Brian Manzella
Administrator
For The First Time Ever
by Brian Manzella
For the first time in golf history, maybe in any sport’s history, the best two players in that sport are being held back by the methodology of their current instructors.
Tiger Woods looks like a poorly cast actor, portraying Ben Hogan in a multi-cultural remake of “Follow the Sun.”
Phil Mickelson, looks a poorly cast actor in an action flick titled: “Terminator hits a Slice in a Straight Jacket.”
It’s time guys, and everyone knows it.
At least with Woods, almost anyone who remembers the 1997 Tiger, or the 2000 Tiger, the guy who didn’t have to make three practice swings before every shot, and pointed at the hole while a putt dropped, more than at the far right rough.
Phil is confusing us with his ugly-for-him shirts and poor putting, but I know better.
Butch fits worse than the shirts.
Easily in the top ten things I have learned in my 27 years of teaching, is the simple fact that you either are a relatively shallow “elbow plane” through impact golfer, or you are on a steeper, through the turned right shoulder plane one.
Nicklaus, turned shoulder. Watson? Same. Palmer—ditto.
Garcia, elbow. Nelson? As well. Hogan—absolutely, babe.
Trying to make an apple an orange just hasn’t worked—to my knowledge—in golf instruction history.
Butch thinks the elbow plane is a mistake.
Guess where Phil’s been since he mirrored his pop’s right-handed swing?
Yup. The elbow plane.
Now, little Eldrick was also on that shallower plane since before the Mike Douglass show, and Butch will tell you he “fixed” that, but I had TiVo back then, and I have I have YouTube now, and Tiger was still on the elbow plane on most shots in ‘ought-ought.
Butch had all sorts of plans for Tiger’s swing, many that Tiger never put into action, and one of them was the removal of the elbow plane altogether.
Butch thought it to be the cause of Tiger’s new miss at the time, the right-to-right-and-then-point-over-there shot.
Funny thing, the cure was the cause.
You see, if a golfer who is “at home” on the elbow plane is swinging steeper than that towards the ball, he will instinctively drop the club toward the elbow plane pre-impact, too late to “get back on top of it” and the resulting open clubface and rightward path, adds up to “fore right.”
The more Butch told Tiger that this natural drop was the club “getting stuck behind him,” the more Tiger got under late, and eventually looked elsewhere for answers.
As luck would have it, his playing companion those days was often Mark O’Meara, a pal who was Hank Haney’s #1 student.
When Mark or Hank suggested—and Tiger tried—“shallower” to fix the right shot, he was instantly fixed.
He rediscovered the "elbow plane" of his youth. All is well...
Or so he thought.
You see, if Tiger would have just returned “home” to the elbow plane, and left his backswing where he and Butch had gotten it, he probably would have been just fine.
Ideal? Maybe not.
In a pickle like he is now? No way.
But folks, that is what happens when you go to see a “method teacher,” you get the matching serving spoons and forks as well as the silverware.
Why?
Because, method teachers are almost always trying to justify their existence on the planet through the “right” pupil.
So, Hank put in the "pop-out" takeaway, followed by the rapid left arm "flying wedge" rotation, the parallel plane theory, the high right shoulder please-don't-go-left—O'Meara-ish—high right shoulder save move, and of course the Hogan-copied 'gather up the marbles" finish.
Poor Tiger
Poor Phil.
Before anyone ever criticizes me for being cocky and critical of other teachers, they should spend some time with Harmon and Haney.
Those guys both think they are right all the time, and have done less adjusting to their ideal in the last 10 years than I have in the last 10 months.
Phil, go find someone who will let you make your full backswing like Don January and John Daly, let you down-shift like Sam Snead, and let you putt like the guy you copied—Ben Crenshaw, and not like Howard Twitty.
Tiger, here it is buddy, and I mean it.
Grip: Anywhere you want, as long as it is stronger than now, and weaker than ’97.
Backswing: No “pop-out,” and your ’97 right arm positions.
Downswing: Shift—when and how you want—to the elbow plane, but swing left enough to make TrackMan happy.
Finish: Anything but that fake, Ben Hogan copy you use now. Think more Nick-loss, and less O’Meara.
That’s how you got in this mess to start with.
by Brian Manzella
For the first time in golf history, maybe in any sport’s history, the best two players in that sport are being held back by the methodology of their current instructors.
Tiger Woods looks like a poorly cast actor, portraying Ben Hogan in a multi-cultural remake of “Follow the Sun.”
Phil Mickelson, looks a poorly cast actor in an action flick titled: “Terminator hits a Slice in a Straight Jacket.”
It’s time guys, and everyone knows it.
At least with Woods, almost anyone who remembers the 1997 Tiger, or the 2000 Tiger, the guy who didn’t have to make three practice swings before every shot, and pointed at the hole while a putt dropped, more than at the far right rough.
Phil is confusing us with his ugly-for-him shirts and poor putting, but I know better.
Butch fits worse than the shirts.
Easily in the top ten things I have learned in my 27 years of teaching, is the simple fact that you either are a relatively shallow “elbow plane” through impact golfer, or you are on a steeper, through the turned right shoulder plane one.
Nicklaus, turned shoulder. Watson? Same. Palmer—ditto.
Garcia, elbow. Nelson? As well. Hogan—absolutely, babe.
Trying to make an apple an orange just hasn’t worked—to my knowledge—in golf instruction history.
Butch thinks the elbow plane is a mistake.
Guess where Phil’s been since he mirrored his pop’s right-handed swing?
Yup. The elbow plane.
Now, little Eldrick was also on that shallower plane since before the Mike Douglass show, and Butch will tell you he “fixed” that, but I had TiVo back then, and I have I have YouTube now, and Tiger was still on the elbow plane on most shots in ‘ought-ought.
Butch had all sorts of plans for Tiger’s swing, many that Tiger never put into action, and one of them was the removal of the elbow plane altogether.
Butch thought it to be the cause of Tiger’s new miss at the time, the right-to-right-and-then-point-over-there shot.
Funny thing, the cure was the cause.
You see, if a golfer who is “at home” on the elbow plane is swinging steeper than that towards the ball, he will instinctively drop the club toward the elbow plane pre-impact, too late to “get back on top of it” and the resulting open clubface and rightward path, adds up to “fore right.”
The more Butch told Tiger that this natural drop was the club “getting stuck behind him,” the more Tiger got under late, and eventually looked elsewhere for answers.
As luck would have it, his playing companion those days was often Mark O’Meara, a pal who was Hank Haney’s #1 student.
When Mark or Hank suggested—and Tiger tried—“shallower” to fix the right shot, he was instantly fixed.
He rediscovered the "elbow plane" of his youth. All is well...
Or so he thought.
You see, if Tiger would have just returned “home” to the elbow plane, and left his backswing where he and Butch had gotten it, he probably would have been just fine.
Ideal? Maybe not.
In a pickle like he is now? No way.
But folks, that is what happens when you go to see a “method teacher,” you get the matching serving spoons and forks as well as the silverware.
Why?
Because, method teachers are almost always trying to justify their existence on the planet through the “right” pupil.
So, Hank put in the "pop-out" takeaway, followed by the rapid left arm "flying wedge" rotation, the parallel plane theory, the high right shoulder please-don't-go-left—O'Meara-ish—high right shoulder save move, and of course the Hogan-copied 'gather up the marbles" finish.
Poor Tiger
Poor Phil.
Before anyone ever criticizes me for being cocky and critical of other teachers, they should spend some time with Harmon and Haney.
Those guys both think they are right all the time, and have done less adjusting to their ideal in the last 10 years than I have in the last 10 months.
Phil, go find someone who will let you make your full backswing like Don January and John Daly, let you down-shift like Sam Snead, and let you putt like the guy you copied—Ben Crenshaw, and not like Howard Twitty.
Tiger, here it is buddy, and I mean it.
Grip: Anywhere you want, as long as it is stronger than now, and weaker than ’97.
Backswing: No “pop-out,” and your ’97 right arm positions.
Downswing: Shift—when and how you want—to the elbow plane, but swing left enough to make TrackMan happy.
Finish: Anything but that fake, Ben Hogan copy you use now. Think more Nick-loss, and less O’Meara.
That’s how you got in this mess to start with.
