The proof is in the pudding people. I WILL help you enjoy this game again and in an extremely simple way. Learn to finally hit the ball better so that you can enjoy this wonderful game that God gave us!!
This is a gentleman I work with and he volunteered to be my first student…he must have been tired of all the catch phrases and thousands of swing thoughts that instructors have been giving him. Oh well…whatever the reason…his gain!!!
As you can see from his swings on the left from an earlier session, a couple of weeks ago, at the range by himself he was coming over the top pretty hard. Now I could go into a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo as to why but I will save that for future articles but what I want you to notice are his swings on the right the right (from the range today with me) and how his path is much better…not perfect…but much better. How long did this take you ask? less than 1 hour. How many swing thoughts you ask? 1…that’s right 1 simple swing thought. And when I say less than an hour I mean 20 minutes for me to explain it to him and give him one drill and the rest of the time he spent hitting balls while practicing the one thing I told him. Now is he perfect….no…is he going to play much better golf the next time out…you bet your butt!
So sit back and enjoy his amazing improvement and think…this could be you
Understanding the box is pivotal to finally once and for all being able to set yourself on the path towards playing great golf. Here are a couple of more visuals for you to study over the next couple of weeks to familiarize yourself and to see if you can identify all that is going on.
The current $$$ phrase in golf instruction today is biomechanics. Instructors want the weekend golfer to have “Lumbar Lordosis” , “pull with your obliques”, or swing your “D plane”. Can it possibly get more confusing? How about let’s just play golf…good golf…fun golf! Well…the SPOTLIGHT GOLF SWING is going to simplify everything for you once and for all!
Today I would like to introduce you to one of the main theory’s of the Spotlight golf swing and it is going to sound a little unconventional at first but I promise you that in the posts and videos to come you, once it is all laid out, will once and for all know exactly HOW to overcome one of golf’s greatest nemeses for amatuers and that is to stop coming over the top FOREVER! And the beauty of this is that it applies to ALL swing models! The box theory is NOT a cookie cutter theory. It applies to a 1 or 2 plane swing, the Rotary Swing or RS Tour model, TGM, etc.
Take a look at the following video that I pulled off of the internet of a golfers swing. This golfer has a decent backswing…arms are a little higher than I would prefer but if this is what is more natural for him so be it. Watch the video a few times and you will definitely notice the OTP move. I apologize but word press does not allow the embedding of flash video nor does it allow me to loop a video.
What I want to do in order to help golfers finally conquer the over the top move and to stop hitting weak slices etc is to get you the golfer to start thinking about the golf swing as a box rather than an arc. I know this is going to seem very odd at first but if you give it a chance and follow this series to the end…I don’t want to make any guarantees…but I am positive that you will once and for all start hitting the golf ball straighter then ever!!
So where did the box come from?? Well I had been cutting across the ball and losing my spine angle for years when one day I was studying video of some pros and I took my attention off of clubhead path and focused on the shaft. The shaft of the golf club represents a straight line and one cannot draw a circle with a bunch of straight lines but one can draw a box and once I started focusing on the shaft light bulbs started to go off! So I worked a couple of drills to develop a feeling and I grabbed my driver and ran down to the local golf galaxy to hit balls into their simulator. Now I am not a huge fan of that thing for distance but it is pretty good with regards to spin and accuracy and I was amazed. I hit 20 balls…17 of them went right down the pipe with path and face angle spot on, 2 went about 5 yards offline and I did yank one left but the results were flat-out astounding.
I am very excited to share this with you and in part I of this series I am just going to provide you with some videos showing how to identify and focus on the “box”. There is much more to it than just the box but this is a good starting point because it will allow you to shift your own focus from the “arc” to the “box”.
Luke Donald on the box
The Big Easy Ernie Els on the box (although the angle is not the best he still hits it)
Jamie Sadlowski
finally an old school Tiger Woods. His new swing is on the box but I just wanted to take it back a little
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs, 4: 7
The hottest new phrase in golf instruction is BIOMECHANICS. Everywhere you turn a new golf instructor is touting their instruction as the only true biomechanical correct way to swing the golf club. This is all well and good but how many biomechanical correct ways can there be? Seriously…everybody has a chiropractor or someone certified in this or that…. so who are we to believe? Frankly I think we should believe all of them. I mean everyone’s golf swing in the world is going to be somewhat biomechanically different because no two people are built the same, have the same flexibility, etc. so they are bound to be 100% correct for SOMEBODY
So let’s take a look at some PGA tour pros….
Martin Kaymer
Lee Westwood
Tiger Woods
Zach Johnson
Charlie Wi
You get the picture…
So how many of these swings look IDENTICAL? I don’t think any of them look the same. Next question and this one is the hardest….who’s swing is biomechanically correct? Give up? The ALL are! That’s right the all are. In every swing each golfers hinge joints are hinging and their ball joints are swiveling. So anyone out there that is telling you that their way is the 100% safest for your body and the only biomechanically correct way to swing the golf club ask them to prove it. That’s right…PROVE IT!
Stop telling me that your way is the best and I will not get injured. Don’t tell me that your way will prevent me from needing a new hip in the future like Jack Nicklaus. I mean who is to say that Jack did not have Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI) syndrome or degenerative hip disease. Where is your research data? Do you have any test groups of golfers using your particular swing model for 5 or 10 years and the data tracking injuries? I doubt it. So how can one honestly say that their way is the biomechanical correct way? They can’t…period. And in my opinion until they can back up claims like this with actual data and studies then all golf instructors should consider backing away from such claims. Bottom line is that the golf swing is an athletic unnatural movement and no matter how you do it, if you continue to play then you will always run the risk of getting injured and that is the bottom line.
Listen; is there a perfect golf swing out there? Possibly but no one, at least I don’t believe anyone, is ever going to find it. Heck, if Tiger Woods hasn’t found it yet then I don’t think anyone ever will. So then what are we to do? Should we ignore biomechanics all together? Absolutely not. But we should NOT say that there is only one biomechanical correct way to swing a golf club either.
What we need to do is to collaborate with one another and identify what the true biomechanical pieces are and then see how we can apply them to each of our individual swings. If we approach golf instruction from this perspective then I believe people will finally for the first time begin to improve and maybe we can reverse the trend of people giving up the game.
So where do we start? Well let’s start by identifying what all of the above swings “biomechanically” have in common. They way I see it, from a high level to keep it easy, it’s the following:
Shoulders and hips turn in the back swing
Right arm hinges in the backswing
Right arm unhinges in the downswing
Shoulders and hips turn in the downswing
Left arm hinges in the follow thru
Now, there is indeed more to go into with the above such as how to properly execute and time these movements but the overall goal here for this article is to keep things as simple as possible. So from a high level do you all out there see anything else? Feel free to leave a comment for open discussion. As I said the key to improving is indeed collaboration.
As I continue my golf hiatus I have had time to think about the direction I would like for my site to go and I have finally settled on it. You see God has laid upon me a passion and love for the game of golf and I praise and thank him every single day for it. I am no longer going to let any negative comments sway me from doing what I love and that is researching and sharing with others what I have learned and come to understand about the golf swing so that others that share the love of the game with me can maybe glean a golden nugget or two that may help them improve and enjoy the game just that much more.
So to make a long story short in the near future I am going to be launching a new site, the SPOTLIGHT golf swing. This new site will be hosted at www.spotlightgolfswing.com and this is where the SPOTLIGHT will be on THE golf swing not A golf swing because there is NO ONE WAY TO SWING THE GOLF CLUB…PERIOD. The golf swing is like all of us humans. There are no two that are 100% identical. You see, one of my frustrations with golf instruction is that there is no collaboration. Every golf instructor out there, especially on the internet, will always denounce the other guy and just say how wrong he is. They will never concede that maybe something the other person is saying is a better way to do something they are all “it’s my way or the highway” and that, in my opinion, is hurting golf instruction.
I heard Michael Breed on the golf channel’s show the Golf Fix plead this week to go out and introduce the game to someone because over a million people walked away from the game last year. Why do you think that is? Because they are shelling out all sorts of money and getting nothing but frustration back in return. Even if I can help one golfer to improve and to make the game more enjoyable than I will consider all of the time and effort that I put into this project as a complete success.
So, if you are tired of the same old golf instruction and the frustration that comes along with it then I invite you to follow me on my journey and see if you can’t dump that frustration and find that love for the game again. God gave us this great game to enjoy not to frustrate us even more.
So in the meantime I will continue to post all of my videos and articles here at http://thebestgolfchannel.wordpress.com/ and I will let everyone know when the big transition will be…hopefully before the end of the summer.
Keep an eye out for my next article where I will explain why I believe the hottest phrase in golf “Biomechanics” is hurting golf instruction.
God Bless
PS
I always like to have a video for all to look at. Here is Ryo Ishikawa’s driver swing from the 2011 Match Play. Ryo has a beautiful golf swing and a lot can be learned from watching him. Enjoy!
Here is a quick video on what I believe is Tiger’s main issue right now with his swing. With his new swing connection is key and there no longer is any lift in his swing and because of this Tiger needs to embrace this with his downswing. He is still getting stuck because he has two swings right now. His backswing is new but his downswing is still the same as it was in 2008-2010. Watch as I diagnose TW’s downswing using the current world #1 Lee Westwood as a model of what TW should be doing.
All TW needs to do is watch this video and the take the advice of one of the greatest…Tom Watson (second video) and level out his turn on the downswing and he will be #1 again.
As I work on developing my own official site I am going to continue to post my philosophies on the golf swing. In my quest to provide quality insight to the golf swing to help my fellow amateurs I am also trying to make things as simple as possible. I agree with Monte Scheinblum that golf instruction has become so convoluted and just absolutely confusing that really no one has a chance which is why no one ever seems to improve. As I have stated many times there is no one way to swing the club but I do have my own philosophy that may help some of you all out there and I am going to begin to lay the ground work for it here on my blog…it will be called the “SPOTLIGHT GOLF SWING”. There are a select few out there that will know where this name came from
I am going to post 2 videos now of the many that I will be using for my next post. I would like to give you a chance to view them to see if you see what I see. So here they are, 2 rear views of Anthony Kim, I will follow-up very soon.
Wow what a year 2010 has been for me and my family. From a personal standpoint my wife and I, after battling infertility for six years, was delivered by God a son through adoption. The whole process was truly a miracle as we felt like through everything God was leading us to adopt and when we challenged him to make it happen he did in deed! We went to the adoption agency on 1/25/10 we were chosen by a birthmom on 4/25/10 and our son was born on 5/25/10! Four months to the day of us walking into the adoption agency for the very first time…now that IS a miracle
On the golf front though it has been a trying year as I was only able to even attempt to play the game that I love so much only four times due to a hip injury that began because I listened to a “TPI” and “C.H.E.K.” certified golf fitness instructor. To make a long story short I am 36 years old and will be having my hip resurfaced in March of 2011.
I will expand more on this in a later post but I will caution all out there stay away from these fitness “instructors” as they have no medical background and could cause you more harm than good.
Ok enough about that let’s talk about the future plans for the BEST GOLF CHANNEL!! I am SO very excited with the ideas that I have for this site going forward. It will be a while in the making but I am going to begin implementing them one by one and when the product is finished I believe we will have not only the BEST GOLF CHANNEL on the internet but I believe it will be the first one where EVERYONE can come to seek the advice and help that they need and you know who they are going to be getting it from? YOU that’s who!
You heard me right. I have been an internet golf forum junkie for the last several years and the 2 most important things that I have learned is that…..
1. THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO SWING THE CLUB (although there are key movements in all swings that are the same)
2. THERE ARE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT KNOW EACH AND EVERY SWING
So moving forward I am going to be retooling the site for all swing types. My vision is to identify the major swing philosophies out there and to provide a single source for all golfers to come together and RESPECTFULLY help one and other. The respectfully part is rule #1 and if you break that rule you will not be welcomed back. One of the other things that I discovered over the years is that if you were at a particular site and you disagreed with the philosophy of that site then you would get torn apart. There will be none of that tolerated. Golf is a gentleman’s game and if you can not be respectful of others well…then you may want to find a different sport to play.
Well, I don’t want to babble on for too long so I will wrap it up. I am extremely excited for the upcoming months before my surgery as now is the time to start retooling the swing as the cold weather sets in. As I said going forward everything will be a work in progress and we will embark on this journey together so please join me as I promise you will not only learn how fun and exciting golf is again but you WILL learn how to be a better PLAYER!
Tiger’s swing is looking really goo thus far under the instruction of one Sean Foley…at least on this one Just kidding I love TW and I hope he is at a point with his new swing where he can make a serious statement this weekend. Anyway enjoy the swing videos and check out INCHMARLODC’s YouTube page for HUNDREDS of great slow motion video swings! Don’t forget to check back I will add more as they are posted!
To continue with my golf ADD this post is not going to follow-up the last transition video…I will eventually get to that but instead I want to dispel once and for all the myth of resisting with the lower body on the takeaway. Some instructors with tell you to resist with the lower body throughout the backswing and others will tell you to resist and let the shoulders turn 45* before being pulled back by the shoulders. I happen to disagree with both of these statements as I believe both would ruin the game of the weekend golfer and upset the flow of a few PGA golfers as well.
Now I am not saying that you should just let the hips fly around all over the place but what I am saying is that I believe that a proper setup will allow your body to properly stabilize itself in the backswing thus not allowing the hips to over rotate. I am not going to reinvent the wheel here so I am going to give the credit where credit is due and if you want to learn how to perfect your setup then head on over to www.rotaryswing .com where Chuck Quinton by far provides the best instruction on how to master your setup. But he also teaches that the shoulders turn 45* before the hips move and as I stated before I disagree with that (btw CQ is on video 3 below)
Below you will see three separate videos I posted to prove my point. The videos show that a majority of the pros on the PGA do not restrict their hip turn during the take away. Instead they setup up in perfect position which allow their bodies to properly stabilize itself without consciously restricting anything.
