A Little Lesson in Lesson Giving by Brian Manzella

[Brian Manzella]

I have listened to what a lot of teachers think teaching is all about lately, and I have heard a lot of stuff that is—in my opinion—way out there "in right field."

So-to-speak.

So, I decided to put up some before and after stills of today's last lesson.

He is a 25+ year old ex-pro baseball player, 10 handicap, with a lot of smooth power and a lot of left shots he thinks might be caused by his shoulders being open at address.

They were not.

Here is his initial club numbers on his first three 6-iron shots:

Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
​

Here is the last three after I gave him a one hour lesson:

Clubhead Speed 95.73 mph, Club Path 0.7° inside-out, 2.4° open clubface, 17.0° dynamic loft, 56.5° VSP

​

What did I do?

I changed his poorly constructed strong grip to a professional style, very slightly stronger than neutral grip. Made him bend his knees a hair less and bend over a hair more. I taught him to down-arch his left wrist because he had never learned to with his strong grip, and I taught him a good finish with his left elbow more out and a bit more back-extension.

That's it.

I didn't change his hand position at address, his backswing, his loading action, his release point, any damn thing about his weight shift, or any think about his shoulder plane, or hip turn, or hand path.

Here are the befores (right) and the afters (left):

Sure there is much more I can and will do with him in the future.

But....

At a time in golf instruction history where folks would center his pivot, remoe his weight shift, do something with his shoulder plane, or hand path, or something that is hot right now, I gave him a GOLF LESSON.

And I did it with the help of Trackman, a device that many teachers are scared to death of.

THIS IS WHAT GOLF NEEDS—lessons based on what the STUDENT NEEDS!!

Real Teaching.

Effective.

Now.

With an eye to later.

See ya.

 

[spktho]

Just to clarify; before is on the right and after is on the left, correct?

How to help him not hit it off the toe?

 

[Michael Finney]

parallax


just kidding

 

[goley]

Its funny how he thought that his shoulders were too open... and in trying to help himself he ends up swing more and more right to stop the ball from going left. Nice job Brian. What do you have planned for him down the road?

 

[Ringer]

Very good job BMan. Sounds about like what I see.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Very good job BMan. Sounds about like what I see.

See?

I didn't even LOOK at the video until I got home...

Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP

It's the numbers....

 

[StewartBannatyne]

Nice work Brian! Can you explain a little more in depth the down-arching of the left wrist? Many years ago I converted from a strong grip to a much more Manzella-neutral style grip, but have struggled with pop-out and over-rotation of the left forearm that has caused me to lay the club off something fierce. I have a feeling this down-arch could help a lot!

Stew

 

[birdie_man]

1. Do you setup the camera so that you are shooting through their hands when they are at the "last parallel" before impact?

Do you also center the target? Or shoot parallel to their aim line or target line?

2. I notice you say "backarching" more than axis tilt now...no?

3. Not too worried but why the slight SS drop?

4. Another hooker who was perhaps mislead to think they needed to swing MORE right because of flawed understanding of ballflight dynamics? (i.e. thinking ball starts on the path)

 

[jpeck]

This is what golfers should demand and pros should deliver - real results. Very nice job Brian.

 

[Jared Willerson]

The real premise of teaching is not showing what you know...it is listening to the needs of the golfer.

This guy told Brian he thought his shoulders were too open, a legitimate feel if a lot of shots are going left.

Brian showed him otherwise, other teachers may have dismissed that or blown it off...Brian showed him why that "feel wasn't real". Now this guy has learned something, not just been shown something.

I really think a lot of teachers are unsuccessful is because they simply don't listen to their clients...they just spout off what they know.

Classroom teachers like myself get a lot of flak in the media, but in reality getting a subject across to 30 different personalities at one time is a pretty cool trick and it involves a lot of listening and instructing that breaks through learning barriers.

I think a lot of golf teachers would benefit from taking a course in education/teaching. I really think it would help a lot of them.

 

[Brian Manzella]

You see, there is this no-so-little things called "intention."

I changed his grip and told him where I wanted him to "start" the ball.

His grip, and his bent left wrist at the top, made him keep his glove logo very close to his watch face.

I showed him how to do the opposite, and rotate his left arm until he could "catch raindrops."

To answer Birdie Man, I just video golfers from the same place I watch the swing from. There is parallax any place you can take the camera, which is why I don't like video for serious analysis. The swing speed drop was from me telling him he didn't need more than 95mph.

I would say that the success that I had from this lesson was 33% knowing what to do, 33% knowing how to do it, and 33% pure teaching ability.

That's not HIM knowing what or how, that's me.

The golfer only needs to know what the golfer needs to know.

 

[ggsjpc]

I really think a lot of teachers are unsuccessful is because they simply don't listen to their clients...they just spout off what they know.

Classroom teachers like myself get a lot of flak in the media, but in reality getting a subject across to 30 different personalities at one time is a pretty cool trick and it involves a lot of listening and instructing that breaks through learning barriers.

I think a lot of golf teachers would benefit from taking a course in education/teaching. I really think it would help a lot of them.

OH YES!

 

[Wilson!]

Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
​

Here is the last three after I gave him a one hour lesson:

Clubhead Speed 95.73 mph, Club Path 0.7° inside-out, 2.4° open clubface, 17.0° dynamic loft, 56.5° VSP

​

Brian, just to test my understanding of ball flight laws. "Before", the ball started right and over curved left? And "after", the ball started slightly right and slightly faded?

 

[Ringer]

See?

I didn't even LOOK at the video until I got home...

Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP
Clubhead Speed 98.23 mph, Club Path 11.1° inside-out, 5.4° open clubface, 12.4° dynamic loft, 51.5° VSP

It's the numbers....

Thats great but don't bag on me for not having a trackman at my disposal. Besides, what does it matter how you fix someone as long as they're fixed. I do it by eye and understanding of what my eye tells me, you do it by trackman. Fixed is fixed and we both would have applied the same changes.

 

[RVArya]

Brian,
Dynamic loft appears to be very low (12-17). Is it not unsual? What about his ball spin numbers? With a SS of 95 mph in combination with his delofted club, he should carrying 200+ yds with a 6iron. Can he hold the green??

Raghu

 

[dbl]

Ringer, I don't see Brian quite saying what you are implying. Furthermore I bet if Brian's Trackman broke down, he could still teach "pretty good." I know he fixed my fairway wood problem w/o Trackman.

But otoh to me your claim that you would have put "the same" fixes on the student in your hour seems a little exaggerated.

 

[Ringer]

Ringer, I don't see Brian quite saying what you are implying. Furthermore I bet if Brian's Trackman broke down, he could still teach "pretty good." I know he fixed my fairway wood problem w/o Trackman.

But otoh to me your claim that you would have put "the same" fixes on the student in your hour seems a little exaggerated.

Not at all. Fix the grip, fix the posture, and change the finish with more left elbow in front. I must have said these things a hundred thousand times by now.

 

[Ringer]

Brian, would you mind saying something really quick about the relationship between grip and plane? I don't think enough people understand how this actually happens. Most people just relate grip to clubface, but you and I both know it effects the path as well.

 

[birly-shirly]

Brian, would you mind saying something really quick about the relationship between grip and plane? I don't think enough people understand how this actually happens. Most people just relate grip to clubface, but you and I both know it effects the path as well.

Ringer - I think you've hit on precisely what is interesting and important about this lesson. I hope I'm not doing the Manzella Forum membership a disservice, but I guess that even with the benefit of the trackman figures most folks would think they needed to tackle both the clubface and the path as separate issues, or at least do something to directly deal with the rightward path.

I would love to hear BOTH your and Brian's thoughts on this. Though, for what it's worth, my reading of Brian's post was that it wasn't just a grip fix - it was the combination of a not-so-strong grip PLUS an altered wrist action that was key. If you have the time, it would be great to have your explanation of how and why the grip impacts on path to make this fix work.

 

[Ringer]

Ringer - I think you've hit on precisely what is interesting and important about this lesson. I hope I'm not doing the Manzella Forum membership a disservice, but I guess that even with the benefit of the trackman figures most folks would think they needed to tackle both the clubface and the path as separate issues, or at least do something to directly deal with the rightward path.

I would love to hear BOTH your and Brian's thoughts on this. Though, for what it's worth, my reading of Brian's post was that it wasn't just a grip fix - it was the combination of a not-so-strong grip PLUS an altered wrist action that was key. If you have the time, it would be great to have your explanation of how and why the grip impacts on path to make this fix work.

Wow, someone wants to know what I think on this board?

Imagine a piece of plywood that is glued to the back of your left forearm (left arm flying wedge). When you cock your left wrist the clubshaft will go up that "plane". Uncocking it will take it down that plane.

The more you rotate your forearms, the more inside to out that plane will be rotated.

Now, when you have a "strong" grip, you are essentially presetting that plywood to be angled to the right.... inside out. Add some shoulder turn to this and watch how much MORE inside to out that plane gets.