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Managed to help someone with their game.

mdbuschsr

mdbuschsr

Just playing for fun
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Garner, NC - USA
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I played on Friday with a friend of mine that is a horrid golfer. I have posted about him a couple times here. However, on Friday he asked for some help with his swing. I am definitely not a teaching professional, hell I'm not really even a good golfer yet. But I knew I could help him out some. I don't ever presume to give someone tips unless asked, and then only if I feel I can help.

My buddy has an exaggerated over the top out-to-in swing with more flaws than you could shake a stick at. His alignment is typically on a 45* angle to the target, and he hits about the biggest slices I have ever seen. All of this while really trying to tear the cover off the ball.

So for starters I just wanted to get him to line up straight with the target, and take a controlled in to out swing. It took him about 20 or so swings to start to get the feel of it but when he finally caught one, it was dead on target with just a little fade. The look on his face was awesome!! He asked me how far it was, so I internet golfered it for him and said about 225. In reality it was maybe 180.

I've never seen him happier coming off a course. He probably shot a 130 or so (we weren't keeping score) but he hit some nice shots. The look in his eye when he hit that first straight shot really got me excited about the game again. Not that I wasn't excited... I don't know it was just different!

I think I got just a little of the feeling that teachers get when they see the student have a light bulb moment. Have you ever had a similar experience?
 
I helped Yoccos stop hitting sh*nks at the outing, and the twinkle in Marcawesomes little eye when he stopped chunk-hoselling them was priceless!


Glad to hear it md!
 
Absolutely. It's such a great feeling. It's the main reason I'm getting a PGA of America Teaching Professional card. After working in accounting sitting in an office all day and having people give you dirty looks or snide comments just because you tried to help them out, I'd had enough and realized it wasn't for me. It's awesome to see it click for the person and the almost childish like excitement they have after finally hitting a really good shot. The best is seeing that your help gave them that itch and love for the game to come out and recreate the feeling of hitting a good shot. Also, you're helping the game of golf itself by getting one more person hooked to the best game there is. Congrats on helping your buddy. You sound like a good guy to me.


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There is something to be said about helping someone with their swing. Good stuff MD


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I played with a lady a week or two ago who was really struggling with her driver and couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong. After our round, she asked me what I thought she was doing wrong. I told her a couple things that might be the problem. I played with her this week and she told me she played in a scramble tournament right after our round and was hitting her driver better than ever and they won the tournament. She said what I told her really helped. Made me feel good.
 
Thainer said:
I helped Yoccos stop hitting sh*nks at the outing, and the twinkle in Marcawesomes little eye when he stopped chunk-hoselling them was priceless!


Glad to hear it md!
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You also helped me figure out I was playing the wrong wedge from the sand traps. I talked to my instructor after I got back from Florida about the wedge I was playing out of certain type bunkers and he told me it was all wrong for that type bunker. I now have a 60* Vokey for that shot and it is working out well (with a little more instruction of course). Thank you Thainer!
 
Anytime! Hate to see you handicapping yourself. This game is hard enough!
KellyBo said:
You also helped me figure out I was playing the wrong wedge from the sand traps. I talked to my instructor after I got back from Florida about the wedge I was playing out of certain type bunkers and he told me it was all wrong for that type bunker. I now have a 60* Vokey for that shot and it is working out well (with a little more instruction of course). Thank you Thainer!
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Back when I was a beginner, I had a guy come up to me on a local course around here and gave me a few tips. I have no idea who the guy was, but he saw me getting really frustrated trying to figure the game out and decided he would help. I may never see that guy again and even if I did, I'm not sure I would recognize him, but it's people like him that make this game still the best game ever. I don't go around giving people advice, but if I see somebody that is just learning the game and they are doing something that is clearly not right, I'll try to help them out a little just to make them not get too frustrated and give up on the game.
 
Great stuff man, thats great you can help your buddy out so he can enjoy the game a little more. I never offer advice unless asked because I never want to be "that guy" but when you can help someone out even a little it is a great feeling.
 
Many of us here have already put a good deal of time into this game but except for those of us with buckets of God given talent we can probably all remember when nothing stuck and everything was a mystery. Heck even the concept of "golfing" the ball can be a challenge when you are at square 1. If I had a magic formula that would get people out of that immediate hole we all seem to be in at the start that would be the gift I would give to every new golfer. I would give them the gift of a conceptual understanding for "golfing" the ball. Sounds simplistic I am sure, but I am convinced that at the beginning it really jams people up and adds to their frustration. It seems to be something that teaching professionals have a difficult time communicating to their students as well from what I have seen.

Good job helping the guy out OP.
 
jnug said:
Many of us here have already put a good deal of time into this game but except for those of us with buckets of God given talent we can probably all remember when nothing stuck and everything was a mystery. Heck even the concept of "golfing" the ball can be a challenge when you are at square 1. If I had a magic formula that would get people out of that immediate hole we all seem to be in at the start that would be the gift I would give to every new golfer. I would give them the gift of a conceptual understanding for "golfing" the ball. Sounds simplistic I am sure, but I am convinced that at the beginning it really jams people up and adds to their frustration. It seems to be something that teaching professionals have a difficult time communicating to their students as well from what I have seen.

Good job helping the guy out OP.
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At the risk of seeming remedial, define "golfing" the ball. I ask that with absolutely no sarcasm... I am always looking for a mental picture. For me it's 'just let the ball get in the way'. However as I have started lessons of my own, I may need/want a new image.
 
mdbuschsr said:
At the risk of seeming remedial, define "golfing" the ball. I ask that with absolutely no sarcasm... I am always looking for a mental picture. For me it's 'just let the ball get in the way'. However as I have started lessons of my own, I may need/want a new image.
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I always try to hit the ball Matt. I never was able to play well when trying the swing and let the ball get in the way routine. I try and smash the ball into the ground.
 
There are so many other athletic moves that involve a tool like a club or a bat and a ball of some sort that allow you to use your arms much more as part of the "swing". Golfing the ball really forces you to release any tension in your arms and turns them into not much more than a passive, connecting piece between your shoulders and the grip. Your arms are more like a rope that is pulled taunt by the force of your shoulder turn in the downswing.

A successful golf swing requires that you use a shoulder turn away from the target in order to take the club away on the backswing and turn your hips as you continue to take the club to the top. Do not use your arms to take the club back. Use your shoulders. Since you turn your shoulders about 90 degrees and your hips about 45 degrees you are already beginning the process of building a store of energy that you will use in the downswing and eventually unleash on the ball via the club head.

There is an elastic element to the golf swing that you must implement in order to succeed. A good way to think about successfully golfing the ball is to think about the difference in your your 90 degree shoulder turn and your 45 degree hip turn as the beginning of the process of stretching an imaginary elastic that exists between your shoulders and your hips. You are storing energy in that imaginary elastic. The weight shift to your back foot in the backswing and your front foot in the downswing is also a big part of this process of storing and then releasing energy to the golf ball via the club head. As soon as you turn your hips back toward the target in the downswing you begin stretching that elastic even further as there is now an even larger gap between them and your shoulders. When you turn your shoulders back toward the target, it is like snapping the elastic. That is how you derive power in the golf swing. The more energy you store in the elastic the more powerful your swing will be.

That takes me back to the need to get your arms out of the swing. The more your arms are involved in providing some sort of inertia to the club the more you rob from the stored energy in the elastic and the less powerful and accurate your swing will be. It is this element of elastic energy that allows you to whip the club head through the hitting zone and "golf" the ball. You are transferring all of that stored energy through the shaft to the club head presuming that you have kept your wrists hinged appropriately, have shifted your weight as a part of the process and have kept your arms a passive element in the swing.

"Allowing the ball to get in the way" is one of the ways of explaining that you should not aim the club head at the ball and try to guide it with your arms. So it is another way of explaining the same thing. However for me it just does not tell me enough about what I want my body to do. It tells me more about what I don't want to do. Using the concept of the imaginary elastic gives me more of a visual picture of what I really want my body to do in the golf swing.
 
I'm going to think on that one for a while, and reread it later today. It makes sense on the first read through, but I want to make sure I am wrapping my head around it all the way. Thanks for the additional explanation.
 
Chunkylover77 said:
I always try to hit the ball Matt. I never was able to play well when trying the swing and let the ball get in the way routine. I try and smash the ball into the ground.
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That's pretty much my philosophy. The ball is bad and has to be punished.
 
Actually I think more bat and ball or club and target related sports would take more of a golf approach if it were not for the fact that the ball is moving in most cases. Since the ball is moving you often have to correct like in baseball. You need to have your arms involved in the swing to pull that off. In golf the ball is stationary although there are days when my swing could make you think it is moving. "What are you doin' jnug chasein' the thing around the tee box?"
 
Good story, nice job
 
jnug -

Thanks very much for taking the time to post about the elasticity of the golf swing. The concept of beginning the backswing with your shoulders will help me a great deal. My golf game has gone to heck the past month, mainly due to some neck and back issues. But as I work back to health, I'll keep your elasticity explanations in my mind, concentrate on shoulder turns, and really look at the difference in rotation between hips and shoulders. I sort of "know" this already, and it's what I do when my swing is working. But my swing goes south very frequently, and re-reading what you posted will be a great tool to help me regain my swing when it seems missing in action.
 
I am always willing to give advice. But ONLY if asked, I wont say anything at all if not asked.
 
One-T said:
I am always willing to give advice. But ONLY if asked, I wont say anything at all if not asked.
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Exactly the same way I am.
 
Lol. Yeah and helped me gain some distance back. Much appreciated!!!!!

Thainer said:
I helped Yoccos stop hitting sh*nks at the outing, and the twinkle in Marcawesomes little eye when he stopped chunk-hoselling them was priceless!


Glad to hear it md!
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I should've asked you too man.

One-T said:
I am always willing to give advice. But ONLY if asked, I wont say anything at all if not asked.
Click to expand...
 
Yoccos1981 said:
Lol. Yeah and helped me gain some distance back. Much appreciated!!!!!



I should've asked you too man.
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you asked 4 days later....hahaha
 
Lol. Yeah sure did. I probably should've texted it to you while we were on the course.

One-T said:
you asked 4 days later....hahaha
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Thain, what's that bunker/wedge tip bro?
 
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