The Robotic Fade

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Guitar Hero

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Back in 1991 I was 33 years old and was bitten by the long drive bug. I knew the yonex rep and had him get me a yonex adx 300 47” driver designed for the long drive team. You would not believe how heavy that driver was. I was working on strength training with a top body builder who I was teaching golf for exchange in body building training sessions.

During a lesson I was showing him how you could set up with fixed alignments or TGM version of “The Bat” and sync the pivot, the lower body, upper body hands and arms all moving together in the back swing and down swing and hit the ball very accurate. This guy was so big that his muscles would get in the way so there was no way to his left or right arm to move across the chest during the swing. One of the things I discovered was for him to make good rotation I had his upper arms set at address with a little space between them and the upper body. I also had a little bend in his left elbow at set up. Both elbows were pointed out slightly at address as well.

Now when he would make a back swing the arms could lift to a hands high position on the back swing and drop easy during the down swing in sync with the total body pivot motion. After working with the swing that look like a slow robotic swing he started hitting balls with a PW and was hitting it 150 yards with a swing that looked like a stiff robot that was hardly moving. I could not believe what I was seeing but ball after ball was hit 150 to 160 yards with a PW. I was just trying to get him to hit it straight and he was hitting it long as well. After the lesson I thought well if it worked for him it will work for me and I worked with the same set up and motion and was hitting a PW 140 to 145 that felt like a slow robotic swing.

The next day I was playing 18 holes with a friend who was a long hitter and I thought why not give this robotic swing a try and see if you can put a drive out past his so on #1 hole which was a par 6 647 yard hole that was straight with a wide fairway. I took that yonex adx 300 drive and used the robotic swing and hit a drive 317 yards down the middle. It felt like I was hardly swinging and very robotic. I used that swing for the rest of the round and was hitting it long and straight all day. I even used the robotic motion for putting, chipping and pitching. I think I shot a 74 that day with a swing that felt like a stiff robot. I was always changing my swing in those days so I did not think much of what had really happened the day I discovered the robotic swing.

Fast forward to today 18 years later.

Today I had a lesson with a guy who was a body builder and I tried this same swing pattern with him and it was a perfect pattern for him and he hit the ball long and straight. His driver was 280 -285 with a slight fade. Just beautiful shots. Well tonight I was searching the internet and came across some pictures of the 2008 Remix Long Drive champion Jamie Sadlowski and I saw a picture of him at impact with the same robotic swing alignments.

Check out this picture.

jschi.jpg


I think I just might be on to something here. I will shoot a short video for YouTube so you can see what I am talking about. It is a simple pattern that produces long shots with a slight fade. I think I will call the pattern The Robotic Fade.

To Better Golf,
John W Rohan-Weaver CMAI, GSEM
 
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ssssc

New
hey gh,

great read.. thanks for sharing the story, and keep us updated on the youtube post...

Duane
 
Does the guy in this photo not have a lot of 'chicken winging' going on?

Big separation between the left arm and body.

Does that not cause a lot of leakage?

B
 

Guitar Hero

New member
Does the guy in this photo not have a lot of 'chicken winging' going on?

Big separation between the left arm and body.

Does that not cause a lot of leakage?

B

The guy in the picture is the Jamie Sadlowski 2008 long drive champion. I am sure he hit that shot in the picture over 350 yards. There is no leakage or break down of the left wrist at impact and no he does not have a chicken wing. It is the perfect structure of TGM “The Bat” If you have TGM 6th edition book it talks about it on page 146.

You will see Tiger with this look on his stinger shots as well but not as extreme. The chicken wing is when the arms are moving out of sync with the body on an outside in path. This will cause a breakdown of the left wrist at impact and left elbow at follow through.

The separation between the left and right arms and upper body is a key position for using this type of arm motion. The separation starts at address with both arms off the body with “The Bat” . This seperation also allows for a huge turn and super high hands at the top of the back swing.

When you have separation between the arms and upper body you engage the shoulder girdle and sync up the arm motion with the upper body and lower body rotation with everything moving together. I will talk about these key positions and how you can learn this swing pattern in the YouTube video I will post soon.

Here is a picture of the perfect swivel from that sequence. This happens at the end of the follow through. Check out the forearm muscles!

jschi3.jpg
 
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Tom Bartlett

Administrator
I watched Jamie at the merchandise show on Demo Day this year hit about 25 drivers. He hits a small to medium draw. Every ball FLEW at least 350 (he wasn't swinging out of his shoes either) and if he had been on U.S. open fairways he would have missed only 1. He may spray some when he is under pressure and trying to hit it 400 + but what I saw in Orlando...he is the best I have ever seen with a driver.
 
that is a horrendous camera angle. looks like the ball is outside his left foot. the reason he looks like a slight chicken wing is because he has such a late release he cant get his left shoulder high enough so he bends his left wrist a little and his left arm as well.
 
Is it just me, or does his impact position look like it creates a longer effective lever at impact? Draw a line through his left forearm and clubshaft. Where is the rotation point or hub of the swing? Somewhere above his head?

Another idea. Does pulling the arms through like that create acceleration akin to a figure skater pulling their arms in, thereby decreasing the rotational moment of inertia and causing an acceleration of the body?
 
I watched Jamie at the merchandise show on Demo Day this year hit about 25 drivers. He hits a small to medium draw. Every ball FLEW at least 350 (he wasn't swinging out of his shoes either) and if he had been on U.S. open fairways he would have missed only 1. He may spray some when he is under pressure and trying to hit it 400 + but what I saw in Orlando...he is the best I have ever seen with a driver.

I AGREE. Driver is 48 inches max. It's all Jamie.

Pinnacle Golf Blog » Jamie Sadlowski

Unreal...

So you are saying he was using a 48 inch driver when you saw him?

I'll have to watch that when I can get on a real computer.
 
Btw pretty neat how differently Zuback and JS swing eh? Not to mention the builds.

2 of the best ever...and very different...
 
Why in the hell are Weavers patterns on the Brian Manzella forum. John I'm sure you're a great guy and it would be a blast to play golf with you but why in the world do you try to sell yourself on another instructors forum???????
 
Why in the hell are Weavers patterns on the Brian Manzella forum. John I'm sure you're a great guy and it would be a blast to play golf with you but why in the world do you try to sell yourself on another instructors forum???????

i agree. i dont mean to be insulting, but i dont even bother reading the majority of your posts anymore john. you're clearly trying to sell your own pattern and products here, and promote your own theories here. your theories like sweetspot balance, which you have never fully described in a way anyone can understand, and swinging into your right hip or whatever it was you tried to promote when you weren't guitar hero.

im not saying your theories are wrong or worth discarding. on the contrary. i'd love to know your theories inside out. it can only be beneficial to know someone elses theories on how the golfswing works. i try to listen to anyone who thinks they know something about th subject. i just think this isnt the place, and even if it was, i dont think you've done it very well when you've done it here.

again, trying to be constructive here, not insulting
 
Is it just me, or does his impact position look like it creates a longer effective lever at impact? Draw a line through his left forearm and clubshaft. Where is the rotation point or hub of the swing? Somewhere above his head?

Another idea. Does pulling the arms through like that create acceleration akin to a figure skater pulling their arms in, thereby decreasing the rotational moment of inertia and causing an acceleration of the body?
kc8kir,

Illusion due to 'freezing' one moment in a swing. The actual center of rotation for the clubhead in the downswing during the release is not above the head but situated close to and somewhat above the wrists.

An error frequently made is to compare a figure skater with a golfer. A skater is virtually a closed system where energy is conserved during a pirouette. Not true for a golfer. He his continuously expending effort and 'pumping' energy into his swing.

Moreover a skater can be considered a single mass during a pirouette with a varying moment of inertia when arms move in or out. A golfer/club ensemble however is to be viewed as composed of various parts dynamically interacting. A part speeding up tends to slow down an adjacent part.
 
I actually thought this one was a legit post, he is going to expand on a pattern and didn't mention any of the usually catch phrases. I for one am always interested in hearing about different patterns, as long as they are not advertisements for training aids.
 
I actually thought this one was a legit post, he is going to expand on a pattern and didn't mention any of the usually catch phrases. I for one am always interested in hearing about different patterns, as long as they are not advertisements for training aids.

i agree. this one was a fine post making a valid point, which was flawed a little, as the camera angle was skewed.

i was speaking in general terms
 

Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
I actually thought this one was a legit post, he is going to expand on a pattern and didn't mention any of the usually catch phrases. I for one am always interested in hearing about different patterns, as long as they are not advertisements for training aids.

Agree
 
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