Mike Jacobs PGA GSED

Today, we have the pleasure of getting to know Mr. Mike Jacobs. Mike is a PGA member and a GSED. Mike is a close friend of Rick Neilsen and together they represent the Golfing Machine in the Metropolitan Section.


Tell us about yourself personally?
Michael Jacobs
31 years old from Manorville, NY Rock Hill Golf & Country Club

Graduated from PGA Professional Golf Management Methodist University 1999

PGA Golf Professional Training Program Scholarship Award Winner - Highest Scores in Nation


When & where did you start playing golf?

Started playing golf at age 4 at Smithtown Landing Country Club on Long Island

Playing Career?
College golf the Freshman Year Club Team
Misc. Local PGA Met Events over the years

Teaching Career Started 1998 at Rock Hill Golf & Country Club

Currently teach in the same location


How long Have you been an Authorized Instructor of TGM and who authorized you?

I became a GSEM at age 21 in the year 2000 being authorized by Ben Doyle, GSED

I became a GSED at age 23 in the year 2002 in Seattle, Washington by Sally Kelley on behalf of Homer Kelley. Sally invited me out to meet her and officially give me GSED status


The Golfing Machine has been the nuts and bolts of my education as a golf teacher... {much like a Harvard Graduate} the education exists, the way to critically think is enhanced, and bits and parts of the education are used on a daily basis

(Below is a Video of Mike on his recent trip to Spain)

What would you like to tell an instructor considering becoming an AI?
I would tell them to do some traveling and visit the best of the AI's.........

From that experience understand key elements in the book and be sure to stay up with modern science

I have used the catalog of components countless times to put together a swing recipe for someone, the contribution of the catalog made us all better teachers.


Who has had the greatest influence on your teaching ability?
My teacher and mentor Ben Doyle


Single biggest problem I encounter?

Poor knowledge base of students, people usually can accomplish what they want to if they just have the right information to do it.... Golf Instruction needs to be very personalized

2010 will see the release of the Explosive Designs - Premium Golf Clubs

A full line of Woods, Hybrids, 3 Different Iron Sets, Wedges, Putters, Bags, & Grips

Continuing details can be found on my website:

http://www.xgolfschool.com/

(click on link above to be re-directed)

--Mike is being modest with us among his many other credentials is he is a Certified Putting Zone coach, so if you're in the New York metro area and need some TGM based or Putting instruction look Mike up, his contact info is on the link to his site (above).

Hit em Straight

Ricky Fowler

"All that counts in Golf is to find the back of the ball squarely with the middle of the clubface. Any style or method will do, and if it enables a player to strike the ball hard, squarely, and consistently, then it is a good swing, no matter how it may depart from the Classical"
--Henry Cotton


Back in October I was watching the coverage of the Fry's Open and Brandel Chamblee described how Ricky Fowler simply works on fundamentals and Ball Flight, not positions. So by forgetting positions and focusing on motion he actually reaches the right positions. Say that five times fast, lol.

Fowler said he owes his unique philosophy to his upbringing in the game. He was raised in Murrieta, Calif., where his grandfather introduced him to golf when he was only 2 years old.

“He took me out to the driving range one time, and that was all I needed,” Fowler said. At that driving range, he met Barry McDonald, the man who still coaches him today. Fowler said McDonald doesn’t care for angles and video equipment; he teaches about feel and self-control.₁

Fowler credits his long time coach with teaching him the technique that is now a real strength in his game.

“I worked on a lot of short game, putting and chipping, with my coach Barry McDonald back home at the driving range I grew up at,” said Fowler. “I started working with him when I was seven years old, and then through middle school is when I really got the technique down. I maintained that technique and learned to hit different shots, but that was really what I worked on the most and it’s definitely helped out now.”₂

Here's an excerpt from PGA tour.com

Q. Rickie, is there any part of you that's kind of proud that you're not a silver spoon guy, that you sort of dug it out of the dirt? You've got a unique swing. You were schooled by an older driving range guy that not many people outside of your town have ever heard from, and kind of done it your own way?

RICKIE FOWLER: I know my coach at school, he definitely likes the upbringing that I had. I think there's quite a few other people out there that like it.

Some people think it's, you know, odd that I came out that way. You know, there's not many guys that are coming through that route anymore.

I definitely like that background, you know, the way I came up. I know my swing better than most people, I think know their own nowadays. Just a lot of guys I think get so reliant on coaches. So I like the way I came out, and I definitely think there's some people that think it's -- it's definitely unique, but they like it.

Here's an excerpt from an interview he did with Rich Lerner for Golf Digest

Barry McDonnell is the only golf instructor you've worked with, and he's in his 70s now.
We started working when I was 7. We'd go to the end of the range, he'd smoke his cigar, and I'd be hitting away. We never laid sticks on the ground for alignment, and we never used a video camera. I don't think he knows how to operate one. He just taught me my own swing and how to know where the clubface is. We worked more on ball flight and making sure the ball was starting where I wanted it to.

What advice from him sticks with you? Beat Old Man Par.

You were swinging your dad's driver when you were 3. How did that shape your swing?
As a little kid I used to start the backswing way to the outside, and then I had a big loop where I'd lay it off and drop it way under. Now you could talk to some of the guys I've played with through the years, like Colt Knost, and they'd say I go straight back and straight through compared to the way I used to swing. I take it back a little shut and a little out and get to the top fairly square, and then I have a little hitch layoff. It's definitely nontraditional. It's my own. I didn't really try to model it after anyone.

It's on the quicker side in terms of tempo. Definitely. There are times when my playing partner's on his backswing and I feel like I could make impact 10 times.

• So what does this tell us about Ricky, well for one he's got lag. Why because like Sergio Garcia, he learned how to play by trying to use his Dad's adult clubs as a toddler. He certainly didn't have the strength to over power the club, so he learned to harness the forces.

• He has had one coach and stuck with him through it all, placing his trust in him and developing a working relationship with him. For further reference see, Bobby Clampett and Sam Randolph, guys who could stripe it with their own swings and started listening to every snake oil salesman on the tee line.

• His coach didn't have a camera, in fact Ricky says he probably didn't even know how to use one. It reminds me of one time when I was working with Gregg and he spotted something with his bare eye, which I thought could not be detected without the use of high speed cameras. I was in awe.

• If his coach doesn't know how to use a camera, he probably isn't regurgitating Trackman numbers either.

• Ricky is comfortable enough in his own skin to accept his swing with it's own idiosyncrasies and realize it doesn't need fixing.

• Ricky has a pretty flat transition, at 5'-10" I wonder what his lie angles on his clubs are? I bet they're standard or pretty dam close.

• Remember this kid is just 20 years old, so most of the technology available to him today was available to him growing up.

If you are new to the Blog and would like to read Gregg Mchatton's analysis of Sergio Garcia's swing, go Here. It's what I would say about Ricky.

Ref 1: Back9ine.com
Ref 2: Titleist

Hit em Straight

Pivot Thrust I

In order for us to discuss "Pivot Thrust", we first have to define some elementary laws of Physics.

Impulse Momentum: Perhaps one of the most overlooked physical concepts that apply to golf, it is an offshoot of Newton's Second Law. Impulse Momentum basically states that:

A force acting for a given amount of time will change an object's momentum. Put another way, an unbalanced force always accelerates an object - either speeding it up or slowing it down. If the force acts opposite the object's motion, it slows the object down. If a force acts in the same direction as the object's motion, then the force speeds the object up. Either way, a force will change the velocity of an object. And if the velocity of the object is changed, then the momentum of the object is changed.

Momentum= Mass x Velocity
The Mass is a constant (the club-clubhead)
Impulse= force x time

Let's take a look at what we think comes closest to hitting a golf shot, a Tennis serve. Let's say you need an Ace, in order to accomplish this you'd have to come in pretty hot, upwards of 100mph. How would you accomplish this?

"Since momentum depends on mass and velocity (momentum = (mass)(velocity)), to say that you want maximum possible velocity for the ball is the same as saying that you want the largest possible momentum for the ball as it leaves the racket. Now the ball has essentially zero momentum when you hit it, since it is moving very slowly just before the racket hits it. You want to change this momentum to a very large momentum toward the other side of the net. So, to say that you want the largest possible momentum for the ball as it leaves the bat means that you want the largest possible change in momentum for the ball.

Aha! The impulse-momentum equation talks about change in momentum! It says that the change in momentum of the ball equals the impulse that you apply (with the racket) to the ball. So, to get the largest possible change in momentum, we want to apply the largest possible impulse to the ball.

Impulse depends directly on the force applied and the time the force is applied. (Impulse = (force)(time)). So, to get the largest possible impulse you should either:

• apply the largest possible force
• apply the force for the longest possible time
• or both

So, swinging harder will hit the ball harder. (Duh?) Certainly, you want to apply maximum force by hitting the ball hard. If you hit the ball with twice the force, you will impart twice the impulse to the ball. Since impulse = change in momentum, this will double the ball's change in momentum. Since momentum equals mass times velocity, doubling the ball's momentum will double its velocity. However, if you try to apply too much force your coordination and timing will suffer, and your serve will not be accurate - you may even miss the ball!

You can also increase the impulse on the ball by increasing the time that the racket exerts its force on the ball - "following through". If you hit the ball for twice as much time, you will impart twice the impulse to the ball, which means twice the change in momentum for the ball. So, following through is important.

Of course, if you hit the ball hard and follow through, you will impart the greatest impulse to the ball. If you double both the force and the time, you get four times the impulse, and four times the change in momentum!

The same analysis would apply to hitting a golf ball, baseball, softball -whatever:₁"

Ken Venturi use to say to visualize 4 to 5 balls in a row and imagine yourself swinging through and hitting all 5.



Hit em Straight
ref₁:http://www.batesville.k12.in.us/physics/phyNet/Mechanics/Momentum/largest_velocity.htm

There is no "The Way"

I recently received an email from a reader who asked me my opinion on a certain stroke pattern which he finds works for him and he doesn't feel is in line with TGM principles.
One of the beauties of The Golfing Machine is that there is no "The Way". In fact with all the permutations within TGM there are supposedly 4 quadrillion ways to swing a club.

Here's a quote which might apply:

"The only purpose of the golf swing is to move the club through the ball square to the target at maximum speed. How this is done is of no significance at all, so long as the method employed enables it to be done repetitively."
--John Jacobs

I always like to revert to the old school when I want to emphasize a point and one of my favorites is Hogan protege Gardner Dickinson.
Here's what he had to say.

Swing Merchants and Myths

There's an old saying, "Them that can play, play; and them that can't teach." This isn't always the case, but too many would-be "star" instructors hang out a teaching sign, then offer students some sort of preconceived notion of what all golf swings should look like. God only knows where they pick up these ideas. But then, myths are much easier to pedal than reality.

Generally speaking, if you find a teacher who keeps talking about "the" golf swing, you'd better get away from him, quickly. On the other hand, pay close attention to the fellow who talks about "a" golf swing. I would be suspicious of anyone who claims there is one way to swing a golf club, because I know it simply is not true. If you doubt this, turn on your television any weekend and watch the world's best players. No two of them swing alike.

Not everyone is an athletic genius, nor does everyone think alike, so asking a student to learn a preconceived template for a golf swing, or to follow a rigid system is, in my opinion, an invitation to failure. You'll be able to systematize golf instruction the day you're able to clone people, along with their coordination and their intelligence.

We hear a good deal of talk from these so-called experts about "basic fundamentals,"
a term that to me is both redundant and inaccurate. It implies that all great players do things identically, such as, say, grip the club in a certain way. We might all agree that a left-hand grip that shows one and half or two knuckles is desirable, but is certainly not mandatory. If it were, Gene Sarazen, Paul Azinger, Grier Jones, Bernhard Langer, Dan Sikes, Judy Rankin, Lee Trevino, and Fred Couples couldn't possibly have played championship golf, because all of them had or have three-knuckle grips, or stronger.

In my time, I've observed a large number of ambitious young players trying to "curl under," that is, rotate the left wrist under the shaft during the first two feet of the backswing. These poor fellows wind up with a flat left wrist at the top of their swings, with the clubface dead shut. Only a few players are gifted enough, to play from so shut-faced a position. Two very likable but misinformed non-playing golf professionals devised this gizmo twenty years or more ago as part of a system they called "Square-to-Square." They forgot to add "to Oblivion" at the end of the title, because most golfers who tried their system were led in to golfing purgatory. Later one of the authors publicly retracted his advice, admitting he had been wrong, which, in my opinion, takes a big man.

--Gardner Dickinson from "Let er Rip"

If you are new to the blog and want to read my positions on Wrist Conditions go here.

Also Ed Hanczaryk mentions the "Square to Square" in his interview.


Hit em Straight

Random Rants

- To the Minister of Disinformation (Aka Baghdad Bob):

John Erickson is not MORAD trained. Both John and Mac O'grady were early TGMers who continued to do their own independent research. If you didn't get it the first time, read the interview again. It really isn't that long. Now I'll leave you to your task of slaughtering the infidels.

-Tom Watson is averaging 290.5 yards off the tee at age 60, not bad.

-I've gotten quite a bit of Positive feedback on Norrie Wright's video. I knew you guys would like it.

-Alvaro Quiros will be in this week's field, I hope they pair him with J.B. Holmes.

-Question: What does it take to call yourself a Mini Tour Player?
Answer: An entry Fee

- Ian Poulter is fun to watch. Beyond the Trousers, he's actually got game.

-I patiently await Bobby Clampett's debut on the Champion's Tour, he turns 50 in April and he's exempt for the British Senior Open in Carnoustie.

-Hogan irons were always 2° flatter than standard, so were the Mizunos prior to the MP33's

-My MP14's were 1.5° flat right out of the box. The irons belonged to Sandy Lyle before they became mine (they were his backup set)

-No, you won't be seeing me bend my irons 7°: flat any time soon.

-The game should be about who develops the better skills and not who has access to better technology. Most of the great players in history learned how to play with hand me down and makeshift equipment in the caddy yards. They had no video equipment or launch monitors, yet they went on to greatness. There is no such thing as instant talent.

Rant over

Hit em Straight

John LagPressure Erickson VII

What do you feel Homer missed or wasn't complete enough with TGM?

Well, just the fact that someone would even attempt such a daunting task as to understand not just a good golf swing but all possible geometrically correct golf swings is more than a lifetimes work!

That being said, Homer did make a lot of progress.

However, the most shocking omission in TGM is the missing form 1 lever that would be "The Pivot". By his own admission, Homer, called the pivot the master accumulator, which needs a lever assigned to it by law.

In the golf swing, power is created by a series of levers, moved by muscular contraction. Nothing new here, we live our lives in bodies that are based upon these complex level systems. How can we move anything, even a finger without engaging some kind of lever.

Homer offers in his book a primary and secondary lever assembly.

Now, certainly the rotation of the torso on top of the hips, supported by the legs and feet, pressing into the shoulder fulcrums moving the weight of the arms, hands, and club certainly creates a lever assembly.

As the torso rotates, it creates pressure in both shoulder sockets, not just the left armpit. This is clearly obvious because no one that I have ever seen can hit the ball as far with just one arm on the club as they can with two.

So again, if the left armpit is the #4 pressure point, then we need to include the right shoulder joint also, because it is being pressured by the same source of power, especially if you are rotating flat or more level to the ground as many great strikers do.

Photo of Pivot Lever

There is nothing mysterious here, this is just common sense. The pivot is the primary lever assembly of a full golf swing. Homer's right arm thrust, and wrist cock levers ride on the sails of the pivot. Enough said there.

Another glaring oversight is the absence of a stationary right elbow option through impact. I sometimes refer to this as the frozen right arm.

In the TGM world, you see a lot of confusion and disagreement over hitting and swinging. Homer discusses how "The mystery of golf fades away when right arm participation is understood" or something to that affect.

Well, by not including a frozen right arm option in his component catalog he certainly made sure that his followers would continue to be confused or at least debate endlessly about which of the two options is better. But the problem is, that there are three options not two, and the missing option happens to be the one best demonstrated by the worlds finest ball striker... Ben Hogan.

Big Problem.

Let me explain more clearly.

The right arm can drive actively into and beyond impact. Sure.
The right arm can also be passively pulled into a straight line post impact by centrifugal force. Ok

OR

The right arm can pull against centrifugal force, contracting and trying to stay bent, and if the shoulders are rotating level, this sensation can be bigger than life, and VERY real. If the pivot is not as strong and quick as it potentially can be, then you might see the classic chicken winger. Horton Smith, Lanny Watkins? This need categorization, not another hole to stick your ostrich head into.

So, what does this do? Well, if the right arm is allowed to straighten fully, it elongates the path of the clubhead, and creates a very different situation, than the model a figure skater would use as they pull their limbs inward to speed up their rotation.

This is not hard stuff you wrap your head around. Similar thing with the hammer throw in the Olympics and other similar sports.

Now, if Homer personally didn't like this.. fine.. but if his objective was to catalog the golf swing in an all inclusive way, then he really dropped the ball on this one.

Next topic. The Feet.

Homer said "The golf swing should start at the hands or the feet. preferably the feet."

Now if you read TGM, Homer talks about the feet, their position on the ground, open and closed, and a bit about shifting weight.

But, this is where we really get incomplete information. If we are shifting weight, where is that weight being shifted? From the right heel to the left heel? Center to center? From anywhere "right" to the ball of the left foot as Trevino and Knudson talked about? For the better players, they need to know specifics. There is certainly room for additional 25th or 26th components here for cataloging the options and variations that are available to golfers dealing with their foot pressures. The feet are responsible for the handling of both vertical and horizontal ground forces. And these forces are intrinsically tied to not just deliberate applications of ground pressures, but also how steep or flat the shoulder rotations are and angle of the swing plane itself. For instance, the feet are going to be dealing with a lot more rotary torquing if the swing plane is closer to 45 degrees(flat) than say 60 (being more upright).

We could add another component for foot torquing, inward squeezing, outward pushing, or any other methodology that both adding stability or support, resistance or aiding directly to post impact torso rotational speed.

Now if we look at the golden core mantras of TGM the flat left wrist, a clubhead lag pressure point, a straight plane line, and then stationary head, balance, and rhythm. What we have are vapor trails of proper movements.

I won't get into explaining all these things here, but let's just look at the FLW. This is something best created by a post impact accelerating pivot. That way you pin the left wrist flat... is with force, not by trying to push the club forward with the right arm or taking a pork chop divot that slows the clubhead down and literally fakes the FLW for the pretty picture on the camera. The way to get a FLW is to be able to do it NOT taking a big divot. If the pivot works hard enough post lowpoint, you can get it in a practice swing with no ball or divot taken.
Moe Norman was a good example of this with his lectures on "bacon stripping" the golf ball.
I watched Moe for 7 years while playing the Canadian Tour years ago. Moe knew what he was doing.




It's not that the FLW is wrong.. no, but you can't try to do it directly, and just driving the right arm through the impact area, does nothing more than tend to push the left arm out away and disconnected from the body, making the golf swing about 10 times more difficult than it needs to be.

A bigger question mark of course is the stationary head being an essential. Every great striker drops their head some if not a lot like Trevino and Moe did on the downswing. And if you understand the golf swing, then you'll know why. This is just simply bad advice. There is nothing essential about it at all, and history shows us this to be true and arguing the point is not worth another sentence.




So basically what happens is that because of a lot of the vagueness and obvious omissions in TGM, the student looks to the instructor for answers that they sometimes either don't know or simply just have to guess. And this is really where things go haywire, because there is no playability test to get a TGM diploma. And you simply can't know what you don't know. I mean there are 15 handicappers or worse teaching golf
with a TGM degree. That's crazy. At least the PGA of America makes their pros break 80 once in blue moon.

Both my early TGM mentors Gregg McHatton and Ben Doyle could play. That used to be the way things were. Now like everything else, all this stuff seems to be driven by profits. Ben used to authorize teachers with a difficult test and $100. Hard to imagine now.
Five of my students are authorized TGM instructors.

The great thing I really learned from both Ben and Gregg was proper hand attitudes. This is such an important concept in swinging a golf club,
completely ignored in mainstream golf instruction. I am forever grateful for what I learned from them in this area.

Now, where Homer really shines is his chapter 2. Homer really did understand compression, the advantages of hitting the ball with a pre stressed clubshaft, and the value of mass in the clubhead. I wish the equipment manufactures would read and understand what Homer really stood for about this stuff. "Ball speed is dependent upon both pre and post impact clubhead speed" f=ma or p=mv this is the heart of golf ball physics. Why they are taking the mass out of the clubheads ... is why we are not seeing the next great ball striker. If you are going to hit something, do it with a 2x4, not a palm tree branch.


Hit em Sraight

Alex and Homer VII

Sally Kelley in 2002,
(Photo from Getty Images)

Tape 13-B We were through 3 ½ days at this time. We were in section 7 of the curriculum. Discussions on Zone 1 and Zone 2. Mr. Kelley said this could be a very long session as there were 18 components in the two Zones. Mr. Kelley started telling that Zone 1 was the pivot and discussing each component. The two Zones consist of components 12-17 for Zone 1 and Zone 2 is components 1-2-3-4-8-9-11-18-19-20-21 and 22. And the desired variation to use as per chapter 12-1 & 12-2. Hitting or swinging. Mr. Kelley talked about the action of the 6 components of Zone 1. The point was stressed that the left heel should never come off the ground. The point was made that this was where so many golfers error because they lift the heel. Mr. Kelley stressed the delayed Hip Turn and the point that the hips lead both the back swing and the down swing. Mr. Kelley said he did not feel it necessary for us to go through all the zone 1 or zone 2 components as we had already discussed them.

Mr. Kelley then took us to 6-C-0 through 6-P. Lag, Drag and Thrust. Secret of Golf-Lag. It defines a condition of trailing. Accumulator Lag (7-19) and or thrust(7-11-) determine the amount of Power generated by the Power Package.

Pivot Lag is Body Power for Swingers (2-M-4) Launching pad for Hitters (2-M-3) and for both, operates like a “Gear Train” to extend the Swing Radius of Primary Lever to any point from the shoulder Turn on down to the Feet. Zone 1. Club Head Lag. This was stressed and Mr. Kelley said any of the 4 pressure points could be utilized. Club Head Lag technique as PASSIVE, it is always both Aiming and Thrust. It is Primarily Aiming the Lag PRESSURE through THE AIMING POINT. ACTIVE, it is PRIMARILY, Thrusting the Lag Pressure Point. 6-C-2-A.

Next question on curriculum, what area of physics is LAG involved? Mr. Kelley said the conservation of angular momentum. Then, he started talking about how the club shaft is bent during the swing. The shaft is bending down and both back and then forward at impact. Mr. Kelley said that centrifugal force gets every thing involved. Lag should never be released and it has no release point. Mass times velocity equals momentum. The Hitter uses Thrust and the swinger uses Body Momentum Transfer. The ball leaves the club head using 70% of the approach speed of the club head. 2-E Conservation of Momentum. 3-F-7 Snares. With clubhead throwaway, there can be no Rhythm. The first thing to accomplish, MAINTAIN A FLAT LEFT WRIST. A long discussion followed of all the causes of poor results that we could think of.

A discussion of The aiming Point came next. 6-E-2. We all entered into this discussion. It became obvious to us of the importance of this point. The Aiming Point replaces the ball. We should focus our attention of getting #3 pressure point through the Aiming Point, not the ball. The correct location of the Aiming Point is found only through EXPERIMENTATION. Because no two golfers have the same hand speed, we cannot say the Aiming Point is at the same place for everyone.

Some years later, I was in Atlanta staying with Tommy and we went to see the golf pro’s playing a practice round for the PGA championship. I was excited about this as I was going to get to see Bobby Clampett for the first time. I went with Bobby to the range to watch him practice. I was the only one sitting in the bleachers . He hit balls for over an hour. When he finished and started to walk off I asked him what he had been working on and his reply, “The Aiming Point” I had taken swing pictures using the Bolex movie camera I had previously bought from Irv Sloss. Later, when I had the film processed and watched it, he was the picture of consistency.

Tape 14-A A discussion on the Aiming Point. Mr. Kelley kept emphasizing the importance of having an Aiming Point. Tracing the Plane line. After a long discussion on this Mr. Kelley talked about “Timing.” 6-F.

Next we went into 6-M-0, General information about the Release. Then Mr. Kelley discussed 6-M-1. The Down Stroke Sequence. I spent many hours later pouring over this and working on it. The Power Release Sequence of the Accumulators, 4-1-2-3. Regardless which is being employed. Next we went to 6-N-0. Release types. We discussed this. Then Mr. Kelley went to 6-P-0, Non-automatic Release and 6-R-0, Automatic Release. Mr. Kelley said we never make a shot, we make a motion and the motion makes the shot. So, he emphasized the importance of working on each part of the motion leaving nothing to chance.

Mr. Kelley went into a discussion on Aiming Points and the importance of using it. Also, he strongly recommended to us to experiment with moving the aiming point for various shots to see what results it gave.

We next went to Zone 3 and the 6 components. After discussing this we went to 2-D-0.

Directional Factors.

Hit em Straight

Azaleas and Dogwoods

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

2010 Masters

Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta GA

April 5-11, 2010

An Invitation from Bobby Schaeffer

You are cordially invited to join me at the 2010 Masters. I have been fortunate to have experienced many incredible places and events in the world of golf, and without hesitation I consider the Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club to be at the very pinnacle.

Bobby Jones founded the Masters in 1934 and it has since captured a place in the imagination of all who love this great game. Walking the magnificent grounds of Augusta National will immediately prove why television does not do justice to the course or the intensity of the tournament itself.

My golf professional partners and I have been hosting groups at The Masters for years. Our contacts and access during Masters week are second to none. You will reside in a elegant home complete with maid service and enjoy our "Welcome to the Masters" cocktail reception, where the legendary golf photographer, Frank Christian, will serve as our keynote speaker. Frank served as the official photographer at "The National" for over 50 years. Listening to Frank speak brings past Masters history to life. Also speaking on Tuesday evening will be Tony Jacklin, former US and British Open champion, and European Ryder Cup captain.

The early week starts out with practice rounds and the very unique Par 3 contest on Wednesday afternoon. It is very interesting to watch as the competitors get a feel for the course and its many nuances. On these days, cameras and video recorders are allowed and you will want to capture some of your own images to share with your friends and families. Once Thursday rolls around, cameras will no longer be allowed but the thrilling action that plays out over the next four days will remain great memories forever.

We are privileged to be able to share this experience, the best in sports, with a few of our friends and favorite business contacts.

Since packages are limited RSVP as soon as possible so that we can customize your group's excursion.

Hope to see you at the Masters!

Bobby Schaeffer

bobbyschaeffergolf@hotmail.com

(949) 202-9919 cell

T.M. O'Conell

I came across T.M. O'Connell's website (Golf's not hard) by accident one day and as I dove deeper into his content, I found that most of his thoughts were in-line with my thoughts. As I explored further I found that T.M. was/is a disciple of George Kelnhofer GSED. So I did a little research on Mr. Kelnhofer and here's what I found.
Mr. Kelnhofer is the teacher of PGA Tour greats: Stewart Cink, David Duval,Charles Howell III, and Craig Perks.
It's funny how on one of these internet forums, one individual mentioned how Faldo and Howell III worked with Leadbetter and how their swings were totally different. Maybe it's because Nick Faldo's swing was built from scratch by Leadbetter and Howell III has a TGM based swing. The most Leadbetter could do is try to De-Lag Howell and ruin the kid. Howell also went to Oklahoma State where he was coached by Mike Holder GSED.

Anyway ,this about T.M. and his attempt to return to golf.



When and where did you start playing golf?

My dad and I argue about this all the time. He says that I started playing golf when I was less than 2 years old and points to a picture of what looks like a full sized golf club taped to my hands. I did go to the range every once in a while from the time I was 8 until I was 15 but I wouldn’t consider what I was doing golf. It wasn’t until I was 15 when I realized that I really wanted to take the game seriously.

Once I took the game seriously I became addicted. I had played baseball for years so I had a pretty good concept of a swing – although not a powerful one. Fortunately, it didn’t take me too long to get from the low 100s to the 90s. My dad noticed that I was coming along much faster than he thought I should be so he arranged for lessons from a local teacher. I would go to a lesson for and then hit about two or three hundred golf balls a day until the next lesson only focusing on what he had told me. About two months into my lessons, I shot my first round below 90, which was miraculously a 79.

Tell us about amateur playing career?

After about a year I was consistently shooting in the 70s. At that point, I thought it would be good to enter into as many local junior golf tournaments as I could. During those tournaments I was pretty much the master of the break down. I can’t count the number of times that I was leading a tournaments going into number 15 and would then just fall apart. I was able to win a few tournaments but it was more luck than skill.

I was a pretty short hitter for and had found relying on my long irons, my short game, and my putting just too much to handle. I started working with George Kelnhofer in December of 1998 and saw results pretty quickly. For instance, he pushed my driving average from 230 to 265 in about a month and my average score dipped from a 74 to 71 in less than a year.

After some convincing, my parents allowed me to take off a semester before college. I was literally going to see George two lessons a week and literally spent every day at his studio from June to December of 2000. It was during that time that my swing became a pretty serious weapon. By the end of the winter my driving average was consistently over 285 and I was averaging 13 fairways and 15 greens per round.

During that same Fall and Winter, I started to consistently win the local junior tournaments and thought it would be better to enter into the national junior tournaments. Although my scores were substantially lower than they were in the local tournaments, I still had a problem breaking through and winning. Before starting to play golf at – lets just call it a major Division I school – I had three second place finishes and more than a dozen top five finishes in some of those national junior tournaments. My putting was a pretty major cause of this but my head was ultimately the main cause of my problems.

Tell us about your Professional Career?

After literally a month at that DI school I suffered a pretty serious back injury. I went to see several doctors and chiropractors – all of which seemed to have a different prognosis. My family thought it would be best for me to spend my time working with a chiropractor so I could avoid surgery. I took 9 months away from golf and focused entirely on rehabilitation. When I came back, the coach of the team seemed less than thrilled about the idea of allowing me to rejoin the team. I was pretty upfront about the fact that my back was still in pain but I thought that if I continued to work on it that I could make a full recovery. He made me tryout to try to prove that I could still play that level of golf. I practiced for about a month leading up to the tryout and found that I was still pretty accurate but I had lost a lot of distance. I managed to shoot 72-70-71 but the coach decided that he was not going to allow me to rejoin the team.

I was pretty devastated but had not given up yet. I decided that rather than quit I would continue to work really hard at school but try to qualify for as many professional tournaments as an amateur as I could. I guess my strategy was that if these guys are the best of the best that for me to be able to compete with them would show that I could easily compete for a spot on the team.

So during the following summer I literally spent every weekend traveling around the country trying to qualify for various tournaments. Spending your summer in hotel rooms by yourself can be pretty lonely but not qualifying for the tournament only makes it worse. I ended up a stroke or two off the cutline for several PGA events and qualified for a number of other tour events. Once I got into the events, my ball striking seemed to be just as good as it ever was – minus the distance – but my putting seemed to be worse than ever. At the end of the summer, I took my results back to the coach. He decided that it still wasn’t good enough. Within a month my mother past away and shortly thereafter my back pain just became too much to bear. Golf just wasn’t fun anymore.

Is there any particular round of Golf which sticks out in your mind?

Tons of rounds stand out in my head but I think the two rounds that really stand out are what I would call my all-time best and my all-time worst.

The best round I can ever remember playing was literally the day before I started classes at that DI school back in 2001. I had been playing pretty well for a week but I absolutely caught fire that day. On the front side, I started off with a wedge to a foot and then proceeded to hit every approach shot on that side but one to within 6 feet. I finished that side hitting 8 fairways, 8 greens, and 13 putts to shoot a 31. On the backside it was as if I was a completely different player. My ball striking seemed to disappear but my putting was just machine like. From number 10 through number 15, I had hit 3 greens but had one putted every single green – including two putts from outside of 40 feet. I wasn’t keeping score but my group certainly was.

On number 16, a short par 5, I hit a 5 iron to about 15 feet. As we were walking to the green they told me that if I made that putt I would be 9 under on my round. Unfortunately, I lipped out. On the last two holes, I hit my approaches to within 5 feet and on both I lipped out. I ended up shooting 62 – the course record at that course by 3 strokes – but I easily could have shot 55. That was, by far, the best round of golf I have ever played.

The worst round(s) would come at a NGA Hooters Tour event in Savannah, Georgia several years later. I don’t have to go through much detail other than the stats for you to understand why. Over two rounds, I had missed 1 fairway and 3 greens. I shot 82/82. The first day, the group I was playing with thought it was kind of funny to watch me putt; the second day, they started turning away from me as I was putting, thinking it might be contagious. At the end of the second day, I thought it would be best if my putter – a Ping WRX – spent some quality time at the bottom of the lake off just off the green.

What is your current Swing philosophy?

While I do believe that there are other methodologies out there – each with their own pros and cons – I do believe that there is one swing that is the most efficient use of your body’s movements. Therefore, I believe that there is a fundamentally sound golf swing that ALL golfers should strive to achieve. While the swing is pretty complicated, I have tried to narrow it down into 8 fundamentals: (1) athletic set up, (2) progressive stance width, (3) one-piece take-away, (4) power pivot, (5) flat left wrist, (6) quiet legs, (7) swing plane, and (8) lag.

A golfer can achieve this type of swing by beating balls but my entire methodology is about efficiently achieving results. Therefore, I do not believe in practicing without a properly placed video camera and reviewing your swing after every two to three balls. I would much rather have a golfer hit 20 to 30 balls making every single swing purposeful than have a golfer hit 200 to 300 balls and possibly make no progress.

Who has had the greatest influence on your playing ability?

George Kelnhofer GSED. There is no possible way that I would have ever been able to hit the ball as accurate and as powerful as I did without him. Perhaps more importantly, there is no way I would have ever understood the way that the swing works without him. I would like to believe that I have learned a lot of things on my own but I would say that 95% of my knowledge of the golf swing has come from what he has taught me.

What are you up to these days?

I am finally finishing up my last semester of college. Considering I have been in college since 2001 getting my B.A., M.Ed, and now J.D. this has been a long time coming.

As far as golf goes, I decided that it would be fun to pick up the golf clubs again in 2008. Rather than just struggle with this by myself, I thought it might make my experience a little more fun if I chronicled my comeback and dump pretty much any knowledge I have about the golf swing into my site www.golfsnothard.com. My comeback has been pretty up and down with the majority of my problems relating to my back pain. A few months ago I finally decided to contact a professional about my back and I have been working with a TPI physical therapist ever since. My pain has lessoned quite a bit since then and, as a result, my swing has gotten better. I am hoping that by the summer of this coming year my swing is pretty much back where it used to be so I can start breaking par consistently again.

--
T.M. O'Connell
Editor-in-Chief, Golf's Not Hard

Interesting drill

I like this drill I saw on GLCoach's youtube page.

Gregg and I worked on a similar one

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Who was Ken Rogers?

Here's an excerpt from a column written in the early 70's, by Murray Olderman:

(Cary Middlecoff pictured right)

Ken Rogers doesn't blink an eye about Jack Nicklaus soaring to a quarter of a million dollars in golf earnings. Hell, Ken made almost that in one weekend when a dollar was worth 100 cents and not 22. In the histories of golf, you'll seldom find the name Ken Rogers, though in his really active days he held 23 course records. One reason is, he never turned pro. But Cary Middlecoff, the trained dentist who won the U.S. Open and remains prominent as a commentator, remembers Ken Rogers. They met in February, 1940. Ken was an Air Force officer stationed in Orlando, Florida. Rogers had been introduced to golf exactly a decade before when, through Walter Hagen, he met the immortal Bobby Jones. " You better have the right clubs," said Bobby, "if you're going t play." He immediately presented Ken with a set of his clubs. At 2:00 o'clock Saturday morning Rogers was awakened from his sleep by a friend calling from Memphis. "Come on up heah," said the friend. " There's a 20 year old kid just graduated from dental school, been beating everyone' around heah. You got to play him. See you in the mawnin'." Thanks to the Air Force, Ken arrived early Saturday and went out in a foursome playing a $100 Nassau, with Rogers matched fro $500 against the young dentist. It was Cary Middlecoff. Rogers and his Partner won handily and Ken won his match. They played 9 more holes for $1500, and Cary's backers kept boosting the ante --$2000....---$3000--and Rogers kept winning. "Middlecoff", he remembers, "never won a nine." It went the same way Sunday morning until by noon, with Nassaus, presses and straight match money, Rogers and his partner totaled their take at $190,000. " There was a real 'norther' blowing by then," recalls Ken, " so I went inside and got a little drunk when a guy tells me that Middlecoff's mistake was having the wrong partner. He'd team with Cary and play us for $10,000. I looked outside and said 'I wouldn't walk out there for less than $25,000', He said, 'you're on'. "Off we go, with me half drunk. By the 15th. hole we were 3 down, and my partner had his ball in a shallow creek off the green. He wants to pick it up. I said , 'Go ahead and hit it.' A lefthander with a 16-handicap, he hacks at it, cuts the ball almost in two, and it goes in. Now we're two down with three to go. I say, 'Let's press 'em'. We come to the 18th. and we've got to win it to collect. Middlecoff hits one less than a foot from the hole. I pull my shot off the green. My partner says, 'Let's give it to 'em.' I shake my head. I chip and the ball goes in--they measured it at 68 feet. "Cary's putt is 11 inches. My partner wants to concede it. 'Naw' I insist, 'let him hit it.' No ones ever putted before in the history of golf for $25,000. He stood over the ball for 10 minutes. He bought the club back 6 inches, tapped , and the ball moved half an inch. With the press, we went away from there with $240,000 that weekend, all of it in nice green cash."

Now for the record:

$240,000.00 in 1940 had about the same buying power as $3,701,982.86 in 2010.

Annual inflation over this period was about 3.99%.

Ken Rogers went on to found Shamrock Golf.

For Cary Middlecoff's Biography click Here

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An open invitation

Any golf instructors who would like to contribute to Gotham Golf Blog, via articles.
Feel free to email me at any of the addresses listed on this page.

Ralph

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The dip?

(From Nick Bradley's "7 Laws")

Most good ball strikers lower their center of gravity and harness the ground through the impact interval. The only way to achieve a powerful golf stroke is by establishing and maintaining a balanced/dynamic relationship with the ground. Snead called it a squat, most do it with out even realizing it.

I had this post in the works for about a week, I had seen somebody post this video on GOLFWRX and I thought this would be a perfect video to prove a point. Somebody else posted the Defrancesco video first on a another blog and beat me to it, oh well.



Here's Gregg McHatton demonstrating this as he uses the Ground forces to push a golf cart up a hill.



Here's Gregg in the same position During his transition.



Here's the Defrancesco video.



Gregg had made this observation some 20 years ago. If you listen to the interview he pointed out that the head moves slightly back then dips dramatically and rises to the highest possible height.

Here's Mike Maves



Listen closely to what Mike says at about 4:55-5:00 in the video below



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Baseball and Golf

Note Mark McGuire's Rhythm (in line condition)

Frank Thomas' (a Hriniak Disciple) Lever Assembly
BTW:That's also what we defined as Rhythm

If you listened to the end of my interview with Gregg McHatton, you will note that I mention Charlie Lau and Walt Hriniak. Both were revolutionary hitting coaches, although I believe Hriniak got most of his ideas from Lau. Both believed in releasing the top hand (right hand for righties) and trying to maximize the radius after impact and beyond. If it sounds familiar, it should. Their respective records speak for themselves.


Charlie Lau
After his playing career ended, Lau taught his hitting technique to the Orioles, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox as a hitting instructor. He wrote the book How to Hit .300, which supplanted Ted Williams, The Science of Hitting as the "Bible of Batting." Lau emphasized releasing the top hand after making contact with the pitch and following through with only the lower hand on the bat. This allows maximum extension of the arms and lets the bat maintain a flatter plane through the hitting zone. Lau served as batting coach for the Royals from 1971 to 1978 (with the exception of the early part of the 1975 season when he was the team's minor league hitting coach after his temporary ouster from the Royals' staff by then-skipper Jack McKeon and taught his spray-hitting style to Hal McRae, Amos Otis, Willie Wilson,George Brett. Other hitters to use Lau's method include Carlton Fisk, Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire. While serving as the White Sox hitting coach, he died in Key Biscayne, Florida at the age of 50 after a long bout with cancer. Since his death, no White Sox player or coach has worn his number 6 jersey, although it has not been officially retired.Romulus Senior High School in his hometown is named the Charley Lau Baseball Field.

Walt Hriniak

Hriniak's batting theories had many adherents among Red Sox players, but he also had detractors. Ted Williams, the Hall of Fame hitter and all-time Boston great, was outspoken in his criticism of Hriniak's methods. Williams and his followers felt that Hriniak robbed his hitters of extra-base power by teaching them to hit the ball up the middle, "swing down on the ball," or to take the upper hand off the bat at the end of their swing — which may have been oversimplifications of Hriniak's philosophies.

"I don't have a problem with Ted Williams," Hriniak told Yankee Magazine in 1986. "He teaches his way, and I teach mine. I don't teach a level swing, a downward swing, or an uppercut swing. Hitters are all different, so I teach all three ... You don't have to hit my way, you don't have to hit his way. Just make up your minds. Don't keep changing lanes. You can't hit when you're confused."^[1]

Finally, after 12 years with Boston, four as the team's official batting coach, Hriniak moved to the Chicago White Sox in 1989 as one of the highest-paid coaches in baseball. (Lau was the White Sox' batting coach in 1984 when he succumbed to cancer. Hriniak wore Lau's old No. 6 in tribute during his Chicago tenure.) Hriniak coached another seven years, through 1995, before opening his own hitting school and becoming a private batting instructor. Former Chisox slugger Frank Thomas was one of his most loyal adherents. When basketball great Michael Jordan surprised the sports world in 1994 by signing a minor league baseball contract with the White Sox, Hriniak was brought in to help him with his batting technique. Jordan's baseball career was a brief one, batting only .202 for the Birmingham Barons, the White Sox AA affiliate.

In 1989, Hriniak authored A Hitting Clinic: The Walt Hriniak Way, which outlined his theories of batting and included participation from Evans, Gedman and Hall of Fame hitter Wade Boggs

Here's Albert Pujols, among his many attributes Albert is probably the best and most powerful hitter in baseball cause he never runs out of right arm.



Watch this analysis of Manny Ramirez and note how he always maintains his radius and keeps his primary lever assembly (Left arm and bat) in an in line condition well past impact.

Note how much Lag Manny has, no throwaway whatsoever.

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