Hitting It Good Lately...

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JEREMY5577

JEREMY5577

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Tumble takes care of going right, bend not roll takes care of left (Kevin Shields Quote)

Understanding more and more every day how to refine the forces to the handle.

Ready to golf after 30 range balls instead of 300.

Back and elbows don't hurt anymore.
 
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art

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puttmaster said:
Amen. Relaxing AND learning to HIT the ball are the main things that I'm working on, thanks to this forum. (Those two things too often have been at odds with one another in my mind.) More specifically, HIT it with my right hand, as opposed to the back of my left hand as I have tried to do for umpteen years.
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Dear puttmaster,

From my research activities regarding club head velocity AND accuracy, I must indicate CAUTION to abandoning the left hand hitting in favor of your noted 100% right hand.

As a trend, I see 'teaching' a little right hand for beginners, more for those seeking improvement and single digit handicaps, and 'as much as possible' (three right hands for Hogan) for the elite.

I await comments from the TEACHERS that respond, and will gladly provide the supporting science if there is interest, as it centers around the significant power and path accuracies of a 'dynamically balanced' left (lead) shoulder complex, focusing on the humerus and the glenoid.
 
pokerlife

pokerlife

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Good thread! Im also hitting it better than i ever have even though i seriously have the worst early extension in golf ..
I have spent the last 3 months and countless hours trying to fix it .. Iv'e also became aware that my left leg is a little shorter than my right leg.. So I may never fix the problem but sure will keep on trying haha
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
art said:
Dear puttmaster,

From my research activities regarding club head velocity AND accuracy, I must indicate CAUTION to abandoning the left hand hitting in favor of your noted 100% right hand.

As a trend, I see 'teaching' a little right hand for beginners, more for those seeking improvement and single digit handicaps, and 'as much as possible' (three right hands for Hogan) for the elite.

I await comments from the TEACHERS that respond, and will gladly provide the supporting science if there is interest, as it centers around the significant power and path accuracies of a 'dynamically balanced' left (lead) shoulder complex, focusing on the humerus and the glenoid.
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I plan on teaching my kids to hit it as hard as they can with their right hand. Along with other things. Proper use of the right hand has been huge for my beginners and ladies so I'd be interested in knowing why you wouldn't teach that to anybody but the elite.
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
Jared Willerson said:
I have been hitting the golf ball very solidly as of late. I am not posting this to brag but to simply put thoughts to words and give some credit.

I chronically suffer from underplane blocks and snappers, which also accompanies nirvana like ball striking, which leads to insomnia, which leads to frustration, which leads to having to wear an eyepatch.....but anyway.

I went to see a friend of mine who I have worked with a bunch. We deduced that my left arm on the down swing was too horizontal. Mike Granato sent me a video tip that he took the time to produce for me, I really appreciate it. Kevin Shields spent some time on the phone with me that helped me put a lot together.

Basically this is what happened.

1. I felt like I stopped turning in the backswing. I had a big one piece turn take away with the club extremely shut. I would get to the top and I would "carry" a bunch get the left arm horizontal and drop the club under plane. The fix was getting more "toe up" at first parallel.

2. I am left eye dominant. I simply moved my left eye behind the ball, this improved my path a lot. Before, I had a hard time because I really think my brain was seeing too far left. I had to center it up

3. I widened my stance. I was shocked at how narrow it had gotten, like feet inside the shoulders narrow. Brian had mentioned something in our last lesson about widening my stance, apparently I did not listen. Widening my stance allowed my lower back to stay at the target longer in the downswing. Being so narrow I was spinning out with the hips and shifting out with my shoulders. Simply widening my stance helped a lot.

4. I know this sounds the silliest, but my swing had simply gotten mechanical and SLOW. I plugged in my tour tempo 24/8 with all the above fixed pieces and....Voila!!

In an effort to hit it better I did all of the above. Not even sure if anything has to do with anything. All I know is I am hitting the ball more solid and I am not under plane on video.

If anyone else has anything to add or critique fire away and thanks for reading.
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#4 may be the least silly. Had to speed up a couple backswings lately and both students had this sense of relief. It's like they were trying to remember everything on the way back!
 
Matt Bryda

Matt Bryda

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From my research activities regarding club head velocity AND accuracy, I must indicate CAUTION to abandoning the left hand hitting in favor of your noted 100% right hand.
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I have also shifted focus from left to more right but..

I wouldn't say that I abandoned the left completely.
 
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puttmaster

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art said:
Dear puttmaster,

From my research activities regarding club head velocity AND accuracy, I must indicate CAUTION to abandoning the left hand hitting in favor of your noted 100% right hand.

As a trend, I see 'teaching' a little right hand for beginners, more for those seeking improvement and single digit handicaps, and 'as much as possible' (three right hands for Hogan) for the elite.

I await comments from the TEACHERS that respond, and will gladly provide the supporting science if there is interest, as it centers around the significant power and path accuracies of a 'dynamically balanced' left (lead) shoulder complex, focusing on the humerus and the glenoid.
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Art - thanks for your thoughtful reply and word of caution. I've only reached the single-digit hdcp level but did so with (consciously) little to no help from the (stronger) right side. I didn't mean to imply anything near 100% right hand and no left hand. Rather, I have been working on adding more power and CH speed by proper use/addition of my right hand (without it overpowering and causing my left to collapse and break down.) It has been a refreshing revelation, to me, that one - applied properly - is not exclusive of the other.
 
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spktho

New
For the last few months my only anti-left thought is to get the left arm off the chest through impact. Picked up about a half club distance too. But, I've always mostly used the right hand/arm in the swing.
 
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art

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Kevin Shields said:
I plan on teaching my kids to hit it as hard as they can with their right hand. Along with other things. Proper use of the right hand has been huge for my beginners and ladies so I'd be interested in knowing why you wouldn't teach that to anybody but the elite.
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Dear Kevin,

Please continue to help kids and ladies use their right hands in learning how to play golf, I DID NOT state that IMO, kids will naturally learn to BALANCE the use of their right hand/side because they have no fear of slicing etc, and are just kids having fun hitting the golf ball.

Regarding women, IMO, their dominant and non dominant sides are much better matched than their men counterparts who have probably done everything possible that requires force/power favoring their dominant right side ( I have heard that only 5-10% of all people are left handed).

So, to get on with my response, as background, I hope you know, I am NOT a teacher, but a decent athlete that has been blessed with a 47 year career involving dynamics and stability. So an accurate assessment of my approach to seeking golf truth is definitely from both an applied (and integrated) science, and amateur golfer experience basis. To prepare for exposing my hypotheses externally this year, I spent 5 years, reviewed over 1000 technical/research documents and certainly averaged hitting hundreds of balls each week, trying to get a personal understanding of what I was passionately studying.

So, my "IMO-protected" suggestion of not employing an active right hand for beginners and folks who performed, or had recorded handicaps in double digits is the result of watching hundreds of people at driving ranges trying desperately to overcome the dreaded natural characteristics of a 'right hand dominant' person, trying to play what I believe is better defined as a 'left handed game'. The culprit in this mismatch IMO was the natural dominance of the right hand, arm AND SHOULDER COMPLEX, leaving low to no chance to apply compensations during the downswing to re stabilize the upper bodies path over the coronal plane/line.

More importantly however, with the right hand now 'contaminating' the natural pendulum-like capability of the left arm rotating around the stable humerus/glenoid shoulder joint, the golf club path and club face at impact have the potential for significantly more error content from what is desired.

Please try this Kevin, stand near a wall on you immediate left, and swing your left arm towards the wall trying to hit a pin-head size circle. Then repeat this trying to do it with your right hand. Naturally, the additional 'degrees of freedom' are involved with the right hand test, and this is exactly what 'potentially' contaminates the golf swing if the left side has not yet had enough golf swing 'experience' to be at least the boss of the path.

I value ALL you folks on this site and would be very willing to discuss this further with you actually by phone. If you are interested, Brian and Jon Hardesty have both my home and cell numbers, so please give me a call.

Regards,
art
 
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btp

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From one of the Bobby Jones books. "The right hand must be restrained, if it is not to hit before its time arrives."
 
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Brian Manzella

Administrator
In my opinion, based on nothing more than 30 years of teaching trying to become the best of all-time, is that as soon as the golfer makes a swing that looks and acts at least somewhat like a "minimally effective right arm only practice swing or better," the quicker they become as good as they can.

(Its a riddle on purpose. The person who figures it out gets a prize)
 
Matt Bryda

Matt Bryda

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The more the person can pull away from the ball the better chance they have at creating more work by activating the bigger muscles in the body?

This can also encourage the person to use a more natural instinctual throwing motion on the way through. Body then arms/club.
 
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