Just to show everyone I’m not picking on the TV announcers, here I commend Peter Kostis on an insightful biz hub swing analysis of a Tiger Woods drive at Pebble Beach. He correctly notes the nice backswing positions, then points out the fact that Tiger, while trying to swing his left arm more against him with the club more out in front of him (as he does in his “over the top” practice swings) is not really accomplishing what he is attempting to do and thus gets the club stuck behind him as he approaches impact. The result is and in to out pull hook, not a bad miss considering that the ocean is to the right and he can play out of the fairway bunker. Unfortunately, Kostis can’t leave the “level” thing alone, and makes reference to Tiger “dipping” a bit with the driver, although he does not blame the stuck position solely on that.
So while Peter does a nice job on that shot he bolloxes up another later in the broadcast when he does another analysis of Tiger hitting a fairway bunker shot. His comment is that Tiger should practice from fairway bunkers because he “maintains his level” so much better when he hits out of one. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to draw a line on top of Tiger’s head to show his head movement, which, also of course, is dropping a full 6 inches, just as much as he does with every other shot. Someday someone will show Kostis and Faldo one of my videos and they will stop making asses out of themselves describing things that do not exist in reality. I’m trying to convince people that loading into the ground, which causes pivot induced lowering, is entirely desirable in a golf swing and is something to strive for. It is in evidence in just about every great player in history. Why they can’t or won’t learn that their belief in “staying level” during the swing is not a good idea I can’t really figure out, so I’ll just keep on pointing it out until they get it right.
Posts Tagged ‘as seen on tv’
Kostis Gets One Right, (Then One Wrong)
Monday, March 5th, 2012Peter Kostis Reports in on Phil Mickelson’s Swing
Monday, March 5th, 2012 So Phil flies in Butch, and Butch suggests that Phil keep the flex in his left knee, and suddenly Phil is a world beater. Nonsense. There is nothing Butch can tell Phil that he hasn’t told him a hundred times, and the video shows that Phil never changes anything in his swing anyway. Phil simply plays good sometimes, and good for Phil means that no one can beat him. If Harmon happens to be around he gets the credit. What about all the crap tournaments Phil plays after working with Butch?. No one reports on that. Am I jealous of Harmon because he’s getting the credit when he doesn’t deserve it? No, just reporting on what is actually going on instead of the hysterical Golf Channel drones who love Butch because he’s so “simple”. I’m really jealous of Phil, because most people have to have great technique to be great, but Phil can randomly beat everyone with the conglomeration of flaws that somehow combine to be his swing. He is living proof that golf is more of a talent and feel game for the gifted, and a technique and grind game for those who can’t reach a high level otherwise.
Most Great Players Lower During Their Swings: So Wouldn’t You Figure It To Be a Good Thing?
Monday, January 2nd, 2012
If you think about how many different ways great players have gone about being great you might surmise that finding common ground wouldn’t be easy. How can anyone agree on what the best method is when all sorts of crazy combinations can be made to work? Certainly that is a legitimate question, and it can only be answered by saying that if I am teaching and I want to help someone to improve I have to identify what I think is hindering them and then offer specific things to remedy the situation. Through a combination of playing, practicing, studying golf swings (both great and not so great), and teaching every teacher comes up with their own “method”, which is really just a compilation of preferences about every element of the swing. One thing I have observed over and over is the fact that a great majority of great players lower during their swings. Some only lower going back, some only lower coming down, and some lower both back and down. Finding a player who stays perfectly level or who raises up in the backswing and doesn’t lower below their starting point in the forward swing is exceedingly rare, so rare in fact that it would seem obvious that the old standby adage that you must “maintain your posture” during the swing is simply wrong, but in a way you would not expect. The odd thing is that while it is not OK to rise up, what you actually should be doing (if you want to be like most of the best players) is trying to lower. I call it compressing into the ground, and I see it to be both athletic and powerful. It is evident in almost all high level acts of throwing and hitting, and if you buy my contention that the swing motion is most like side-arm throwing it becomes obvious why lowering is almost always present.
I’m sure that Mike realizes good players lower during the swing. I’m also sure that after watching this he wishes he had been a little clearer on just what he was discussing, as it certainly seems like he’s saying Scott’s head is not going down at the exact moment that it is. The point I am making here is not that Mike doesn’t know what he’s talking about (he does), it’s that everyone on TV should try to be more careful and attentive to what they are saying, because this stuff is being taken as truth and it goes by so fast that there is no time to rectify confusing information. And while Mike is certainly a high level instructor whom I respect, in this case it sounded like he was agreeing with the other talking heads who consistently pound on players (especially Tiger) for “dipping”. As you all know one of the important aspects of my teaching philosophy is “pivot compression”, which means lowering, so I am especially sensitive and attentive to how that element of the swing is portrayed in the media.
Swing Analysis: Brandel Chamblee Keeps Hammering on Tiger
Friday, December 2nd, 2011This little clip should come as no surprise to anyone who watches The Golf Channel with any regularity. Brandel Chamblee has a major problem with “modern instruction”, meaning any type of instruction that involves video analysis and technique work, and his feelings come out loud and clear (and obnoxiously) in his criticism of Tiger Woods and his coach, Sean Foley. What is mildly surprising is Chamblee’s admission that yes, great players lower during their swings (he mentions Miller and Hogan), but he then adds that neither Hogan nor Miller “popped up” like Tiger as they hit the ball.
It occurred to me that it would be interesting to look at Brandel’s own swing, as he was a good enough player to stay out on Tour for over a decade. You can imagine my delight when I saw that Chamblee “pops up” as he hits the ball almost exactly the same way Tiger does. Once again, it becomes apparent that these TV guys say things that they believe are true, but have not done the work necessary to make sure that what they are saying has any merit. The videos are out there and the opportunity to do enough homework to back up statements about technique is also readily available. I fully intend to keep these announcers on their toes and accountable for their statements. People are watching, and there is a responsibility to get this stuff right.
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