As with any instruction, there are lessons which are effective and lessons which are not. I might be a concert pianist today if I stuck with lessons when I was six, but just didn’t connect with the teacher and his methods. On the other hand, my first golf instructor, though far from a top 100, […]
Balance
The Lesson
Well, I finally did it, thanks to a gift from my golf bud, Steve P. I took the plunge and saw the very able pro at Tri Mountain in Ridgefield WA, Michael Parker. Essentially, he diagnosed this old fart with a kind of old-fart kind of a swing. This was a bit of a rude […]
Further Thoughts on the Full Swing
So what is the one element of the swing that separates amateurs from pros? Actually it’s a series of elements, which adds to its complication…and mystique. I do not have it all figured out–far from it–but I have observed that recreational golfers know little about getting the sequence of movements right. Pros often learn this […]
The Importance of Pace
It’s what is most different in the swings of touring pros. And it’s what can throw a swing out of kilter possibly more than anything else. Essentially it exists on a continuum of two elements: slow to fast. It is pace, and you can see it in the way people walk, eat, talk, pay for […]
The Weight Shift Conundrum
What complicates it is the timing and sequence of the shift, something that takes intensive practice after skilled instruction to get it right and keep it right over time. Most get it right on the relatively leisurely backswing, although, even there, the weight can drift to the outside of the right foot, causing the problem of swaying on the backswing. But at the transition, when things really get moving, is when problems increase.
Learning from the Greats
Watching last year’s Insperity Greats of Golf this year, I was struck with how accurate these remarkable players still are. I was most impressed with Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, and Sorenstam. All made solid and consistent clubhead contact at impact, leading to tee shots that were in play and relatively long. Player, at 83, was particularly […]
Delivering the Clubhead at Impact
A golfer who excels at delivering the clubhead at impact, effectively and consistently, is a golfer who will play the game well and have a lot of fun in the process. To do this is not all that difficult if you apply some key fundamentals and have the time to practice them. A Rocky Start […]
Further Thoughts on the Full Swing
So what is the one element of the swing that separates amateurs from pros? Actually it’s a series of elements, which adds to its complication…and mystique. I do not have it all figured out–far from it–but I have observed that recreational golfers know little about getting the sequence of movements right. Pros often learn this […]
A Buddies Trip to Bandon
Just returned from a buddies trip to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, on the southern Oregon coast, and am in recovery from the monstrous winds we encountered. What a scene! Forty, fifty mile an hour winds pelted us almost every inch of the way, knocking our balls and our bodies about like sailboats in a gale. […]