Golf  facilities

Corporal Jeremy Stengel spent four and a half years at Walter Reed Hospital after being wounded from a massive IED explosion that threw him the length of a football field. Jeremy suffered an amputation to his left leg below the knee, broken left femur, broken right foot with nerve and muscle damage in his lower right leg, massive internal injuries, an extensive broken back that required 6-inch rods and screws, a traumatic brain injury, and several shrapnel wounds.

It was obvious that Jeremy would have a balance problem while swinging the club and trying to shift his weight. We decided that a slightly closed stance with his right foot back a couple of inches would improve his ability and make it easier for him to turn his hips and shoulders in the back swing and enable him to return the club to a more inside-out swing path into the follow-through. We also decided to shorten his back swing for better balance.

I told Jeremy that when his back swing was complete, his left arm would be parallel with the ground, and he would feel his shoulder under his chin. His wrists would be fully cocked and his right side loaded. I told him his arms should stop swinging when he felt his shoulder under his chin. Otherwise, Jeremy would raise up, lose his balance, shorten his swing radius, and top the ball.

 

While making three-quarter swings, Jeremy could see the back of his left hand at 9 O’clock while looking in the mirror, and as he swung forward on our swing circle, he could see the back of his right hand at 3 O’clock, just as though we were shaking hands.

Using various training aids, I was able to encourage Jeremy to cock his wrists so that at 9 O’clock his left arm and the club would form a 90 degree angle. He could feel if his wrist would break in the backswing, that centrifugal force would naturally square the club and allow his forearms to rotate counter-clockwise through impact, increasing maximum club head speed at impact and completely eliminating his tendency to push, fade, or slice to the right while maintaining his balance throughout.