Instructor recommendation: Mandeo Pathania

[vijay]

As I mentioned earlier, my swing was in terrible, terrible shape. I had no confidence in my irons. If I was not hitting it thin, I was hitting it fat. The few times I made good contact, the ball would go 30 yards shorter than it used to. I lost distance on my driver as well.

I happened to meet Mandeo Pathania through a friend at the Lionhead range last year. He is a world-ranked tour player who hits the ball a country mile. He is also a nice guy and easy to work with. Since then I have taken 3 lessons with him and the difference in my ball striking is night and day. I still have a lot of work to do because I am in between swings right now (old habits die hard) and will be taking a few more lessons and a playing lesson with him this year.

He is currently teaching at Rattlesnake and Glen Abbey. If you are looking for a golf instructor, I strongly recommend contacting Mandeo, while he is still in town and his rates are still reasonable. You can learn more about him and contact him via his website.

Oh, he is also a fitness freak and gives golf-specific yoga and fitness instruction as well.

[chachi1984]

Re: Instructor recommendation: Mandeo Pathania

Good to hear from you vijay it's been a while

[spas1]

Re: Instructor recommendation: Mandeo Pathania

Hey Vijay,

Just wanted to THANK YOU for mentioning Mandeo!

I contacted him yesterday and setup a lesson last night. He watched my swing and ball flight (high fades, slices, mediocre distance). He made a few small adjustments, had me practice some simple drills and by the end I was hitting solid draw with amazing distance gains!

I signed up for a few lessons. This guy really knows his stuff!

As I mentioned earlier, my swing was in terrible, terrible shape. I had no confidence in my irons. If I was not hitting it thin, I was hitting it fat. The few times I made good contact, the ball would go 30 yards shorter than it used to. I lost distance on my driver as well.

I happened to meet Mandeo Pathania through a friend at the Lionhead range last year. He is a world-ranked tour player who hits the ball a country mile. He is also a nice guy and easy to work with. Since then I have taken 3 lessons with him and the difference in my ball striking is night and day. I still have a lot of work to do because I am in between swings right now (old habits die hard) and will be taking a few more lessons and a playing lesson with him this year.

He is currently teaching at Rattlesnake and Glen Abbey. If you are looking for a golf instructor, I strongly recommend contacting Mandeo, while he is still in town and his rates are still reasonable. You can learn more about him and contact him via his website.

Oh, he is also a fitness freak and gives golf-specific yoga and fitness instruction as well.

[vijay]

Re: Instructor recommendation: Mandeo Pathania

Hey Vijay,

Just wanted to THANK YOU for mentioning Mandeo!

I contacted him yesterday and setup a lesson last night. He watched my swing and ball flight (high fades, slices, mediocre distance). He made a few small adjustments, had me practice some simple drills and by the end I was hitting solid draw with amazing distance gains!

I signed up for a few lessons. This guy really knows his stuff!

I am glad you are striking the ball much better! Sounds like you and I had the same problems - high fades, slices, mediocre distance! It does feel great to hit a draws again, especially with long irons.

It is nice how quickly he fixes bad swings. He is all about feels and drills.

Good luck, and look forward to lower scores.

[vijay]

Re: Instructor recommendation: Mandeo Pathania

Good to hear from you vijay it's been a while

Good to be back on the forum, and golfing again.

[TMAzng01f3R]

I'm looking forward to my lesson with Mandeo; its been a few years since I last took a lesson and currently, my swing's a collection of "many things" I've learned from either past instructors or Youtube videos. I like this philosophy of his from his website - at least he's not breaking my swing down and building it from scratch or having me mimic someone's swing that perhaps I'm just not capable of achieving:

Idea is to keep it simple and enjoyable .
There's a reason why no two people in the world have the same golf swing - there is no "ONE WAY" to make a golf swing . My aim is to help you play well with what you already have.

Does he analyze swings via video as well? My problem before was I used to sway back but I don't think I do this anymore - I think my current problem is I "scoop" so I don't get all my weight on my front/lead foot (see my thread/vid in swing analysis). At least I'm able to come in square though on my better shots, despite 'casting'/having a 'wristy'/'flipping'-like swing...

[spas1]

Hey Frank,

Yes he absolutely does. He will film you from down the line and face on and show you what you are doing and more importantly what the club head is doing at impact.

I have another lesson with him tomorrow at 11a at Glen Abbey - when is your lesson?

[vijay]

I am not sure what he will do during your lesson because his action plan for you will depend on what he sees in your swing. He does take videos if required. He prefers to keep things simple.

Good luck, and look forward to striking the ball much better!

[TMAzng01f3R]

I didn't think it'd ever be possible - but he got me to actually compress the golf ball! From the swing videos he took, my right shoulder would dip too much and thus, come way from the inside resulting in chunky/fat shots.

Here's what we did - he basically got me to put all my weight forward at address and also have my hands forward at address - then we worked on hitting 10% shots. Eventually, we got to 90% shots and the ball 'clicked' each time. There were also either no divots or divots past the ball instead of behind it... So now that I've figured how to compress the ball, I just gotta figure out how to have that weight transfer happen at some point when I do my usual swing instead of creating it at the beginning (if that makes any sense)... And this is where his point of not over complicating things and having things happen 'naturally' comes in... He said the more I practice this, eventually my body and mechanics will figure out how to achieve this 'naturally'...

So in that sense, what many here have said is true in that he truly does 'work with what you have' and tries to simplify things for you - thanks again for the recommendation!

[vijay]

I didn't think it'd ever be possible - but he got me to actually compress the golf ball! From the swing videos he took, my right shoulder would dip too much and thus, come way from the inside resulting in chunky/fat shots.

Here's what we did - he basically got me to put all my weight forward at address and also have my hands forward at address - then we worked on hitting 10% shots. Eventually, we got to 90% shots and the ball 'clicked' each time. There were also either no divots or divots past the ball instead of behind it... So now that I've figured how to compress the ball, I just gotta figure out how to have that weight transfer happen at some point when I do my usual swing instead of creating it at the beginning (if that makes any sense)... And this is where his point of not over complicating things and having things happen 'naturally' comes in... He said the more I practice this, eventually my body and mechanics will figure out how to achieve this 'naturally'...

So in that sense, what many here have said is true in that he truly does 'work with what you have' and tries to simplify things for you - thanks again for the recommendation!

That's awesome! It does feel awesome to compress the ball. Look forward to more greens in regulation!

He made me do something else (focus on my shoulders) to compress the ball and create lag which works well for me.

I have 2 lessons remaining and then I'm planning to take a playing lesson with him and then some workout sessions later this summer.

[sunshiNee]

I find this key for me... many different ways to bring the club back, but if you can keep your weight forward much better consistent strikes that's for sure!

I didn't think it'd ever be possible - but he got me to actually compress the golf ball! From the swing videos he took, my right shoulder would dip too much and thus, come way from the inside resulting in chunky/fat shots.

Here's what we did - he basically got me to put all my weight forward at address and also have my hands forward at address - then we worked on hitting 10% shots. Eventually, we got to 90% shots and the ball 'clicked' each time. There were also either no divots or divots past the ball instead of behind it... So now that I've figured how to compress the ball, I just gotta figure out how to have that weight transfer happen at some point when I do my usual swing instead of creating it at the beginning (if that makes any sense)... And this is where his point of not over complicating things and having things happen 'naturally' comes in... He said the more I practice this, eventually my body and mechanics will figure out how to achieve this 'naturally'...

So in that sense, what many here have said is true in that he truly does 'work with what you have' and tries to simplify things for you - thanks again for the recommendation!

[vijay]

Back in single digits. Index down to 6.9 after my last round. The lowest I've been was 6.6.

I'm playing a different game now. In the past, I used to drive the ball as far as I could and try to hit the green with short irons. Now that I am significantly better with my longer irons (and the fact that my driver swing sucks) I am being more conservative off the tee, yet hitting way more greens in regulation.

Thanks to Mandeo Pathania, Nick Starchuck, and Matt Kane. My swing is a combination of lessons I received from three excellent instructors and awesome people!

[vijay]

Have to give another shout out to Mandeo

Took a driver lesson with him last week and have been hitting it 40- 60yards longer ever since......on the course!