golf approach to swingtraining

[tom.guerry]

Best reference to get a feel for this may be Works by Jim Hardy. Golf is particularly useful as a window into understanding how a swing produces a swing plane which in hitting needs to be adjusted on the fly to line up well with the pitch. Another crucial hitting swing reqirment is that the acceleration in this plane has to not only be quick, but has to start back behind the hitter/"early in the swing plane".

However, the real purpose of this thread is NOT the mechanical details or sequence requirments of the swing, but to become familiar with a successful general approach to techin/learning the swing.

The easily accessible works of hardy are:

1- online golfdigest article

http://www.golfdigest.com/search/ind...ingplane1.html

2-THE PLANE TRUTH FOR GOLFERS - introductory paper back

3-THE PLANE TRUTH FOR GOLFER, MASTER CLASS.


To begin with. it IS important to get the mechanical model close to right, but that has now been adequaely accomplished with the core group at this site.

If you wanted to carryover the details of the mechanical model from golf, that is another undertaking. Hardy likens the 1 PLANE swing to baseball, but this is becasue he thinks of the baseball challenge primarily as swinging at waist high balls from low level pitching.

To make the mechanical crossover if you get obsessed, it is better to think of hitting as similar to 2 PLANE golf swing (that needs to be optimized by making a "steep" plane as wide as possible - elongation of a steep circle to a Nike swoosh) where you are setting up to hit/elevate a LOW pitch and realizing you have to adjust the plane to line it up well by having the plane get LESS SLICING and MORE inside out the more outside the location in baseball.

Setting up this way, you can most easily interrupt and get up for high ball, even high heat, as long as you keep the back shoulder up, but that is another LONG topic.

As a high level analogy, it is sufficient for purposes here to just say 1 PLANE is like PCR and 2 PLANE is like MLB and PCR will NOT work in MLB.

EXCERPTS FROM INTRO BOOK:

1- a little more on the pesky mechanical details/General importance of mechanical model:

"I found all golf swing techniques fell into one of two categories....Another remarkable thing I discovered was that what you were doing in one type of swing, you were doing nearly the opposite of in the other. ...Furthermore, if you are using one type of swing and suddenly introduse an element from the other type, a breakdown occurs. The swing that used to work for you now does not work. Many of the things you have learned and perhaps held as universals are erroneous. They may not be wrong just for the 1 plane swing but for the 2 plane swing as well..... The main point is that there are three types of golf information1) one-plane information, 2) two-plane information and 3) worthless information that doesn't belong in any body's golf swing. Understanding that is the real key to success."

More on "plane":


Almost none of us if we are far out of position are good enough athletes to find a correct repetitive impact. The only way to accomplish this is tobe less out of position. The less out of position, the easier it is to find impact correctly and repetitively. What less out of position means in golf terms is to be on plane [no limited reaction time challenge as in baseball].Actually, I am a little more forgiving than saying everyone has to be exactly on plane. If you can swing on a resonable plane and in a reasonable direction, you can play very good golf repetitively. If you bought this book thinking I am going to dissect and detail the swing technique down to the last degree of angle and centimeter of move, then you will be disappointed. I can do that, but it is a waste of time and is not productive for playing good golf....we just have to come close enough to both the plane and the direction of the plane to play wonderfully."

OK, enough on actual models/mechanics.More:

2-"Once you determine your type of swing you use, then you need to discover the fundamentals that apply to your method. You will discard those elements that do not fit and adopt those that do and you will then be able to begin to practice effectively. You learn fundamentals of address position, then the backswing, then the downswing.

You may be surprised at how quickly you will get results. In fact, it should be almost immediate. This is not cokiness on my part. I'm telling you this fact based on my experiences teaching amateurs and tour pros who were confused and worried that they were going to need to spend hours and hours revamping their swing in order to retrieve their game. You will not need to practice extra hard to improve, provided you select the right swing and practice the proper actions associated with it..... Make the right choice, groove the proper movements, and in a short time your swing will operate efficiently.

The flight of the ball will be your guide. If you are doing something better, the ball is doing something better. if the flight of your ball does not improve, it means you do not understand the instruction clearly, you are not doing what you are being asked to do, or what you are being asked to do is wrong. Unfortunately, this last case too often has been the problem. You need a crystal clear understanding of what you need to do to improve.

If you start hitting powerfuly accurate shots, you know you are on the right track. If your ball flight is weak, either reread the instructions or find a video camear and look for yourself.

Hogan asked a younger pro: do you use video on your own game.
Pro says: no I play by feel.
Hogan: "Son, if they had video in my day, I'd have really killed them".




Excerpts from Master Class book to follow.

[tom.guerry]

THE LANE TRUTH FOR GOLFERS MASTER CLASS is the more recent Hardy book.

Excerpts from INTRO:

"Whereas the first book laid down the groundwork on WHAT to do, this one provides lessons on HOW to improve swing technique and ball control. The first book let golfers know the reason they were failing to improve at golf was not their fault. It was just that they were confused by misinformation, more specifically , mixing one and two plane fundamentals. Your lesson: ALL SWINGS ARE EITHER ONE PLANE OR TWO PLANE, AND TO BECOME GOOD AT GOLF YOU MUST WORK TOWARD BEING A FUNDAMENTAL PURIST, ONLY LEARNING AND EMPLOYING THOSE ELEMENTS RELATIVE TO YOUR SWING TYPE."

"Having said this, more than distinguishing between two swings, the biggest breakthrough for me came when I figured out that the one plane swinger needs to set up differently and also work the body, arms and club much differently on the backswing and downswing than the two planer. Moreover it became clear that the only true shortcut for learning a new swing ... is to work on various drills and "feels" during practice."

" I refer to my first book as a scientific text because it stated a new philosophy on teaching golf and provided new building blocks.....providing golfers with a brand new vocabulary of fundamentals, and telling them WHAT TO DO when emloying a 1 or 2 plane technique.......this second book, a more sophisticated and advanced book..focuses on the ART of the golf swing.....but right now let me make one thing clear...the ideal goal is for each of you to come as close as possible to matching the general good positions without letting yourself become so technically minded that you tense up physically or become confused mentally."



EXCERPTS from CHAP 1:

"This book....is a HOW-TO book that focuses on the ART of technique and provides golfers with lessons for improving their swing technique and ball control.....I relied on teacher-student case studies so golfers can improve using the following methods:

-learning the correct address, backswing and downswing elements of the .....swing

-Receiving lessons on identifying faults

-Understanding ball flight ptterns that can be traced to each of the faulty positions cited so that you can pinpoint your address and swing problems

-Being given specific solutions to your problems

-Learning the FACTS about fixing faults in your technique through FEEL (sometimes even getting the sense that you are in the wrong position when actually you are helping yourself establish the right position).

I purposefully chose a "voice" [in writing the book] that would allow you to feel as if I were next to you on the driving range.....this is most obvious when I am trying to get a point across about learning what to FEEL in order to correct a fault and get the fundamental FACT right.

By using "FACT VS FEEL" information provided in my lessons, you will purify your contaminated golf swing and hit the ball much better..... by the time you finish reading, you will be able to classify all golf information as either 1 plane or 2 plane or worthless..."



"The major focal point of the book revolves around the lessons I give to golfers, starting with descriptions of the ideal movements and positions for the swing....each ideal movement and position is illustrated by photographs and explained in detail via accompanying text and captions.

"The lessons assume you, like most golfers, struggle somewhat in achieveing these ideal elements and thus are usually out of position. Chances are, though, that you are not out of position in myriad ways.

"Based on my teaching experience, most of the time golfers make only two mistakes relative to the correct position. The mistakes are usually a "yin" or "yang", or an overexaggeration or underexaggeration of the correct move....either too steep or too narrow, or too wide or too shallow, too much out-to-in or too much in-to-out.

"In a few instances there may be only one common mistake and in a few, more than two common errors. So the next part of the lesson will focus on the common mistakes that are made relative to the correct elements and how to identify which mistakes you may be making. Photographs illusrate the mistakes, and again there is accompanying text explaining the mistake as well as the ball flight descriptions to help identify the problem.

"Next, I'll explain why you and others make mistakes and then offer corrective instruction on what you must do to achieve the ideal position. I will provide drills to help you practice the instruction. In all cases, the aforementioned FACT VS FEEL segments will give you an exaggerated feel for the correction.

"The next segment of your lesson will involve application. - how you can apply the instruction to your game. As a preface to what is needed for you to accomplish your goals, you must first master the recommended course of action in the practice [dry swing/on deck swing in BB] swing. Since the feel of the correction is often exaggerated, the practice swing will also need to be somewhat exaggerated. Making an exaggerated practice swing is, I believe, vital to the amount of time it takes to incorporate the correction. Many tour pros I teach make exaggerated practice swings even in tournaments.

"The golf course will always tend to make us revert to our old habits. You can exaggerate nearly as much as you like on the golf course with your practice swing. Because you are on the course, the swing at the ball will not be an exaggeration and will probably turn out to be correct. It may still FEEL like an exaggeration when you hit the ball, but trust me, it won't be. Without this exaggeration, you will NOT overcome your old tendencies when faced with a target during actual play. For this reason, it is vital to view and rehearse your practice swings in front of a mirror. Look at the position and movement you are trying to achieve relative to your existing swing tendency. Next, slightly exaggerate the correct position in the mirror. Don't go TOO far overboard. Just exaggerate slightly past where perfect woud be. Also, try to memorize what the FEELING of making the move is like. Rehearse over and over until you see what position you are supposed to be in. Once you feel you have mastered the move, try it on the practice range.

"Working on golf swings is a little like steering a boat in high winds and heavy seas. You are constantly moving the tiller one way and then the other to maintain a true course. It is the same with golf and golfers, even tour players. Anytime you are trying to make a change, one of these things will happen:

-The change will result in permanently allowing you to achieve the desired position.

-You achieve the ideal position, but over time you revert to the same old bad habits

-The change will allow you to achieve the ideal position, but then you will overexaggerate a movement or movements of your swing so much that you end up on the other side of your mistake

-Nothing changes, you simply employ the same old bad habits


"Knowing when to push harder against your mistake and when to back off is the ART of becoming a pure swinger and shotmaker.

"To check your progress and ensure that you are pushing in the right direction, follow the flight of your ball. If the shape and trajectory of your shots are heading toward the ideal pattern, you are improving. If the flight pattern of your shots fails to change, rest assured your swing is not changing for the better. Last, if your ball flight pattern is opposite to your old shape, you are probably pushing too hard.

" Another way to check your swing is have a friend analyze it and tell you if you are in the right or wrong position....be careful not to judge by your practice swings, since they are usually more exaggerated than the actions you employ when hitting balls. The secret is to alter your practice swing for more or less exaggeration, depending on what type of shots you hit and how far off the mark you are."