Golf Magazine has put up a 30-day, 50-lesson plan they say can help you improve all areas of your game. They brought together 5 of their Top100 teachers -- Scott Munroe, Mike Adams, Kellie Stenzel, Mark Hackett and Jon Tattersall -- and they have put together this huge guide that covers everything from driving to iron play to putting to flexibility.
And they've made it available online FOR FREE. This link will put you on the first page of the lesson guide.
Part of what I try to do on this blog is help you understand enough of the mechanics of various golf swings that you can recognize the difference between what will and what won't help you. It's why I always recommend that you have a filter, a single teacher or player whose techniques work for you -- and you KNOW they work for you -- so you have a framework to help sort things out.
Here is a sterling opportunity for you to put that information to work.
Sure, you may not need all of these drills. And many of them may not work for you. But this is an excellent chance for you to check out some other teachers' ideas and drills, all without spending a penny.
As Bubba would say, you're welcome. ;-)
Thanks for directing me to this, Mike. I have had a much reduced golf season this year due to work sending me to a different country so one round a week does not make for consistent play. Anyway, I tried out the Day 1 and Day 2 from the above and discovered I'm a side-on golfer. What I didn't realise was my vertical wrist hinge was totally wrong for this type of swing. I adjusted to the neutral hinge and as if by magic my iron game improved massively. Unfortunately, the same principle did not carry over into my driving and I am still using a vertical hinge for that. Any ideas of the mechanics behind Mike Adams's theories and why the neutral hinge doesn't work for the wooden clubs?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the guide helped, JB. At the risk of being obvious, the Day 1 and 2 sections do specify that they're for iron play, so I suspect Adams knew there might be some problems using his tip with driving.
ReplyDeleteA little background: Back in 1998 Adams -- along with teachers TJ Tomasi and Jim Suttie -- published a book called The LAWs of the Golf Swing which used body types as a way of understanding how a player makes their best swing. LAW is a mnemonic device to help you remember those types -- Leverage, Arc and Width. (You would be an Arc player, based on the photos in Day 1.) In that book they also write about customizing your swing by "crossing" swing types to create hybrids.
To be honest, the book struck me as a bit more complex than it needed to be, but I recognize that is a danger when you try to break new ground -- and that's exactly what the LAWs book tried to do.
Since Tiger was just getting started when the book came out, they used players like Davis Love, Lee Janzen, Fred Couples, Payne Stewart (yes, still alive at that time) and Colin Montgomerie as examples of what he is now calling a "side-on" swing.
As to why the technique didn't transfer to your driving very well, I can only offer a guess since I don't know exactly what your swings look like. Yes, I said "swings" because woods use more of a sweeping action (sweeping the ball off the ground) while irons use more of a pinch (compressing the ball against the ground). We want a flatter approach with a wood and a steeper attack with an iron, and it sounds like Adams is focusing on getting a steeper attack to improve iron play. (Again, he labels these tips as iron play tips.)
Your vertical hinge should work with both types of swings, however. Bear in mind -- and this is what confuses many players -- from the top of your backswing it feels as if your hands and arms start moving straight down (like using a flyswatter) and gradually change to a sideways movement (like swinging a tennis racket). It's a smooth transition without a lot of forearm twisting. The rotation actually happens at the shoulder joint. I'll probably need to do a post about that at some point.
Anyway, the most common way we adjust for the difference in attack angle is by changing the ball position. So I'm guessing -- and this is just a guess because I can't see your swing -- I'm guessing the reason you're having trouble with your driver is that your ball position is incorrect for using this technique with your driver.
Just for the record, I'm what Adams calls a side-on player as well, and when my teacher (way back when!) set me up with a neutral grip I improved with every club in my bag. But at the same time he also taught me how to address the ball, which would have included ball position -- I note that Adams said nothing about that in his tips.
So if I were you, that's where I'd look. Experiment with your ball position and see if that makes any difference. Remember, driving a ball off a tee definitely requires a different ball position than using an iron off the turf.