What movement in sport has more to-do’s, along with more
not-to-do’s than the golf swing? In the
golf swing we have the Golden Rules like: we need to “shift our weight” – yet not
“sway”. In the golf swing we need to
“cock our wrists” – yet not “flip our wrists”. In the golf swing most Golfers will tell you that you can’t lift your
left heel on the back swing (right handed Golfer) and yet, if you don’t lift
your heel – many don’t have the flexibility to make a “perfect” shoulder turn.
So how do you “shift your weight” without "swaying"? And how do you “cock your wrists” without
“flipping your wrists”? And how come it
was alright for Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to lift their heel on the
backswing – yet you’re not allowed to?
Why are there so many dang rules when swinging the golf
club?!!!
One of the best pieces of advice that a Golfer should listen
to is that there are no Golden Rules as far as how to swing a golf club. Although, I would say that if there was
anything close – it would be: that the direction your club face is pointing when
it hits the golf ball is more important than anything else than you have ever
heard or will ever hear about– that is … if you want to be in control of the
direction the golf ball flies.
See, we get so overwhelmed with all these “Golden Rules” on
what we need to do to hit a golf ball – that we bog ourselves down. It’s almost as if you have so many thoughts of
what you need to do correctly before hitting the golf ball – that you have very
little chance of consistently hitting a good shot.
Yet, the concept of a good golf shot comes down to one important factor when using a
Results Based Approach – “The golf ball will go in the direction my club face
is pointing when I hit the golf ball.”
And although there are many that will say – “Well yes Marc,
that is true. But in order to do that
you need to have all these other Golden Rules happen.” To which I believe my response would be – how
many of the same exact Golden Rules do Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus share? How many of the same Golden Rules do
Stewart Cink and Jim Furyk share? And
Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam?
Do these golf swings that are mentioned above look exactly
the same? Or lets put it another way –
if you were to put a bag over the head of each Golfer (so you couldn’t tell who
it was – made Mickelson play right handed or the others play left handed), even
the most casual Golf Fan would be able to tell which is Tiger’s swing and which
is Jack’s swing. Meaning Tiger doesn’t have
the same exact Golden Rules as Nicklaus. And Mickelson doesn’t have the same exact Golden Rules as Cink. Etc., etc., etc.
What Golden Rules are you applying to your golf swing right
now? And who told you about those Golden
Rules? Did you read about one of
Sergio’s Golden Rules in a golf magazine and decided it needs to be one of your
Golden Rules? If so, why? How do you know that Sergio’s Golden Rules
apply to your golf swing? And what’s
worse, maybe you’re already doing that Golden Rule well in your golf swing (but
not know it), so now when you apply it to your golf swing – you’re overdoing it. Which could cause even more problems in your
golf swing!
Here’s a Drill using a Results Based Approach for you to do:
Take out a wedge and hit a golf ball 10 yards. After the shot – determine if you hit it
solid and if it went in the direction you intended.
If you hit it solid, hit a golf ball 30 yards. After the 30 yard shot – determine if you hit
it solid and if it went in the direction you intended. If it wasn’t as solid or as straight as the
10 yard shot – go back to the 10 yard shot and try to find out what you did
differently (besides making a longer back swing) and hit another good shot from 10 yards.
After you hit another solid 10 yard shot - go back to the 30 yard shot and try to
feel what you’re doing different in your swing. When you do hit a good 30 yard shot ….
Then hit a 60 yard shot. After that shot - determine if you hit it solid and if it went in the
direction you intended. If not, go
back to the 30 yard shot and try to find out what you did differently. If you did hit the 60 yard shot well – go to
90. Then follow this process until
you’re taking full swings.
Why will this drill help you?
It’ll help you in many ways. The first is that most Golfers try to
determine what’s wrong with their golf swing primarily after taking full
swings. Yet, that swing happens so fast
and your arms and body are moving at a speed that doesn’t allow many Golfers to
feel what they’re doing during the swing. By
starting with these small swings – you’re better able to pinpoint what’s
happening in your golf swing at different points in your swing.
So now you can narrow down where the problem is in your golf
swing instead of just taking one full swing after another and pretty much
guessing what’s wrong. And believe it or
not – your guesses may be heavily influenced by the Golden Rules you saw on the
golf channel last night or in the last issue of a golf magazine. Which probably has nothing to do with your
golf swing – yet because you’re looking for answers – they sound like the thing
you should try next.
Second – many of the problems that 8 out of every 10 Golfers
have in their golf swing happens during the time period when the club head is
lower than your shoulders. Yet, 8 out of
every 10 Golfers are working on something to fix a perceived problem that’s
happening above their shoulders. Remember, the problem you perceive at the top of your golf swing could
be caused by something happening when the club is lower than your
shoulders.
Which is another way of
saying that too many Golfers are working on trying to fix an “effect” vs. what
they should be doing – working on fixing the “cause”.
So by starting with small golf swings and working your way
up – you’ll be determining (using a Results Based Approach) where your problem
is occurring in your golf swing. Unfortunately,
it’s been pounded into the heads of many Golfers that improving your golf swing is
all about taking full swings. And yes,
you need to take many full golf swings on the golf course. Yet, the best way to fix your full swing
isn’t just by practicing full swings.
The teaching method I’m introducing to you above is a
Results Based Approach of finding out where in your golf swing your swing is
breaking down. It shows that if you hit
your wedge well with the 10 yard shot and you hit the 30 yard shot well and the
60 yard shot well and then mess up the 90 yard shot (which to many would be
between a ¾ and full swing) – it shows that you’re doing
something bad in your golf swing somewhere in the area where your body and club
passes through 60 yards as you go to a 90 yard backswing. Which you’re also probably doing at that
point of your golf swing while hitting your Driver using a full golf swing –
yet, you probably won’t detect this happening while hitting full Drivers
because it happens too fast for many Golfers.
How do I know this works? Because using this Results Based Approach we’ve been able to display at least
2 testimonials every week in Golf Improvement Weekly for the last 284 Issues
and are displaying 100’s more on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com
website. When’s the last time you had
the pleasure of telling anyone about how well you’re playing and how good you
feel about your golf swing?
The Monkey will continue to work on hitting full shots until
they “get it”
The Player finds where their golf swing is breaking down
using a Results Based Approach
Well, I broke par by 1 stroke this evening - a 71. The
round details are 10/14 fairways, 13/18 GIR's and 29 putts. Made a birdie on
number 18 to shoot the 71. I am hitting my irons better than ever before. I have
seen huge yardage gains with my irons. I am now able to hit my 7 iron 170
easily.
It was a great day. My wedges and irons were just on fire
yesterday, but more importantly, the putter was on fire. I ended up with
birdies on 1 and 3 with pars on 2, 4 ,5 ,7, and 9. Finished even par on the
front. On the 9th hole, I pulled my driver to the left and had to drop a ball.
Hitting 3, I dropped my 3 wood 238 yards to the front of the green, I was able
to make par after loosing the tee ball.
As the round progressed, I wasn't really paying attention to
the score. As I approached the 18th
green, I found my ball some 8 feet away, pin high. I didn't realize I was
shooting for a 1 under until after I made the putt.
Also, my partner and I are in first place in our golf league
with just 4 weeks to go. We hope to finish in the top five so that we can get
in the playoffs.
Jed D. –
Kansas City, Missouri - Sent July 28th, 2009
Attended
Phoenix location on
February 6th to 8th, 2009
I will like to thank you for the three days of the training
program that I took part on in
Denver.
James is a really good instructor that has the patience and clarity in his
explanations and gave me a lot of confidence during my game.
I had a lot of curiosity to verify that what I had learned
in the academy will work in a regular game.
This weekend I went Saturday and Sunday to try it out and
the improvement in my second shots and my short game was surprising!
Both days I improved my score eight strokes. It really
works!
Thanks again. I’m really excited with the results.
Raúl Pérez de Celis G –
Querétaro, Mexico – Sent July 20th, 2009
Attended Denver Location on
July 10th to 12th, 2009
Who’s thinking about November and December already? Well, apparently many Golfers. Because we have never had so many Golfers
sign-up for programs in November and December this far in advance. Though, thinking about it – it is a smart
move. Signing up this early insures you
get the dates you want – as opposed to having those dates sold-out. Because as you probably already know – we
limit our classes to only 4 Golfers. So
we frequently sell-out dates.
Like the locals know in areas like
Florida
and La Quinta/Palm Springs,
California and
Phoenix,
Arizona
– some of the best weather of the year is in the middle of October through the
beginning of December.
And although there are people saying – “You’re thinking of
November already? We haven’t even gotten
to Labor Day yet!” Apparently there are
more people than you think that are planning November dates because we already have
more people signed up to attend our La Quinta location in November as of today –
than we had actually attend in November of last year. So if we’re ahead of last year’s pace and its
still 3 months away – imagine what it’s going to be like trying to get dates
when we’re into October.
Or for more information on available dates at our La Quinta/Palm Springs, California location: call me at 1-888-580-3635 or
email me at IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com
Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 208 - August 15th, 2007
"Would you be happy if you shot what might be your best score
ever in an important event or tournament, then shot a disappointing score the
next round? Would you celebrate or would you lament?
"This is the story of a Golfer that I’ll call Jim.
"Jim has been playing golf for a number of years and generally has played pretty
good, though he always wanted to get better – probably just like you hope to
do. Jim enjoyed playing and competing in his county’s Amateur Golf Tournament
every year. Yet, there’s been this nagging feeling that he desperately wanted
to …."
Continue
reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click
Here
By the way, the first Golf Made Simple DVD has been the #1 Selling Golf
Swing DVD on Amazon.com. After years and years and offers upon offers
from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us; we decided we wanted
to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player,
as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there.
Our DVD - How To Improve
Your Golf Swing Indoors is improvement ... GMS Style. What's
GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to the Theories and
Assumptions Based Approach that millions of Golfers struggle with year
after year.
For
Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have
added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing"
to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.
Indoor Putting Drill
- If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an
excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com
and put GIW in the subject line.
Tour Putting Square
- Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores.
Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com
with the subject: Tour Putting Square – and we'll email you
how to use this game changing drill.
Swing Drills & Core Training
- To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside,
plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com
with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive
a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How
To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'