Archive for March, 2010

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Golf Lessons – The Laundry List

March 15th, 2010

The Laundry List is the name I give to the things a student should go through when struggling with their swing in practice and in competitions.  I feel it is my job to teach my students how to fix themselves when I’m not around.  They will be on their own much more often than they will be with me.  I think it is important to give the student some if/then’s.  A list of two or three items maximum that if the ball is doing X, then it is probably because of Y.  I don’t want them just tinkering with their swing to try and solve the problem.  This Laundry List is there to give them a roadmap and some comfort that they can solve an issue on their own.

As I work more and more with better players, there seems to me to be a reoccuring list of issues.  They are usually things that we have worked on in the past and were personal traits to their swing growing up.  These traits can be worked through but never eliminated.  Every so often they will come back in and because the golfer is accustom to them, the traits don’t register as something they are doing different.  This is one place where the power of the journal shows it’s true value.

If you can’t remember your Laundry List then it’s too long, you need a journal or both.  Use that journal folks.  It’s like sunscreen and flossing.  You know you’re supposed to and you hear all the time.

You’ll wish you had listened.

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Posted in Golf Lesson, Teaching Techniques

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Golf Lesson – Drills to Stop Flipping

March 13th, 2010

In my last post Golf Lesson – Flipping I defined what flipping is and used some vids and pics to describe it.  This post will start the process to recovery.  I’ve included a very simple drill  in the below video.  This drill is about doing small chipping strokes with only your bottom hand on the club.  While making those small chipping strokes, you are trying to keep your bottom hand wrist bent back.

In the first shot, I tried to make it primarily an arm shot.  In the second shot, I tried to make it primarily a rotary body shot and in the last I tried to do a blend of the two.  I don’t think one is better than another but I thought it might help to see if they looked as different as they felt.  Not too much in my opinion but a difference for sure.

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Posted in Golf Lesson, Teaching Techniques

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Golf Lesson – Flipping

March 3rd, 2010

I define flipping as an instance when players really stall the pivot and accelerate the unbending of the right wrist.  For some people, that will get the clubhead passing the hands and for others it complicates contact.  As many of you know, I coach college golf at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY.  I also give golf lessons at Webster Golf Club as its Director of Instruction.  The most common plateau causing element of the swing I see is flipping.  This year I have 11 players on my golf team and 7 of them flip it.  They have decent swing but have such a hard time creating consistent impact alignments because of the flipping.  This condition also caused me to plateau at a certain level and once I got rid of it, my level of ball striking immediately became more consistent.

Here are some video and pictures to show you what I mean:

Hands Even or Behind ball

Hands Even or Behind ball

Hands in Front of ball

Hands in Front of ball

This player is a very good player that can shoot par or better at times than all of a sudden shoots 80.  This part of impact is an imperative, to quote The Golf Machine.  Being able to keep your left wrist flat and right wrist bend as you pivot through impact will greatly help your ability to control your angle of attack into the ball, your spin rate and your low point control.  It’s these things that drive the good player crazy because they do it one shot but not the next or one day but not the next.  Without reasonable repeatability is these areas, it is impossible to control spin, trajectory and distance.

I’ll go into drills to help with removing the flip in a future post but for now practice chipping while keeping your left wrist flat and right wrist bent while using your pivot to hit the ball.

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Posted in Golf Lesson, Practicing, Teaching Techniques

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AimPoint Green Reading Advanced Training

March 2nd, 2010
AimPoint Green Reading

AimPoint Green Reading

In an effort to increase my knowledge of the AimPoint Green Reading Method, I have scheduled some time to go to Florida and meet with Mark Sweeney.  Mark has been working on a certification process and I am trying to stay as educated as I can be.  I truly think that this information is groundbreaking and can help a great many golfers that don’t understand how to read the green.

That’s really the key to Mark’s system.  It’s about reading the green.  Only after you can read the green do you have any real chance of reading your putts accurately.  The AimPoint Green Reading Method works off the idea that break can be accurately determined within 20 feet of the hole for certain green shapes.  As I am sure you are aware, there are many different types of green shapes and features around the hole that impact the roll of the ball.  The AimPoint Green Reading Method teaches you what those shapes are and how they effect the roll of the ball.

I am also planning a trip to the UK to see some friends and, while I am there, I will be providing some AimPoint Green Reading clinics.  This latest trip to see Mark will give me information that is not provided anywhere online and it should give me a chance to help my students like never before.  Stay tuned for dates of AimPoint Green Reading clinics in the US and UK.

John Graham is Western New York's only AimPoint Certified Instructor

John Graham-Western NY's only AimPoint Certified Instructor

Here are some pics from my trip:

AimPoint Golf - Working in a Bowl

AimPoint Golf - Working in a Bowl

AimPoint Golf - Tilted Crown

AimPoint Golf - Tilted Crown

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Posted in AimPoint, Putting

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Golf Lesson – Trackman Confirms

March 1st, 2010

This Golf Lesson post is going to discuss a topic I feel hurts more golfers than any swing technique I can think of.  The funny thing is it usually doesn’t start showing symptoms until the golfer has reached a high level of skill.  The your swing looks weird so let’s make it look better disease.  This is where Trackman can level the playing field.  I tend to not get caught up in a lot of swing techniques with my students.  I wonder if that makes me look like I don’t know what’s right or wrong.  Or maybe it makes me look like I just don’t care.

To me, impact and ball flight are what I work mostly with.  I look at the whole swing as series of events that lead to a collision with the ball and how they interact with each other gives me clues as to what ball flight will happen when they’re off.  I have one student currently playing on the Gateway Tour that has an incredibly strong grip that he off sets with a ton of lag.  Every time I see him, he comments on his grip or tells me stories of other pros commenting on his grip.  I continually have to reinforce him that his grip works for him.

A few months ago, he went and hit on a trackman and gave me his data sheets.  This data was the most powerful piece of confirmation I could give him.  Here’s a piece of technology telling us both that his grip produced a clubface angle that was repetitive and useable.  This is where trackman pays huge dividends for the unorthodox swinger.  It compares impact and ballflight to impact and ballflight.  it doesn’t care what your swing look likes and neither should you.

Here’s a look at his swing:

Here’s a look at his numbers with 6 iron:

Trackman Club Data

Trackman Club Data

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Posted in Teaching Techniques, Trackman

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