What about Rickie Fowlers golf swing, Part 1

I saw a series of pictures featuring Rickie Fowlers golf swing in the August issue of Golf Magazine.

Here is what I think is great about Rickie’s swing and how it can help get your swing path more from the inside. Remember that creating more of an inside swing path when you deliver the club to impact, helps turn your bad slice into a playable draw ball flight.

Below, picture labeled #2, shows how in the “move away”, that Rickie’s club head is in a position outside his hands. You may have not have realized that Rickie was in this position. This is a similar position to Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk at their move away positions. We are all familiar with Jim Furyk’s “loopy” golf swing. I think it is a great golf swing, very effective and repeatable.

I have always taught my students that if you have problems with an outside delivery, you must learn to keep the club more outside on the move away. The principle in physics is, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. Try it. Start the club back on a “very” outside path like Rickie’s, then at the top, loop the club backwards as it drops and really get the feel of an inside delivery of the club.

Both Fowler and Furyk are known as great ball strikers.

In the second part of this review of Rickie Fowler’s golf swing, the move to the top of the backswing will be discussed. As always practice slowly and deliberately.

If you get a chance, watch the Amazing Angle training video on this website. Pay particular attention to how the Angle can help you get this outside to inside feel in your golf swing. It will feel goofy, but I bet your golf swing becomes more powerful, and you will learn to control your ball flight.

 

The Amazing Angle golf swing training system

The Amazing Angle Golf Swing Training System will change the way you practice and play.

Based on 25 years of teaching experience, the designer and developer of the Amazing Angle, PGA teaching professional Keith Haley, guides you on a journey to improved play through a new concept of “slow and deliberate practice”, allowing you to feel correct and effective positions and movements in your golf swing.

The Amazing Angle Swing Training System provides you with an easy to use golf swing trainer, a step by step easy to understand training DVD, and even a V1 video evaluation of your swing with personalized training information.

A totally comprehensive swing improvement program that you can use anytime or anyplace.

 

Amazing Angle Swing Training Video

Well, the third and final video edit was completed today. I think this production was harder than making a full length movie. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

This was truly a process that summarized the last 25 years of learning about the golf swing and what I believe about the current state of golf instruction.

I am proud of the content and presentation. I know with the new swing training program, which includes the Amazing Angle swing trainer, the new Amazing Angle training video and the ability to analyze your golf swing, using “smart phone” swing analysis technology, will help you improve.

This was a huge step for me regarding how I am able to provide instructional services. I hope you will be able to take advantage of the program. Look for program details coming soon.

Practice slowly and deliberately.

 

Have you calibrated your short game?

I always have prospective students ask if we could include “short game” in our instructional series. I know that this person understands how valuable this part of the game is.

In my new training video, “The Amazing Angle Swing Training System”, I talk about my new philosophy for teaching the game “slow and small”. The definition of “slow and small” is to begin with shorter type swings, deliberately, from the green back to the tee. My reasoning is that if you are not able to produce effective results in a short slow swing, how do you expect to do it at 95 MPH?

The point is, if you can’t currently produce an effective “IMPACT POSITION” on a chip shot, how can you expect to do it with your driver?

So, when you are studying and learning the short game, you are really helping your full swing!

Dave Pels, the modern day short game guru, states that 66 % of the strokes during a round of golf occur from 100 yards and in. I think for the average player, that is a low estimate.

If you are really trying to improve your score you must able to produce a short game stroke, consistently. When that task is accomplished, you must figure out exactly how far each scoring club will fly and roll!

How far does a 1/2 pitch shot fly with your gap wedge?, with your sand wedge, etc. Can you execute a sand shot? Are you able to effectively execute a basic “chip” shot? If you can’t do these basic shots how do you expect to play well?

A good short game player, including putting well, will always be in the money. The next time you are at the range, give some of your precious practice time to your “short game”, it will cut your scores immediately.

Practicing with your Amazing Angle swing trainer is a great way to improve your short game impact position! You can learn more about the Amazing Angle here and they’re on Ebay if you’re interested in purchasing one.

Please practice “slowly and deliberately”.

 

A great lesson last night

I had a great lesson last night with one of my regular students! It started out with my student explaining that he had experienced a bad practice session the night before. He had evidently lost control of his ball flight and was unable to create a good solid ball strike at impact.

Many times as I have written in prior posts, a student will have a bad practice session when they start hitting balls, (practicing), improperly. Yes, there is an art to real, effective practice. You must focus if you are going to have a successful session!

I wish I had the proverbial, “nickel”, each time I see someone start their practice, “gorilla swinging”, with their driver. I would be a rich man even with the deflated value of today’s nickel.

There was a happy ending to the lesson, and my student was very happy to reinvigorate his commitment to “slow and deliberate” practice. It was very easy to see in just a few swings why his practice had turned into a train wreck. When my student first came to me we discovered that he was what I call an “arm swinger”. We have put in many hours trying to start the backswing with chest and shoulders. We are very close to habituation of this important movement. The lesson, however is that for some unknown reason he did not start the practice session focusing on this important detail. Who knows why, but we all get distracted at times. In this case, one whole practice session was destroyed.

The problem was easy for me to diagnose, and in just a few minutes progress was achieved. It proved to be one of his best lesson sessions, and I am quite sure that with a little “deliberate practice”, this digression will not reoccur.

The moral of this story is, “have a plan for your precious practice time”, and conduct it with “intention”, including some “slow and deliberate” motions to begin. This little bit of pre practice focus will pay huge dividends.

 

5 Factors that influence Distance and Directional Control in the Golf Swing

Yesterday while conducting a lesson with one of my regular students, I had a clarifying moment about the golf swing.

The 5 factors that I have listed in this post should be, in my opinion, defined as the most important factors that influence both Distance and Directional control in the golf swing.

Swing fundamentals are discussed ad nauseum. In my opinion, most of these discussions center on swing preferences for “style” not real swing fundamentals.

These are the fundamentals that my students must understand to improve their golf swings.

1. The direction that you aim your body parts at address, relative to the target line.

2. The direction of the club as it approaches the ball in the downswing prior to impact, (swing path).

3. The speed of the club to and through impact.

4. The angle of the club face at impact, relative to the swing path and target line.(face angle).

5. The ability to hit the back of the ball at impact and create a forward divot. (bottom of swing arc).

These are the true fundamentals of striking the ball and playing the game of golf.

When you practice, are you able to focus on anything that resembles these factors ? If not, I bet you are not improving.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please email me at jkhpro@pga.com.

Practice deliberately and slowly.

 

How do you practice ?

I played today and did not have much fun. Hit the driver well but hit only 5 greens in regulation and 3 putted more than I care to discuss. I must admit that I have not been playing or practicing very much. I shouldn’t expect much more and neither should you if you are not prepared to play!

You should understand at the start of learning to play or trying to improve your current game, that it will require a lot of time spent in practice. I am frequently asked by new students if they can learn to play in one 5 lesson series. I answer kindly with the response that 5 lessons will get you started. Some students are in for the complete journey to golf “respectability”, while others may only want to to see if golf is as easy as it looks. Regardless, I give it my best. My goal is always to give the student as much information as they can handle without confusing them. These days I am much more careful about overdoing lesson material with new students.

Some students stay with it, while the game is just to frustrating for others.

Tiger Woods’ father, Earl Woods, stated in his book “Training a Tiger”, that “Practice makes permanent, while Perfect practice makes perfect”. If you are spending money on lessons but not “practicing perfectly” or not practicing enough, you are probably not getting better.

I firmly believe as I have stated in a previous post that the information out there is excellent. Most instructors are aware of how the swing works and are able to convey the information. Most instructors utilize some sort of video analysis that allows you to view your swing and verify progress.

If the information is great, and instruction is good, then why are students not getting better? I think now the answer lies in how much and how perfectly the student practices as he or she is preparing to play the game. The golf course itself may be beautiful, but it is a “monster”. There are no “do overs” when playing the game and the monster is eating up all of your Pro V1s. The penalty strokes keep adding up and your frustration and tension levels keep rising.

This seems like a very bleak picture of a game that is supposed to be fun. YOU CAN TURN THIS AROUND AND BECOME A BETTER PLAYER ! My question to you is, are you preparing yourself for the golf course by making the most out of your precious practice time? Are you indeed “Practicing Perfectly”?

My hero, Ben Hogan, the greatest practicer and the greatest ball striker of all time, stated that he always practiced slowly!

Look at the videos at this link. Ben Hogan slow swing

Are you patient enough and wise enough to practice slowly? If Ben Hogan practiced slowly I think you should as well.

When I developed the Amazing Angle swing trainer, it was based on the principle of “slow practice”. Be sure to stay tuned in for specific instruction on “slow practice”.

Please call or email with any questions you may have about how the Amazing Angle can help you practice.

J. Keith Haley, PGA ….. jkhpro@pga.com

 

Deliberate practice equals “slow motion” practice

I recently discussed “deliberate practice” in a recent post. In the past few weeks, I have been spending some quality time on how humans actually learn and make progress in activities, even to the point of becoming “genius”.

As this subject pertains to golf however, I was recently rudely reminded of the hard cold facts of the game. This passage is taken from the book, “Slow Practice Will Get You There Faster”, written by Ernest Dras. “Studies have shown that the majority of golfers just cannot hit the sweet spot, although going through various teaching programs and knowing the fundamentals. A group of 50 golfers were tested; they had handicaps of ten and above. It came out that they were able to make solid contact every fifth or sixth shot, by accident. On average, they missed the sweet spot by 3/4 of an inch. (tests performed by Power Golf Academy by John Darling.

As a teacher, I can verify that these statistics are correct. All you have to do is go to any public practice range and observe the “practicing” golfers. Sometimes it is very disconcerting. A lot of money is being spent in the name of “practice” without much progress, if you believe the statistics of average golfer’s handicaps.

I now more than ever believe that we are practicing incorrectly. The information being served up by teaching professionals, Golf Digest, Golf commentators, etc., is excellent, so much material it is incredible. WE AREN’T MAKING ANY PROGRESS !!!

So, I will be doing a series of articles about “practicing golf”. Specifically about “how”
we practice and learn. With all this information we should be getting better, but we AIN’T!

Let’s explore another pathway to greatness. The next article will focus on “slow practice”. It will be interesting and fun.

 

The benefits of “deliberate practice”

We have discussed the importance of the address position in previous articles. I try to stress why you should, “deliberately practice” your address position, during all regular instruction sessions. Here is why!

Last night as I worked with one of my regular students, I noticed that she was experiencing some inconsistency in her ball striking. Frequency of her lesson schedule is about once a week and she is one of the hardest working practicers I know. In fact, I observed some really great quality shots the previous night as she was working by herself, which she does regularly.

Have you ever had a great round of golf on Saturday, and then not hit more than a few acceptable shots on Sunday? What the heck is going on?

Consider this the next time you find yourself in this situation.

As I explored this mystery with my student, it became very clear that she was, in my opinion, trying too hard to improve on her previous nights success. During that practice session, she had really reached a point where her ball striking was very good and was starting to experience some good length. No doubt she was extremely happy with the progress for the night.

On the very next day, practice prior to her lesson was not so yummy! A little frustration and a lot of anxiety. Trying very hard to improve upon her success was not so successful.

The point is, number one, become familiar with what you did during your last “deliberate practice” to attain that success. What we discovered was that several integral parts of her address position were not being executed properly. Possibly a rush to “hit the ball”.

It is said that Ben Hogan was meticulous at taking notes after a practice round. He would review those notes prior to the next practice session to build on the success. In other words don’t start a practice session or a round of golf without some “deliberate thought”. I don’t see much “deliberate practice” these days at the practice range. It seems like everyone is running hot to hit it 300 yards.

In my students case, a slight lack of attention to detail of the address position nearly derailed that nights lesson. A reexamination of the pelvic tilt, basic posture and distance from the ball, put her right back on track. Success through deliberateness. I doubt this slip up will happen to her again, she is one of the most deliberate practicers that I know.

Improving at golf includes being a real student of the swing, please practice deliberately !