‘For Some’ the enemy of happiness is their JOB! To be happy in Golf demands some tolerance for struggle, for application and for accomplishment.
If you were to lose your ‘Golf Happiness’, would you put up a fight to regain ‘IT’?
If you were subsequently to get ‘IT’ back, would you appreciate Golf all-the-more?
Could you make that love a ‘Foursome’ and get a relapsed, chronic ‘Golf Infection’?
Firstly, there are no ‘Hogan Secrets’, just Newtonian Science, dedication to those truths and determination! The sooner we grasp this foundation, and make a fair number of ‘Smart Reps’, the sooner we shall ‘Own A Golf Swing’ … our own golf swing!
Let us clearly define the ‘Three Part Golf Machine’ in order to accomplish a basic understanding. The three parts are 1) The Lower Body Machine (LBM), 2) The Upper Body Machine (UBM) and 3) The Mind Machine (TMM). There shall be controversy over which is the dominant aspect, but that will continue over time! Your ‘555 Team’ thinks our ‘5 Set-Ups’ are and shall remain relevant in any such discussion. (see ‘Posture, Grip, Stance, Ball Location & Alignment’)
KEY #1 … The ‘Body Core or Spinal Pivot Engine’ (LBM) is of huge importance. If you can get this aspect right, you are blessed and shall be rewarded. The LBM creates exclusively the ‘Horizontal or Round & Round Motion’. It establishes the ‘Top and Bottom of the Swing Arc’ and much more. (see ‘The Tether Ball Pole Concept’)
How can we stay relatively tuned-in over the winter? Make up your mind to keep ‘Golf Mentally and Physically Active’ in specific ways. Layer up and find a local radiant heated hitting bay. Just go ‘Do IT!’ Always practise with a plan!
Here are 10 suggestions.
All our ‘555 Golf Family’ knows these very basic terms, but do we fully understand them?
‘Bottom Of Swing Arc’ (BOSA) is about establishing a precise ‘Top Of Spinal Column’. (see ‘Tether Ball Pole Concept’) The ball and rope do not change length. Neither does the length of our ‘Lever Assemblies’ other than a slight lengthening of our ‘Soft Tissue’ due to Centripetal, Centrifugal or Slinging Force. Therefore, if we ‘Set-Up’ properly, Chin & Chest Tallish, and maintain that ‘Top Of Tether Ball Pole’ (Steady Head) throughout our Back & Up and Down & Out Swings, we should generally accomplish an accurate, Sweet Spot Strike.
The ball consistently sits patiently at the ‘BOSA’. Always extend down, out and through the ‘Bottom Inside Cheek’ (BIC) of the ‘Little White Ball’. If this ‘Top Of Spinal Column’, changes, you shall hit either Fat, Purely or Thin … only three possibilities.
It is absolutely key that you do not ‘Manipulate’ either your Lower Body (LBM) or Upper Body (UBM) Machines’ into this configuration or position. The best manner by which you can accomplish any good golf swing is ‘Naturally’. (see ‘Clubhead Sole Sweeping, Turning & Lifting’)
Think about ‘Club Shaft Swing Plane’. We can get too ‘Upright or Vertical’, just right for our personal physical needs and thirdly we can get too ‘Flat or Horizontal’. If our ‘Pivot Axis is anything other than ‘Just Right’, it will directly affect our ‘Swing Plane’ as well as other ‘Components & Procedures’.
At the ‘Top Of Our Back Swing’ (TOB) we should be ‘On Path & On Plane’. Your ‘555 Team’ often explains how this proper configuration feels by explaining that you might feel like your Brace Thumb is sticking into you Brace Ear. Remember, our ‘Back & Up Swing can absolutely be an ‘Over-Swing’. The ‘Ball Flight’ will directly prove this swing error with a price to pay!
Even when we are simply ‘Walking’ (Ambulating - cool word) we move in the direction that our toes are pointing!
How many really nice folks ‘Set-Up’ with their toes (all of them) pointing directly at the Body or Target lines? Many and even most?
Well, that is the direction that your ‘Golf Body Machine’ will want to generally travel. That is NOT where we want our golf ball to travel! We want it to fly 90 degrees towards the ‘Target Side’. The ‘Square Target Footed Stance’ is counterproductive and physiologically dangerous!
How many of you are golf agronomists? Not many I’d presume! So how hard do you have to work at knowing different strains of grass and how to make adjustments for variable grasses on the ‘Putting Surface’?
Here are some of the most common ‘Grass Strains’ just for the fun of knowing or just hearing the various names. 1) Bent Grass, 2) Poa Annua, 3) Annual Bluegrass, 4) Bermuda, 5) St. Augustine, 6) Perennial Rye Grass, 7) Zoysia and some local or regional others. With a touch of ‘Nasty’ there may be hay just off the greens!
I know! I know! Good to know but hard to remember? Have to confess! I know the strains but never pay too much attention to them. A little lazy but not too costly for the average golfer. Tip? You have to ‘Pace Your Putts’. Knowing your ‘Distance’ is not optional. Guess and you shall ‘Pay The Price For Being Lazy’!
There are as many ‘Putting Techniques and Tips’ as there are golfers! So, how do we make that ‘Shortest Of Strokes’ with optimal intellect and success? After all, the ‘Flat Stick’ makes up about 35% to 55% of the total strokes in a round of golf. There is significant similarity in the ‘Chipping Stroke’ as well. Thus, our total really short strokes might reasonably make up 65% to 75% of our total strokes. Meaningful? Rhetorical question, right?
Here is a worthy topic concerning both of these ‘Short Strokes’. It is related to a ‘Bullet-Proof Putting Drill’ you very likely know about. It is called the ‘Rail or Channel Drill’. It is very simple but worthy of discussion.
Select a flat place to Putt or Chip. Place two ground sticks or golf clubs on the ground just wider than the cross section (heel to toe) of the Putter head … Blade or Mallet. This channel should aim directly into the middle of the cup. There is no break so the aim is reasonable and logical! (see ‘Direction’)
That statement may just be a matter of opinion rather than of fact? “No!” After over forty years of studying and teaching golf, I think it is a matter of fact!
Let us examine a round of golf? We shall assume that it requires 120 strokes … God forbid!
We know that the average ‘Golf Full Swing’ takes about 1.5 seconds from ‘Trigger To Chase Follow & Finish’ ... Top Of Front Swing (TOF).
We have client who often come to us saying “If I Could Only Get My Lower Body to cooperate with my Upper Body!” or even more often, “I need to stop playing like poop!”
I could say right here and now that you shall manage to accomplish that feat but, it is the wrong goal or challenge … in the wrong time and place or sequence!
In any ‘Stage 3 Procedure’ (involving both Wrist Cock and Pivot), it is the ‘Pivot or Spinal Engine’ (Lower Body Machine) that governs or controls the ‘Lever Assemblies’ (Upper Body Machine). If one inserts more ‘Forward Inclination’ (more knee flex and body leaning towards the ‘Target Line) as well as more ‘Aft Tilt’, whereby the Upper Body is tilted away from the Target, the ‘Clubhead Path and Swing Plane’ is directly altered.
