Brian Manzella
Administrator
Everyday, at the Brian Manzella Golf Academy, we try to get a little bit smarter. Everyday, we try to get a little bit closer to our goals.
This past week in Phoenix, we got a lot smarter and a lot closer.
Accompanied by my Manzella Academy Senior Instructors, Mike Finney and Tom Bartlett, we took a long-awaited research trip to the Karsten Manufacturing campus, where PING golf equipment is produced.
Wow, what a place!
First of all, you have to understand why we wanted to go to PING.
Karsten Solheim is one of my idols. He believed in quality. And he believed in what worked. I have always patterned my climb to the top after him.
So, maybe about 20 years ago, I told Michael Finney that one day we would be visiting the major club manufacturers, because we will run out of information from golf books and golf pros.
I was almost exactly right.
Now, I feel like the only places to learn from are the major manufacturers, and from PHDs.
So we went to PING to do both.
We showed up with a list of questions. Most of them I was pretty confident I knew the answers to. So some of our time was spent getting validation.
But, we learned a lot.
Like what?
Well, this Blog is probably not the place for that, but the information will come out soon.
Here are a couple:
Irons are NOT specifically designed to "lean forward" certain amounts.
Golfers tend to hit down more with more lofted clubs than less lofted ones, and because of this, the club bounces and sole cambers, are designed around that.
So this time it is the chicken, and not the egg.
Golf clubheads oscillate during the downswing!
Whoa!
Here is one more:
Mandrin is right, you CAN NOT resist deceleration at and through impact.
All the stuff that pertains to the golf swing will become part of all my future videos.
While we were in Phoenix, we all got fit by the new king of custom fitting, CoolClubs.
We were very impressed with what they offer, and the quality of the fit. Me and Tom Bartlett are getting new clubs as soon as possible.
PING also gave me a VIP fit in their appropriately named VIP Fitting room.
It came out, for all practical purposes, exactly like CoolClub's fit for me.
The folks at PING were very impressed with my TrackMan numbers with a Driver. I hit one with a 14° launch angle, 6° upward hit, & 1903 spin. Even with my measly 102.5 mph clubhead speed, the ball went pretty darn far.
"Pattern #13" at work.
Probably the coolest thing to happen at PING was I got to do what I do best—teach.
While we were in one of the conference rooms with three of PING brightest men, I made the comment that I could fix any slice in a matter of a few balls.
I got my chance.
I got to give our PHD host, a lesson in the VIP fitting room.
Fixed the slice in 12 balls.
First three shots: outside-in path 8 to 10 degrees, face open 5 to 7 to the path, downward angle of decent with a driver 2 or 3 degrees, even with a fast swing speed, the average distance was sub 240 yards.
His last three shots all had a 2 degree inside-out path, a 3 to 5° upward hit, a face a couple of degrees closed to the path, and, well 300+ yards.
I think we figured he gained 70-something yards on average.
I'd love to have a time machine, a spare couple of hours, and a few "famous" instructors to take their shot at that kind of improvement.
I like to publicly thank PING for their hospitality, and all the great information we learned.
And also thanks to CoolClubs for everything they did for us.
This past week in Phoenix, we got a lot smarter and a lot closer.
Accompanied by my Manzella Academy Senior Instructors, Mike Finney and Tom Bartlett, we took a long-awaited research trip to the Karsten Manufacturing campus, where PING golf equipment is produced.
Wow, what a place!
First of all, you have to understand why we wanted to go to PING.
Karsten Solheim is one of my idols. He believed in quality. And he believed in what worked. I have always patterned my climb to the top after him.
So, maybe about 20 years ago, I told Michael Finney that one day we would be visiting the major club manufacturers, because we will run out of information from golf books and golf pros.
I was almost exactly right.
Now, I feel like the only places to learn from are the major manufacturers, and from PHDs.
So we went to PING to do both.
We showed up with a list of questions. Most of them I was pretty confident I knew the answers to. So some of our time was spent getting validation.
But, we learned a lot.
Like what?
Well, this Blog is probably not the place for that, but the information will come out soon.
Here are a couple:
Irons are NOT specifically designed to "lean forward" certain amounts.
Golfers tend to hit down more with more lofted clubs than less lofted ones, and because of this, the club bounces and sole cambers, are designed around that.
So this time it is the chicken, and not the egg.
Golf clubheads oscillate during the downswing!
Whoa!
Here is one more:
Mandrin is right, you CAN NOT resist deceleration at and through impact.
All the stuff that pertains to the golf swing will become part of all my future videos.
While we were in Phoenix, we all got fit by the new king of custom fitting, CoolClubs.
We were very impressed with what they offer, and the quality of the fit. Me and Tom Bartlett are getting new clubs as soon as possible.
PING also gave me a VIP fit in their appropriately named VIP Fitting room.
It came out, for all practical purposes, exactly like CoolClub's fit for me.
The folks at PING were very impressed with my TrackMan numbers with a Driver. I hit one with a 14° launch angle, 6° upward hit, & 1903 spin. Even with my measly 102.5 mph clubhead speed, the ball went pretty darn far.
"Pattern #13" at work.
Probably the coolest thing to happen at PING was I got to do what I do best—teach.
While we were in one of the conference rooms with three of PING brightest men, I made the comment that I could fix any slice in a matter of a few balls.
I got my chance.
I got to give our PHD host, a lesson in the VIP fitting room.
Fixed the slice in 12 balls.
First three shots: outside-in path 8 to 10 degrees, face open 5 to 7 to the path, downward angle of decent with a driver 2 or 3 degrees, even with a fast swing speed, the average distance was sub 240 yards.
His last three shots all had a 2 degree inside-out path, a 3 to 5° upward hit, a face a couple of degrees closed to the path, and, well 300+ yards.
I think we figured he gained 70-something yards on average.
I'd love to have a time machine, a spare couple of hours, and a few "famous" instructors to take their shot at that kind of improvement.
I like to publicly thank PING for their hospitality, and all the great information we learned.
And also thanks to CoolClubs for everything they did for us.
