Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Beezneeds,

“Where is your mind”
In 87 I was paired in the Final Round with Bob Shearer and David Graham and I couldn’t help but be reminded of this exact concept “where is your mind” as one stands over the ball.

Nothing could be more opposite than these two. Shearer, one or two waggles, a quick look or two and bang! Graham on the other hand… stands over the ball like he is about to perform surgery, careful looking, calculating, and certainly never in a hurry.
Tennis or chess?

This is just a great question… what do people think about? Is there a best way to do this?

One explanation is that the slow player may have to go through a process or checklist before they can “empty the mind” and then “just let go” and execute. The fast player might be choosing to not let anything “get into the mind” in the first place.

From my own perspective, I became a faster player as I became a better ball striker. The more confident I became in my ability to hit the ball on line, the easier it was to let go of a lot of the nonsense that would bounce around in my coconut. Watching Moe Norman rapid fire balls on the range, one every second and a half, showed that you don’t have to think about a lot… to hit a ball long and straight.

Right now, as I play the game, I use the practice swing for two purposes, one to gently loosen the muscles, but more important, to rehearse what I want to feel in the body. I like to work the ball one way or another, and I use a different release action for a draw or fade, so a quick rehearsal there. On full shots, nothing more required, but on partial shots, or wedge shots of varying distances,
I might make a few practice swings to really feel just how hard or soft I am going to swing. These days I play without using yardages, I have to rely more on intuition and feeling, visuals, and feeling the wind and so forth. So once I have a clear sensation of what I need to feel, I aim “the machine”, take a quick waggle or two to establish my swing plane, and then fire. Never a swing thought..

I like to feel my way through the swing rather than think my way through the swing.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

SoulmanZ,

I think the easiest way to answer your question about shaft flex, and holding the flex of the shaft is that…

The speed at which the ball leaves the clubface at impact is dependent upon the speed of the clubhead itself, both prior to and after impact.
The less the clubhead slows down due to the collision occurring at impact the better.

The best way to describe the sensation is to feel as if the speed of the body, arms and hands reach their maximum velocity well after impact.

Although this is very difficult to “feel”, it is not out of the possibility of the human body to have such a sensation. It really is the “holy grail” of the golf swing. Here lies the secret.

The paradox is that although it is easier to generate velocity from the top of the backswing down to impact….. than from impact to the finish..
this is not what you want to do or feel.

In a way the swing is like a mysterious puzzle. If you can figure out a way to reach maximum velocity at the 4rth parallel (after impact)...... than the 3rd parallel (before impact) you have solved the mystery.
You will soon become one of golfs great ball strikers, and have the world shivering in their boots.

Can you pull the sword from the stone?

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

@SoulmanZ, Tom Wishon talks about how the flex straightening forward doesn’t add any power to the shot because the hands are soft and don’t give the shaft something rigid to whip against.

A backward flexed shaft at impact shows that the release has occurred late enough that there has physically not been enough time for the shaft to straighten. And of course a late release means the period of clubhead acceleration has been maximised.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

probably a silly question (which if i remember are the good ones)

why would keeping the shaft flexed till after contact be a good thing? surely the point of shaft flex is to translate into further clubhead speed at the point of impact? without translating all that elastic potential into kinetic energy arent you wasting the effort?

i know this answer will involve the word ‘pressure’, but cant nut it out myself

sorry to derail the thread re-direction

Soulsman,

We asked Peter Thompson if the shaft was pushed or pulled through impact. After he finished his tea he said – neither. And left us to it. His thought was to get the club moving and stay with it.

Sustaining the lag is the best intention and requires the most attention.

Technically and irrelevant, the club slows down fractionally after release point, especially with hitters, giving some shaft lag loss. The main thing is not to loose it all and have the shaft going backwards at impact.

We can all bend the shaft on the ball at low speed and you will see that bend after impact because the ball bent it back.

The weird thing is that Lag Pressure does not have to great to play the kind of golf most of us want to play,and any Lag is Lag, meaning we do not have to look like Hogan or Sergio with their sharp angles to hit brilliant golf shots. But we do need a keen awareness of it and the rhythm that comes with it.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

New thread; “Where is your mind”.

What do good players look at when they address the ball, during the swing and how precisely do they think about the ball itself?

Background to this Q is that it comes from a conversation I had with a Tae Kwon Do type who spends his weekends breaking stuff instead of chasing a small ball round a big field.

Was interesting to me how some of the same ideas seem to match up.

One point he made was that rather than thinking about using your whole fist to break blocks or w/ever, you had to think about a precise point in your hand meeting a precise point on the block.

Any equivalent in golf?

Also talked about the importance of momentum – as opposed to speed – and having the inside of your forearm – the bit that leads back from your two ‘inside’ knuckles behind the point of impact to back everything up.

Getting this wrong – off plane? – means a lot worse than a big slice! lol!

So what do you good players look at just before and during the swing? And what is your mind mostly focussed on?

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

probably a silly question (which if i remember are the good ones)

why would keeping the shaft flexed till after contact be a good thing? surely the point of shaft flex is to translate into further clubhead speed at the point of impact? without translating all that elastic potential into kinetic energy arent you wasting the effort?

i know this answer will involve the word ‘pressure’, but cant nut it out myself

sorry to derail the thread re-direction

I think this may have been covered before somewhere on this or other TGM sites.
In TGM lingo, I think I read somewhere that it may be to sustain or maintain the line of compression. And because lag has no release.
Also, Dart told me at one of my earlier lessons that a stressed/flexed shaft was better able to transfer all the energy onto the ball whereas without it, the energy at impact with the ball would merely be absorbed into the shaft.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

probably a silly question (which if i remember are the good ones)

why would keeping the shaft flexed till after contact be a good thing? surely the point of shaft flex is to translate into further clubhead speed at the point of impact? without translating all that elastic potential into kinetic energy arent you wasting the effort?

i know this answer will involve the word ‘pressure’, but cant nut it out myself

sorry to derail the thread re-direction

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

I like the bottom one as a new thread. Maybe two. One for hitters and one for swingers.

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

nothing to organise…..just lob up! the place is dead.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

anyone want to suggest a new topic here?

Grip, stance and posture?

The importance of a proper finish?

Course management?

dispersion pattern theory?

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

I think I will…..as long as you can guarantee that Chris has NOTHING to do with organising this day. :)

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

29th is next tiger tee….you coming up for the torture?

Topic: moving rake in bunker

Start a new thread.

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Sorry Slappa…...but SHANKS for the info….hahahahaheehee…Ohhh dear I am lame.

When is the next Newcastle day boys?

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Shhhhhhhh we dont say that word! its evil

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Iv had abit of practice lately with a spell of the dreaded sh##nks. I know i shouldnt say the word.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

Chris, just wondering why you edited shanks to read s##nks…..shit, didn’t think it was a swear word :)

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Thanks guys….Chris id have to say your dummy spitting has improved out of sight in recent weeks, some of your helicopters are more beautiful than a well struck 7 iron drawing toward the base of the flag.
Keep up the good work!

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Iv had abit of practice lately with a spell of the dreaded sh##nks. I know i shouldnt say the word.

Topic: moving rake in bunker

Norm

Why not try the one you commented on originally.

Rule 13-4. Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions
Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard (whether a bunker or a water hazard) or that, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard, the player must not:

a. Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard;

b. Touch the ground in the hazard or water in the water hazard with his hand or a club; or

c. Touch or move a loose impediment lying in or touching the hazard.

But pom’s suggestion is one that has stood the test of time. No one has cracked it yet.

Topic: moving rake in bunker

The rule that bugs the majority of golfers is definately having to play a ball sitting in a divot mark on the fairway.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Thanks LP, that’s what I figured but its good to be sure.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Sure Styles,

At address, the shaft is perpendicular to the ground…
as we take the club back, the club with pass through the first parallel about half way through the backswing. At the top the shaft may become parallel again (2nd parallel) on the way down the shaft will hit another parallel (3) before impact, then after impact when the shaft becomes parallel again (4) or often called the follow through.
The finish might be called the 5th parallel

So anytime the clubshaft is parallel to the ground.

It is just helpful for referencing the different phases of the golf swing.
Nothing complicated.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

email guru and he’ll sort you out.

Will do – thx.

Topic: Newcastle Golf Club

Nice work Slappa…..looks like those Persimmon woods have done the trick :)

Chris, you’re an amateur DS…but keep up the good work.

Topic: Let's Talk GOLF MACHINE!

Lag,

I know this is probably covered in TGM basic language 101 but, you regularly refer to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th parallels.

Can you please clarify what you mean by this.