Posts Tagged ‘Golf Lessons’

TV Golf Announcers Just Make Stuff Up: Rory McIlroy

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

In this video you will see proof of what I have been saying for some time now, namely that when announcers (any of them) describe why a Tour player sends a shot awry they are making it up. The point is that the actual reasons a shot by a great player is missed are so small and fast that they are simply not seeable, even with a slow motion camera, unless there is time to do a side by side comparison with computer graphics of swings from identical angles and lies. I know I’ve never seen that on TV, but I certainly have seen just about every announcer pronounce that the player missed for any number of conventional reasons, such as “he got ahead of it”, or “he hung back”, or “he got quick” or, well, you name it and they might have done it. Well, here we have Johnny Miller (not picking on him, he just happened to offer up this perfect example of how silly this all is) describing Rory Mcilroy missing one iron shot to the right, and another to the left. The camera catches him from the same angle at slow motion, and if you can pick out the difference you are a better eye than I.

Tags: free online golf, Golf Lessons, golf swing analys, golf tips, Rory McIlroy
Posted in As Seen on TV | 24 Comments »

Nick Watney Golf Swing Analyzed

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

In Nick Watney we see what I would call the “prototype” of the new Tour player, namely one that is tall, strong, talented, and technique oriented. Watney is as conventional as Bubba Watson is not, and it is evident that he is technique oriented as he has managed to improve his golf swing over the last 3 years by fixing a faulty takeaway and working into a much less crossed position for the shaft at the top of the swing. We see here another “right load” backswing, meaning that he moves somewhat off the ball laterally with both the upper and lower body in order to “load” the right side, then recovers beautifully with lateral drive and a tremendous amount of corresponding rotation in the forward swing. Watney again shows evidence of the compression golf swing by lowering somewhat in the backswing, then significantly in the forward swing. He also demonstrates the right arm movement that I have been noting in a large amount of great ball strikers, a technique that I am now including wholeheartedly in all my lessons. It might seem surprising to see that a player of Watney’s build would have such a rotary swing, but the more I study this combination of upper and lower body rotation, facilitated by the outward movement of the hands in transition, the less surprised I am.

Tags: compression golf, compression golf swing, Golf Lessons, golf swing analysis, Nick Watney
Posted in Tour Players, Video on Homepage, Video on Video Page, Videos | 12 Comments »

Wayne DeFrancesco: Golf Swing Progress Report

Monday, January 24th, 2011

I used to spend a lot of time traveling and playing in the winter, but as I get older and my body suffers more from the constant abuse of playing and teaching from the middle of March to the middle of November I now take about a 4 month break where I will only play in a couple of events and teach a lighter schedule. This gives me time to continue to work on me swing and to ramp up my workouts so that I might be more physically capable of performing the movements I believe are necessary for high-level ball striking. If this video is any indication (and I won’t know until I play in my next tournament) I am on the right track, because this particular golf swing is pretty good.

As I mention in the video I have returned to an open stance, wherein I rotate my lower body to the left at address. My use of this setup is a personal preference, and I have used it before with good results: indeed, if you watch the video of me winning the National Club Pro in 2001 you might notice that I am playing from an open stance. My reasons are specific: because of my back fusion I lack mobility in my lower spine and consequently have a tendency to lift and over-rotate my lower body in the backswing. From a square stance my transition move is forward into the front of my left foot, which slows my lower body rotation and causes me to back out of the swing with the shaft falling under my arms (stuck) and releasing out to the right, all of which place a tremendous strain on my hands and wrists to flip the club over and save the shot from going right. My main focus this winter has been to force myself to lower in the backswing while staying somewhat centered over the ball, then driving my weight more directly toward my left heel while encouraging my head and neck to release with my chest and shoulders, something I tried to do this past year without success. I am looking for my hips to be more in the “box” during the forward swing and follow-through, and for my body to be more facing the target at impact. What I see here is encouraging.

Tags: Golf Lessons, golf swing, wayne defrancesco analysis
Posted in Instructional Videos, Video on Homepage, Video on Video Page, Videos | 15 Comments »