Ever played 18 holes with 18 different swing thoughts? That was me this spring. But then, I started working with Dennis Clark.

Actually, scratch that — texted Dennis Clark. No commute. No face-to-face lessons. The sun didn’t even need to be shining. Just pure, unfiltered golf wisdom in text form from my friend who happens to be a PGA Master Professional.

Let me paint the picture. It’s Wednesday night, and I’m in the middle of another existential threat of a range session. I texted Dennis a swing video out of desperation.

“I’M SHANKING!”

As a former college player, my golf swing has always been inexplicably connected to my ego… and sometimes my general feeling of purpose on earth. I was in a dark place.

The previous fall, I was shooting under par. This spring, I went from shanking once per month to once per round. And then I shanked two wedges OB over the last three holes in a Michigan Open qualifier to miss qualifying by a shot.

I headed to the putting green and waited to hear back from Dennis. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Maybe a multi-part plan to rebuild my swing. Dennis comes back with this gem.

“Exit way left.”

That’s it. Three words. No diagrams, no voice messages. It seemed too simple. But then I tried it, because, hey, what did I have to lose? I started swinging left of California, and suddenly I was finding the relative center of the face again. Whoa.

Over the next few weeks, I kept texting Dennis. His responses were always short, direct, and impossible to argue. I’d fire off a quick complaint like, “I’m blocking it again.” I’d send swing videos, and from time to time, he’d ask for some launch monitor data. His answer: “You still need to exit more left.”

When I tell you Dennis has a sixth sense for diagnosing swing videos, I’m not kidding. I imagine it comes somewhat naturally after more than 40 years teaching the game, but it still feels like a superpower.

If you think I started shooting under par again right away, think again. Golf doesn’t work like that. But what changed was my appetite to create real, lasting change. And because of that, the low scores came sooner than I expected.

Looking back at my college years, it’s clear that I often stopped short of making truly meaningful changes. There was always another tournament around the corner, so I stuck to small changes that helped me keep the ball in play but never actually solved my issues.

I always thought that changing my swing would involve drowning in overcomplicated mechanics and swing thoughts, but Dennis made the process simple. There wasn’t a blueprint to rebuild my entire game. He gave me bite-sized tips I could build on.

I knew quite a bit about the golf swing before I started texting with Dennis, but it turns out I knew relatively little about my own swing. One text at a time, Dennis helped me understand what parts of my swing needed to change and which ones were fine.

As Dennis likes to remind me, I’m on a lifelong journey. The good news is that I’m starting to make the kind of contact I used to dream about while watching YouTube videos at 11 p.m. My confidence has skyrocketed.

This has to be the future of golf instruction, right? Find a teacher you trust. Work with him or her on your time. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll learn more from a few months of text messages than you will from a few one-hour lessons.