Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Putting

Subconscious will do wonders if you let it.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Short game mechanics

Has anybody worked out how to apply TGM principles to the short game?
I can’t find anything that will give me a clue on how to stop chipping too short, and putting too long.
Pelz seems to be the Guru on the matter, but I’d love to know of any other method that has been tried with any success.

Welcome pquill. First post.
The answer is “of course”.
Have you read the Golf School article “Chipping 101”?
See also the Basic Motion thread currently active in this forum.

TGM principles are a flat left wrist through impact, tracing a straight plane line, and clubhead lag. They apply to all shots, including putts.
In TGM it is also essential but not mandatory to have a stationary head and swing with rhythm and balance to hit good golf shots.

Most chips are left short because of poor ball contact, loss of the flat left wrist; scooping, quitting or decel, fat shots due to loss of lag.
They just fizzle, or they’re thinned and line driven over the green.
Easiest way to prevent that is to hit down on the ball. It’s why it’s called a chip. You do that with ball placement and weight distribution at setup and an arms only swing, either pushing it or pulling it but not both at the same time. Pushing seems easier. Right elbow bending/straightening. You get beyond the arms only swing and you’re into pitching and punching using wrists and hands and a bit of body motion.
Work on getting crisp contact first using the flat left wrist before you can begin to experience how far you hit the ball with a given amount of force in chipping. Visualization and use of the subconscious should do it for you.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Basic Motion

Whoa, this has helped me just now, especially the bit about “eyes closed”. Back on track again. Didn’t take long. It seems I’ve been a bit derelict recently in maintaining the curriculum.
Pay no attention to the ball. Nothing about impact alters the stroke. Trace the base line with club, right forearm, crook of right index finger.
When the ball starts getting hit crisply, sounding like a rock with down, out and through impact, start working on hinge actions.
Note that the clubhead never gets above the hands and always points at the base line with one of three hinge actions. Surprisingly little follow-through when done right.

What’s the reference to 5/10, 6/10, 8/10 and 10/10? Quality of contact?

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Pitching Alignment

Just some ideas.
The last thing you do before chipping or pitching is look at the target. That act could be opening the shoulders and you forget to put them back where they were before pulling the trigger.
You’re in danger of shanking.
After looking at the target, re-square the shoulders especially if you haven’t set the grip yet.
If you’re “hitting”, might have to bump cross-line in the downstroke.
If it’s a swinging punch, move the ball back and close the face to compensate.
Trace the base line all the way.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Lead arm

Oui, Mr. finster.
He was taught the hands by Tom Tomasello in ‘85 or ‘86.
Interesting that the start down is just a vertical drop, a la TT’s swinging procedure.
Very little body contribution, a reaction to the requirements of the hands.
“Pay attention to the hands and you get the body for free.”
Long Drive Champ Bobby Wilson is a decorated graduate. He “float loads”, accumulating power on the way down, with its associated snap release. (Release Types is an article in The Golf School area.)

Ben’s got very little momentum left to finish, it seems. All dumped into the ball. It’s like a pop. Automatic snap release (aiming point) with hip action. Finish is almost like an afterthought.
Good observation from you.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Vid of my swing by Mr. C

Very good looking swing.

The first couple of down-the-line shots gave an impression that your stance was imbalanced toward the toes causing an automatic pullback to the rear, and maybe the stand-up. That would cause path inconsistencies.
It may have been a one-off. Or I may be seeing things.

Also might want to flare the lead toe out about 15 degrees. It’s spinning that far anyway.
A square trail toe restricts the backswing, if that’s what you want. About 5 degrees flareout would allow more hip turn, if you want it, more right-hip clearing.

I hear the X-factor is dead, and good riddance IMO.

If you set your lead wrist neither cocked nor uncocked your hands will be higher. Just at the point the “snuffbox” (indentation) at the base of the lead thumb starts to disappear is the spot.
To be more precise, at “impact fix”, hands over the mid-lead thigh, the trail forearm ideally would be on-plane with the shaft. And for a turned-shoulder-plane downstroke path it would also be on that TSP, ideally. Nothing really wrong with an elbow plane AFAIK.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Vid of my swing by Mr. C

PayPal is an option for anyone who runs a web site to sign up and enable payments.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Hitting a fade with TGM

IMO before you can hope to work the ball any at all you must cure the number one malfunction – steering.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / FLOP SHOTS

does anyone know the best way to do flop shots and which club you prefer around greens when pitching/chipping.. is it fine to use a 9 iron..
when i flop with my PW i usually hit the ball with the base of me club therefore sending it flying further away then before.. thanks..

IMO you can hit anything that your subconscious says you can feel.
You can even chip with reverse lofted putter to get it to pop up and roll.
IMO no matter what shot you’re hitting you have to hit down on the ball.
You do that with forward lean of the shaft, hands ahead.

I like both the big slicing out/in cut shot and the “vertical hinging” although I find the latter to require more care and delicacy in feeling and have trouble getting it to go far enough. Maybe some more practice. Hit one of those vertical hinges one day over some very tall trees with a five wood from about 155 yds out in short rough onto the green. Surprise.
Loopy cut shot is fun.
One reason I like vertical hinging is that it will come off straight, bounce straight and roll straight, and you can put some “stuff” on it especially if you hit it hard in order to get it to go far enough.
One thing about the flop shot is that if you don’t watch out in deceptively short rough you can go right under that ball and never touch it. Saw Tiger do that one day against Duval, I think, and tried the exact same shot again and put it in the hole while Venturi was telling the folks “That’s the danger of that shot, folks, and he’s going to try it again.” whooof.
I think there’s less danger of that with the vertical hinge.

Blather on, Loren. Sorry.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / FLOP SHOTS

Naw…don’t keep ‘em secret. We need ya A_B. Your insights due to your full-on investigation will help many more people on this forum than some can imagine.

Educated Hands, Extensor Action, Fanning, Pivot, Loading, Storage, Delivery, Release, Low Point, Hinging Actions, Swivels, the 3 Essentials, the 3 Imperitives…… programming, being prepared……not to leave out…..setting up for success.

Oh yeah, one other component…..the only thing that makes self-investigation bareable is a Sense of Humor.

You got it A_B

You forgot delivery line roll prep.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Lead arm

IMO, and in TGMers’ teaching, both arms are straight before then, with clubhead still below hands and therefore pointing at the plane line. The left wrist is still flat, the right wrist is still bent.

By the time you get to parallel the clubhead is starting to overtake the hands and the left elbow needs to be down and left forearm swiveling like “thumbing a ride” to keep that left wrist flat into finish. Parallel is not a place to be checking things, it’s a position for transitioning through. The swivel to maintain flat left wrist is a check that something didn’t break down through impact.

That said, there is at least one TGM instructor who skips the follow-through both-arms-straight alignment altogether and immediately goes to that left forearm finish swivel, retaining the flat left wrist and bent right up into finish, both elbows down. A motion like a forehand top spin tennis drive.
Edit: Correction: A CPGA instructor trained in TGM.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Best Ever Tip You've been Given.

Paint a picture for your subconscious mind, a positive one that you want to come true, as pictures do not carry a negative connotation, then distract the conscious mind somehow so it doesn’t interfere.

And secondarily, don’t let anyone else paint your picture for you by saying something like “I don’t want to go in that water.” You have to start all over when that happens and paint your own positive picture.
(Don’t pull out a “water ball” on a water hole. Pull out a “dry land” ball.)

That way lies “the zone”.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Can you have too much shaft forward lean?

In the previous example Jeff gave, my eye immediately told me “inside out path, sure, but that’s a spin-out and will produce a slice no matter what.”

My opinion.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Can you have too much shaft forward lean?

Ballard did what a lot of instructors do, and shouldn’t, he’s created a strawman and then knocked it down.
He’s purposely posed a chicken wing, leading the swing with the left arm stuck out to create a non-existent problem.
The hands in front of the club had nothing to do with it.

My opinion and I’m stickin’ to it.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Building a swing

Guilty. Sorry.

In the quote of Mr. Kelley, he’s using ”#3 pressure point” as a term for the crook of the right index finger, specifically the meaty part.

That’s where you feel the lagging clubhead pressure.
Monitor it and life gets a lot sweeter.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Wet bunker play in winter

The key words there are “filled with” and “out of”.
I looked it up also. Rule 25-1. A drop out of the bunker costs a stroke.

In the bunker, you can drop from casual water 1 club length from closest point of relief in the bunker not nearer the hole.
If the bunker is filled with water you can choose to drop 1 club length from place of most relief, i.e. shallowest casual water.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Building a swing

If I might add to that,

Monitor the hands, not the clubhead. The right forearm traces the plane line. Alternatively, the crook of the right index finger is directed at the aft inner quadrant of the golf ball. It’s the same thing.
In the downstroke the right forearm can’t get back on plane until the elbow gets on plane.
Homer Kelley “You’re going to want to insure the right forearm and the #3 pressure point (lag) for a million dollars.”

Photos: See all the Golf School articles on The Plane.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / am i expecting to much?

Have you read the golf school articles here yet?
Those will go a long way to help. Understanding is the first step.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Slinger, we are all switters to some extent. Rare is the “pure”.
Yes, a pure swinger would naturally use HH, but not exclusively.

To go all pedantic on you, I must quote from 10-19 Lag Loading component:

“Hinge action does NOT differentiate hitting and swinging.
Hitters using horizontal hinging must consciously resist the tendency of right arm paddlewheel action toward angled hinging.
Swingers using angled hinging must consciously resist the tendency of centrifugal force toward horizontal hinging. Both procedures require skill in clubface manipulation. Clubface manipulation for swinging requires the same grip type as for hitters. [strong, single action].”

The key to swinging is smooth constant acceleration. Overacceleration is the bane of all lag and drag. It would not make sense to add right arm power to get to a 4-barrel swing. For a 4-barrel hitter the pivot power thrust (#4) has to be very short to avoid the throwaway.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Hogan was a swinger.

Loren a swinger early career i can agree but later on i can’t agree that he was a 3 barrel swinger…..my opinion is 4 barrel hitter/swinger’s pivot plus i see angle hinge happening…..so switter imo

OK, you might be right. However, remember that hinging does not define the difference between hitter and swinger.

It’s oft said that Hogan fought a hook all his career, and after the accident he learned how to hit a high fade with power. I’ve heard the opinion that it was his strong grip that caused the hook, or his rapid hip action. I don’t know. He’s obviously compensating for the hook.

There’s a story that Walter “Smiley” Jones tells on Mike Austin’s DVD that while Hogan was in the hospital he called Mike and said that he wanted to learn how to fade it. When he got out they played together at the Bel Air Country Club, and Mike Austin taught Hogan how to hit the power fade. Well, that may be a tall tale from “Smiley”, a good friend of Austin’s, but Austin was a very long hitter and trained Mike Dunaway, a World Long Drive champion, and they were swinging. Mike Austin says “throw it, right from the top”, indicating right forearm participation, but his pivot, #4 accumulator, etc. is all swinging.

I think Hogan was compensating with his hands, but it doesn’t mean he was a hitter.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Wet bunker play in winter

Muntz, you crack me up. “Don’t smile.”

I saw “dead pan”, briefly puzzled over it, put it into the “incubator” for awhile and it just popped out “hard pan”.

I will echo others. Conventional wisdom is chip it out of firm sand with a less lofted club.
The usual, “ball then turf (sand)”. The hard stuff might be forgiving if you don’t do it exactly right. Yeah, square face, take dead aim.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

The title of the thread is “Let’s talk golf machine.”
Jeff is not out of line in talking Golf Machine when he sees something that doesn’t jive with his understanding of TGM, or biomechanics as that’s his field. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. A visit to his web site is well worth the trip.

Hogan was a swinger. TGM describes the follow-through as both arms straight, which is well before parallel, right wrist still bent, club head pointing at the plane line.

From the book, paraphrasing:
“The fourth power accumulator is pivot power supplying the initial acceleration to throw the lever assemblies toward impact by the thrust of the right shoulder turn. Left arm power could substitute for the pivot to introduce circular motion.”
And also:
“For maximum power, the position must be taken that allows for all components except for right shoulder and foot to reach or pass the line-of-sight to the ball [that means right elbow also for maximum trigger delay of #1 bent right arm], then the accumulators must move very rapidly toward their in-line conditions. None should actually arrive (lose all their lag and drag) until well after impact.“

I interpret this to mean that “released” does not also mean “spent”.
The 4th accumulator’s inline condition it seeks is with the shoulders, and is never reached, it seems to me. This brings into question the phrase ”..blast the left arm off the chest.” (which is also in The Book). When would that happen? I never notice it.
And it lends credence to Hogan’s and Ballard’s and Vijay Singh’s, et al’s towel under the left arm drills. The towel drops, if at all, in the finish move, above parallel.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Greenside bunker problem

Whitednj, thanks, I think.

I’m rarely nominated for any kind of honor, but I’ve looked at the competition (present company excluded) and I don’t think this one stands a chance.

You’re right, though, I should have said “There is no ‘the way’, but there are lots of ‘my ways’.”

Where’d I get it? I just reasoned it out.
Let’s see, reduce ‘wristy’, loft, land soft, straight roll or check up, something I can hit pretty hard without worrying too much about flying over the green, wide margin for error, it’s a pitch shot.
That’s what I came up with. But do it your way, as long as you know why you’re doing it.
I’ll chip it sometimes with a less lofted club depending on the firmness of material and height of any obstacles. But that’s a long chip you’re asking about.

I respect Swedeas also. What’d he say?
Play it safe, it’s a difficult shot, there are different textures and materials offering a myriad of options, there may be a lip, you may have a bad lie, experiment with less lofted clubs and different lies and distances on the range, don’t try to be a hero, and be creative.
Sounds good. Couldn’t agree more, except I rarely play it safe.

GottaStart, you are aware of “bounce” of a sand wedge I presume, and the conventional wisdom ball forward, weight forward in the sand. Not sure that applies in all situations.
I’m not keen on the slashing cut shot, but use it sometimes, not in this situation.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Long or short left thumb

See the Golf School article on Power in the Grip.
Thumb aft of the shaft. “Meaty” part of the left heel pad on top of the shaft.

Topic: Ask Golf Guru - Golf Instruction / Takeaway...

Whoops, my source has been identified.