Details Please

[jimmyt]

I am a new member to the forum and excited about how my swing can improve with either Brian Manzella who's style I like or TGM. As I have gone through the 8 episodes a lot of new terminology is out there for me to consider.

Were should I start? Golf Machine book, DVD's, movies, clinics, instruction or what? By the way I have looked for a TGM instructor here in Las Vegas and my search came up empty. In the short time I have been around I have heard about "The Pivot" or your backswing should be "Up the wall" or "The twistaway". If I am going to attempt to perform this swing I really do need more detail.

 

[Jared Willerson]

Check out the Brian Manzella golf show episodes 1-8 in the Brian Manzella Show section. You will find a lot of good information there. For Free.

To go further. Buy "Never Slice Again" and "The Movie" video shorts 1-4, which includes "Over & Out" on bunker play and "Never Hook Again".

You'll gain a lot of understanding after that. Also there are numerous threads in the archives that can help you.

 

[Meeks]

JimmyT,

Good to have you here, stick around and you will no doubt learn a lot. I'm not going to speak for Brian or anyone else on the forum, but from my experience here, this is how I would answer your questions:

1)Where should I start?

The episodes 1-8 you watched are very good, but they are geared more at issues and questions that come up on the board. Brian's retail videos "Confessions of a Former Flipper", "Building Blocks", and "The Movie" will probably give you a better idea of what Brian's philosophy is. After that, a personal lesson would obviously be awesome, but being in Vegas it might be hard to make it to Brian, but perhaps he will do a clinic out that way sometime.

2)If I am going to attempt to perform this swing I really do need more detail.(not a question, but a comment that needs to be addressed)

Unlike a lot of mainstream golf instruction that is out there, Brian and this website are not about "this swing", but are simply about what you can do to play the best golf you can play. Brian does not teach or promote a certain method, he simply makes people better. I hope some of this helps and feel free to ask any questions you might have, someone here will try to clear things up for you.

 

[golfbulldog]

I am a new member to the forum and excited about how my swing can improve with either Brian Manzella who's style I like or TGM. As I have gone through the 8 episodes a lot of new terminology is out there for me to consider.

Were should I start? Golf Machine book, DVD's, movies, clinics, instruction or what? By the way I have looked for a TGM instructor here in Las Vegas and my search came up empty. In the short time I have been around I have heard about "The Pivot" or your backswing should be "Up the wall" or "The twistaway". If I am going to attempt to perform this swing I really do need more detail.

What is your shot pattern/misses?

What is your current concept of your golf stroke?

Brian, describes some of his swing options such as "twistaway" but they are not for all.... have to be custom fit for each player.

But the desired goal for all is to have 3 imperatives - a lagging clubhead, a straight plane baseline, and flat left wrist. Brian tries to get you from your current pswing pattern towards these goals.

Flat left wrist means that at impact seperation the left wrist is flat ( not bent or arched...ok maybe arched...) and the back of the wrist is pointing in the direction of initial ball trajectory. If it were bending at this point , the clubface would also be closing... = bad if a straight shot is your desire.

Straight plane baseline means that you are "on plane" if either end of the club is pointing at the ball-to-target line ( for straight shots at least)...except when the shaft is horizontal to the ground...in which case the shaft is parallel to the plane line.

Lagging clubhead means that the hands lead the clubhead into impact. The right wrist remains bent/the left wrist remains flat. TGM states that this condition allows the clubhead deceleration of impact to be reduced and hence the ball speed increased. Science folk here dispute this claim... but the left wrist condition still stands and it is worth it for tha alone!

Good luck - ask questions and do searches for stuff that you are unsure about.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Where to start? Start Here.

You are in the right spot.

Here is the way to go:

1. Best possible - Private Lessons from me

2. Next Best - Private Lessons from a Manzella Academy Instructor

3. Next Best - Correct Brian Manzella Video for you

3. Coming Soon....video and phone analysis.

 

[jimmyt]

To Brian Manzella

You are in the right spot.

Here is the way to go:

1. Best possible - Private Lessons from me

2. Next Best - Private Lessons from a Manzella Academy Instructor

3. Next Best - Correct Brian Manzella Video for you

3. Coming Soon....video and phone analysis.

Unless you are near Vegas or have an Academy instructor here as well 1 and 2 are probably not possible. More clarification on 3 would be great also do you recommend any books or DVD's that you have.

 

[Leek]

What are your misses?

 

[holeout]

Unless you are near Vegas or have an Academy instructor here as well 1 and 2 are probably not possible. More clarification on 3 would be great also do you recommend any books or DVD's that you have.

It all depends on your pattern. Perhaps a little clearing up of what TGM/Brian's philosophy on the swing is will help (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong anywhere).

Everyone has a different swing. In TGM-ese this is considered a "stroke pattern." There are countless (unless you can count up to a couple quadrillion or so) patterns which will achieve the three imperatives described above. An instructor's job is to find the best pattern suited to the individual student to achieve these imperatives.

Most instructors simply teach everyone the same pattern, or some small variation of it. Not a good idea when, as stated, everyone has a different swing and pattern suited for them.

Brian is a great instructor because of a few things:

1. He knows a whole lot about how to swing a golf club.

2. He knows how his students, individually, should be trying to swing a golf club.

3. He knows how to TEACH his students how to swing a golf club.

This last aspect is often overlooked but is thankfully not lost on Brian. All the know-how in the world doesn't mean squat if you can't get your student to do it.

Enjoy your time here, you've found a great place to hang out .

 

[fronesis]

First, I want to clearly echo what others have said: it starts with your swing, because there is no 'the swing'.

That said, I think MOST golfers out there would do well to start with the NSA pattern. There are so many good fundamentals in there to build on, especially since most golfers (as Brian says) have some sort of open clubface problem that they need to fix. NSA is also a very complete package - the whole pattern is there. Whereas NHA and flipper (while GREAT videos) tend to presume a pattern that one is correcting. I think that once you are comfortable with the NSA pattern then it's very easy to start making the correct modifications for your swing from there.

This general advice obviously doesn't apply if you swing way right and hit everything with a huge draw!