Brian Manzella
Administrator
A Whirlwind Week of Golf
by Brian Manzella, PGA, G.S.E.D.
For a guy that has spent his whole adult life trying to become both the best and the most famous golf teacher of all time, my recent 9-day adventure in south Florida was quite an experience. I attended two national seminars and gave a couple more myself, as well as rooming with my mentor and a couple of my best friends in and out of golf, which always includes more conversation—and sometimes content—then the seminars themselves. I learned a lot, I taught a lot, I debated a lot, I laughed a lot, and most of all, I got a little bit closer to my goals.
First up was the “Manziposium at Mission Inn.” After arriving on Saturday, December 2nd, in Orlando with Ben Doyle and making the first journey through the fields to the exceptional Howey-in-the Hills, Florida resort, Mission Inn, then returning Sunday morning to pick up Steve Kahtib (four barrels) and Michael Finney, we gathered on the range at the resort with about 10 Golfing Machine Authorized Instructors’s for a 2-hour Manzella presentation.
The Manziposium at Mission Inn
My presentation was casually titled, “Why do 90% of all PGA Tour players do something contrary to what most of us believe—have the clubshaft and clubhead pass the left hand and bend the left wrist soon after impact—and have success doing it?”
My thesis was that since the findings of “Mandrin” and other Math-types (including Dr. Aaron Zick) have put to rest (or at least a large hole in) the idea that we can “resist deceleration” by having the club “up the left arm, with a flat left wrist” –Is allowing the left wrist to work more freely through impact, something that is to be desired and does it have any scientific advantages?
I must admit, that framing this argument put me in a rather odd place. Here I am, one of the biggest proponents of the “up the left arm” theory in modern golf in the last 20 years, basically explaining that I have figured out that I was wrong—at least for some golfers and some golf swings.
I will do a video to explain this more in depth, but, like I showed in the second episode of the Brian Manzella Show on Youtube.com, I gave a basic visual explanation of my theory that if you are “Pure Swinging” the golf club and left arm will work like a flail. In my view, this flail-like motion would have the club end catching up with the arm end on the downswing, being slight forward leaning (and still catching up) at impact and soon after impact becoming “up” the left arm then immediately past it.
It is also my view, as I explained at the Manziposium, that to keep the shaft “up” the left arm for any length of time, required the golfer to add force across the shaft, in a manner consistent with the Golfing Machine explanation of “Hitting.”
So in plain English, if you want the club to stay “up your left arm,” you HAVE TO add some “hitting.”
No less an “up the left arm-er” as Ben Doyle, told me about a year ago that he “Hits” his little chips, pitches and punches!
The attendees were in mild shock by this thesis of mine, but kept an open mind and participated in some lively debate. My whole point was to make the group think out of the box. I think I succeeded.
The Second Annual Golfing Machine Summit
There is no doubt that Joe Daniels, the President and Owner of The Golfing Machine Company, can run a first class Teaching Summit.
All I can say is he is two-for-two, and the second was better than the first.
The Mission Inn Resort is a great venue for a meeting of this sort, and the setting is beautiful. The food that was included in the Summit fee was A+ and the whole presentation puts the PGA version of a Summit to shame for the same price, but without the benefit of the economy of scale and large sponsorship.
The speakers were great, the presentations very informative and entertaining, and the late-night book “study” was not to be missed.
The presentation by Martin Hall, a Golf Digest Top 50 and Golf Magazine Top 100 instructor, showed the trend toward having the 3 Imperatives dictate the components and not the other way around, which—as most of you know—is a motto of mine.
Dr. Aaron Zick, a physicist from Stanford University, conducted a study for The Golfing Machine, LLC at the Motion Lab at the University of Washington, and the results from that study was presented to the attendees.
Wow!
For a man who loves “Golf Science,” it was like being in attendance at a seminar by Karsten Solheim after he figured out heel-toe weighting.
Simply put, Dr. Zick had two remarkable findings. Number 1: The clubhead reaches its top speed when the club lines up with the left arm—even after low point! This means, the Italian Stallion was wrong, you can hit the ball further on the way up, irrespective of “low spin.”
Number 2: The study on a hyper-advanced version of a “Mandrin” type swing model, proves that FORCE ACROSS THE SHAFT must be applied in conjunction with FULL PIVOT SPEED for a golfer to reach his top possible clubhead speed!
As in, “So Doc, what you are saying—in Golfing Machine terms—is that a 4-barrel stroke will hit the ball further in ALL cases?” –Brian Manzella
“Yes, that is correct.” –Dr. Zick
Wow!
Another development at both the Golfing Machine Summit, as well as the PGA Summit, was—what I call—“Death to the Kool-Aid Tripod.”
This “version” of the Tripod concept died a horrible death in Florida. This literally mis-placed theory was killed from multiple fronts.
First, in the Monday night (first night of the TGM Summit) book study, we brought up the Tripod concept of Homer Kelley. It was first an argument that I had to resort to extreme measures just to get the attendees to allow me to frame. These top golf professionals are SO against the “Star Wars” version of the tripod that I almost sounded like I was a member of the Kool-Aid army as I finally got the attendees to understand what we were trying to say. Which is simply this: There is a faction of golf teachers, lead by a disgruntled, former AI, who has sold the idea that the top of the Tripod is through the MIDDLE of the head.
Well, it is not.
The video and some stills I will post will make it much clearer, but suffice it to say that the point at the top of the Tripod is well in the back of the head.
The biomechanics proved this out as well, as the Manzella-style pivot is obviously sounder from an anatomical viewpoint, as well as closer to what Mr. Kelley proposed.
The more important thing is that, in my current view, neither the “Star Wars” version (middle of the top of the crown), Mr. Kelley’s version (back of the head as the top transitions into the back), or my “Base of the neck” version are correctly the “Center” of the swing.
That point is much lower than all, and in my view, more closely complies with the 1-L location of the Hinge arrangement. Stills, video and audio to follow.
Chuck Cook and his assistant Matt, did a great presentation on the findings of the K-vest which can show precisely where the torso and its components are in space in real-time.
Cool.
The short version of their findings are that the head moves in a good swing, the shoulder are way open at impact, axis tilt and open shoulder are very closely related, and the “ramp up” chain of events in the pivot is the key to maximum power.
The second night of debate and discussion was equally compelling, but the subject matter was rather of the top-secret variety.
All in all, the Golfing Machine Summit was an A+ event, which was further enhanced by the quality of the attendees and the mutual respect of—and agreement with—each other.
The Manziposium at the PGA Golf Club
A completely different group of attendees, several international ones, and assistance form both Steve Khatib and Ben Doyle, made for what was--in my opinion--my best short seminar ever.
I reviewed the finding from the recent TGM Summit and we answered several exceptional questions from the group.
The three of us spent lots of hands-on time with most of the attendees and we worked well past our scheduled time until the insects and darkness took over.
A few of us went to dinner and as is my custom, I gave them quite a show as my unrivaled straight man, Steve Khatib, requested all my best Satn Stopa nd Don Villavaso stories and a few Itallian Stallion ones as well.
The 10th Bi-Annual PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit
In their best effort in several Summits, the PGA of America, led by Director of Instruction Rick Martino, put on an outdoor seminar that had a few bright spots and several low lights.
The bright spots included real science by Callaway Golf, Martin Hall and Chuck Cook, a surprisingly good Jim McClean presentation, and some great students for live lessons.
The low lights were the complete lack of questions allowed from the attendees, C- food for breakfast and lunch, and some of the worst live lessons ever given in front of more than a couple of people.
Any lesson can go bad, especially one that is given in front of about 600 fellow pros, but the ones given at this Summit almost all would up with the student more confused and the ball-striking of less quality than in the evaluation portion of the beginnings of the lessons.
Why do I think the lessons went so poorly?
I’d rather not say. But if I asked our dear friend and 25-year teacher Don Villavaso for his take, I’d bet he repeat one of his famous old lines:
“If you had an unlimited supply of students, what would you teach? It really wouldn’t matter, would it?”
If there was an unexpected star of the PGA Summit it was our own Ben Doyle. Ben was easily the most mentioned golf teacher when the presenters gave credit, and The Golfing Machine itself ran a close second.
What a week!
by Brian Manzella, PGA, G.S.E.D.
For a guy that has spent his whole adult life trying to become both the best and the most famous golf teacher of all time, my recent 9-day adventure in south Florida was quite an experience. I attended two national seminars and gave a couple more myself, as well as rooming with my mentor and a couple of my best friends in and out of golf, which always includes more conversation—and sometimes content—then the seminars themselves. I learned a lot, I taught a lot, I debated a lot, I laughed a lot, and most of all, I got a little bit closer to my goals.
First up was the “Manziposium at Mission Inn.” After arriving on Saturday, December 2nd, in Orlando with Ben Doyle and making the first journey through the fields to the exceptional Howey-in-the Hills, Florida resort, Mission Inn, then returning Sunday morning to pick up Steve Kahtib (four barrels) and Michael Finney, we gathered on the range at the resort with about 10 Golfing Machine Authorized Instructors’s for a 2-hour Manzella presentation.
The Manziposium at Mission Inn
My presentation was casually titled, “Why do 90% of all PGA Tour players do something contrary to what most of us believe—have the clubshaft and clubhead pass the left hand and bend the left wrist soon after impact—and have success doing it?”
My thesis was that since the findings of “Mandrin” and other Math-types (including Dr. Aaron Zick) have put to rest (or at least a large hole in) the idea that we can “resist deceleration” by having the club “up the left arm, with a flat left wrist” –Is allowing the left wrist to work more freely through impact, something that is to be desired and does it have any scientific advantages?
I must admit, that framing this argument put me in a rather odd place. Here I am, one of the biggest proponents of the “up the left arm” theory in modern golf in the last 20 years, basically explaining that I have figured out that I was wrong—at least for some golfers and some golf swings.
I will do a video to explain this more in depth, but, like I showed in the second episode of the Brian Manzella Show on Youtube.com, I gave a basic visual explanation of my theory that if you are “Pure Swinging” the golf club and left arm will work like a flail. In my view, this flail-like motion would have the club end catching up with the arm end on the downswing, being slight forward leaning (and still catching up) at impact and soon after impact becoming “up” the left arm then immediately past it.
It is also my view, as I explained at the Manziposium, that to keep the shaft “up” the left arm for any length of time, required the golfer to add force across the shaft, in a manner consistent with the Golfing Machine explanation of “Hitting.”
So in plain English, if you want the club to stay “up your left arm,” you HAVE TO add some “hitting.”
No less an “up the left arm-er” as Ben Doyle, told me about a year ago that he “Hits” his little chips, pitches and punches!
The attendees were in mild shock by this thesis of mine, but kept an open mind and participated in some lively debate. My whole point was to make the group think out of the box. I think I succeeded.
The Second Annual Golfing Machine Summit
There is no doubt that Joe Daniels, the President and Owner of The Golfing Machine Company, can run a first class Teaching Summit.
All I can say is he is two-for-two, and the second was better than the first.
The Mission Inn Resort is a great venue for a meeting of this sort, and the setting is beautiful. The food that was included in the Summit fee was A+ and the whole presentation puts the PGA version of a Summit to shame for the same price, but without the benefit of the economy of scale and large sponsorship.
The speakers were great, the presentations very informative and entertaining, and the late-night book “study” was not to be missed.
The presentation by Martin Hall, a Golf Digest Top 50 and Golf Magazine Top 100 instructor, showed the trend toward having the 3 Imperatives dictate the components and not the other way around, which—as most of you know—is a motto of mine.
Dr. Aaron Zick, a physicist from Stanford University, conducted a study for The Golfing Machine, LLC at the Motion Lab at the University of Washington, and the results from that study was presented to the attendees.
Wow!
For a man who loves “Golf Science,” it was like being in attendance at a seminar by Karsten Solheim after he figured out heel-toe weighting.
Simply put, Dr. Zick had two remarkable findings. Number 1: The clubhead reaches its top speed when the club lines up with the left arm—even after low point! This means, the Italian Stallion was wrong, you can hit the ball further on the way up, irrespective of “low spin.”
Number 2: The study on a hyper-advanced version of a “Mandrin” type swing model, proves that FORCE ACROSS THE SHAFT must be applied in conjunction with FULL PIVOT SPEED for a golfer to reach his top possible clubhead speed!
As in, “So Doc, what you are saying—in Golfing Machine terms—is that a 4-barrel stroke will hit the ball further in ALL cases?” –Brian Manzella
“Yes, that is correct.” –Dr. Zick
Wow!
Another development at both the Golfing Machine Summit, as well as the PGA Summit, was—what I call—“Death to the Kool-Aid Tripod.”
This “version” of the Tripod concept died a horrible death in Florida. This literally mis-placed theory was killed from multiple fronts.
First, in the Monday night (first night of the TGM Summit) book study, we brought up the Tripod concept of Homer Kelley. It was first an argument that I had to resort to extreme measures just to get the attendees to allow me to frame. These top golf professionals are SO against the “Star Wars” version of the tripod that I almost sounded like I was a member of the Kool-Aid army as I finally got the attendees to understand what we were trying to say. Which is simply this: There is a faction of golf teachers, lead by a disgruntled, former AI, who has sold the idea that the top of the Tripod is through the MIDDLE of the head.
Well, it is not.
The video and some stills I will post will make it much clearer, but suffice it to say that the point at the top of the Tripod is well in the back of the head.
The biomechanics proved this out as well, as the Manzella-style pivot is obviously sounder from an anatomical viewpoint, as well as closer to what Mr. Kelley proposed.
The more important thing is that, in my current view, neither the “Star Wars” version (middle of the top of the crown), Mr. Kelley’s version (back of the head as the top transitions into the back), or my “Base of the neck” version are correctly the “Center” of the swing.
That point is much lower than all, and in my view, more closely complies with the 1-L location of the Hinge arrangement. Stills, video and audio to follow.
Chuck Cook and his assistant Matt, did a great presentation on the findings of the K-vest which can show precisely where the torso and its components are in space in real-time.
Cool.
The short version of their findings are that the head moves in a good swing, the shoulder are way open at impact, axis tilt and open shoulder are very closely related, and the “ramp up” chain of events in the pivot is the key to maximum power.
The second night of debate and discussion was equally compelling, but the subject matter was rather of the top-secret variety.
All in all, the Golfing Machine Summit was an A+ event, which was further enhanced by the quality of the attendees and the mutual respect of—and agreement with—each other.
The Manziposium at the PGA Golf Club
A completely different group of attendees, several international ones, and assistance form both Steve Khatib and Ben Doyle, made for what was--in my opinion--my best short seminar ever.
I reviewed the finding from the recent TGM Summit and we answered several exceptional questions from the group.
The three of us spent lots of hands-on time with most of the attendees and we worked well past our scheduled time until the insects and darkness took over.
A few of us went to dinner and as is my custom, I gave them quite a show as my unrivaled straight man, Steve Khatib, requested all my best Satn Stopa nd Don Villavaso stories and a few Itallian Stallion ones as well.
The 10th Bi-Annual PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit
In their best effort in several Summits, the PGA of America, led by Director of Instruction Rick Martino, put on an outdoor seminar that had a few bright spots and several low lights.
The bright spots included real science by Callaway Golf, Martin Hall and Chuck Cook, a surprisingly good Jim McClean presentation, and some great students for live lessons.
The low lights were the complete lack of questions allowed from the attendees, C- food for breakfast and lunch, and some of the worst live lessons ever given in front of more than a couple of people.
Any lesson can go bad, especially one that is given in front of about 600 fellow pros, but the ones given at this Summit almost all would up with the student more confused and the ball-striking of less quality than in the evaluation portion of the beginnings of the lessons.
Why do I think the lessons went so poorly?
I’d rather not say. But if I asked our dear friend and 25-year teacher Don Villavaso for his take, I’d bet he repeat one of his famous old lines:
“If you had an unlimited supply of students, what would you teach? It really wouldn’t matter, would it?”
If there was an unexpected star of the PGA Summit it was our own Ben Doyle. Ben was easily the most mentioned golf teacher when the presenters gave credit, and The Golfing Machine itself ran a close second.
What a week!
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