the stick drill and make my swing more upright and that hardly any pro golfers had success with a flat swing.

He believes that forearm rotation and letting the club open slightly in the backswing is a recipe for disaster.

After months of trying it, my scoring had not improved so I decided that his swing philosophy is not for me.

If it works for you then great, best of luck.

It's not just his philosophy, a lot of other very successful instructors advocate a similar back swing position.

Has your scoring improved with another method?

I would stop well short of calling him a method teacher, but I've gathered he likes seeing the butt of the club point inside the ball when the wrists set on the backswing. He explained why he prefers that in the lesson he sent to you.

My scores did not improve right away and even a few months later. I stayed the process (still very much in the process) and eventually became a better player for it. My misses are smaller. My lowest score ever is a 71 on a par 72 that I've done twice and the best I've shot since then was a 75 a few times this year so I didn't set any new personal records. The best thing, I'm at over a 90% post rate on all my rounds at our club and I have exactly one score above 85 and that was an 85 on the dot. I'm more consistent now and I did it while completely neglecting working on putting or pitching. I had two back to back rounds this year at courses I've never seen with 130 slopes and hit 14 greens both days. Now, I shot a 78 both days, but if I had worked on my putting as much as I do now those might've been days where I set new personal records on courses I had never played.

The process to improvement is a slow one and it sucks. I had a few heated texts back and forth with him in the beginning and finally giving up on the result while working on the mechanics and overdoing it helped me get over the hump. In whichever direction you go, trust whom you're working with blindly and only do what they say. If not, you'll never know if what they're telling you to do is working or failing.

I sent him a video two weeks ago after a few months of not checking in and boom, he went right back to an issue that I had way back a year and a half ago and gave me a new drill to work on. In the time lapse I had gotten back into a non-optimal position and had to re-visit it. It happens.

I would say a majority of golfers have the shaft line inside the ball at left arm parallel and not outside the ball. Tiger, Viktor Hovland, Rory, Jack, Tommy Fleetwood, Freddy and more.

This is fair and reasonable. It's not just Dan's swing philosophy though, it's really better for most. Inarguably better for most. There are teachers like Malaska that teach the opposite pattern.

Yes, my method. My swing. Not someone else's. As some guy named Arnold Palmer said, "Swing YOUR swing".

Go look at Youtube videos of Bradley Hughes. He strongly believes that the backswing does not matter. At one time, Hughes was one of the best players in the world. Hughes is pretty much the opposite of Dan C in terms of instructions. I'm not saying that Hughes is better, just that there are many ways to skin a cat.

Not sure what you mean by shaft outside the line of the ball. Pics would help.

Tiger lets the club open slightly in the backswing. Its in his book

Back swing does matter in that you are given options on what can happen in the downswing. Certain backswings leave us with options that make it hard to play good golf for most. You can't just have any backswing and any transition. The point you are making that I agree with is that nothing is for everyone in golf.

see how shaft line is inside the ball? This is what I’m referring to

great pics thank you. What are you trying to say? If the shaft line were outside the ball, i would have serious concerns because the swing would be extremely vertical

If it's outside the ball it is much harder to shallow it coming down, you'd go shallow to steep, instead of steep to shallow. If that makes sense.

Yep i agree. thanks!

If well outside the ball common sense tells you that on the way down you're going to steepen the shaft from where it was coming up to get it in a decent place to hit the ball. The same would be true if it's super inside the ball on the way up, you'd naturally flatten it in transition as you'd have to to get a decent strike on the ball.

Flat, likely pointing outside the ball on the way back, he reroute's it on the way down. The late great Bruce Lietzke - Bob Grissett Golf

Very vertical on the way up and flattens it in the down swing.

I'd guess whomever is telling you to get it more vertical going back felt you needed less steep on the way down. I'd guess the same person wouldn't tell Bruce Lietzke to "fix his backswing", but then again he wouldn't be coming to someone telling them he's tired of shooting 85 and needs help.

I think the conversation has shifted to swing plane (vertical, flat) instead of what the hands are doing in the backswing and what the clubface is doing, which is the problem i had with my lesson from dan and why I couldn't make it work.

However i certainly agree with steeper up, shallower down. Furyk does this pretty dramatically, however

I'd like to say the hands and forearms somewhat control the swing plane.

They are intimately linked.

And everyone opens the face in the backswing, some just way more than others which makes squaring it in the downswing harder

"Tiger has inspired me to no longer look to others to help me with my swing. I now have a practice mat and net at home and can make adjustments and tweaks as I go along. I find myself going to the course and "playing swing" instead of playing golf. It seems Tiger had the same problem 2010-2017. He was constantly on the range with a coach behind him and always looking at video of his swing. In the end he decided it wasn't worth it because he wasn't getting better. Lo and behold, he goes alone and he wins the Masters. I have seen tournament results from well known instructors online. Scores in the 90s, NC, NC, WD, NC etc. The old "those who can't, teach". Its amazing that someone who teaches the game for a living can't maneuver their way to a score below 90. I wonder if Tiger had the same come to Jesus moment- "im taking advice from guys i'd beat by 20 shots". I dont expect instructors to fire 68 every round but you see where I'm coming from."

I think the above post you made might be more of the root cause as to why it didn't work for you.

Like I said, you've got to trust whomever you work with whom ever that is. If you don't, save your money and time and do what you think is right. If you couldn't get your head around it or put the blinders on I think you made the right decision to not rely on instruction or seek others.

I had a mentor when I was younger who was very religious and would preach to me. I'd provide rebuttals on aspects of the bible or say, "do you think they meant that literally? Surely not." He'd reply with, "the last time I checked there was no "Gospel of Mike" out there. Over time I understood that a pillar of his faith was that it was faith. In some cases it was blind faith. He made the decision that what he was reading was directly from God and it was to be taken as such. Now I don't want to get too deep as it's not that kind of conversation, but any of us taking lessons would be better off with that mentality as we'd have the best chance at success. I wasted too much money and time getting lessons and questioning them to the point of not doing what they were telling me. I took a leap and it's worked for me well.

I can't get onboard with anyone who says backswing doesn't matter and I largely do not think Arnold Palmer was talking about mid/high handicap players.

I for the longest time have had (and at times still do) a flat backswing and nothing ever good comes from it, where as getting in a more standard/vertical position at the top dramatically improves just about everything in the swing, a full club of extra distance from swing to swing if I catch myself getting too flat. The trick/key is acknowledging there very well may be some extra work to match up your transition with the new position at the top.

Heres video of my swing. Let me know what you guys think. We are all trying to improve and I certainly dont want to bash dan's teaching. But in this video I can see and feel the club rotating open in the backswing. I feel like if I tried to keep it square i would have zero lag whatsoever. Thats what the stick drill does. if you do it like dan says, it would be impossible to open the face at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RTYu5RmTG4let me know what you think

Here is you from 9/2018 in your June 2018 thread on making the change with Dan. I’m confused. Couldn’t make it work?

wrote:

———————Cpr3584 wrote:

hey Dan! still doing the drills you suggested. I am sticking with it! The pics are obviously better. I am just concerned because the plane seems too steep. should i shallow the club at the top of the swing? I feel like im not "hitting from the inside". Is it ok to still feel like the club is "working around the body" while it stays outside the hands?

————————

It's not close to too steep. It's just steeper than it was before. Look at the photos. The hands are working in and around. It's going to feel strange. The sooner you get comfortable at being uncomfortable the faster you get better

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Update after a few months. I kept doing the drill and stuck with it and it has made a huge impact on my game. The club is coming back more vertical and im now playing a fade after playing a draw for 15 years. I hit it just as far but the fade is def the higher percentage shot, i just couldnt time the draw with my old flat swing. my last 4 rounds have been 74-78-76-74 . hoping to get under par soon. the lesson and drill from Dan have been awesome. just takes some work. i cant thank him enough. 

Posted: Sep 17 2018 12:57PM