Gotham Golf Blog

Greg Norman 1986 Masters

2012-01-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

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Kelvin Miyahira on "Stalling"

2012-01-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Here's some insight from Kelvin on the causes of Stalling>

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Confused Yet???

2012-01-22T23:30:00.002-05:00

Here's a nice video put together by Youtube user "Talleasy"

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Classic Swings--"Teddy Rhodes"

2012-01-20T23:30:00.001-05:00

Today were going to have a look at one of my favorite swings ever, it belongs to Negro Golfer Teddy "Sweet Swing" Rhodes. Having grown up in Tennessee, I would have to assume that fellow Tennessean Cary Middlecoff would have had an influence on Teddy's stroke pattern. Particularly in the leg action. Ted was a notoriously sharp dresser, it is said that he would shower and change clothes in between rounds of 36 hole one day events. (actually I believe that was customary in those days)

In his autobiography,Just Let Me Play, Sifford described Rhodes as incomparable, but, unfortunately, ahead of his time. Wrote Sifford, "Poor Teddy just came along 20 years too soon to be a black man in professional golf. Although he tried a couple of times to break into the PGA Tour, he was just too nice a guy and too much a gentleman to fight and scratch for his constitutional right to play. Teddy didn't want any of that pushing and pressing that it took to break into the game. It was contrary to his nature."

Here's his Bio from Wikipedia:

Theodore "Ted" Rhodes (November 9, 1913 – July 4, 1969) was a trailblazing African-American professional golfer.

Rhodes was born in Nashville, Tennessee and attended the city's public schools. He learned the game of golf in his teenage years while working as a caddie at Nashville's Belle Meade and Richland golf courses.[1] In the late 1930s, Rhodes joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).[2] He served in the United States Navy in World War II. When his tour of duty concluded, Rhodes was discharged in Chicago, where he met entertainer Billy Eckstine and heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. He taught both men to play the game of golf,[1] and served as Louis' personal instructor, valet and playing partner.[2]

In the late 1940s, Rhodes moved to southern California where he was mentored by Ray Mangrum.[2] In 1948, he played in the U.S. Open at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California and became recognized as the first African-American professional golfer. Rhodes and fellow African-American golfer Bill Spiller initiated litigation against the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) seeking removal of the association's "Caucasian only clause". Although they prevailed in the out-of-court settlement, the PGA circumvented the agreement by changing its tournaments to "invitationals" and invited only whites to participate.[1]

Rhodes played mostly in United Golf Association sanctioned tournaments during his career, winning about 150 times. Rhodes returned to his native Nashville in the 1960s and mentored several black PGA players including Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford. He died at the age of 55. A month after his death, the Cumberland Golf Course in Nashville was renamed in his honor. In 1998, Rhodes was inducted into the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame.[1]

In 2009, the PGA of America granted posthumous membership to Rhodes, Spiller, and John Shippen. The PGA also has granted posthumous honorary membership to Joe Louis

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The "Top 100" instructor myth exposed

2012-01-18T08:49:00.001-05:00

Today our good friend, Wayne Defrancesco is going to share his experience with us on these pathetic Top 100 list formulated by the media

The Truth About Top Teacher Lists

How I Got Thrown Off the Top 100

If you are like most of us who are afflicted with this maddening game you probably want to get better at it. You have but a few avenues to do so: you can teach yourself through books, magazines, videos, or TV; you can mimic better players and ask them to explain what they are doing; you can buy the best equipment and all the swing gizmos you see on infomercials; or you can take lessons. If you are going to go the lesson route you are immediately faced with a problem: how do you find a teacher? Again, there are various ways to go about locating your guru: you can ask around for recommendations; you can make the effort to actually watch teachers teach people; or you can look to trade publications for lists of top teachers in your area and around the country. The purpose of this article is to enlighten you about these “Top Teacher” lists and to then let you make your own decision as to whether you would trust them to identify someone with whom you might want to spend your time and money.

Golf instruction is certainly a curious business. I should know: I’ve been doing it for 20 years. Notice that I didn’t say “curious profession”. It is a wonderful profession. There are many intangible rewards that come from helping people improve at a very difficult game. It’s nice to see someone get better under your tutelage, and for the most part students are highly appreciative of your efforts. It is a low stress job in that the work never follows you home. There are few complaints, very little paperwork, and if things don’t work out the student will usually blame himself before the teacher. I can set my own hours, play in tournaments when I want to, and teach the material I want to teach. All in all, it’s a nice vocation.

Once a teacher has a job, the idea is to “fill up the book”. Indeed, a teacher can only be successful if he or she is busy. Empty spaces mean not enough clients, which either means you aren’t good enough or not enough people know how good you are. Thus, the next question is “how do I gain recognition for my teaching abilities?” Personally, I have always relied on word of mouth. I have never advertised, and have always eschewed attempts to “market” my lessons. I figure that if I help someone, chances are they will tell someone else, especially since most of them have never been helped in the past. I have also benefited from my playing ability. There is no better advertisement than performing well in a tournament and getting your name in the paper. Playing well earns you credibility that all the self-promotion in the world can’t approach.

That being said, I have a confession to make. After 10 years in the business a teacher becomes eligible for “the lists”. The two lists of note that all teachers would love to be on are the Golf Digest 50 Greatest Teachers and the GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teachers. Being selected to either or both of these lists is, for better or worse, a mark of distinction that separates a teacher from his peers.

Each list has its own method of selection, and each method is rife with problems. Those who make the Golf Digest list are selected by their peers. In 2000, the first year of the Golf Digest list, selected teachers from each state were given lists of local instructors to rate from 1 to 10, then instructed to name who they considered the top 10 teachers outside of their area. This first list was done covertly: the editors of the magazine, not wanting anyone to know what was going on (especially GOLF Magazine), created the ruse that the ratings were for a small article to be published in their trade magazine Golf World Business, which is read by practically no one. What they really intended to do was to start their own “top teacher” list and print it as the cover story of an upcoming edition of Golf Digest. This was perhaps the purest selection process ever imagined, since no one knew the stakes involved.

I filled the thing out and forgot about it, and was surprised a few months later when I got a call from a Golf Digest editor informing me that I was ranked #42 in the country. I was even more surprised to learn that the list was due to be featured in the cover story the following month. I had wondered for years why I had never made the GOLF Magazine list, but now this seemed even better. After all, top 50 was better than top 100, wasn’t it? And being selected by your peers, especially since there was no politics or lobbying involved, was certainly better than being picked by a bunch of magazine editors, as was the case at GOLF Magazine.

Getting back to my “confession”, I have to admit that I craved the notoriety that goes along with making the lists. I have always been passionate about my teaching, and I take pride in the fact that I am one of the few teachers considered for the lists that plays competitive golf. Listening to guys spout off theories about the swing, the short game, or even playing under pressure, when they never even come close to hitting a real shot under any sort of pressure, rankles me to no end. I take great pride in my abilities as a teacher, and it seemed to me that any list that didn’t include me was a farce.

Now that I had made the Golf Digest list I needed to get on the GOLF Magazine Top 100. The Top 100 has been around for just over 10 years, and since the magazine uses the members of the list to fill their instructional pages and offers many additional avenues for the Top 100 to promote themselves and the magazine, it is the list on which everyone wants to be. The application process for the GOLF list is quite different from Golf Digest. Teachers are nominated every other year to fill out the few spots opened up by those falling off the list. Out of perhaps 400 nominees only 10 or so might become new Top 100 members. The selections are made by six editors from the magazine, with help from staff at the University of Georgia’s Sports Learning Lab, described by the editors as “the nation’s only college lab designed to study how sports are taught”.

The application for the Top 100 list is for all intents an essay test. There are 17 questions, all of which encourage to nominee to discuss his or her teaching backgrounds, philosophies, and methods. No one from the magazine ever physically watches any of the teachers actually teach. It took me four attempts to finally figure out what they wanted from the answers to the “test”, and finally, in 2002, I made it. I have to admit, it was a relief as well as a sense of accomplishment. I was no longer on the Golf Digest List, that ended in a year after everyone figured out what the voting was for, but now I was on the list that really mattered. I had, in my own mind as well as in the minds of my peers, arrived, although I had this feeling, as I had always had in the years I wasn’t included on the list, that there was something wrong with needing the approval of a bunch of magazine editors and college wonks. But there was no denying the power of the lists to raise a teacher’s recognition factor, which in turn can lead to more students, which of course is a very good thing. I had been doing quite well without the list, but now I felt somehow complete.

I had always complained that the technical instructional articles in both major magazines were overly simplified and lacked the detail that people needed to improve. I had ideas formulated over years of teaching and playing, and I hoped to do something different, to make a mark on a national scale. It is difficult for a teacher who is not either on the Top 100 list or a member of the Golf Digest Teaching Staff to have any sort of instruction article printed in either magazine. I had managed to have two published in Golf Digest, one of which was quite substantial and of which I am quite proud. I thought that I could do even more with GOLF magazine: alas, two years later I found myself out of the Top 100, perhaps the shortest tenure on the list of all time, notified by a short letter from the editor-in chief. What did I do wrong? What follows is the actual correspondence between me and the editors of GOLF, with only the names deleted.

October 27th, 2004

Dear Wayne:

The editors of GOLF Magazine have just completed the sixth revision of GOLF Magazine’s roster of the Top 100 Teachers in America.

Each time we undertake this process, the selection becomes more difficult. Of course, America is so blessed with far more than 100 great golf instructors. But, we can select only 100. And so it is with regret that I inform you that this time we were unable to include you on the list.

The pool of worthy candidates becomes bigger and more impressive each time we prepare a new list. For that reason, we have appended our Top 100 list with an additional list of “Top Teachers” in each region of the country, and you will of course be included on that list, which will appear with the February 2005 issue of GOLF Magazine.

In the meantime, on behalf of the editors—and readers—of GOLF Magazine, thank you for the teaching excellence you have consistently displayed. We’ve been proud to call you a Top 100 Teacher, and although lists come and go, that is an honor that lasts a lifetime.

Sincerely,

The Editor-in-Chief

Now, I don’t think I have to tell you (but I will anyway) that this came as more than a bit of a shock to me. I had no prior warning, and thus no inkling, that I was in any danger of losing my spot. The only person from the magazine with whom I had any actual contact was the teaching editor (the magazine employed a number of these) who had been assigned to be my guide in helping me come up with ideas and putting together articles to be published every 6 months or so. A large portion of the pages of each issue of the magazine are filled with such articles generated by the members of the list. Upon meeting “my” editor I was surprised (incredulous might be a better description) to find that he had grown up a tennis player, had played professional tennis, and after an injury had knocked him out of competition had worked as a writer for Tennis Magazine. He had only played golf for just over a year, and could barely break 100. As you read the rest of my correspondence with the editors, the staggering irony will become even more apparent. I would like to say that I didn’t care about being dropped from the list, but I suppose that rejection does not sit well with anyone with competitive instincts. I thought about firing off nasty letters to all concerned, but I managed to control myself until I thought to ask them what had actually happened.

Dear Tennis Pro:

I would be curious to hear your opinion as to why I was dropped from the Top 100 list for 2005. Perhaps you could e-mail me back or give me a call if you had time.

Wayne D.

I sent the same note to the chief instruction editor, but after a week I had received no reply. I figured I should try again.

Dear Editor (and Tennis Pro):

Still looking forward to any comments you might have regarding my being deleted from the Top 100 list.

Wayne D.

Finally, I received a return note from the editor. Not surprisingly, I never heard from the Tennis Pro.

Dear Wayne:

My apologies for the very slow response, we are shipping our Feb. issue this week without an editor. Our new boss starts Monday. So this week has been crazier than usual.

As for our decision regarding dropping you from the new Top 100 Teacher list, the situation comes down to supply and demand. Simply put, we have many more than 100 great candidates that deserve a shot at being among the Top 100.

Once a teacher makes the list we put a lot of weight on how well he or she developes [sic] article ideas relative to the rest of the Top 100 and we also look at participation in a variety of area including story idea generation, e-mail polls, and various other Top 100 functions. We give our Top 100 exclusive access to filling more than 300 pages a year and most are very eager to come up with nourishing instruction articles to fill those pages.

Relative to the rest of the Top 100, you seemed much less interested in participating in the magazine than the other teachers. In two years, you never called with any ideas or suggestions for stories, which is highly unusual among the Top 100. When we were able to visit you in Maryland, you didn’t seem to be very familiar with the types of instruction articles that we do and you seemed to have a relatively difficult time putting your swing theories into easy to understand tips that would benefit our readers.

You are certainly a fine teacher, but compared to the rest of the Top 100, we felt that there were other teachers around the country who, at this time, are more deserving of a spot on the new list. You probably think this is just splitting a few hairs, and you would be right. We’ve got more than 600 candidates vying for what turned out to be 10 spots on the new list. Every spot on the list has become hyper-competitive.

As you know, we take the list very seriously, and we search for the best teachers who are enthusiastic about being involved in the magazine’s mission to help out 6 million readers improve. We never sensed that enthusiasm on your part.

Most teachers will never, ever make it onto the Top 100. You have already accomplished something most in the industry will never achieve. We will be happy to reevaluate our decision in future years as it is apparent that you will be a fine teacher for many years to come.

Sincerely,

The editor.

Now finally it was my turn to reply with what I really wanted to say:

Dear Editor:

Thanks for your thoughtful response. You are probably right.

I spend far more of the time I have apart from actual teaching working on my game than I do on self-promotion. One of the problems I had in “putting {my} swing theories in easy to understand tips” was what I considered to be the general incompetence of the Tennis Pro. I don’t mean to be harsh, and I know (or at least he explained it as such) that you were responsible for hiring him, but I considered it the height of absurdity to send a tennis pro who couldn’t break 100 to guide me in creating articles.

One of the conceptual problems I have always had with golf publications is the prevailing idea that the readership is incapable of following anything beyond a picture and a caption. The game is hard, and there are no quick fixes to anything. When one plays competitively that fact becomes quite apparent. When one chooses not to play competitively he or she effectively removes himself from reality and enters into the “twilight zone” where any theory is a good as any other, and nothing has any real substance or credibility.

I believe your readers are more capable of comprehending complex ideas than you do, and I think they crave honest instruction that doesn’t pretend that everything is either “simple” or can be “simplified”. The Tennis Pro was singularly incapable of understanding anything I was talking about when it came to the golf swing. He consistently took any ideas that I had and molded them into the same tired, shopworn articles that have been published forever. He even managed to print a simple pitching article with the wrong picture, which astonished and embarrassed me. I simply gave up. I called you to complain, then thought better of it, not wanting to seem difficult or arrogant. It doesn’t matter now. I have come to terms with my desire to be accepted and acknowledged as a competent teacher, and I no longer answer to the siren song of your magazine’s exposure. Of course, that has been made easier by getting on the list in the first place. I was so disturbed by the way things were going that I contemplated asking to be removed from the list. If I had the balls I would have. I should have quit before I got fired. Oh, well.

It is unfortunate, but your magazine has the power to elevate the position of any teacher it deems worthy of its list. I truly believe that without actually watching a teacher teach it is impossible to judge his ability. Your essay test is easily manipulated. I know, I did it. To do justice to the power you have with your list you owe it to the individual teachers to do a better job of selecting them. You don’t pick the Top 100 Courses without playing them, do you? Select a committee to travel around and judge instructors just as you do the courses. I realize that my views on these matters are far from the mainstream. Demanding that teachers play competitive golf is not a popular idea when the vast majority of teachers don’t. Presenting the game of golf and the components of the swing as difficult and complex is another unpopular view. People are not getting better and are quitting the game as a result because they can’t get any help. Teachers don’t have first hand knowledge of what they are trying to teach because they don’t play. Their information is second and third hand, and they have no “feel” for what they are teaching and no idea of what will and will not work on the golf course. Until you commit to more substantial articles that require more than a 10 second read you will continue to contribute to the problem. And as long as you hire editors who are no more than beginning golfers the chance of that is zero.

Again, thanks for your response to my inquiry. I know you didn’t have to explain yourself in such detail. I hope you don’t see this letter as an attack on your magazine, or for that matter the Tennis Pro, who was a nice enough guy. I realize you are proud of what you do and the magazine you help to produce. I think you could do much better. I’m sure that at some point we will meet again: I am in the game for the long haul. I have a passion for it that has spanned the vast majority of my life. My goal is to become a better player, and to help the people who come to me for guidance. In having me as a Top 100 Teacher you helped me fill up the last remaining spots in my lesson book, and for that I am grateful.

Sincerely,

Wayne D.

So, there you have it. If you know me, none of this should really surprise you. For those of you that are just getting acquainted, I suppose that this will serve as an introduction to my attitude toward the game and golf instruction. I love golf. I practice every day. I study the swing, and I try to find any way possible to improve my scoring. I do the same with my students. I know for a fact that the game is so hard as to be nearly impossible to even approach perfection, yet I dig and claw my way toward the ultimate goal of controlling the ball. The secret truly lies in the dirt, and I don’t suffer con-artists and charlatans who seek to profit from the desperation and misery of the masses who are trying to learn to play. At the same time there is a certain humor that must be salvaged out of the grind, and I always try to remember to keep a light heart as I bleed all over the range. In other words, I never know what is going to come out next. I hope you will keep reading in order to find out.

Originally published in GolfStyles Magazine.

We'll report, you'll decide

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Lexi Thompson an analysis by Nick Clearwater

2012-01-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

Today we're going to have our friend Nick Clearwater take us through the swing of Lexi Thompson.
First here's a quick Bio of Nick:
Nick graduated from the Professional Golf Management Program at Ferris State University in 2001, and became a member of the PGA of America. Nick has mastered a system of measuring the golf swing through many years of teaching, playing the game professionally, and utilizing his knowledge of TrackMan as well as the latest in 3D Motion Capture Technology. Nick will help create a geometrically strong golf swing that best suits any golfer's unique individual needs. Nick coaches golfers of all abilities in Chicago, IL at Cog Hill Golf Club. Nick also continues to spend much of his time with PGA Tour Players at PGA Tour Events.

To learn more about Nick and his philosophies please visit his website:

www.stackandtiltchicago.com

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Keegan Bradley vs Hideki Matsuyama-- a Comparison

2012-01-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting analysis by our friend Kelvin Miyahira

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1999 Ryder Cup Singles Part 2

2012-01-14T20:46:00.001-05:00

Here's Part 2 of the greatest comeback ever.

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Classic Swings--"David Graham"

2012-01-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

Today we're going to have a look at the swing of David Graham. David is the epitome of overcoming adversity (for more on that see the interview embedded below), coming from virtually nowhere to win 2 major Championships, his life borders on a Horatio Alger story. Mr. Graham was the Captain of the inaugural President's Cup in which our good friend Bradley Hughes played.
Here's how Bradley described him to me:

I thought he would be a cool story, 18 greens at Merion, PGA & US open winner.
I played with him a few times.....He is the only guy I have ever played with who was long but then had an extra gear on a par 5 or a hole that needed it... would just rip it out there an extra 20.... precision player, great chipper and bunker player, streaky hot putter
He was captain when I played Pres Cup....not talked about much thought he would be a good one to add one day.
He grew up in Melbourne...actually played golf left handed until he was 16 and the pro where he got a job at told him to switch right handed. practiced till hands bled. Left home to take the job as he Dad said he would never talk to him again if he took up golf (wanted him to get a real job)....so he left and NEVER spoke to his Dad again. Tough as nails....comes across as a bit hard to many but couldn't have been nicer to me

Here's our little video tribute:

For those not familiar with David's story, here's an old Golf Digest interview:

David Interview 3

1999 Ryder Cup Singles Part 1

2012-01-11T20:10:00.002-05:00

I got about 8 hours of this, I'll try to put it all up little by little.
BTW, The sound comes on after about 40 secs.

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Robert Rock an analysis by Dan Perret

2012-01-10T05:30:00.000-05:00

If he isn't already a cult icon, Robert Rock will be when we're done with him. We've already had our friend Dana Dahlquist have a brief look at him and toady we're going to listen to Dan Perret's thoughts on Rocky's swing.

Here's the compilation I made last month:

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"Impact" an analysis by Wayne Defrancesco

2012-01-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a pretty good one from our friend Wayne Defrancesco:

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Classic Swings--"Peter Thomson"

2012-01-09T01:59:00.003-05:00

Today we're going to have a look at the swing of Mr. Peter Thomson. Peter is a 5 time Open Champion and is considered by many to be the father of the modern swing.

Here's his bio from wikipedia:

Peter William Thomson (born 23 August 1929) is an Australian professional golfer. He is best remembered for his five wins in The Open Championship.

Thomson was born in Brunswick, Australia. His Open Championship wins came in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, and 1965. He was the only man to win the tournament for three consecutive years in the 20th century.

Thomson was a prolific tournament champion around the world, winning the national championships of ten countries, including the New Zealand Open nine times. He competed on the PGA Tour in 1953 and 1954 with relatively little success (finishing 44th and 25th on the Money List), and after that was an infrequent competitor. However in 1956, playing in just eight events, he won the rich Texas International, and achieved his best finish in one of the three majors staged in the United States (fourth at the U.S. Open), to finish ninth on the Money List.

In the era that Thomson won his first four Open Championships, it was true that very few of the leading professionals from the United States travelled to Britain to play in that event. At that time, the prize money in the Open was insufficient even for an American to cover expenses if he won. However, Thomson demonstrated with his win in 1965 that he could beat a field of the world's very best players, as that victory came against a field that included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tony Lema, three of the top four American golfers from the 1964 Money List.

Thomson enjoyed a successful senior career. In 1985 he won nine times on the Senior PGA Tour in the United States, and finished top of the money list. His last tournament victory came at the 1988 British PGA Seniors Championship. He was president of the Australian PGA from 1962 to 1994 and a victorious non-playing captain of the international team in the 1998 Presidents Cup.

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1988.

Thomson was a guest at the presentation ceremony of the 135th Open Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods. The event marked the 50th anniversary of Thomson's third Open victory.

Among golf's top players, Thomson has perhaps been the most active as a golf writer, having contributed to the Melbourne Age for some 50 years, since the early 1950s. He was for many years the club professional at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, one of the world's top courses. Thomson has designed several golf courses in Australia.

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Ouimet and Lowery recall the 1913 US Open

2012-01-08T16:32:00.002-05:00

Here are the old names:

Play Club: Driver
Brassie: 2-Wood
Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood
Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood

Cleek: 2 Iron
Mid Mashie: 3 Iron
Mashie Iron: 4 Iron
Mashie: 5 Iron
Spade Mashie: 6 Iron
Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron
Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron
Niblick: 9 Iron
Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft

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1999 US Open final Holes

2012-01-07T22:40:00.001-05:00

This was perhaps one of the best Opens in recent times. Payne's smooth swing, shot making abilities and deft touch around the greens were a sight to see. If you remember the tournament, you'll recall that Tiger was also in the mix up until the end.

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Bill Haas, an analysis by Wayne DeFrancesco

2012-01-07T18:49:00.001-05:00

Here our friend Wayne DeFrancesco with some thoughts on Bill Haas' golf swing:

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Rory Young Superstar

2012-01-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a look at some of Rory's recent swings:

And here's our old analysis by Dan Whitaker:

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Lee Trevino "Golf for Swingers" with Sammy Davis and Jack Benny

2012-01-05T16:00:00.004-05:00

This is pretty cool and nostalgic, Lee's TV show from 1972.

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Nick Watney an analysis by Wayne Defrancesco

2012-01-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here are Wayne's thoughts:
In Nick Watney we see what I would call the "prototype" of the new Tour player, namely one that is tall, strong, talented, and technique oriented. Watney is as conventional as Bubba Watson is not, and it is evident that he is technique oriented as he has managed to improve his golf swing over the last 3 years by fixing a faulty takeaway and working into a much less crossed position for the shaft at the top of the swing. We see here another "right load" backswing, meaning that he moves somewhat off the ball laterally with both the upper and lower body in order to "load" the right side, then recovers beautifully with lateral drive and a tremendous amount of corresponding rotation in the forward swing. Watney again shows evidence of the compression golf swing by lowering somewhat in the backswing, then significantly in the forward swing. He also demonstrates the right arm movement that I have been noting in a large amount of great ball strikers, a technique that I am now including wholeheartedly in all my lessons. It might seem surprising to see that a player of Watney's build would have such a rotary swing, but the more I study this combination of upper and lower body rotation, facilitated by the outward movement of the hands in transition, the less surprised I am.

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The Trace Vectors of Hogan and Trevino by Gregg Mchatton

2012-01-03T21:37:00.001-05:00

Here's Gregg Mchatton with an interesting perspective on the swings of Hogan and Trevino.

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1993 Volvo PGA Championship Nick Faldo's Practice Round

2012-01-02T22:06:00.002-05:00

Pretty Cool to watch him go through his routine. I originally thought the other guy was Mark McNulty but it's Paul McGinnley.

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Luke Donald World Number 1

2012-01-02T16:26:00.001-05:00

Here's a couple of swings and an old analysis by Dan Whittaker.

Here are Dan's thoughts:

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The Driving Range at Wentworth 1992

2012-01-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Here's some nostalgic footage of The Practice Range during the 1992 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. It doesn't seem that long ago to me which is a clear indication that I'm getting old ;o).

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Martin Kaymer

2011-12-31T11:31:00.002-05:00

Here's a look at Martin Kaymer: in addition to the swings I've included 2 analyses. One by Mitchell Spearman and another by Dan Whittaker. I like Spearman's point about trying to shorten somebody's swing and the effect it has on synchronicity. I also love the "float loading" aspect of Martin's swing.

Here's Mitchell Spearman:

And here's Dan Whittaker:

Happy New Year

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Stack & Tilt 2.0

2011-12-30T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest from our friends at Stack & Tilt.

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Gary Woodland "How to hit Long"

2011-12-29T16:58:00.000-05:00

I don't understand why Butch Harmon keeps interjecting his philosophies, I was pretty interested in what Gary had to say.

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Nick Faldo "Ice Water in his Veins"

2011-12-27T16:08:00.001-05:00

Btw I forgot to credit Herbie Hancock.

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The way Wie were

2011-12-26T15:05:00.001-05:00

Here's Kelvin Miyahira with some interesting insight into Michelle Wie's sudden loss of distance.

Here's what Kelvin had to say:

Michelle Wie from 2004 to now. How do you go from 300 yard drives to 266 yard average? Decelerate and stall. She was once a Tiger and now...........

GMBTEMPE made the following comment on Youtube:

Totally understand your points but why compare tee shots to a controlled iron shot? Even in one of your articles you state the tour model is for a different power swing versus a controlled iron shot, think it was the original Zach Johnson article on TAO MFT. I think your argument would be better served with a apples to apples video comparison.

Here's the revised video:

Here's a 2011 Driver Swing, you be the judge

Here's 2010 full speed:

Here's 2011 full speed:

Hit em Straight

Tiger Woods' Swing comparison By Dan Perret

2011-12-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting comparison done by Dan Perret, head instructor at Purple Golf.

Hit em Straight

The Nine Tenths Rule

2011-12-24T23:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays,

Hit em Straight

Mark Evershed on Tiger's move #2

2011-12-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays

Hit em Straight

Mark Evershed on Tiger's move #1

2011-12-23T23:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays

Hit em Straight

Gotham Golfer Luis Rojas

2011-12-23T14:00:00.010-05:00

Here's a story written in the Argentine newspaper about my good friend and Argentinian Order of Merit winner, Luis Rojas. Luis is an example of hard work and perseverance. If you heard him tell his story it would bring you to tears. I translated it back to english so it isn't perfect.

Luis Rojas

Luis Rojas. Winner of the 2011 PGA Tour

Grateful for life and golf

He was just a kid when he and other friends stood in the avenue facing the Golf Course of San Nicolas, Buenos Aires province, in order to ask for some money.

It happens that very early life decided to test him, almost to the limit.

Luis Rojas, now a professional golfer and recent winner of the 2011 PGA Tour, has no objection to mention that in those years he had to sift through the garbage at the landfill because of the needs of suffering he and his family.

But suddenly, everything began to change when his friend German came in with a novel idea. "Why do we not ask for work at the golf course," he proposed.

And frankly it was worth trying. Earning five dollars in those days was a fortune for them.

Thus, Luis formally joined San Nicholas Golf Club as one of the caddies of the institution.

This made his mother Louisa very proud! Now the baby was no longer in the street and had a job. And, most importantly, he was fascinated by his new life.

Soon he met Roberto Bokín, who contrary to expectations rather than hire him as a caddy, named named the official babysitter of his two children.

Louis cared little. He was happy.

At the time he was twelve years old. And almost as a birthday present he hit a five iron out of a bunker. The ball masterfully stopped a few steps from the flag. "What a formidable swing" acclaimed Bokín surprised and astonished, who from that moment on decided to help Louis in his dreams.

"I will never forget he comments proudly, I myself made my first golf club with an iron bar, and a bicycle inner tube to build the grip."

While he practiced hitting the ball with that instrument, at home his mom was selling cosmetics to help him out.

"I owe everything to that old lady and my whole family" he acknowledges.

Both his father and his brothers Manuel Hilario and Alexandra, were pleased that through golf he was able to dissipate the frustration of not being able to continue his football career.

"I made cut in Rosario Central to the fifth division, but an injury in both hands would not let me go."

"I liked the arc. but looking back on it I'm not frustrated at all, for this wonderful sport that is golf gave me everything, "he says.

Luis this season ranked fourth in the Patagonian Open Championship, the same position he held in the School of TPG.

He also rounded off some convincing work in the Open of the Republic, and has recently finished nineteenth Cabrera in the Classic, played in Cordoba.

"I have great expectations for 2012- he confesses, continue to participate in tournaments of the PGA 'an entity that I love because it is ours and is doing much for all the professionals'," recognizes

"And I take part in tournaments TPG, the TLA, and the new possibilities it opens with the Latin American PGA."

"For what it is you have to prepare very well for that reason I started gymnastics classes and sessions with the psychologist Patricia Fuentes." Concludes.

Luis Rojas, who is a profound admirer of Eduardo Romero and Ricardo Gonzalez, never forgets all the beings around him. Because thanks to them, he can enjoy the present.

He'd like to thank his wife Erika, and their children Catriel, Maria Camila and Bianca, Jorge and Marcelo, his sponsors, and authorities of the Club's General Rodriguez and National Reserve Sofitel Cardales, where you're going to throw balls.

Luis Rojas, 32, continues to grow in golf and in life.

Now proudly wears his new title of winner of the 2011 PGA Tour order of merit. He is a perfect example of improvement, and an unwavering desire to improve.

Like when he hit that shot with a formidable five iron.

Hit em Straight

How to Sustain Lag, by Kelvin Miyahira

2011-12-21T22:21:00.004-05:00

I've reached out to our good friend Kelvin Miyahira and asked him to elaborate on some of the topics of his series of articles discussing Lag. The result was Kelvin putting together a little webinar on "How to sustain" or "How to hold" Lag. I'd like to thank Kelvin for taking the time to put this together and help us understand one of the most elusive topics in all of Golf Instruction.

For those who missed it the first time here are Kelvin's articles on lag:

Tour Lag I

Tour Lag II

Tour Lag III

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Vicky Hurst an analysis By Dan Whittaker

2011-12-21T16:01:00.002-05:00

Today we're going to look at what I believe is the best golf swing on any tour, Vicky Hurst. Her swing resembles a hybird cross between Payne Stewart and Ben Hogan. She's got the Hogan dynamics with the Stewart Tempo.

This is a swing that would make Gregg McHatton proud.

Here's Dan with his analysis:

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Webb Simpson an analysis by Wayne Defranseco

2011-12-20T16:00:00.001-05:00

Here's our friend Wayne Defrancesco with an analysis of Webb Simpson's Golf Swing.

For more information about Wayne or his philosophies please visit:

www.waynedefrancesco.com

Hit em Straight

Alvaro Quiros "Power and Finesse"

2011-12-19T21:29:00.001-05:00

Here's Last week's winner at Dubai, Alvaro Quiros. Alvaro is probably in the top5 longest hitters on both Tours. He has also demonstrated a deft touch around the greens, if he can keep this combination going he is definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2012.

Here's an analysis Dan did for us earlier this year:

For more information on Dan and his philosophies please visit:

www.danwhittakergolf.com

Hit em Straight

PGA Tour Release Styles by Kelvin Miyahira

2011-12-19T00:12:00.001-05:00

Kelvin Miyahira

Rick Malm

Here's the PGA Tour Release Styles Webinar in it's entirety.

At the time we were experimenting some online teaching service and it didn't quite work out. So we re-edited it.It isn't perfect but the material is pretty good.

Hit em Straight

Tony Lema Wins Carling World Golf Championship in 1965 Over Arnold Palmer

2011-12-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Here's some great footage courtesy of our friend Larry Bausch:

Larry Baush has written Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema and is currently looking for an agent and/or publisher. Larry has been playing golf since 1964 and currently plays out of Rainier Golf and Country Club in Seattle, Washington. Larry can be contacted at lbaush@clearwire.net.

A critical look at Johnny Miller's swing advice

2011-12-17T09:00:00.008-05:00

Here's our friend Wayne Defrancesco with some insight into Johnny Miller's swing advice.

For more information on Wayne and his philosophies please visit:
www.waynedefrancesco.com

By the way I'm a member.

Hit em Straight

Slicefixer's webinar

2011-12-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

Here's Slicefixer's webinar in it's entirety:

Hit em Straight

Kelvin Miyahira on "The Movements of the Greats"

2011-12-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

Kelvin Miyahira
Kelvin Miyahira has worked with several collegiate strength coaches and athletes at the University of Hawaii, University of Louisville, University of Nebraska, HPU, and Mt. San Antonio College. He has trained 100's of athletes, including Olympic hopefuls, from as young as 6 years old to adults in all sports from baseball, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball, track, etc. Kelvin has products being used by the David Leadbetter Junior Golf Academy in Florida as well as many other golf academies across the US. and in Mexico/South America. Many LDA members including Scott Smith, holder of the Guinness World Long Drive Record with a drive of 539 yards uses his methods and products.

Here's the second webinar Kelvin did for us in it's entirety:

Hit em Straight

My interview with Greg Lavern

2011-12-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

Here's my interview with Greg Lavern, author of "The Real Moe Norman".

Here are some nice stills of Moe in his prime:

To learn more about Greg, you can email him at:

http://www.blogger.com/goog_2102413055greglavern_5@hotmail.com

or go to his Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/greg.lavern

or go to his website:

http://therealmoenorman.com/

Hit em Straight

Tapio Santala and Kelvin Miyahira discuss golf biomechanics and Measurements

2011-12-13T11:32:00.001-05:00

Here is a Skype conversation between Tapio and Kelvin regarding 4dswing and it's measurements.

Hit em Straight

Robert Rock an analysis by Dana Dahlquist

2011-12-12T19:34:00.001-05:00

We've been so fascinated by Robert Rock's stroke pattern that we asked our friend Dana Dahlquist to provide us with some insight. Based on his writings and his background, I would qualify Dana to be in the top 5% of Golf instructors in the Country. If you're on the West Coast, pay him a visit I highly recommend him.

Here's Dana's Bio:
Dana Dahlquist began his teaching in golf about ten years ago. During this time he was researching the golf swing, reading various articles and educating his students on tried and true techniques. While doing this he continued to evaluate many aspects of the golf swing. He knew there was a lot still unknown about how to perfect the ultimate swing.

His first journey was to contact the area’s best teachers and find out what they knew about golf. He had the opportunity to work with and observe the great Mac O’Grady until 2006 as well as many other golfing professionals, a wonderful learning experience.

In golf you are always learning, whether playing personally or from observing a student taking a lesson, the constant evaluation of others, on the range or out on the course.

In March of 2004, Dana began working at Heartwell Golf Course in Long Beach, California. It is one of the best teaching facilities because of its true ability to make a player’s game better by taking advantage of its driving range or playing the executive 18-hole golf course. Hartwell has a nationally acclaimed Junior Golf Program that Dana participated in as an instructor.

After a successful time teaching at Heartwell Golf Course, Dana moved to Skylinks Golf Course. Skylinks is one of Long Beach’s premier municipal golf courses. Skylinks offers players extensive practice areas to perfect technique as well as a wonderful and challenging 18-hole golf course.

Starting in 2007 Dana began working with Andy Plumber and Mike Bennett on the “Stack and Tilt” Golf Swing. The golf swing is not “one size fits all”. Each situation and each individual differ. The “Stack and Tilt” concept is known for its many tried and true techniques. Each individual can master these techniques thru practice and evaluation.

Dana has had the opportunity to work with many great Professional players as well as many Top Ranked College players.

To learn more about Dana and his philosophies please visit:

www.dahlquistgolf.net

Hit em Straight

Robert Rock..Ball Striking Machine

2011-12-11T22:47:00.002-05:00

The race to Dubai was spearheaded by Rory's charge to overtake Luke on top of the Order of Merit. Those two players and Long Hitting Alvaro Quiros, who was atop the leaderboard for most of the Tournament hogged up the limelight. But while the rest Golfdom was focused on the Drama those guys were creating, I was watching Robert Rock put on a ballstriking clinic.
Perhaps he's most remembered for his last minute appearance in this year's US Open. But those of us who are swing aficionados know who Robert is and what he is capable of.

Hit em Straight

European Tour Q School 2011

2011-12-10T19:07:00.001-05:00

Here's to you , live from the Driving Range at The European Tour School final round. First of all Congratulations to all who made it this far, you all will be bestowed the title of "Gotham Golfer".

A couple of observations:

I was amazed at the broad range of stroke patterns.
It also seems that the prevailing thought is a CF release.
There are even a few Pro-Flippers.

Gotham Golfers Joachim and Morten shot -3 and -1, so they're still in the hunt

Special thanks to our friend Andreas Kali for providing us with his reports and footage.

Hit em Straight

Stance Width

2011-12-10T07:53:00.004-05:00

I've always played from a narrow stance (ie, Shoulder width with a driver) and every time my swing goes awry, the first thing I hear is, "You should widen your stance". I'm getting tired of listening to this dogma. One size does not fit all. Personally I cannot make an effective pivot playing from Sumo wrestler stance, if I try I'll never get back to my left side through impact. Recently, Tiger Woods narrowed his stance and I believe it has added to his effectiveness, it also appears to have relieved some of the the strain on his lower body.

Here's one of my recent swings as I try to figure out V1 home

Here's EA Tischler with some thoughts on Stance Width:

Hit em Straight

Sean Foley "Sequence Drill"

2011-12-09T11:20:00.003-05:00

One of our readers reached out to me and asked me to look at his swing. It became obvious to me that this gentleman was "Hitting from the Top". I asked my good friend Norrie Wright to have a look at it and give us some feed back.

Here's a drill from our friend Sean Foley which I think addresses this issue.

This is an excerpt from Sean's video "The Next Generation" available at

www.seanfoleydvd.com

I have decided to try to revive the forum so if you want to register go to;

www.gothamgolfforum.com

Hit em Straight

Webb Simpson The "Modern Hitter"

2011-12-08T12:09:00.007-05:00

As you well know I'm highly interested in different types of patterns and what makes them work. Webb Simpson seems to fit this criteria. I've coined the phrase "Modern Hitting" to define an action which starts out as a swinger's pattern and then converts into an aggressive thrust through impact. Why I call it swinging initially is because of the passive hand attitude and the lag angles at the top and transition. So it initiates with longitudinal acceleration and then they kick in some other form of power, in essence they are adding.

In Webb's case, it closely approximates the ABS (Advanced Ball Striking) Protocol, except there is no Post impact pivot thrust. He uses his lower body as his base and platform to launch his upper body. He has a slight lateral/rotational move to start and then stops the lower body and rotates aggressively with his shoulders and arms.
It could also be described as a Right Sided Swing (Gary Edwin's Construct), however Webb has a very acute Lag angle, where the RSS utilizes a concept they call "Store Up".
It is also similar to Lynn Blakes "Tripod" model
It might conform to Manzella's "Pivot Braking" construct.

Here's Store Up

Here's Manzella

Here's John Erickson's Swing

Here's Webb

Persimmon Golf Today said... Ralph,

I love your stuff but I have to agree with "unknown". ABS protocol is a pivot and wrists with a no-roll angled hinge post impact, minimal clubface rotation post impact, and zero right arm thrust. Webb is right arm thrusting and the clubface closes a great deal post impact. See the comparison:

(click on the image to enlarge)

I believe the rapid rate of closure is relative to the shot he's playing. Here's another look. BTW my term approximation was used to describe the transition portion of the 2 swings. But anyway here it is:

(click to enlarge)

eagolfpro said...
Webb Simpson uses a supinating delivery action that I often call "Hook-It-Straight." I demonstrate this type of delivery action almost daily and show golfers I can, so-called, close the clubface down as hard as I want through the ball and into the follow-through without ever hooking a shot. We often view the clubface as much as 135 degrees closed at the end of the follow-through. This is an active two-handed release action when I perform it.

This discussion will be continued on the Forum:

www.gothamgolfforum.com

There is a post by Lagpressure there.

Hit em Straight

Andreas Kali an analysis by Gregg McHatton

2011-12-07T21:05:00.001-05:00

Here's Gregg with an analysis of my friend Andreas Kali's Golf Swing.

You probably want to watch this in full screen, since Gregg is using his proprietary software and talking about trace vectors.

If you watched the Golf Channel this week you would have listened to them speculate about Tiger's shoes. They said that Sean told them he want Tiger to grip the ground. It is said that Hogan wanted to grip the ground as if he had claws. Thus he would wear out the insoles of his shoes.

Here's a drill we work on with Gregg, as always applying a small swing.

Here's vintage Hogan through the impact interval, the cigarette served as an indication that his head stayed back through the impact interval.

Hit em Straight

Talking Tiger with Mark Evershed

2011-12-07T14:18:00.004-05:00

I caught up with Mark Evershed this morning and we shot the bull regarding Tiger.

For a free 1 month membership to The LagnLoad Academy please visit: www.lagandload.com

And enter the code MYGUEST all Caps.

eagolfpro said...

I believe Tom Pernice Jr is a Rear Anchor player that swings left, has decent axis tilt and get to a firm left leg well. He is also a side-on golfer and releases his posture well through the ball.

EA

Here's Pernice:

Hit em Straight

Tiger Woods at the Chevron 2011

2011-12-06T22:08:00.002-05:00

Here's some swings from last weeks Chevron.

Here's a Knockdown Shot I really liked. It's on 18 in the first round.

Hit em Straight

A Tribute to Carl Welty

2011-12-06T16:17:00.002-05:00

Here's an exclusive article from our friend Larry Baush which details his experiences as a young aspiring golfer under the tutelage of our good friend, Carl Welty. Larry is a great writer (much better than I am) and will be contributing some pieces from time to time.

Learning at the Knee of Carl Welty
By Larry Baush

I strolled into the trailer that served as the temporary clubhouse at the new Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Washington on an early summer day in 1970 to be greeted by the new assistant pro, Carl Welty. With a huge smile and a friendly demeanor, Carl asked me about my game. After talking for a few minutes I sat down at one of the small tables in the room that served as the restaurant to wait for my buddies to arrive for our golf game. I picked up one of the golf magazines from the pile on the table and began flipping through the pages.
I began studying one of the ubiquitous how-to instructional articles that was lavishly illustrated with the key swing items of the article. Behind me, I heard Carl say, “What are you wasting your time on that garbage for?”
After I expressed the notion that I could learn something from the article, Carl said, “How can you learn anything from drawings? If you want to learn about the golf swing, you have to look at pictures.”
And with that I was introduced to the teaching philosophy of Carl Welty. As he took me under his wing and taught me, I learned that the only reliable information about the golf swing was derived from pictures and video. Carl was all about positions in the swing and these positions were achieved by all the great players despite their individual swings. Carl had a vast library of swing sequence pictures of the star PGA Tour players as well as shoe boxes filled with 8mm film that he recorded while caddying on the tour.
Within a very short time, Carl would take me, and my friends, to the practice tee and using a multiple lens Polaroid camera, recorded swing sequences of our swings. We then compared our swing positions to those of our heroes on tour. Carl quickly identified that I was a “right arm below the left” swinger. Looking straight on you could easily see my right arm bending below my left arm on the backswing.
“Look through all these pictures of the pros,” he instructed. “Do you see any of them with their right arm below their left on the backswing? If they don’t do it, you shouldn’t either.”
I began clipping every swing sequence I could find in the golf magazines. Carl continued to record us with the Polaroid camera, and later one of the first video disc machines available on the market. Similar to the technology that was revolutionizing the instant replay on televised sports at the time, this video disc recorder was mounted on a cart with a small black-and-white screen. The great thing about this recorder, in addition to the quick replay, was that you could slow the golf swing down to frame-by-frame speed without any blurring or distortion.
Carl would set up his hand cranked film editor on top of the video disc cart and you could compare your swing frame-by-frame with one of the pros from his vast collection of filmed swings. He advised to choose a pro with a similar body type to try and emulate.
I worked through that summer, and the next, to eliminate my right arm below the left problem and eventually got my arm positions correct. My golf game improved dramatically and I was hooked. I spent every spare moment on the range with that video disc cart. Carl would give me and my friends a quarter from the till to put into the machine that dispensed range balls, and we figured a way to push that quarter in just far enough to activate the release of the balls but not so far that the quarter would drop into the coin collection tray. We would casually enter the pro shop and give the quarter back to Carl who would wink and laugh before we’d leave for the range to beat balls.
Carl began using me as a caddy for the weekly pro-ams played in the area and eventually we made a trip to Spokane, Washington, about 5 hours east of Seattle where I caddied as he played in the Lilac City Open. This was my first exposure to a tournament that featured elite amateurs and professionals. We would go out for dinner with other pros and the discussion around the table was consumed with talk about the golf swing. Other pros knew of Carl’s work with video and had plenty of questions to ask him while I sat there and soaked up the discussion like a sponge. Just through osmosis I was gaining a deep understanding of the golf swing.
Carl eventually landed a head pro job at Skagit Valley Golf and Country Club in Burlington, Washington, about 2 hours north of Seattle. I would make the trip up and stay with Carl and help around the shop. He equipped a room in the basement of the clubhouse with a net and his video disc machine as well as a new piece of equipment – a radar swing speed machine. One day he took me down into the basement and told me I couldn’t come up until I registered 100 mph on the radar machine. Using the video disc recorder and referring back to his 8mm films, I tried everything I could to increase my swing speed.
After hours of trial and error, I discovered that a wider turn and a higher hand position at the top of the backswing increased my clubhead speed. Finally I registered 100 mph on the radar machine. I went upstairs and dragged Carl down to witness the red numbers on the radar machine that read 100 mph.
When the Washington State Open visited Meridian Valley, now featuring a brand-new large clubhouse, Carl stayed at my family’s home on the 14th fairway. One night he invited Steve Cole, a prominent elite amateur player who later founded Redbird Golf Company, and Jim McLean, another top amateur player, for dinner. The meal featured one or the other of these players gripping a knife like a golf club and either making a point or asking a question about the golf swing. My parents and I sat listening to all the theories about the golf swing that these three great golf minds bandied about. Eventually, Carl said, “Come on, I’ll show you,” and we all moved out to the backyard. The next thing we knew, we were all hitting balls down the 14th fairway toward the pond in the distance. When the demonstration was complete, I walked down the fairway to shag the balls we’d hit.
Jim McLean later went on to found one of the prominent teaching schools in the country and Carl eventually joined him as an instructor. McLean often credits Carl with teaching him how to use video in teaching the golf swing and the importance of the key swing positions that all good players exhibit. McLean’s book, Eight Step Swing is a direct result of his collaboration with Welty.
You could not spend any amount of time with Carl without learning about the golf swing. And really, when it came right down to the nuts and bolts of the swing, for Carl it was quite simple. All the good players reached certain positions at exactly the same point in the golf swing. The right arm cannot be seen below the left arm on the backswing yet still achieves a perfect “L” shape at the top of the backswing. The left wrist maintains an angle as the downswing begins eliminating any tendency to “cast” the club. A slight squatting of the hips begins the hip turn on the downswing (think Sam Snead). And so on, and so on.
I was so lucky to have fallen in with Carl Welty. He taught me not only the golf swing, but gave me the analytic ability to correct swing flaws as they occur. Even to this day I only need a video camera to get me back on track when I’m swinging poorly.
Carl is annually listed on the Top 100 Instructors in America list in both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. The list of players he has worked with is quite impressive and includes Fred Couples, Greg Norman, Anthony Kim, Ben Crane, Gene Littler, Tom Kite and Brad Faxon to name just a few. If you want to get your swing on track, in a short amount of time, look him up. You can find him at the Jim McLean Golf School in La Quinta, California. He and McLean have a Facebook page with lots of good info at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carl-Welty-Jim-McLean-Lead-Master-Instructor/204245372945788. You can contact Carl at cewelty@dc.rr.com.

Gotham Golfer --Joachim B. Hansen "The Slicefixer Model"

2011-12-05T22:30:00.002-05:00

Here's another one of our Danish Contingency:
Joachim is currently at -10 in the second stage of Q-School and has made it to the finals.

His Coach is : Magnus Landström. Former National Team Coach. (Works with Anders Hansen, Jeppe Huldahl, Thomas Nørret who are European Tour players and lots of other pros)

Here's his swing

Here is the scoreboard, click to enlarge:

Hit em Straight

Tapio Santala CTO of 4Dswing

2011-12-04T19:00:00.000-05:00

Tapio Santala

Today we're going to get to meet and talk to the CTO of 4Dswing, Mr. Tapio Santala. First let's look at some of the graphs 4Dswing outputs.

Legend:

Yellow = Club Head Speed

Red = shoulder rotation speed

Blue = hip rotation speed

Green = hand speed

(Click on the Graphs to enlarge)

Tour Player Profile

Flipper Profile

And Here's the interview:

Hit em Straight

Squat and Thrust

2011-12-04T10:46:00.003-05:00

Unknown said...

I normally agree with waynes anaylsis, but brandel is right on that point. I have never ever seen video of Hogan, or miller in the prime popping up, backing out and stalling the pivot in the manner that woods does at times and brandel did in that video. Wayne asked at 6:58 Why the popping out move is a bad thing? I believe that move adds alot of timing and rate of clubface closure issues to the swing, and can lead to less consistency dayin and dayout, and i have never see that from hogan or miller.

Here's Shawn Clements:

This Guy's supposedly demonstrating Hogan's Move:

Here's Miller side by side with Chamblee:

Hit em Straight

Stance Width by EA Tischler

2011-12-04T02:43:00.000-05:00

Here is EA Tischler with some thoughts on finding your optimum Stance width.

Hit em Straight

Brandel owes Foley an apology

2011-12-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

Here's our friend Wayne Defrancesco with some interesting insight.

Here's a comparison with what I consider Hogan at his best:

Hit em Straight

4dswing

2011-12-03T07:52:00.003-05:00

We're going to be learning about this company and it's key players over the next few days.
Here's a screenshot of the Graphs it outputs:

Click to Enlarge

Here's their point of sale advertising:

Why is it unique?
4DSwing begins a new era in golf analysis in several ways:

No more relying on guessing and naked eye vision.

No more wires or sensors attached to your body.

No more problems setting up the scene for swing practice.

No more out-of-sync graphs and videos.

No more time and money wasted on waiting for your analysis during practice.

No more “my coach is golfing in Portugal and I cannot fix my swing" stress – with 4DSwing, your coach can analyze your swing from anywhere.

No more “I can never swing like Tiger Woods” depression – 4DSwing gives you examples of great swings from players who have body and swing characteristics similar to yours.

Here's how it works:

Hi-speed video cameras, running at 100-500 frames per second, capture your swing from every angle.

Machine vision and 4D shape recognition algorithms measure every detail of your club head, wrist, hip and shoulder movement during the swing and transform the data into an exact 4D model.

Artificial intelligence algorithms such as self organizing maps, learning vector quantization and Bayesian classifiers analyze your swing.

View and analyze numerical, video and 4D data with your coach on a laptop and share it via the web

Here's a video feature with 21st. Century Business

Trackman Data Sheet Huggy linked below:

Trackman was never being disingenuous with what they've purported to have measured, it is simply a matter of misinformation being disseminated by others.

Click To Enlarge

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Morton Ørum Madsen Leads in 2nd Stage Q School

2011-12-03T05:19:00.002-05:00

Looks like our friend Morton Ørum Madsen is leading the 2nd Stage of Q School.

(Click to Enlarge)

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Mark O'Meara on Persimmon

2011-12-02T22:52:00.000-05:00

Here's Mark O'Meara getting reacquainted with a Persimmon Driver.

Hit em Straight

Jack Fleck

2011-12-02T16:00:00.004-05:00

From Golf Digest:
At St. Petersburg in the spring of 1955, I heard there was a box of new irons in Skip Alexander's pro shop. They were made by the Ben Hogan Golf Company, which was brand new. Skip let me open the box, and after looking at the irons I asked some other pros if they thought Ben Hogan would make me a set of clubs if I asked, and they said don't bother; Mr. Hogan would never approve it. I wrote anyway, and the general manager wrote back telling me that Ben said to send in my specs. I also received word that I was one of two "likely prospective pros"—Dow Finsterwald was the other player—who were invited to play at Colonial, which was Ben's tournament. Why he chose me, I had no idea. I still don't know why.
When I got to Colonial I went to Ben's office and factory on Pafford Street to see how my clubs were coming along, and after his secretary announced me, here came Ben with a very hearty greeting and an invitation to go to his plant. When I got out to Colonial, word spread that I had observed the manufacturing area. Lloyd Mangrum, Jimmy Demaret, Jackie Burke, Cary Middlecoff and others were shocked by that. They all said they had never gotten past the front office. Why did he like me? I'll never figure it out, unless it was that I had grown up poor and worked hard like he had.

Hopefully we'll be sitting down to chat with our friend Al Barkow who is working on a book on the 55 Open.

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"Lag" and "Throw Away"

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Which one of the 2 below is the longer hitter?

Our friend Kelvin Miyahira has written some well thought out articles on PGA Tour Clubhead Lag:

Here are the links:

PGA Tour Clubhead Lag I

PGA Tour Clubhead Lag II

PGA Tour Clubhead Lag III

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Greg Norman an analysis by Steve Pratt

2011-12-01T21:00:00.005-05:00

Here's a pretty good analysis of "Persimmon Era" Norman:

Here's some info on Steve:

Since the day I met Mike Austin back in June of 1993, I knew my life's passion was to help people with their golf games by teaching them the fundamentals of Mike's perfect golf swing. My students are always amazed at how quickly they improve.

I would like to help you hit the ball longer and straighter than ever before with less effort and risk of injury. I break the Mike Austin swing down into small bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible. By joining this community, you will build great fundamentals and quickly start to see the results.

What makes the site truly unique, and different than the other online golf instruction sites, is the direct contact to me that each member has, and the way I personally take care of each and every one of them. I love answering your questions and analyzing your swings so that you can get better.

At age 41, I still routinely carry the ball well over 300 yards straight, and to this day can't believe how easy it feels, thanks to Mike. The Mike Austin swing uses the body's levers and joints so efficiently, that you will also be amazed at how effortlessly you will hit it longer.

I think you'll find that my educational, teaching, and playing backgrounds make me the most qualified person online to teach you this great method, and I invite you to explore the site. Email me directly at steve@hititlonger.com if you have any questions!

Sincerely,

Steve Pratt

For more information on Steve and his methodologies please visit:

www.hititlonger.com

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EA Tischler on Power Stacking"

2011-12-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

Today we're going to have our friend EA Tischler discuss his "Power Stacking" construct.

Here's a synopsis:

As long as I can remember, I’ve heard great players talk about power golf being played from the ground up. I’m sure many of you have heard that statement as well, but what does it mean?

At face value, it alludes to the idea that ground-force and our footwork are very important to playing powerful golf. Players like Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, and Payne Stewart all had great footwork and they all believed in playing golf from the ground up. Players such as Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Tom Watson also believed in playing powerful golf from the ground up. Although the quality of their footwork may seem less obvious, they too build their swings from the ground up while using ground-force effectively.

While researching the game’s great players, I found most of them spent considerable time studying footwork. George Knudson one of the best ball strikers of his day, believed that weight shift and footwork helped establish the founding actions of a fundamentally sound, and natural, golf swing. He believed a sound swing would start and finish in balance through proper footwork.

With all that in mind I am going to entertain that powerful golf truly is played from the ground up, and that means we will build our swing’s power package by first establishing our footwork/weight shift/ground-force application.

Stacking is the process of establishing our most grounded power component, followed by adding an additional component on top of the foundation. Then the next component is established and stacked on top of the first two. That process continues until all the power components are stacked on top of each other and linked together.

Learning to manage a structurally sound Power Stacking process will allow you to apply power at will. And it will help you manage the tightness of your shot patterns when striving to apply maximum power. However one of its greatest benefits will be to provide you with a method of play. By that I mean it will give you a process that you can take out on the golfer course that allows you to consistently play each club a variety of distances with varying trajectories. Having those shots in your repertoire will give you the best chance to play the most appropriate shot in any given situation.

The Power Stacking Process will begin by establishing your ground force application, followed by integrating your knee action, then hip turn, shoulder turn and widening the arc of the stroke. Lastly, keep in mind that there are many valid methods of play. I am simply introducing one in Power Stacking and if you find it appropriate for you needs then by all means employ it.

EA Tischler

And here's the video:

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Gotham Golfer "Greg Lavern"

2011-11-30T23:27:00.000-05:00

Here's an introduction to my friend Greg Lavern, as soon as Greg resolves his computer problems we'll be talking to him,

Greg Lavern currently lives in Halifax/Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and has the closest swing to Moe Norman’s in the world. A 17 year member of the CPGA, holder of a black belt in Chito Ryu karate, a BA in Public Administration and a degree in Advanced Public Relations. Greg has three daughters, Heather, Chelsey and Jerica living in Charlottetown PEI. Greg is available to teach professionals and amateurs alike to hit the ball as straight as he does and “right on the nose”. We need to see a new golf show called “The Greg Lavern Project”.

One thing to note: When Greg was Moe's sidekick, Moe wasn't wearing any logos or playing any strange concocted clubs, titleist wasn't paying him and he lived out of his car. If you look at the comparison (side by side), the dynamics are of a young Moe Norman. What I consider the "Real Moe Norman".

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Classic Swings--"Kel Nagle"

2011-11-30T09:31:00.002-05:00

In my interview with Bradley Hughes, I asked him how many of the great Australian Players of his era came about developing their own dynamics. (If you watched the Australiasian Tour during the 90's you would have noted how many different and effective stroke patterns there were), to which Bradley replied, "it was a byproduct of not having proper tuition".
Most young people learn best by mimicry, that might have been the case with Peter Senior. One of the Preeminent Australian players during Senior's youth was Kel Nagle, let's watch (pay particular attention to the footwork):

Although it seems haphazard, these Blokes really knew what they were doing.

Here's his bio from Wikipedia:

Kelvin David George Nagle (born 21 December 1920) is an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975.

Nagle was born in North Sydney. Although he had won over 30 tournaments in Australia, and had won the Canada Cup for Australia in partnership with five-time Open champion Peter Thomson in 1954 and 1959, Nagle was a shock winner of The Open, as he was 39 years old but had never finished in the top-10 at a major championship before. He beat the rising star of American golf Arnold Palmer into second place, and it was Palmer who deprived him of his title in 1961. Nagle never regained The Open title, but he put together a string of six further top-10 finishes between 1961 and 1969. His best result in a United States major was second in the 1965 U.S. Open, the year after he won the Canadian Open; he lost in an 18-hole playoff to Gary Player. As late as 1970, the year he turned 50, Nagle was ranked among the top ten players in the world on the McCormack's World Golf Rankings, the forerunner of the modern world ranking system.

Nagle won 61 times on the PGA Tour of Australasia, giving him the most wins all-time on that tour, ahead by 30 wins over Greg Norman, who has 31 wins in second place.

Nagle played on the Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour) in the U.S. in the 1980s when he was in his 60s. His best finishes were a pair of T-3s: at the 1981 Eureka Federal Savings Classic and the 1982 Peter Jackson Champions.

In July 2007, Nagle was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, and was inducted in November 2007.

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George Knudson "Master Ball Striker"

2011-11-29T19:05:00.000-05:00

Here's a great video tribute posted by our Friend, Bradley Hughes:

for more information on Bradley visit:www.bradleyhughesgolf.com

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Bradley Hughes on "Release Styles"

2011-11-29T14:57:00.003-05:00

Here's our friend and Gotham Golfer Bradley Hughes describing release styles including the ABS protocol which I consider "Swinging Left".

John Erickson demonstrating

Here's Footwedge's correspondence with Dr. Mackenzie:

The e-mail to Sasho and his reply. It's same thing Bradley is saying about flattening the shaft in his assumed teachings.

Hi, Sasho
I have read your study on the downswing in regards to the clubs position relative to the lead arms plane, above that plane or below that plane at the start of the downswing and how it affects the squaring of the clubface for impact.

The question I have is how is the below plane club accomplished in relation to the lead arm's plane at the initiation of the downswing? What biomechanical process is involved, is it a rotation of the lead forearm clockwise at takeaway or at the beginning of the downswing or some other move that gets the club below the lead arm's plane to facillitate the squaring of the clubface on the downswing?

I hope I asked a reasonable question that's worth the time to answer as I'm sure you have a busy schedule and get lots of these e-mails.
If you are too busy to reply I understand.

Thank You for your time.

Hi Your question is definitely reasonable. At the start of the downswing, it would be some combination of the pronation at the lead elbow joint and internal rotation at the lead shoulder joint. This motion would be accompanied by an equal amount of supination at the trail elbow and external rotation at the trail shoulder joint. I hope that helps. Cheers Sasho ******************************************************Dr. Sasho J. MacKenzieAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Human KineticsSt. Francis Xavier UniversityPO Box 5000 (Courier 1 West St.)Antigonish, Nova Scotia CANADAB2G 2W5
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Gotham Golfer, Morten Ørum Madsen

2011-11-28T15:20:00.002-05:00

Morten Ørum Madsen

Here's the next of our Danish Contingency,his name is Morten Ørum Madsen. Here's what we know about him:

Morten played a couple years at Oregon State University.
He was part of the Danish team that finished second at the Eisenhower Trophy last year
He turned pro with the lowest Handicap in Europe (+5,7), and has had a great year.
He will be playing the Challenge Tour next year.

Here's his swing

Here is some commentary by Les and Gregg:

To reach out to Les Johnson go to his site:www.lesjohnsongolf.com

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Gary Woodland, Power Golf Redefined

2011-11-28T08:24:00.006-05:00

Here's the next new thing on the PGA Tour. Given that Gary has maxed out at 202 MPH ball speed, you'd expect him to play grip it and rip type of golf. But it seems the opposite is the case, he's taking the thinking man's strategic approach and it appears to me that he's more concerned with control and winning and less with distance. His swing is "smooth as ice and twice as nice". He's definitely not going at it at more than 80% and still finished 5th. on tour in driving distance with an average of 310.5 yards. His tour radar stats this year were:

Clubhead speed 121.81, 3rd overall
Ball Speed 179.27,3rd overall
Carry Distance 288.7, 7th overall

Not bad for someone who appears to be "Smoothing it out there" and has plenty in reserve. Here's an excerpt from a Q&A with him done by PGATOUR.com:

Q. We've got one of the best swing analyst, maybe "the" best swing analyst in the world on the slow motion camera, and we can't get your swing in slow motion. That's how much club head speed there is. Do you feel like you're hitting the ball hard?

GARY WOODLAND: I don't. The one on 17 was really the only one I swung hard at today, and I missed it. I'm trying to go 80%. I have a lot of power in the lower body, it's pretty stable down there, and I fire through it pretty hard.

It's obviously a pivot powered swing. My hats off to his Coach, Randy Smith for being able to refine Gary's Raw Athletic ability into what it is today.

After his performance in this weeks World Cup, I expect some great things from him in 2012. In fact I wouldn't put a Major Championship past him.
Here's a video of some of his swings this week:

Here's Gary describing his swing sequence:

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Swinging Left Again Part 4 EA Tischler working with Mark Wurtz

2011-11-27T11:32:00.004-05:00

Let's have a look a EA Tischler working with former PGA Tour Player Mark Wurtz on the concept of "Swinging Left". A couple of things to note:

He's using the now famous "Headcover under the right arm drill", this was in 2003 and was a recap of some work they had done in 2000. The point being that, there's nothing new under the sun. Competent instructors like EA have the experience and knowledge to draw from various resources.
EA is recommending that Mark feel as if he's swinging "Low and Left", just to point out that these concepts have been around for a while.
Most advanced (low to mid cappers) fight the left side of the Golf Course, so these techniques have been applied counteract that tendency for years. In the Hogan era, most believed that a weaker grip would do the trick. In my opinion, a good player with "Educated Hands" can eventually develop a snap hook with a weaker grip.
EA wants the miss to be a pull fade, the stage at which it appears Tiger is at.
This type of instruction is not designed with the Beginning golfer in mind

Conclusion: EA can help Tiger or anybody else!

EA's comments from below:

I believe there are different definitions of "Swinging Left," just like there are a variety of valid/acceptable definitions for most terms in the English language.

In the 80's we (meaning myself and those that worked with me) mainly looked at the swing from the DTL view (as far as viewing swinging left) and defined swinging left as "delivering the stroke down-plane followed by exiting left enough that the shaft appeared on or below the shoulder plane." If the shaft appeared above the right shoulder in the follow-through we did not consider it a Swinging Left action even if it was still swing up-plane. This view became more advanced when understanding the differences between Hip-Plane, Torso-Plane and Shoulder-Plane Slotting stroke patterns.

At times Swinging Left has been described as keeping the arms more strictly connected to the torso and having the pivot carry the lever assembly around to the left. Just like swinging with a rolled up towel being held under both arms and/or using surgical tubing or a theraband to keep the arms more strictly connected. Players like Scott McCarron and David Toms do that well and I use it in what I call a Centerline Swing. And the golfer can use a variety of different release actions with regard to wrist lever action and still Swing Left in this manner, including full roll release actions.

The CP and CF concepts evolved and golfers have often related CP releases (of which I believe there are a variety) correlate directly to Swinging Left. I believe that is because in general with CP delivery actions we will see the shaft exit either on or below the right shoulder from the down the line view, and above the right shoulder with CF delivery action. Again, those are general rules as compared to absolutes.
Anyone what to add any other commonly used defintions of Swinging Left?

Here's another one:

Here's Hunter Mahan, perhaps the best at this; watch the Club post impact (hint: Low and Left)

EA's video from the comment below:

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Classic Swings--"Bobby Jones"

2011-11-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

Let's have a look at The golf swing of Robert Tyre Jones Jr. Bobby was perhaps the greatest Amateur Golfer ever and arguably one of the ten best golfers of all time. He was the last great player of the Hickory Shaft era and by studying him I think we can learn from his techniques. A couple of things to note.

1. The Lagging clubhead take away
2. The Corkscrew type pivot
3. THe double cocked top of backswing position
4. The hand action

Here's what his swing looked like:

Here's Peter Kostis with an analysis:

And Here's our friend Wayne DeFrancesco with his assessment:

For more information on Wayne and his philosophies, please visit:www.waynedefrancesco.com

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Gerry Hogan

2011-11-26T11:51:00.004-05:00

Not to beat a dead horse here, but I have a hard time with someone sitting on a pedestal pontificating and criticizing, who when asked to demonstrate, balks.Gerry Hogan wrote the "Hogan Manual on Human Performance" an undertaking similar to Homer's. In his video, Gerry describes himself as a 55 year old busted up, retired ex-copper (cop in the U.S.) and then proceeds to demonstrate his technique by hitting his 6 iron 190 yards.I'm almost certain he left the force due to disabilities.I'm going to reach out to Gerry and see if he'll do an interview. Great Character.

Ralph

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EA Tischler on the "Trajectory Control"

2011-11-26T10:47:00.003-05:00

Ralph, I agree with the trajectory comments. I have always believed that the best wedge and short iron players have played lower flighted shots. It is almost as if they are throwing darts in there, and the more you would try to lob your darts the less accurate you will be. It is also the case the most of the great long iron players launch the ball high, and so too with most great wood players. Of course most great drivers of the ball can play it low when they need to as well.

I have taught a variety of techniques to my students to make them very proficient at playing lower flighted shots with the shorter clubs and higher flighted ones with the longer clubs as their general method of play. However, once they acquire the general method of play I encourage them to learn how to flight it on any trajectory with every club.

The basic techniques I teach are Power Stacking and Exiting. I feel with those techniques you can me more passive/aggressive than simply playing the shorter clubs softer. Many golfers that are aggressive players, or even passive/aggressive players need to be more positive with there method instead of conservative with the softer actions.

Also

I just want to note that golfers with differing biomechanical patterns, as well as swing techniques will have varying power stacking patterns. They will progress from weight shots to squeeze-it shots to control shots to power shots to maximum power shots as a general rule, however they will use differing techniques for each level of the progression.

I suggest to anyone that wants to be great with trajectory control with all clubs that they learn techniques such as Exiting and Power Stacking.

Now some professionals (like Nick Price) will vary their Swing Anchor Alignments in order to vary trajectories. For example they may use Front Anchor techniques for lower trajectory shots, Rear Anchor for medium trajectory and Center Anchor for higher trajectory shots. Now though you can do so as a valid approach, my experience has shown me that it takes more athletic ability to manage the method compared to both Exiting and Power Stacking. It can also lead to injury. So as a general rule I recommend staying away from varying your swing anchor alignments on purpose.

Just some thoughts,
EA Hit em Straight

Tiger Woods in Australia 2011

2011-11-25T20:22:00.002-05:00

Here some footage I put together of Tiger on his recent stint "Down Under"

.

One thing to note, is how the announcer points to Tiger's obsession with Trajectory; "Traj", he calls it. This leads me to believe he's becoming more Hoganesque in his approach. I will do a Monday Morning Ramble on this.
In the meantime here is an article written by our friend Terry Koehler (aka "The Wedge Guy")

Trajectory Is The Key To Shotmaking
Ben Hogan

Being raised in the Ben Hogan country of South Texas, and having been the Marketing Director at Hogan in the mid-1990's, I am a strong disciple of Mr. Hogan's teachings.

One of his proclaimed beliefs about the golf swing was that the key to shotmaking was controlling the trajectory of your shots, particularly with your irons. If you didn't know the flight path of the ball, Mr. Hogan reasoned, then you had no idea how far it was going to go.

Tiger Woods is one of the masters in this area now. With his re-tooled swing, he knows exactly how the ball is going to leave the club almost all the time.

There was a TV commercial where he was hitting balls through windows on different floors of an office building - and he was really doing it !!! That's trajectory control !

I also read a quote from one of the Champions Tour players a few months ago - wish I'd saved it - where in response to a question about hitting good iron shots, he replied, " Hit your short irons and wedges low, everything else high. "

A simplification for sure, but if you watch the Tour players, you rarely see them hitting these towering short irons and wedges. Their shots take off like a bullet on a very controlled trajectory - not too high, not too low.

The amateurs I watch, however, tend to hit their short irons and wedges into the stratosphere, where the wind can do anything to the ball and where they have little distance control.

One key to hitting your scoring clubs on a more controllable trajectory is to take my earlier advice and hit them "softer", taking 10-15 yards off what you think is a "full" 8-iron or pitching wedge. Try that for a while and see if your shotmaking and distance control doesn't get better.

One of the best tips for hitting those more piercing trajectories is to lighten up your grip and relax your arms - a lot !

Feel the rotation of your body core lead everything through impact, so that the hands are ahead of the clubhead as you go through the ball. Try this on very short half swing pitches on the range - very relaxed arms and grip, with a smooth move through the ball - NOT AT IT !

Feel the clubhead trailing the grip, hands, arms and body core. As you get comfortable with this nice piercing trajectory, gradually lengthen the swing and speed up the body core rotation with successive groups of shots, and watch the ball fly further, but still with the same piercing trajectory.

When you get to a point where it starts flying higher and higher, back off. You've gone beyond a "full" swing with a short iron or wedge.

If you know how to control your trajectory, your shotmaking with the scoring clubs will become awesome.

For more on this subject go here:
Trajectory

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Swinging Left Again part 3 The Drill

2011-11-25T01:33:00.006-05:00

As I promised in the comments section here's the drill. This was 3 years ago and I was first trying to grasp the Hat's version of this concept. His drills have a way of making you look rather clumsy, I have videos of top notch players attempting some of them and you wouldn't believe it. One thing to note is how my body reacts when he speeds up my hands (the hands moving the hands).
In the first video we used a remix by Marshal Mathers in honor of our friend from Michigan, Huggybear. For those who don't know who Marshal Mathers is you would probably recognize him as Eminem. In this intro we'll honor the boyz from the left coast, but we'll always keep our NYC roots. (btw this video was already on youtube, this is the original in hi def, since I filmed it in hi def it had no audio)
Enjoy

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EA Tischler on the "Break Back Release"

2011-11-23T22:59:00.003-05:00

Here's our friend EA Tischler with his "BreakBack Release" Construct:

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Swinging Left Again Part 2 Geoff Jones aka Slicefixer

2011-11-23T12:57:00.002-05:00

Here's our friend Geoff Jones with his thoughts on the subject:

Here are Huggy's comments from the other post:Ralph,Here's the same video angle (with driver) of that Slicefixer student that you like so much. Kid's hands are already moving left before impact, yet from this view, it is hard to tell. Do you see the hand path similarity to Hogan?

Now here's a different angle (close to perpendicular to his hand path plane) where you can more clearly determine his hand path:

BTW, at 5'8" and 150 lbs. this kid carries a driver 320 yards with a mid-trajectory draw. Seen it many times with my own eyes. He's pulling 185 mph ball speeds on trackman. So much for Cp being a short, pull faders release!And, OMG!, he's cupping his left wrist!A driver swing will always appear more down the line than a short iron because of several factors - more axis tilt, longer club, more forward ball position.

That kid's got some kind of leverage!!!!What a swing!

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Swinging Left Again

2011-11-23T08:41:00.008-05:00

Seems like the Talking heads are already eating this up.

BTW The Dr. Mann he refers to at 2:09 is Dr. Ralph Mann not Dr. Jeff Mann. I don't think Jeff played golf in 1990.

Ralph Mann (Ralph Vernon Mann; born June 16, 1949) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 meter hurdles. He was an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, and later earned a Ph.D. in Biomechanics from the Washington State University. His son, Randall Mann, is an award-winning poet and literary critic.

In 1969, Mann won his first NCAA 440 intermediate hurdles championship with a time of 49.6 seconds. Tying the NCAA and American records, the time was three-tenths of a second off the world record. A year later in Des Moines, Iowa, Mann captured his second NCAA championship and set a new world record time of 48.8 seconds for the 440 intermediate hurdles.

During his collegiate career Ralph was NCAA champion three times. He was a three-time All-American, and in 1970 was second in the voting for the Sullivan Award.

He competed for the United States in the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany, in the 400 meter hurdles where he won the silver medal.[1] Ralph was a five-time AAU champion. He received the AAU’s DiBenedetto Award for the single most outstanding career, most notably for his Olympic silver medal.

Ralph Mann co-wrote the book "Swing Like a Pro: The Breakthrough Scientific Method of Perfecting Your Golf Swing" with Fred Griffin. This book was the culmination of Dr. Mann's expertise in the field of biomechanics and Griffin's experience of teaching golf as a PGA Professional for many years.

The video at the end is called "4 keys to power" available from OHP Direct. (edit They now call this video "Perfect Results"). Here's a link,( please ignore the sensationalistic BS, the content is awesome):

Perfect Results

Here are some pictures from Jeff's comments below: (click on the image to enlarge)

In the second picture note where his hands are, they are left of his belt buckle and almost in line with his left hip. It appears as if he's maintained connection between his left arm and pectoral, ie #4 pressure point. His hand and wrist attitudes are not clearly discernible from these images.
Just my opinion

I'm going to have to agree with Jeff, the swing is definitely a CF release (It probably resulted in a HOOK!). This is probably early vintage Hogan.

Hogan's Stance Ball Position Diagram:

To clarify,

I am only using the terms Cp and Cf generically as described to me personally by Mac O'grady in 2006. Since he was the first to use these terms to describe 2 distinctly different release types and popularized their use within the golf instruction world, I use them based on his definitions which are independent of hinge action type. They are not TGM terms.

A swing whereby the upper arms are held in close to the body through impact to P8 and therefore are carried around to the left by P8 would be a "Cp" swing by Mac's definition (at least how he defined it in '06), as shown clearly by Hogan in that rear overhead view from the Slicefixer video clip and by virtually every good slicefixer student. This as opposed to someone like Rickie Fowler who is an extreme example of "Cf," such as shown here:

I agree with your definition. And that's how I learned it in the late 90's.Where the #4 pp stays intact.
and I believe that's the construct Gregg is using, because he's trying to support impact with his pivot. We believe in post impact acceleration, which leads to a full finish. I think this sawed-off/hold off action is what is creating the confusion.

Here's a comment I got on Youtube:
ok, its a driver so it gets difficult to CP the longer clubs. CP to me means shifting the baseline left of the ball target line DURING the swing and not from setup. Since the plane line shifts left it gets hard to have a full roll and you get a more half roll, though as stated tougher to do with driver. Hogan was the best CP player I have seen, better than Mac who really has evolved the concept.

He's implying that there is a baseline shift during the swing.

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"Uncorked The Life and Times of Tony Lema"

2011-11-22T07:40:00.000-05:00

Here's my interview with Larry Baush, author of the upcoming book "Uncorked The Life and Times of Tony Lema".

For more information about Larry and "Uncorked" please visit:

www.uncorkedbylarrybaush.com

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Monday Morning with Mark and an Analysis By Wayne Defrancesco

2011-11-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

Here's another BS session I had with Mark Evershed earlier today:

And here's an analysis by our friend Wayne Defrancesco:

Incidentally, I am now a member of Waynedefrancesco.com. I highly suggest you peruse his site and I believe you're going to enjoy it. Wayne was a world class player and is a world class instructor. Give it a shot.

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A Tale of 2 Johnsons, Dustin and Zach

2011-11-19T12:04:00.002-05:00

Here's our friend Kelvin Miyahira with an interesting comparison of Zach and Dustin.

Huggy's comments from below:

Just because Kelvin voices over "stalling, stalling, stalling" on Zack Johnson's video doesn't make it so. There are many high speed videos of his swing that show that Zack is not a pivot staller, quite the opposite in fact. The DTL view is much better to see this than a face on. Here's just one of many examples readily available:

With as strong of a grip as he employs and as well synched he is on the downswing, if Zack stalled, he'd hit it left of left.

DJ is much bigger than Zack, much more athletic, probably a lot more fast twitch muscle fiber as he is a good all round athlete in other speed/jumping sports. Those things account much more for differences in distance than their technique, IMO.

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Classic Swings--"Champagne" Tony Lema

2011-11-18T09:00:00.006-05:00

Here's a little tribute to the late Tony Lema, a man who died too soon. In the 60's there was the Big Three and Tony. Take note of his footwork and the incredible amount of Lag he generated.

Here's his bio from Wikipedia:

Lema was born in Oakland, California, to parents of Portuguese ancestry.[1] His father died when Tony was three years old, and his widowed mother struggled to raise the family of four children on welfare. He began playing golf as a boy at Lake Chabot municipal golf course and learned different aspects of the game from a variety of people. Noted African-American golf coach Lucius Bateman helped develop his swing, Oakland policeman Ralph Hall taught him course strategy, and the golf pros at Lake Chabot, Dick Fry and Bill Burch, trained him to use a square stance.[2]

At age 17, Lema enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in Korea. After his discharge from the military in 1955, he obtained work as an assistant to the club professional at a San Francisco golf club.

Eddie Lowery, a wealthy San Francisco businessman, who assisted talented amateur players in the area, helped to sponsor and encourage Lema.[3] Lowery is best known as the 10-year-old caddy of champion Francis Ouimet during the 1913 U.S. Open. Lowery's sponsorship gave Lema $200 a week expense money, to be repaid, in addition to splitting his winnings: Lema received two-thirds, Lowery one-third. One additional detail was that all debts at the end of the year were to be carried forward.[4]

By 1957, Lema had developed his skills sufficiently enough to earn his way onto the PGA Tour, winning the Imperial Valley Open in memorable fashion: Assuming he was out of contention, Lema headed to the clubhouse bar, where he had three highballs. Told that he would face Paul Harney in a sudden-death playoff, a relaxed Lema won the tournament on the second extra hole. The following year, he began developing friendships with a trio of fellow golfers: Johnny Pott, Tommy Jacobs and Jim Ferree, and during 11 tournaments in 1958, Lema finished in the top 15, winning $10,282 for the year.

The following year, Lema's winnings dropped to $5,900, followed by an even worse year in 1960, when he collected a mere $3,060. A raucous, off-the-course lifestyle was taking its toll until he began talking with television producer Danny Arnold, who helped him improve his composure and bolster his confidence.[5]

While Lema's struggles continued in 1962, along with his debt to Lowery reaching over $11,000, his luck would finally change for good. On the eve of his victory in October 1962 at the Orange County Open Invitational in Costa Mesa, California, Lema joked he would serve champagne to the press if he won the next day.[6] From then on he was known as Champagne Tony, and his handsome looks and vivacious personality added to the legend, such that Johnny Miller has stated that at the time of his death in 1966, Lema was second only to Arnold Palmer in fan popularity.

That win sparked an impressive performance over the next four years that saw him win 12 official PGA tour events, finish second on 11 occasions, and third four times. From 1963 through July 1966, Lema finished in the top-10 over 50% of the time and never missed a cut in a professional major, finishing in the top-10 in 8 of the 15 majors in which he played. He was a member of the 1963 and 1965 United States Ryder Cup teams, and his Ryder Cup record (9–1–1) is the best of any player who has played in two or more.

Friend and tour colleague Jack Nicklaus wrote that Lema's play also stabilized and improved greatly after he married his wife Betty, a former airline stewardess, in 1963.[7] One additional reason for Lema's more relaxed play that year was the end of his agreement with Lowery.

In 1963, Lema finished second by one stroke to Jack Nicklaus at the Masters Tournament, and missed the playoff for the U.S. Open by two shots, bogeying the last two holes, believing he needed birdies. He won the Memphis Open Invitational later that summer.

Lema won two other tournaments that fall and was named 1963 Most Improved Player by Golf Digest. That winter, he wrote, with Gwylim S. Brown, "Golfers' Gold", an autobiographical account of his eight-year apprenticeship in the competitive cauldron of the PGA Tour.

In 1964, Lema won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links, and then three tournaments in four weeks: the Thunderbird Classic at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, the Buick Open Invitational at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and the Cleveland Open at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland, Ohio (in a playoff with Arnold Palmer).

Then, two weeks later, he captured one of the major championships by taking that year's British Open at St Andrews, Scotland, by five shots over Jack Nicklaus. This was an astonishing surprise, since Lema was not only making his first appearance in the championship, but had only nine holes of practice before starting.[7] However, Lema hired Arnold Palmer's regular British caddy, Tip Anderson, since Palmer was not competing that year; Anderson, a descendant of a past Open champion, Jamie Anderson, had grown up on the course and likely knew more about it than anyone else.

In the matchup of the four major champions of 1964 in the World Series of Golf, Lema won $50,000 (then the largest payoff in golf) at Firestone Country Club over Arnold Palmer (Masters), Ken Venturi (U.S. Open), and Bobby Nichols (PGA Championship).

In 1965, Lema won the Buick Open for the second consecutive year, and the Carling World Open, finishing second in prize money to Jack Nicklaus. In fall 1965, Lema and Nicklaus formed the U.S. team to the World Cup of Golf.[7] Lema's last victory came in May 1966, in his wife's hometown at the Oklahoma City Open. A few weeks later he came back from an opening round 78, to almost capture a third consecutive Buick Open, just losing out to his close friend, Phil Rodgers.

In 1966, at age 32, he was flying from the PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, with his wife, Betty, to an exhibition tournament, the Little Buick Open in Lincolnshire, Illinois, south of Chicago, when their chartered twin-engine Beechcraft Bonanza ran out of fuel and crashed in a water hazard short of the seventh green of Lansing Country Club in Lansing, Illinois, very close to their destination. During the fatal plunge, the pilot swerved left to avoid a group of people standing near the clubhouse. In addition to the Lemas, two other people, Dr. George Bard and Doris Mullen, were also killed. Bard and Mullen's husband, George, were owners of the ill-fated plane.

Lema and his wife were buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California, after funeral services at St. Elizabeth's Church in his hometown of Oakland, California.[8]

In 1983, a San Leandro public golf course was named in his honor, the Tony Lema Golf Course, which is now part of the Monarch Bay Golf complex.

Lema's Plane Crash

Here's Tony on the Lawrence Welk Show:

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Got Lag???--Scott Stallings

2011-11-17T13:59:00.001-05:00

Here is the swing of PGA Tour Player Scott Stallings. Scott is an interesting study, he reminds me of Laura Davies through impact. Both are incredibly long hitters and both launch themselves off their feet into a parametric acceleration attitude, something we saw before when we studied Peter Senior. Like Senior, he has an incredible amount of lag and applies our friend Wayne Defrancesco's trademark "Squat-Compression". Let's watch:(Make sure you keep your eye on his left foot)

(I borrowed this footage from our friend Kelvin Miyahira)

Here's TPI's Dave Phillips with an analysis:

I didn't realize there was a stat called "Not Hitting it Left" ;o)

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Hogan Right Handed???

2011-11-16T20:37:00.003-05:00

Obfuscation in all things, even trivial ones. "Many golf fans are surprised to learn that I learned to play golf left handed when I took up the game," Hogan wrote in 1948 in Power Golf
. "I changed over when I was a small boy. The only clubs I could get were right handed. Moreover, most of the fellows I played with then were very convincing in telling me that left-handers never made good golfers. At that age I was gullible enough to believe them and to make the change, but I wouldn't now."
"So,"the interviewer asked him in 1987, "you were left handed? "Hogan replied, "No, that's one of those things that's always been written, but it's an absolute myth. The truth is, the first golf club I owned was an old left handed, wooden-shafted, rib-faced mashie."

Hogan, Curt Sampson

Thanks to Bradley Hughes for the photos.

Hit em Straight

Young Guns-- Estanisloa "Tano" Goya

2011-11-16T17:01:00.001-05:00

Today we're going to look at another one of the potential Superstars in the World of Golf, Argentinian Phenom Tano Goya. Here's our very own Dan Whittaker with his analysis.

Here's his bio from Wikipedia:
Carlos Estanislao "Tano" Goya (born 1 June 1988) is an Argentine professional golfer.

After turning professional in 2007, Goya won the Tour de las Americas qualifying school by nine shots, and followed that with victory in the first event of the 2008 season, the Challenge Tour co-sanctioned Center Open, and third place in the Argentine Open. He went on to finish top of the Order of Merit that year.

That first win also gave Goya Challenge Tour membership, and he finished the season by winning the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, which lifted him to fifth in that tours final standings, gaining exemption to the full European Tour for 2009. He won the TPG Tour Order of Merit in 2008.

In March 2009, in only his 6th start on the European Tour, Goya won the Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal, earning him full exemption on the tour until the end of 2010.

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Lag vs Brad 1991 Windsor Classic

2011-11-15T09:00:00.005-05:00

Here are the highlights of epic battle between John Erickson and Bradley Hughes in the 1991 Windsor Classic.

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Tommy Armour --Hitting with the right hand

2011-11-14T16:00:00.040-05:00

The Following is from Golf.com, the footage provided is from my library

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thomas Dickson Armour embodied the greatest melding of playing and teaching talent the game has ever seen. After immigrating to the United States in 1923, he turned professional and went on to win the 1927 U.S. Open, the 1930 PGA Championship, and the 1931 British Open -- accomplishments that are all the more remarkable considering he lost the use of his left eye during World War I. After establishing himself as one of the game's finest players, Armour began to cultivate a reputation as a keen student of the swing and eventually as one of the game's most successful teachers. He was legendary both for his fee and the large sun umbrella he sat under, drink in one hand, golf club in the other. He charged $50 per hour, during the Depression no less; it was by far the highest sum commanded by any teacher at that time.
Even though he only offered a few minutes of hands-on instruction during a lesson, he was often booked solid six months in advance.

Hit With the right Hand
Armour is often remembered for his advice to "whack the hell out of the ball with the right hand." This swing key included the caveats that the grip must be correct (as explained earlier) and that the body must first be in the proper position.

On the backswing, a steady head and good lower-body action is required, which Armour said comes from working the left knee behind the ball. If the left knee gets into the correct position, the hips will turn, which coils the upper body and cocks the wrists.

"On the downswing, keep your head still. Your lower body is triggered by shooting the right knee toward the ball, which drops the club down into the 'late hit position' -- the hands well in front of the clubhead. The longer you delay the hit, the more power you can apply 'whacking the hell out of it' with the right hand."

From "How to Play your best Golf all the Time":

"Always have your mind made up that you are going to whip your right hand into the shot....That is a "must""

Anytime you hear an argument against right hand whipping into the shot, you can be sure that the argument is fallacious.

Something about the right hand that must have your thought and practice is having that part of the right forefinger, which is nearest the palm, functioning positively into the hitting action. When the right-hand grip lies firmly between the forefinger and the thumb, it is in perfect position for a fast firm lashing action.

One thing to note is how level his shoulders are, it seems a pre-requisite for this stroke pattern.

Classic Quote:

"Possibly you have been made a victim of the great delusion in golf, that of believing that the answer lies in tricks rather than in mastery of the alphabet of golfing knowledge. I will have no part of catering to that fond and fantastic dream of the gullible."
--Tommy Armour

As we've said before, most of this stuff is not new, Tommy was preaching this stuff since the 1930s

Here's the Essay by Dave Tutleman:
Double-Pendulum Model and Right Arm

Any way, if you go to Dave's site he analyzes this right hand hitting notion and concludes:
Hitting with the hands at impact produces no additional clubhead speed -- none. That might not prevent it from being effective instruction, though.
He uses plural because Hogan claimed he hit it hard with both hands.

For more good stuff from Dave please visit his website at:

http://www.tutelman.com/golf/index.php

In the video below it apears as if Ricky Fowler is lashing at it with his right hand as Tommy Armour suggests

Here's Kelvin Miyahira with his "Pro Flipper" construct

Vijay Singh:

Here's EA Tischler with his "Break back release":

Hit em Straight

Monday Morning with Mark , Talking Tiger Woods

2011-11-14T05:49:00.003-05:00

I received the following from one of our readers:

Hello Ralph,

Just an FYI here. Last spring I attended the Toronto Golf Show where Sean Foley was a guest speaker. He did in fact relate a story of when he was younger taking lessons from Greg McHatton in southernCalifornia. Greg would have him hit a half pitch shot with a bowed left wrist. Sound familiar?

Cheers,

For more information on Mark and his philosophies visit his website:

www.lagandload.com

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Gotham Golfer Per Barth

2011-11-12T17:16:00.001-05:00

Andreas Kali

Our Danish contingency headed by our good friend Andreas Kali has reached out to us to introduce us to the Gotham Golfers in Denmark. We've already met Peter Ellebye and now we will be introduced to a couple of other fellows.
Andreas was a Juco All American here in the States and is currently pursuing his PGA status in Europe.

We're going to start with a gentleman by the name of Per Barth, here is what Andreas has to say about him:

Per is from Sweden and used to play on the Challenge Tour. This is the longest player I have EVER played with. He told me his swing speed is 135mph with his driver when he is on. I played two rounds with Gary Woodland five years ago in Long Beach, and this guy is longer.

I wonder what kind of smash factor he has, if it's near 1.48 we're talking 200mph ball speed. He says he carries it 300 mts. which is 330 yds, which is about what Gary Woodland's max carry is.

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An Open invitation to discuss scientific merits of a system, technique or method

2011-11-12T09:17:00.001-05:00

I received the following email:

Ralph,

I saw one of your recent videos through a post on the network54 single axis forum and sent you a message through youtube, as I did not have an email ID for you.

As you have interviewed so many people on your forum/blog, you surely know some /method' teachers, or people like Jeff Mann who have made themselves very familiar with methods.

I am keen to present a symposium at the World Scientific Congress of Golf (golfscience.org) where 2-3 'methods' are explained, and a discussant, who is a theoretical expert, such as a biomechanist, discusses the biomechanical validity of such methods. I have emailed lots of people to see if they'd be interested in explaining a method. Few will agree (specially inventors of such methods as they probably do not wish to expose scientific flaws in their methods).

Please, please please find me 2-3 such presenters who are experts on any method

My interest in such a forum, besides letting the world of golf know what is science and what is not? I am the inventor of a method myself, and claim that it is 'biomechanically valid and anatomically more efficient', and unlike others, I am willing to have it 'put to the test'.

Many thanks,

sincerely,

Kiran

Symposia - This format involves verbal presentation concerning related research/theoretical abstracts by several researchers. Generally, symposia consist of 3-5 researchers who will present during the session. These sessions can range in length from 1 to 2 hours. For symposia, it may be useful to include a discussant. As an example, if the symposium is research focused, perhaps a professional in a field of practice might elaborate upon the practical implications of the research/presentation. If the symposium is practice focused, a researcher might speculate/expand upon the theoretical and/or research implications of the presentations.

Select major section:

The Golfer

Select most appropriate review category

Biomechanics

Brief Description

Symposia authors should provide a short (100-word maximum) paragraph to provide a general introduction of the topic and individual presentations. This description is intended to give a general overview of the purpose, content, and importance of the session.

Discussant

Discussant: If you intend to have a discussant (i.e., researcher or practitioner/professional) to comment on the presentations contained in your symposium, please provide his/her name, mailing address, telephone number and email address. Discussants do not need to provide an abstract.

Abstract

Abstracts should contain the following sections: (a) Purpose – briefly outline the background for your research and guiding research questions, (b) Method – describe participants/objects/events, measures, and procedures, (d) Analysis/Results – present any statistical or analytical methods and your findings, and (e) Conclusions – place your findings in context and indicate their potential impact on the field.

--
Kiran Kanwar

Golf Teaching Professional
Class A: The LPGA (T&CP)
The PGA (UK)
The PGA of India (Board Member)
National Golf Academy of India (Teaching Staff)

BS:Physics, Math

MS: current student, Sports Science and Rehabilitation

American College of Sports Medicine: certified Personal Trainer

Columnist: Golf Digest
Member: Golf Writers' Asscn. of America

Here's Kiran's Golf Channel video:

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Jeff Mann on "Coupling"

2011-11-11T09:00:00.010-05:00

Before you go forward, here are some definitions:
FLW= Flat left wrist
LAFW= Left Arm Flying Wedge
GFLW= Geometrically Flat Left Wrist
HH= Horizontal Hinge/hinging

Mike Jacobs has introduced his rotation-around-the-coupling point idea and BM has fully endorsed this idea. They both promote this idea as representing advanced thinking regarding the hand release action through impact. I take the opposite tack and I believe that they are endorsing a flipping motion through the impact zone. In this thread I will compare Hogan's "real life" swing and his intellectual thinking regarding hand actions through the impact zone to MJ's/BM's rotation-around-the-coupling point idea.

Here is BM in his "flicking action" video showing the rotation-around-the-coupling point idea.

He demonstrates the "flipping action" around the 1:37 minutes time point. He demonstrates a horizontal hinging action of the wrists (palmar flexion of the right wrist and dorsiflexion of the left wrist). This action represents a rotation of the clubshaft around the coupling point in a perpendicular plane (a plane that is roughly parallel to the ball-target line). BM even claims that ALL good players have a bent left wrist in the followthrough as a result of this "flicking action". Is that true?

I don't think that it is true that all good golfers bend their left wrist post-impact. Ben Hogan didn't believe in this "flicking action" idea. How do I know that "fact".

Let's consider Hogan's swing and his teaching.

Here is Hogan's swing.

Image 1 shows Hogan's FLW pre-impact (position 1) - note that it is not parallel to the ball-target line and that it still has to rotate to become square to the target by impact. Image 2 shows Hogan's FLW at the end of his followthrough (position 2) - note that he still has a FLW and that it is roughly parallel to the ball-target line. How did his FLW get from position 1 to position 2, and did it involve a rotation-around-the-coupling point maneuver?

Here is Hogan's explanation from his "Five Lessons" book.

This diagrammatic image shows how Hogan believed he rotated his left wrist/hand through impact - image 2 represents position 1 (in the previous photo) and image 6 represents position 2 (in the previous photo).

Note that he arches/bows his left wrist at impact - image 4. In image 1 he had a scooped left wrist (GFLW) and in image 2 & 3 his left wrist is flattening and in image 4 it is distinctly bowed. How does that happen from a biomechanical perspective? I believe that the rational answer is that it occurs naturally/automatically if the left wrist/hand leads the club through the impact - during the rotation of the hands through the impact zone. Hogan is using a release of PA#3 to square the clubface in the late downswing and he transitions into a HH action in the followthrough, and he leads with his left wrist/hand because he is a swinger who pulls the grip end of the club.

-- continued in part 2.
September 22, 2011 7:57 PM
Jeffrey said...

Part 2.

To quote Hogan's book - see page 99-100 where Hogan describes the following two-handed basketball pass from the right side towards a target on the left.

Hogan stated that this motion represented the movement of his hands through the impact zone. Note how his left wrist/hand is rotating during this motion - it is near-identical to his diagrams. Note that his left wrist never bends during this action, and note that there is no independent "flicking action" of the wrists during this throwing motion. The rotation occurs solely due to a conjoined body/arm rotational motion with no superimposed wrist motion. On page 100, Hogan states-: "The great value, as I see it, of thinking in terms of this two-hand action is that it keeps the left hand driving all the time". At the top of page 101, Hogan states regarding the left hand at impact - "AT IMPACT THE BACK OF THE LEFT HAND FACES TOWARD YOUR TARGET. THE WRIST BONE IS DEFINITELY RAISED. IT POINTS TO THE TARGET AND, AT THE MOMENT THE BALL IS CONTACTED, IT IS OUT IN FRONT, NEARER TO THE TARGET THAN ANY PART OF THE HAND." That will not happen with a "flicking action" which is more likely to bend the left wrist in a flipping manner. Then Hogan states immediately thereafter-: "When the left wrist is in this position, the left hand will not check or interrupt the speed with which your clubhead is traveling. There is no danger either than the right hand will overpower the left and twist the club over. It can't. As far as applying power goes, I wish I hand three right hands!" I believe that Hogan's is stating that if he had three right hands to push the club faster through the impact zone, then that additional "right hand power" would potentially increase clubhead speed - as long as he maintained a FLW through impact and didn't allow the left wrist to break down and bend (dorsiflex).

I believe that this is a key to understanding Hogan's hand action through the impact zone - he maintained a FLW and intact LAFW through the impact zone and he ensured that the left wrist would never break down during its travel through the impact zone (via the utilization of an independent left wrist flipping motion that is added to the body/arm motion).

I also believe that Hogan's hand action through impact is used by the majority of skilled golfers, and that this "rotation-around-the-coupling point" is a wrong-headed idea that doesn't make sense from a mechanical/biomechanical perspective.

Jeff.

Here is Erik's chart: (click on the image to enlarge)

Chart by:Andy Gordon: https://www.facebook.com/andygordongolf
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Classic Swings--Young Jack Nicklaus

2011-11-10T09:00:00.023-05:00

Here's a gem bought to us by our friend Bradley Hughes. It's a 15 year old Jack Nicklaus. Remember Young Jack was being taught by Jack Grout, who in addition to being a world class tour player was an Assistant Pro under Ted Longworth at Glen Garden Country Club. Both Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan were caddies at Glen Garden. Given that Grout was an Assistant, it might be safe to assume that he played a part in both Ben and Byron's development.

Here's an excerpt from Jame's Dodson's "Ben Hogan An American Life"

" Nothing about Hogan's golf swing initially made an impression on Byron, or on anybody else around Glen garden, but the saga of Hogan's battle to get down the basics of a grip and swing remains one of the most beguiling mysteries to emerge from this time. Hogan claimed he was naturally a lefty--probably true--but in those days left-handed clubs were rare to nonexistent. The story goes that Ted Longworth was the first to place a right-handed club in Ben's oversized hands and correct his "hog-killer" grip. Hogan himself cites brother Royal Hogan (who took up golf about this same time) as the one who actually switched Ben from left-to right handed playing, assuring him no athlete was ever successful playing left handed. "I was a southpaw who never stopped playing baseball right handed until my brother, Royal, made me switch," he told reporters following his breakthrough win at Pinehurst in 1940. "My brother would slap me every time he saw me use that right." Still others maintain it was Longworth's newly arrived assistant Jack Grout (who much further down the fairway would shape the swing of a promising Ohio youngster named Jack Nicklaus) who realized the game would be a lot easier for him if Bennie Hogan played it from the right side.
Whoever finally got Hogan squared away, the early switch in part explains the incredible power he was always able to generate from his left side, including his tendency to hook the ball. Years later, Hogan ruefully joked that he wished he'd been born "with two left hands," reflecting the commonplace view that a dominant left hand was an asset to the right handed golf swing."
--It's interesting that the debates below seem to revolve around Hogan wishing he had 3 right hands, when there was also a time when he wished he had 2 left hands. I think it's important to properly research the subject matter before jumping to conclusions.

Back to Nicklaus:

This swing is the epitome of unrestricted, free flowing motion and a very powerful leg action.This is one of the reasons why he is among the longest hitters in history.

This next video is a testament to Nicklaus' power.
The circumstances were as follows:

Nicklaus needed a birdie on the 18th hole to tie the U.S. Open scoring record held by Hogan, but he had 238 yards for his third shot -- uphill, all carry, into the wind. He hammered his 1-iron to about 20 feet and made the putt to finish at 272.

Here's Nicklaus:

Here's Hogan

Hit em Straight

Tom Lewis an analysis by Dan Whittaker

2011-11-09T11:00:00.001-05:00

Here's our good friend Dan Whittaker with an analysis of British phenom Tom Lewis:

Here's his Bio from Wikipedia:

Tom Lewis (born 5 January 1991)[1] is a professional golfer from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.

In 2009, Lewis won the Boys Amateur Championship at Royal St George's. In 2010, he lost to Peter O'Malley in a playoff for the New South Wales Open,[2] and then tied for 12th place at the Australian Open.[3] This was followed by victory on the Old Course at St Andrews in the 2011 St Andrews Links Trophy.[4]

Lewis qualified for the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George's via Local Final Qualifying at Rye. In the the first round he shot a five-under-par 65, giving him a share of the lead alongside Thomas Bjørn.[5] This was the lowest single-round score by an amateur in Open Championship history, and the equal lowest in any major championship, as well as making him the first amateur to lead the Open since Michael Bonallack in 1968.[6] One of Lewis's first-round partners was Tom Watson, after whom he is named.[2] Lewis finished tied for 30th place and as the low amateur, he won the Silver Medal.[7]

Lewis turned professional after the 2011 Walker Cup.[8] He made his professional debut at the Austrian Golf Open in September 2011, shooting a two-over-par 74 in the first round.[9] He recovered to finish in a tie for tenth.

His maiden professional win came at the Portugal Masters on the European Tour in October 2011, shooting rounds of 70, 64, 68, and 65 to finish two shots clear of the field. It was his third professional start.[10]

Hit em Straight

Tiger at the 2011 Australian Open

2011-11-09T05:55:00.000-05:00

Here's some footage of Tiger at this weeks Australian Open. He's looking good to me.

Hit em Straight

Classic Golf Instruction with Gregg Mchatton and Sam Snead

2011-11-08T09:31:00.004-05:00

Today we get to listen to my mentor describe some of the components of a classic golf swing. You'll also get some bonus footage of Sam Snead. Once again, it's hard to go on one of these forums without hearing advice like, "Shorten your swing", "Restrict your hips" etc, etc. I believe the Golf Swing is about synchronicity, the pivot and the arms being in synch with proper sequential motion. It's not about changing your swing, it's about letting Freedom Ring.
I don't know about you but I prefer to get my instructional insight from guys like Gregg and Sam Snead.

The Video clip being used is from Gregg's video "4 Keys", one of the best out there in my opinion. It is available from OHP direct.

Here's the Slicefixer swing I was talking about below, if this is not classic; what is?
Note the Lag, the squat compression and the Torque in the downswing where it belongs:

And BTW, I now remember that Geoff emphasizes a deep hip turn, so where this restriction originated is beyond me.

Hit em Straight

Louis Oosthuizen the Modern Machine

2011-11-06T19:45:00.006-05:00

The Tournament this weekend was one of the most exciting and dramatic I've seen in a while, even Steve Williams' self centered B.S. couldn't detract from the action. To say that Adam Scott was distracted is probably an understatement and you have to give him credit for being a stand up guy and sticking with that retard when anybody else would've sent him packing.
Although Martin Kaymer's spectacular comeback (he birdied 9 of the last 12 to steal the tournament) is what most people will be talking about, I was more focused on Jacobsen's short game and tenacity and Osthuizen's ball striking.

Louie put on a Hoganesque ball striking exhibition, hitting 92% of his greens in regulation. If his putter would have been working, he would have run away with the Tournament.

I recently described my release pattern as 4-1-2-3 (accumulators in Golfing Machine Talk) and some have said that this is taboo or inadvisable. After studying Louie Oosthuizen's stroke pattern, I say not only is it advisable but it might even be desirable. Louie like Peter Senior appears to be using right hand/right arm thrust through the impact interval. If you watch closely you'll note that he accelerates the club longitudinally and at about waist high turns it on with the right hand/right arm.

Here are the weekend's stats

Driving Accuracy

Jim Furyk 75%
Bo Van Pelt 73.2%
Justin Rose 71.4%

Driving Distance (unverified)

Charl Schwartzel 339 yards
Jhonattan Vegas 309 yards
Nicolas Colsaerts 306.5

Greens In Regulation (GIR)

Louis Oosthuizen 91.7%

Lucas Glover 84.7%
John Senden 83.3%

Putts Per GIR

Adam Scott 1.529
Graeme McDowell 1.574
Xin-Jun Zhang 1.617

Putts Per Round

Graeme McDowell 25.5
Mohd Siddikur 25.8
Xin-Jun Zhang 26.5

and here is some video footage of Oosthuizen:

Here's a closer look:

Here are Jeff Mann's thoughts from his comments below: (Click on images to enlarge)

Image 1 shows him at P6 - note that he still has a bent right elbow.

Image 2 shows him at P6.5 - note that his right arm is now straightening, but he hasn't yet released PA#3.

Image 3 shows him at impact (at P7) - his right arm has significantly straightened but he still has a small amount of bend in his right elbow and he still has right wrist dorsiflexion, which allows him to have a FLW and some forward shaft lean at impact.

Image 4 shows him soon after impact where his rapidly straightening right arm and straightening right wrist has caused him to flip (what Kelvin Miyahara labels a pro-flipper).

Image 5 shows how his flipping is even greater in degree in his later followthrough due to stalling of the left hand and excessively fast straightening of his right arm/wrist.

I think that being a pro-flipper (due to stalling of the left hand + excessively fast straightening of the right arm/wrist through impact) is disadvantageous in terms of control/accuracy, although it may slightly increase clubhead speed through impact.

Fortunately, Louis Oosthuizen doesn't always flip through impact.

Here are capture images from his 3rd swing in that swing video sequence when he is hitting a fairway wood.

Image 1 shows him at P6. He has a bent right elbow.

Image 2 shows him at impact - note that he still has some bend in his right elbow and his right wrist is still dorsiflexed. He has a FLW and an appropriate amount of forward shaft lean.

Image 3 shows him in the early followthrough - when his clubhead is ~12" post-impact. Note that his clubshaft has not passed his FLW and he therefore has an intact LAFW with no flipping. The reason is that he hasn't slowed his left hand and he hasn't actively straightened his right arm/wrist in this particular swing action.

Image 4 shows a minimal degree of flipping happening in his late followthrough, but that is well after impact.

I think that this second swing sequence (maintaining an intact LAFW through impact) is much better because he is in more control of his clubhead/clubface through impact - and that requires an avoidance of any biomechanical factors that can contribute to flipping through the impact zone (slowing of the left hand and/or actively straightening the right arm/wrist through impact).

--Jeff Mann

Hit em Straight

Ben Hogan's Plane and Basketball Toss

2011-11-05T11:44:00.003-04:00

On another note, when is Steve Williams gonna learn to just shut the F$% &K up? I wonder if Adam Scott will stand by him like Tiger stood by him when he made the comments about Mickelson. It appears that Mr. Williams has a hard time handling his liquor and also has an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Tiger owes him nothing and it's about time he get over it and move on. It's becoming readily apparent that this guy can't get out of his own way. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Hit em Straight