Tommy Bolt

In the early nineties I watched Tommy Bolt put on a show on the first hole of the Red Course at Bethpage. He stood at the 200yard marker and hit 4 wood after 4 wood onto the green, he would carve em in there both ways. The first hole at the red is a beast of a hole, we used to call it the toughest first hole in golf. It's 471 yards from the tips with an uphill second shot.

Number 1 on Bethpage Red

Here's Tommy at the 16th. at Riviera

Here's his bio from Wikipedia:

Thomas Henry "Tommy" Bolt (March 31, 1916 – August 30, 2008) was an American professional golfer.

Bolt was born in Haworth, Oklahoma. He served in the United States Army during World War II and turned professional in 1946. He worked as a caddie and club professional in Shreveport, Louisiana. He did not join the PGA Tour until he was in his thirties, but he went on to win fifteen PGA Tour titles, including one major championship, the 1958 U.S. Open.

Bolt was a member of the United States Ryder Cup teams of 1955 and 1957. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

Bolt's fiery disposition earned him the nickname "Thunder" and "Terrible Tommy". He was known to break clubs during rounds, and his penchant for throwing clubs led to the adoption of a rule prohibiting such behavior. In his later years, he admitted that a lot of his on-course eruptions were merely showmanship and that he felt they had detracted from his playing.

Bolt died in Batesville, Arkansas at the age of 92.[1]

On Ben Hogan

"He's the only player I have ever known to get an ovation from the fans on the practice tee. I've seen him playing practice rounds before a tournament and half the gallery was made up of other professionals. Somebody asked me once, Who's better? Jack Nicklaus or Ben Hogan? Well, my answer was, I saw Nicklaus watch Hogan practice. But I never saw Hogan watch Nicklaus."[2]

To preview the Red Course go HERE

Did you cast your vote for Martin Hall today? If not go HERE

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Simon Williams and Alignment Golf UK

I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with our friend Simon Williams this morning and he gave me an update on what he's been up to. Here it is:



To visit Alignment Golf UK simply go HERE or www.alignment-golf.co.uk.

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The D Plane

Today we're going to continue with the D Plane and the "True Ball Flight Laws". First we have a document from the people at Trackman which illustrates the technical nomenclature used by Trackman.


Track Man Data Report

Now we have a couple of more videos from youtube member "davidcpga"

This first one describes "Spin Loft"

And this next one Defines The D Plane.

Take your time reading it and we'll be reaching out to some experts on the subject matter in the future.

Did you remember to vote for Martin Hall today? If not, you can go HERE and cast your daily vote.

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Fredrik Tuxen on "The Secret of a Straight Shot" II

Here's Part 2 of Mr. Tuxen's comments on ball flight etc.


Tuxen 2

And now we have a couple of videos from a gentleman who's youtube handle is "davidcpga" explaining the vertical and horizontal swing planes.

Did you remember to cast your daily vote for Martin Hall? If not you can go HERE and do it.

Martin Hall

The Golf Channel Instructor search has come down to the 3 finalists. They are Martin Hall, Karen Palacios Jensen and Wayne Player. We at Gotham Golf Blog endorse Martin Hall. Martin speaks our language when it comes to the Golf Swing. I've always been a big fan of Martin's, going back to the days when he was with Nicklaus/Flick. He has an knack for communicating his ideas in a manner which is clear and concise. I still have a binder with several pages of Martin's instruction cut-out from the pages of Golf or Golf Digest (can't remember which). Martin's background is solid, he incorporates many of the techniques available to him from any variety of sources, as noted by the fact that he wrote the forward for our friend Doug Ferreri's Bertholy Manual and he is also a GSEM in The Golfing Machine . Those are just some of his credentials of which I'm aware. I think we need somebody like Martin on the air to satisfy our quest for quality instruction.

You are allowed to vote once a day until the final day. To vote go HERE

Here's a video which Martin did with the people at Trackman.

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Fredrik Tuxen on "The Secret of a Straight Shot" I

Today we're going to look at part 1 of an article written by Mr. Fredrik Tuxen. Mr. Tuxen is the inventor and Chief Technology Officer of Trackman. In part one he discusses the so called "New Ball Flight Laws".

Click on the blue button that says Fullscreen to enlarge, if you get an i/o streaming error simply click on the red Tuxen link below

Tuxen

If you want to read more about this stuff, you can go Here and Here and there are a couple of articles I wrote a while back on it.

Enjoy your Holidays and

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Mike Hebron

Here's my old coach Michael Hebron on the Charlie Rose show. Hopefully, we'll be able to get him to come on the Gotham Golf Show ;o).




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The Pivot by Dan Whittaker aka DFW1500

Today we're going to have Dan describe 2 different types of Pivot Styles.

Dan can be reached at danwhittaker@btconnect.com

If anybody has any swing issues which they would like addressed, simply send me an email.

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The Massacre at Winged Foot

Here's one of the great US Opens of all time.

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Charlie Owens

A couple of days ago I mentioned Charlie Owens and his unconventional stroke pattern, today you'll get to see it courtesy of our friend Carl Welty.
Charlie was a pioneer for many reasons, one obvious reason was the color of his skin, which precluded him from playing Professional Golf during the 50's and 60's. But there were other reasons why we grant Charlie pioneer status.

Charlie sustained a leg injury while parachuting out of a plane when he was in the Army. Thus he wound up with one leg longer than the other. As a result of his injury the PGA tour allowed him to use a cart. Charlie (Not Casey Martin) was also the first to challenge the USGA on it's policy of walking only.

During his career Charlie developed a severe case of the "Yips"and as result could not putt. Instead of giving up the game, Charlie put his imagination to work and invented both the Belly Putter and the Long Putter.
Here's how Charlie told it to Golf Digest:

"I thought I could come up with something that looked good and was the right weight, so I would have only one hand to deal with, my right hand," Owens says. He experimented with Anser, 8802 and Zebra heads at the end of two shafts welded together, loading them up with lead tape. "The heavier they got, the better they felt, but I couldn't get one heavy enough. I had control of the yips, but I had to hit it too hard on long putts."

Owens kept tinkering. "I bought a brass bar," he says. "I had a friend who was a machinist and took it to him with a blueprint of the way I wanted it to look. He cut the shape I wanted, which was almost like a flying saucer with a square face." The 3½-pound "Slim Jim" -- "That thing was so ugly," Owens says -- was born.

Long distinguished by his cross-handed grip on full shots and disabled left leg as a result of a paratrooper training accident, Owens won a 36-hole local event in Florida with 21 and 24 putts not long after putting the Slim Jim in his bag. Once he began to have success on the Senior PGA Tour, Owens got a deal with Matzie Golf. "I didn't patent [the putter]," says Owens. "I didn't think it was going to be a hit."

Finally I believe Charlie is the first person to win on tour swinging Cross-handed.

I want to thank Carl Welty for providing the footage, Carl's the best!!

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Interview with Wayne DeFrancesco

Today you're going to have the pleasure of getting to know Mr. Wayne Defrancesco. Wayne is the director of instruction at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville Maryland and he's also our favorite Youtube analyst. Besides being a top notch instructor, Wayne is a World Class Player. He won the 2001 CPC, he was a first team All American on a team composed of some real heavy hitters (see below) and he's played in 8 Major Championships. Here are the highlights of his CPC victory.

And here's the interview:




1979 ALL AMERICA GOLF TEAMS

First Team
Bob Clampett Brigham Young
John Cook Ohio State
Fred Couples Houston
Wayne DeFrancesco LSU
Gary Hallberg Wake Forest
Corey Pavin UCLA
Bob Tway Oklahoma State
Scott Watkins Arizona State

Second Team
Ron Commans Southern Cal
Dan Croonquist Arizona State
Britt Harrison Oklahoma
John McGough North Carolina
Mark O'Meara Long Beach State
Tim Norris Fresno State
Joe Rassett Oral Roberts
Joey Sindelar Ohio State
Payne Stewart Southern Methodist
Mark Wiebe San Jose State

Take some time to visit his site WayneDefrancesco.com and I think if you're a serious golfer, you'll really enjoy it.

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Ryan Moore and Scratch Golf

Apparently the relationship between Ryan Moore and Scratch Golf has come to end. Hopefully David Duval will find his mojo and carry the flame. I thought Ryan and Scratch were a perfect fit. Oh Well-----

Scratch Golf and Ryan Moore have amicably agreed to not extend our partnership beyond 2010. We appreciate all Ryan has done to help us grow our brand in 2010. It has been a great year for Ryan on the golf course and for Scratch Golf as a business. We wish him the best moving forward with his career.

The nature of our agreement dictates that Ryan will no longer hold any ownership interest in Scratch Golf. This decision will allow both Ryan and Scratch Golf to pursue other opportunities in the golf industry and on Tour. We hope Ryan will continue to play our clubs and we wish Ryan all the best in his future endeavors. Ryan's presence on the PGA Tour greatly enhanced the visibility of Scratch Golf in the minds of the public and opened many doors for our brand, for which we are very grateful. We want to thank Ryan for the attention he has brought to our brand this year and wish him great success in the years to come.

With Ryan's help, Scratch has seen more play on the PGA Tour in 2010 than in any previous season. Thanks to the quality of our products and the response from players worldwide, we expect our Tour and retail success to continue in 2011.

- Ari Techner
President and CEO
Scratch Golf Clubs

Aiming Point

Here's how Bobby Clampett described it in Golf Digest:

Homer Kelley's The Golfing Machine was the book that most influenced my game, and Ben Doyle taught me the book's aiming-point concept. It works like this: Draw an imaginary line from your hands at the top of the backswing to a point a foot or so in front of the ball along the target line. As the backswing transitions to the downswing, the goal is to have your hands pass over that mark in front of the ball before the clubhead does. Just a swing or two using this technique will move your divots forward and make your impact more solid.

My preference is to go to impact fix and project a straight line through my hands to the ground in front of the ball. I then try to deliver my hands to that point. I only do this in practice in order to sense where my hands should be at impact. Notice that my aim point is only 6" ahead of the ball. I find this to be the right amount of shaft lean with modern equipment. It also seems to provide a shallower angle of attack.

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Terry Koehler aka "The Wedge Guy"

Today we have the pleasure of listening to golf industry veteran and all around good guy, Mr. Terry Koehler. Terry is the founder and President of Eidolon Golf a small company based out of Texas which specializes in wedges.









Eidolon Golf is offering $25 off on their line of V-Sole wedges to all Gotham Golf followers. Just follow the link below, and $25 will be taken off your order automatically. It's a steal of a deal, so it's probably worth taking advantage of. Eidolon offers a 30 day, 100% money back guarantee on all of their clubs, so why not give them a try?

Eidolon/Gotham Golf Special Offer

If you're interested in reading Terry's "Blades vs Cavity Backs" article:
Here's what I wrote about it about a year ago.

Terry has also written extensively on other subjects via his blog Thewedgeguy.com. Check him out, I think you'll gain some valuable insight into the game and it's equipment.

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Golf's Complexity

Treating a complex subject or action as though it were simple, multiplies it's complexity because of the difficulty in systemizing missing and unknown factors or elements. Demanding that golf instruction be kept simple does not make it simple --only incomplete and ineffective. Unless this is recognized, golf remains a vague, frustrating, infuriating form of exertion
After all complexity is far more acceptable and workable than mystery is--
Homer Kelley

I think Homer Kelley made a very effective point with the above statement. Regardless of how we look at it, a golf swing is a very complex motion involving the sequencing of a lot of moving parts. Most of the movements are contrary to our instinctual habits. As Ben Hogan stated in Power Golf, “Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing,” Hogan wasn't kidding when he said this.
However, it can be seen that if you categorize and systemize the process it becomes more palatable. I believe this was Homer Kelly's greatest contribution to golf. He gave us a categorized list of components which worked with one another.
I've come to the conclusion that there is no "The Way" to swing a golf club competently, so when I hear a teacher say that they focus on the fundamentals. I have to ask myself if there is one universal set of fundamentals that applies to everybody. I don't think there is, humans are far more complex than that.
I've been trained as a Project Manager and the gist of Project Management, is the ability to manage an event or series of events, whose elements are interrelated. Each element must be managed effectively and all elements must be managed together. So whether you're looking at applying new science, old science, pseudo science or voodoo, there must be a systematic approach which can be applied to simplify the process.
I recently exchanged emails with my friend Bill Mckinney and he described our site as the Tedtalks of Golf. At the time I wasn't familiar with Ted talks but once I looked into it, I realized the compliment he had paid us.
Here's a video from Tedtalks which describes how complexity leads to simplicity.

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The Gotham Golf Fix Episode 4

We got another request for help from another of our loyal readers and it went like this:

Hi Mr. Perez,

Thank you for providing us with the wonderful web site to read.
I have gone through many websites, and your website is very friendly and easy to navigate.

I live and work in San Jose California and want to become a better ball striker.
I in fact practice at Pin High Golf Range where EA Tischler is a member of teaching staff.

Starting from Ben Hogan's five lessons, I have searched and searched for better instructions
and one guy suggested to look up SliceFixer's 9-to-3 drill.

Your coverage of Dan's The Gotham Golf Fix part 3 is beyond expectation. Thank you.

One question though is this. Does this 9-to-3 drill work for driver swing as well?

Is there a chance to cover long game practice drills with Dan on more focus with 9-to-3 drill?

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Giyoung Yoon

So once again we entrusted the task to our good friend and top instructor Dan Whittaker aka DFW1500 on the various forums. And here's Dan's response:

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Domenic Mazza

Here's Domenic Mazza at the World Long Drive competition. Domenic is only 16, not 17 years old as I first reported. It would be interesting to take a look at this kid's acceleration profiles.



Here's another Italian Stallion, Emanuele "Peppo" Canonica. At 5'-5", Peppo has led the European Tour in Driving Distance 4 times. Peppo has what I describe as a "Compact-Efficient" swing, there is no wasted motion. As the guy in the first part of this clip says, "Molto Bello" (very handsome).




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Geoff Mangum on "The Stroke"

Today Geoff is going to address one of the 4 critical components of putting, "The Stroke".




Stay tuned as Gotham Golf Blog in conjunction with "The Putting Zone" will be offering online webinars on Putting.

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Interview with Jim Waldron

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Jim Waldron, founder of Balance Point Golf Schools. Jim is an interesting fellow as well as a top notch instructor. We encountered some minor technical difficulties, it has to do with Jim living in such a remote part of the country and his poor internet stream. Thus the interview has a few dead spots from Jim's end.
Anyway, here it is:





To learn more about Jim and BPGS you can go to his website: www.balancepointgolf.com

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What a Great Golf Swing!!!

Let's take a look at 17 year old Domenic Mazza's swing, I think there are a couple of things to note:

1. It's a conventional golf swing, there are no contrived positions or "Long Drive Mechanics".

2. There is no sign of "Over-acceleration", it's as smooth as it gets.

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Martin Kaymer

Today were going to take a look at the swing of PGA Champion Martin Kaymer. In my opinion Martin's got one of the most compact and efficient motions on Tour today. First we'll look at his swing face on and in super slow motion.



Now we'll look at it from down the line in super slow motion.



Now we'll have an analysis done by our friend Wayne Defrancesco.




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Pete Cowen's Axe Drill

Here's Europe's #1 swing coach Pete Cowen demonstrating his famous "Axe Drill"

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My chat with Geoff Jones aka Slicefixer part 3

In this part talk about the book, the website and some more Hogan.



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My chat with Geoff Jones aka Slicefixer part 2

In this part Geoff discusses Hogan and Golf Equipment.




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My chat with Geoff Jones aka Slicefixer

I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with one of the true gentlemen in this game, Mr. Geoff Jones aka Slicefixer. We touched on a couple of subjects of interests including his recent hiatus from the internet, his upcoming book and website and a myriad of other topics of interest. Here's part one (the stream had a substantial amount of lag time, I think I was able to get it to a reasonably viewable level but it's far from perfect. I will strive to improve and streamline the process in the future, I promise.

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