Ever hit it sooooo good........

[birdie_man]

And then...

Not be able to pin it down a week later?

....

It's happened to me a few times that stand out.

But one time mostly...

Hitting balls.....experimenting as usual....changed a few things....

...20 or so dead straight SMASHED drives later....

Broke my 300 Tour.

That night tho.....and I still don't think I have re-created it....I hit it as good as I really think I possibly am capable of.

(or at least very close)

Every shot dead straight....smashed (next level after mashed).......

Man that was cool.

And ppl say STLOC is a farce...

I mean....the sound was different....the feel was different (FELT like my driver was gonna break on every hit)....the trajectory was different. (rockets)

...

I mean....I hit it good still.....hit one 380 this year which is my all-time best actually....

But that was definitely different.

Gotta pin it down.

 

[birdie_man]

I think I really need to look like Brian's logo.....and get all 4 Barrels goin again.

 

[wayers]

Yep, happened to me about a month ago....Got mad on a teebox and decided to just kill it, the ball went easily 50 yards longer than normal!!! Lost it after 2 rounds! What I felt at the time (which I can't seem to duplicate), was holding the twistaway, the left arm blasting of my chest, and the right arm getting full extension towards the target. Man, what I would pay to get it back!!!

Ben

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Sounds like you found your set of components to produce the 3 imperatives. Now you need to find out what componets you were using

 

[shortgamer]

My dad is a plus handicap and he always told me after a great round write down what you think you were doing right or feeling that day about your swing. After a while you start to see some of the same ideas or positions or thoughts and then you can start to see a pattern that you can refer too. Like most things my dad told me though, I never tried it. Stupid me.

 

[Perfect Impact]

What is Kelley's component for "wild abandon" in which our inbuilt computers do the thinking and organizing and executing for us? THAT was your secret.

Grip it and rip it is DEEP wisdom. It is how JN and many others advise we should teach children. They can find the ball LATER.

I had a neighbor boy of 8 years who would daily come home from school, put on his Yankee baseball uniform and spend hours hitting "home runs" with a baseball hanging on a rope from a limb in front of his house. 68 pounds, 8 years old. Brother on a baseball scholarship to a Carolina college (hero...)

Using a sawed off 7 iron for his very first golf experience, HE HAD A FLAWLESS POWERFUL GOLF SWING (at a low pitch). ABSOLUTELY UNTAUGHT except by his own intentions.

This is one of my problems with golf instruction in general: not enough trust in nature's ability to do very well with intention and a bit of common sense coaching. I do think SO MANY of the good kids coming up learned THAT way...NOT from TGM, McLean's 12 steps, Croker's System, or other fragmented approaches.

Isn't this lasst year the first time Couples has sought help? Trevino-- did he EVER? or Rodriguez, or Daly?

The kid from W.Va. - swearing he'll NEVER take a lesson.

I coached the captain of the Fl. State golf team about six years ago before his family moved to CA. His dad ABSOLUTELY FORBID HIM EVEN TO RIDE IN A CART WHERE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT GOLF SWING (and who chose me FOR his coach because of my philosophy). He was so afraid of contamination of a GREAT naturally learned golf swing using his daddy's TOO long and too heavy clubs. He striped everything and drove 300 with hardly any appearance of effort. PURE impact and that special sound.

 

[tbarbertab]

I mean....the sound was different....the feel was different (FELT like my driver was gonna break on every hit)....the trajectory was different. (rockets)

birdie_man,

This happened to me a couple months ago. The night before, I watched Mike Jacob's "Explosive Golf" dvd twice through. The ideas I took from the video to the range the next day was to swing with really relaxed arms and shoulders, and to just turn the club back with no thought about where the club was going. Kind of a "mindless backwswing". Then in the downswing, to pull the club as hard as possible with the lead arm.

The result was just what you described. The most solid drives of my life. Low screaming bullets. I kept looking at my driver face to make sure it was alright. It felt like the driver was going to explode! I was able to reproduce this result the next three or four trips to the range. I just didn't know what to make of it. It felt so different that it couldn't be right.....or could it?

 

[c21heel]

I lost about twenty yards on my drives earlier this year and I pinned it down to the fact that my hands were so tense that I couldn't get a good wrist cock on the backswing. As a result, I was making up for a lack of wrist cock by using my upper body to "try" to create more power.

Don't know if that was my problem for sure, but I started hitting the ball solid again once I reduced the tension in my forearms and concentrated on setting the wrist.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Remember this FAMOUS Manzella-ism...

...and don't EVER forget it...

If you can make a divot in front of the ball, and hook the ball on purpose...

85%+ of all golfers can't pass both...

ANYTHING might work for a day or week or month...

But, at the end of the day, it was just a mirage.

 

[tbarbertab]

But, at the end of the day, it was just a mirage.

Darn

 

[JohnThomas1]

I do think SO MANY of the good kids coming up learned THAT way...NOT from TGM, McLean's 12 steps, Croker's System, or other fragmented approaches.

What approaches would you say AREN'T fragemented, if any, PI?

 

[Perfect Impact]

Ernest Jones. "Throw the club." "Hit home runs." David Lee drills, whether his own or similar ones with the same object. Percy Boomer. "5 Minutes to a Perfect Golf Swing" where the overall motion is illustrated as a directed throw.

Once the FUNCTION is defined and understood, the FORM takes shape almost without help. The boy I described with a perfect golf swing at age 8 automatically held the club "correctly," stood "correctly," and did all of the fragments "correctly" because the same computer system that enabled him to walk and ride a bike fitted the elements of GOLF SWING correctly for him in the same manner.

Of course I mention names that have been "in the news." How many dads I have seen CORRECTLY teaching their children to SWING first; how many coaches have directed their HS kids to SWING and aim and do NOT get into fragments. My dad did not give ME fragments: I caddied and picked up SWING from what I saw and imitated.

 

[starretj]

Manzella-ism Revisited

...and don't EVER forget it...

If you can make a divot in front of the ball, and hook the ball on purpose...

85%+ of all golfers can't pass both...

ANYTHING might work for a day or week or month...

But, at the end of the day, it was just a mirage.

Brian,
Would you please explain why this is true.

Jim S.

 

[shootin4par]

Brian,
Would you please explain why this is true.

Jim S.

Not brian but I will take a shot
because those players have ingrained decent impact positions and swing mechanics so even adding in a swing fault will not get them away from those positions. Tell tiger to twist his right big toe to initiate the downswing and he may hit the ball great with it for a couple of days. Tell finney to have a center of feet head center tripod and he will hit it good, because good ball strikers find a way to strike it good no matter how they swing

 

[birdie_man]

What is Kelley's component for "wild abandon" in which our inbuilt computers do the thinking and organizing and executing for us? THAT was your secret.

Grip it and rip it is DEEP wisdom. It is how JN and many others advise we should teach children. They can find the ball LATER.

I had a neighbor boy of 8 years who would daily come home from school, put on his Yankee baseball uniform and spend hours hitting "home runs" with a baseball hanging on a rope from a limb in front of his house. 68 pounds, 8 years old. Brother on a baseball scholarship to a Carolina college (hero...)

Using a sawed off 7 iron for his very first golf experience, HE HAD A FLAWLESS POWERFUL GOLF SWING (at a low pitch). ABSOLUTELY UNTAUGHT except by his own intentions.

This is one of my problems with golf instruction in general: not enough trust in nature's ability to do very well with intention and a bit of common sense coaching. I do think SO MANY of the good kids coming up learned THAT way...NOT from TGM, McLean's 12 steps, Croker's System, or other fragmented approaches.

Isn't this lasst year the first time Couples has sought help? Trevino-- did he EVER? or Rodriguez, or Daly?

The kid from W.Va. - swearing he'll NEVER take a lesson.

I coached the captain of the Fl. State golf team about six years ago before his family moved to CA. His dad ABSOLUTELY FORBID HIM EVEN TO RIDE IN A CART WHERE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT GOLF SWING (and who chose me FOR his coach because of my philosophy). He was so afraid of contamination of a GREAT naturally learned golf swing using his daddy's TOO long and too heavy clubs. He striped everything and drove 300 with hardly any appearance of effort. PURE impact and that special sound.

PI man I don't think that was it.

I've swung freely before.....hehe......and with different patterns.

I'd always get to a point where I'd feel like this was as good as I can do but it's not good enough.

It's the pattern.

I mean don't get me wrong....I hit it good right now.....but not like I know I can.

....

BTW I think you have a point....in natural learning etc...(for those who can do it)....

But not everyone can do that (obviously)......good teaching will always have a place IMO.....and IMO most people need a little something to get to a real good level of playing. (whether it be their own hard work or someone else's guidance)

 

[birdie_man]

...and don't EVER forget it...

If you can make a divot in front of the ball, and hook the ball on purpose...

85%+ of all golfers can't pass both...

ANYTHING might work for a day or week or month...

But, at the end of the day, it was just a mirage.

I dunnnno Brian....

I think I UNLOCKED THE CODE!!! that day...(the broken driver head sits on my desk for inspiration).....

Found THE SECRET....

lol...

You'll ALLL see...!

 

[starretj]

Not brian but I will take a shot
because those players have ingrained decent impact positions and swing mechanics so even adding in a swing fault will not get them away from those positions. Tell tiger to twist his right big toe to initiate the downswing and he may hit the ball great with it for a couple of days. Tell finney to have a center of feet head center tripod and he will hit it good, because good ball strikers find a way to strike it good no matter how they swing

S4P,
I would think that what you said is true, unfortunately, I also believe that this has dampened mine and other good players improvement. I have not taken many lessons, but when I have taken lessons, I have had to trust the person giving me the lesson. I worked on incorporating the changes and for a while I might get better or if I didn't I felt like I wasn't doing it correctly. It takes a while to finally know that what your were taught was not correct or not correct for you. Either way more confusion about my own swing. I sure am glad that I found this site and Brian.

Jim S.

 

[shootin4par]

S4P,
I would think that what you said is true, unfortunately, I also believe that this has dampened mine and other good players improvement. I have not taken many lessons, but when I have taken lessons, I have had to trust the person giving me the lesson. I worked on incorporating the changes and for a while I might get better or if I didn't I felt like I wasn't doing it correctly. It takes a while to finally know that what your were taught was not correct or not correct for you. Either way more confusion about my own swing. I sure am glad that I found this site and Brian.

Jim S.

sorry to take this off topic birdie man
maybe breaking down the swing into components might help you, so what are the main compenents? first start out with getting a solid set up, brian has some good articles on that, then from there you work on your pivot, and then work on your hands, then you should be swinging better and go back and re focus on set up, then pivot, then hands. each time you will get more refined and better at each.

 

[birdie_man]

sorry to take this off topic birdie man

(no big deal)

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

here's the thing:

Any good player...from scratch to PGA pro KNOWS THEIR SWING AND THEIR COMPONENTS THAT MAKE IT WORK.

Now most of these players just figured it out REALLLY fast. They don't care what component they are using (TGM wise) nor do they want too. They just know what their swing is and they just stick with it. That's why it's hard to get them to change to anything.

Poor players are always CONSTANTLY changing their components (whether it's consciously or subconsciously) and thus leading to inconsistency in their swing.

Those days when you just "get it" it's because you figured out a set of components that worked for you (whatever they were). However it may not have been something you naturally do so it went away and you couldn't recognize what it was.

So what do you do? Go back to "tinkering on the range" (ie chaning components). The secret to playing great golf and being consistent is picking a set a components that you can repeat (under pressure if playing tournament golf) and leave it alone.

Now that could me a bent left wrist and throwaway, but if you do it the same EVERY TIME, what does it matter?

----------

The above is why instructors who really know all the different parts of the swings can help someone so fast. They know what components they are using, which don't work together, and which the student can actually perform.

So we get you to "gel them" together and walla....all of a sudden you're hitting the ball great. Now it is up to you to learn what you have been taught and not to mess with it.