Joe,
Secrets are noted by teachers here and there, such as Hogans' secret, but recently a book by a young man who shagged balls for Ben indicated that it was not the supination of the left wrist but rather the "driving of the right knee" toward the ball along with the right side as a unit. Any more info on this?
Bill
Hi Bill,
All of us are built differently, so a “secret” move for one person may or may not work for another person. Many times a “magic move” will work for awhile, and then it will stop working and you won’t know why. There are a lot of things going on during a golf swing, and sometimes a magic move will result in aligning your muscles in a good way. But your muscles are changing every day, some stronger, some weaker, in different combinations, so it stands to reason that many of these “secrets” fall in the category of “Mannerisms” which are different than “Fundamentals” which are more important. For example, in Hogan’s case the supination of the wrist is a mannerism that leads to the fundamental of lining up the club shaft on the same plane with the leading arm for the downswing. The driving of the right knee is the mannerism that leads to the fundamental of shifting the lower body weight from the back leg to the front leg. If you only think of the mannerisms without the fundamentals, then you have to guess how much or how little to supinate the wrist or how hard to drive the knee. By thinking of the fundamentals instead, you can get rid of that guesswork.
Joe
Friday, July 23, 2004
Joe, which golf rules would you change?:
Abolish stroke and distance penalties and provisional shots. Nobody should ever have to walk back to replay a shot, that is against the pace of play. Think, USGA, think!
Take the luck factor out of the game. Allow free lift from divots because landing in a divot is only bad luck. No difference between loose impediments or obstructions, neither one of them belongs there anyway. If you can move a dead animal, you should also be able to remove a live animal, which is against today’s rules. Dumb, real dumb.
Get rid of the penalty for the ball accidentally moving when addressed. What is the big deal? No advantage gained, no penalty. If that could be a new rule, that would make it more of a game of skill, and less of a game of chance.
People who have never broken 100 should be able to improve their lies anywhere, anytime, even use a tee until that magic number is broken.
Get rid of the term “ladies tees”. The forward tees and all other tees should be according to skill levels. There are ladies who hit the ball farther than men, and men who cannot hit the ball as far as ladies. This would speed up play if those who shoot higher scores were forced to play from the forward tees.
There should be no penalty for giving advice. Pros get advice from their caddies, while the average golfers who cannot afford caddies are not allowed to ask anyone, or even use an inaccurate optical device. Get serious, why would you ask an opponents anyway, they might give you bad information, and your well-meaning buddies are probably guessing as much as you are. Get rid of stupid unnecessary rules like this.
Abolish stroke and distance penalties and provisional shots. Nobody should ever have to walk back to replay a shot, that is against the pace of play. Think, USGA, think!
Take the luck factor out of the game. Allow free lift from divots because landing in a divot is only bad luck. No difference between loose impediments or obstructions, neither one of them belongs there anyway. If you can move a dead animal, you should also be able to remove a live animal, which is against today’s rules. Dumb, real dumb.
Get rid of the penalty for the ball accidentally moving when addressed. What is the big deal? No advantage gained, no penalty. If that could be a new rule, that would make it more of a game of skill, and less of a game of chance.
People who have never broken 100 should be able to improve their lies anywhere, anytime, even use a tee until that magic number is broken.
Get rid of the term “ladies tees”. The forward tees and all other tees should be according to skill levels. There are ladies who hit the ball farther than men, and men who cannot hit the ball as far as ladies. This would speed up play if those who shoot higher scores were forced to play from the forward tees.
There should be no penalty for giving advice. Pros get advice from their caddies, while the average golfers who cannot afford caddies are not allowed to ask anyone, or even use an inaccurate optical device. Get serious, why would you ask an opponents anyway, they might give you bad information, and your well-meaning buddies are probably guessing as much as you are. Get rid of stupid unnecessary rules like this.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Joe,
Recently I've developed a hard pull to a hook with my driver, my thinking on this is that I may be to stiff in my swing and not doing a good job with my weight transfer. The only problem with trying to correct is not wanting to mess with my swing until I'm sure thats the problem. Look forward to your response. Thanks much, and keep up the great tips in the newsletter.
Don
Hi Don,
I think you are right in deciding not to mess up your swing just for a driver. That suggests you are hitting your other clubs OK. If this is true, simply find a different driver because they are all so different. Recently, a reader was hitting all clubs OK except the driver which was going to the right, the opposite problem from yours. We suggested to get a heel-weighted driver to correct this, and I am guessing your driver may be heel-weighted, causing your pull-hook. Try some of the jumbo drivers that are not heel-weighted and let us know how it turns out.
Joe
Recently I've developed a hard pull to a hook with my driver, my thinking on this is that I may be to stiff in my swing and not doing a good job with my weight transfer. The only problem with trying to correct is not wanting to mess with my swing until I'm sure thats the problem. Look forward to your response. Thanks much, and keep up the great tips in the newsletter.
Don
Hi Don,
I think you are right in deciding not to mess up your swing just for a driver. That suggests you are hitting your other clubs OK. If this is true, simply find a different driver because they are all so different. Recently, a reader was hitting all clubs OK except the driver which was going to the right, the opposite problem from yours. We suggested to get a heel-weighted driver to correct this, and I am guessing your driver may be heel-weighted, causing your pull-hook. Try some of the jumbo drivers that are not heel-weighted and let us know how it turns out.
Joe
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Joe,
This makes me really mad. Why is it that things always seem to work on the practice range but do not seem to work as well on the golf course?
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
It’s all about pressure. On the practice range, there is no pressure, since there is no penalty for a bad shot. Also since you are swinging every few seconds, your muscles can get into a good rhythm. On the course, it is several minutes between each shot, so there is less rhythm and that makes it easier to tense up. Tense muscles do not work the same as relaxed muscles.
Joe
This makes me really mad. Why is it that things always seem to work on the practice range but do not seem to work as well on the golf course?
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
It’s all about pressure. On the practice range, there is no pressure, since there is no penalty for a bad shot. Also since you are swinging every few seconds, your muscles can get into a good rhythm. On the course, it is several minutes between each shot, so there is less rhythm and that makes it easier to tense up. Tense muscles do not work the same as relaxed muscles.
Joe
