John Graham Golf» golf swing

MORAD and the 10 P’s

John Graham — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:31:03 +0000

For anyone that has done some internet research on the golf swing, eventually they will run into MORAD. MORAD is an acronym that stands for Mankinds Objective Research and Development. I won’t go into who Mac O’Grady is and what MORAD is in this post. I may cover that in another post but I’m not sure I could accurately describe it. Usually when reading posts or forum threads about MORAD, people will run into a conversation where people are talking about P6 or P5 or something like that. What does that mean? It used to bug me until I learned what they meant.

To the left is a little sheet explaining what the P’s are. Basically, they describe positions in the golf swing that every golf swing has regardless of method or technique. P4 (club shaft parallel to ground) can also be considered the top of the back swing and P10 can be considered the finished position. You can see that they deal with the entire swing from address to the finish.

So, why did Mac come up with these 10 positions? It is simply the easiest way to compare images of golfers from any era regardless of style. Here’s an example of a P5 comparison:

What does this comparison show us? Clearly we can see 4 professionals bringing the club down on 4 different planes. This position process makes this comparison quick and easy to do. In a perfect world, matching camera angles provide the best comparison but it allows a teacher to compare all the greatest swings of all time and catalog those with similar looks at specific places.

They can also be used to show a student changes made during a lesson or over time. Here’s an example:

This P6 comparison from face on gives the student a chance to see changes made and a picture on the right of a P6 position they are working toward.

I hope this helps clear up any confusion about MORAD’s 10 P’s.

Please leave any comments or questions below.

No related posts.

Golf Swing – Simple Drill for More Right Swing Path

John Graham — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:21:27 +0000

Here’s a little drill to help you with your Golf Swing. I tend to use drills that you can’t do wrong. In other words, if you are able to do the drill, you are improving in that area.

Here are some pics showing how it looks.

Who should use this drill?

This drill is for those golfers trying to learn what it feels like to swing more right (for right handers). Those golfers that are hitting straight pulls and or pull slices. Also for anyone that curves the ball alot in a slicing direction.

Here’s how it works.

The stick should be place in the ground at an angle that allows room for the club to swing underneath it and the ball goes directly under the stick. It can be used for all clubs and is easy to set up. Set up to the ball like normal focusing on getting as parallel as you can to the stick in the ground. Normal ball position for the club being used. Swing and try to hit the ball solidly without hitting the stick.

Be careful not to aim more right than usual or set up more closed than normal. This will make the drill too easy and won’t accomplish what you want.

Things to Watch For:

Some of you may have trouble hitting the stick. Keep trying until you can hit the ball solidly. You don’t need to be taught how. Just do it.

Some of you may hit the ground early in the beginning. This is because a swing to the right is more shallow than a swing to the left. It reaches the ground sooner. You may need to have more weight forward(toward the target) than you are accustomed too. If you have a problem with flipping, this could also cause you to hit the ground earlier when doing this drill.

Start the Downswing with a……..?

John Graham — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:40:18 +0000

I recently posted a question on twitter:

Downswing Question

I asked this question because of a conversation I had with another TPI Certified Golf Fitness Instructor about this subject. It seemed to me that it was expressed at the seminar that a hip rotation leading the downswing would help prevent over the top. Me and the other Pro had a difference of opinion. He tweeted me this:

TPI Question Request

Here are all of the replies:

BSmithgolf Reply

davidcolly reply

IanPeekGolf reply

Jstruebs reply

kingsforest reply

ParkythePro reply

I must say, I wish I had a few more replies so I tweeted mytpi but haven’t heard a response back yet. I may have misunderstood their comment and if so, will post it here.

This debate has been going on for many years and I’m sure it will continue. It’s good because it’s for the betterment of all golfers.

Please share your comments and opinions about how initiating the downswing with a hip turn will affect over the top.

Golf Lesson – Drills to Stop Flipping

John Graham — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:13:12 +0000

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.

Golf Lesson – Trackman Confirms

John Graham — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:31:21 +0000

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