The Amazing Angle Swing Training System

The Amazing Angle Swing Training System is a totally comprehensive swing improvement system, that will improve your golf swing. The system includes the following 4 components: 1) The Amazing Angle Swing Trainer, 2) The Amazing Angle training DVD, 3) Global Internet lessons and coaching, 4) A focus on the 8 Key Positions and Movements in the golf swing.

After watching all types of golf swings as a swing coach for almost 30 years, and after much research and experimentation, I have assembled a comprehensive swing improvement system that will help you improve your game.

If you are geographically located here in central Ohio, or across the country or the world, the Amazing Angle Swing Training System will help you play better!

When you invest in the Amazing Angle Swing Training System, YOU WILL HAVE a partner in your quest for improvement.

I am very excited to present the Keith Haley Golf Internet Golf Academy that will give you the opportunity to have a golf lesson any time that you need help! The Internet lesson will help you recognize any “swing flaws” that may have crept into your swing, and give you the knowledge and special “Amazing Angle Drills”, specifically focusing on Keith’s 8 key Swing Positions and Movements, to put you back on the road to an efficient, consistent golf swing.

The system’s basic package includes the Amazing Angle golf swing trainer, and your first Internet lesson. Investment : $69.95.

Go to the “Amazing Angle” page, and press the “Amazing Angle on eBay” button and get started today!

Good golfing, and please practice “slowly and deliberately.

 

Are you playing the right shaft in your irons?

Do you understand how the shafts in your irons effect your distance and accuracy ?

Here are the terms used to define the properties of golf shafts. 1) steel, 2) graphite, 3) flex,
4) torque, 5) flex point, 6) weight, 7) length, 8) frequency. Do these terms confuse you?

I got my first set of irons out of a barrel at K Mart. It really didn’t matter at that time about all of today’s advanced materials and specifications. Just buy some “good clubs”, and go play.

In terms of the advantages of today’s selection, my first set was barbaric. Heavyweight steel, stiff, standard length. Basically no selection. I didn’t complain because that was all I knew. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that set of irons was “light years” ahead of the wood shafts that the great players of the past had used so successfully. Just think of it. Wood shafts tended to warp, absorbed water, twisted when the ball was struck and usually did not match from club to club. What Bobby Jones was able to accomplish with the clubs that he played with is unbelievable!

We do know that the environment where golf grew up, may have suited the properties of wood shafts. Remember, they wore a lot of clothes so their swings were restricted. The type of swing they used was more “rotary” and flat in shape. Because the wood twisted much more than steel, the club had to be rotated at impact to square the face. They played a different kind of golf than we do.

When steel shafts were invented, the quality and playability was “light years” ahead of the old wood shafts. Amazingly, when steel shafts were produced, the shaft manufacturers painted the steel shafts brown to make them look more like wood shafts. Even when superior quality is invented people sometimes don’t want to change. Like life, it is wonderful that goodness usually wins out.

Today if you don’t have a 46 gram super ultra lite wight, 3.2 degree low torque, high bend point, 46″ shaft in your driver, you just can’t play! Just kidding, you should give yourself every advantage of this great technology.

The problem for myself as a club fitter, is that unconventional fitting processes can be so complicated that players don’t have the opportunity to take advantage of the fantastic potential results. For example, if you go to the golf store, you are generally presented with clubs that are X stiff, stiff, regular, senior and ladies flex. You will be stereotyped into one of these categories. If you are a senior or a lady, graphite shafts will also be offered. As a consumer you should always experiment with each type of shaft. Stereotyping you into one of these categories is easy for the sales person, but may not be the right thing for you.

What you may not realize, their is another completely different type of fitting available to higher level players that is not available to the average player. This fitting process is based on the theory of “shaft frequency”. It is time consuming, expensive and complicated, with only a few rare companies offering the process.

But, here is a basic example of why personalized frequency fitting is the ultimate. If you have one favorite iron in your set that you always hit well, it may be that this particular club vibrates at a frequency that suits the way you personally “load and unload” your swing.

As you know, in a standard set, the pitching wedge is the stiffest club in the set, (highest frequency), and the 3iron is the most flexible iron in the set, (lowest frequency). Each club has or should have its own frequency number. So if we can find the frequency number of your favorite iron, we could potentially build a set of irons with that frequency number, making all of the irons in the set your favorite frequency.

The possibilities are endless. But the most common application is with my wedges. I happen to like my wedges slightly lower frequency, (softer), because most of the shots you hit with your wedges are not full swings. I can really feel the head on less than full swings. The shaft recovers more slowly so I have complete control at impact.

I hope that this brief look into the world of shaft frequency fitting has not confused you. You can now start asking the applicable questions before making your next purchase. Be prepared for a confused look by your sales person. If they can’t answer the questions, find someone who can !

Practice slowly and deliberately.

 

Playing golf for $10,000,000

How do you feel about playing for a first place prize of $10,000,000 ? What ? My small mind can’t even begin to fathom what playing golf for that amount of money could be like ! How would I react under the circumstances. What are the ramifications?

Next week, at East Lake golf club in Atlanta Ga., 30 PGA tour players will be put to the test provided by this years Fed Ex Cup final event, the “Tour Championship”. The field for this event has been narrowed down to the top 30 Fed Ex Cup point winners throughout the 2012 season. This event will feature the best players from around the world who have played consistently well.

This is golf at its “Highest drama”, huge bragging rights and a staggering first place prize of $10,000,000. I can’t wait. No real fan of the game can resist the temptation to see who can “stand up” to the pressure of this challenge. Watching the “majors” is great, but I believe that in the near future, this tournament will be the “major” of majors.

I know, you think you would love to play in a tournament like that. Good for you. You are a player and a competitor. To put this in perspective though, I want to tell you about my first attempt at qualifying for the US Open. Early in my career as a golf professional, I had this idea that I was a pretty good player. I had played in some tournaments and it was fun and sometimes successful. I hadn’t won anything but I thought with more experience I might be able to get better and be competitive at the next level. I decided take the next opportunity to compete at that higher level, the upcoming U S Open qualifier.

The entry forms were completed and entry fee paid. Practice for a few weeks and the world is a wonderful place. Most people think that golf pros play a lot of golf. The truth however is far from that. A golf pro generally runs a golf course, which is a 6am to 9pm job for about 8 months of the year. Those months happen to conflict with your ability to play because you are making play better for your members. You must practice and play to be a good player. There is no other way to the top.

I obviously forgot this small fact when I thought I could compete in a U S Open qualifier without preparing properly.

So, the days pass and the excitement builds. It is the day before the qualifier. It finally dawns on me that in 24 hours I will have to stand up in front of “real spectators” on the first tee and execute a tee shot. Anxiety and doubt start to present their ugly head. No problem, the venue is the “Scarlet” course at the Ohio State University, where I played more rounds of golf and drank more beers at the 19th hole, than total days of school attended. I think I still hold that record.

Tournament day! It’s 8:50 am and my starting time is 9am. Have completed my practice routine, smoked a half a pack of Kool’s and made a few putts. Just enough time for my brain to start telling me I shouldn’t be there.

Maybe I should “get real”, withdraw and get the hell out of Dodge. No time they are calling me to the tee. Can’t quit now. “from Columbus, Ohio, Please welcome Keith Haley”. Uh oh, thats my name. My legs are numb and my hands are shaking so much I can’t get the ball to set still on the tee. I’m all by myself, it is so quiet you can hear the proverbial pin drop. What part of my body moves first on the backswing? Talk about self doubt, I am an expert at that. Well, here goes. I felt the ball get hit, that’s a good thing. Didn’t see it go, my eyes were shut. The first swing is history. OMG it went right down the middle, a whopper, all of 260 yards. My fellow competitor is 50 yards ahead of me. It’s ok, the pressure is off and I am not out of bounds. Hell yeh, I belong here after all. It’s all good, till next time.

Anyway, thats my story of “the first tee”. I am sure you would fare much better. But, I hope this gives you some perspective on how it might feel for these guys to tee it up for “all the marbles”. It helps me to remember that “tour guys” play for a living. It is their job. They have been doing it for a long time and they are good at it.

Ain’t it great to sit back and watch. Who will win? Who will choke their guts out? Who will be labeled as a “great player”. That’s what it’s all about! Thank God I only have to play for a $2 Nassau.

Practice slowly and deliberately.

 

The David Leadbetter, “Swing Link” training aide

I have consistently used one swing trainer for more than 20 years, both personally and with my students. Of course I believe that my swing trainer, the Amazing Angle, is very effective, but one of my all time favorite swing trainers is the “swing link”, by David Leadbetter.

It is based on the simple idea that good golf swings have connection between biceps and chest during the swing, promoting “torso rotation”or “pivot” to deliver the power package at impact.

I have always felt that high handicap players are not very good at rotating their torso through the impact zone. The reason of course, is that when most people begin playing the game, they start out swinging their arms only, without any torso rotation. Obviously when you start out swinging arms only, you tend to habituate this disastrous movement. Unfortunately, this will probably affect that golfer’s swing for the rest of their playing days.

I always introduce the “pivot”, or “torso rotation”, as an integral part of the golf swing to every student.

The “swing link” actually straps your arms to your body, putting a stop to independent arm movement, forcing the student to move the club with body rotation. I have had amazing success changing “outside in” swings to “inside out” swings, creating a draw ball flight for students who could only severely “slice” the ball.

You should give this training aid a try if you are trying to create a “draw”.

And please remember to practice “slowly and deliberately”.

 

Rickie Fowlers golf swing Part 3

Why is it important to be able to produce a “draw” ball flight ? The answer, not just because ” a draw”, has been proven to produce more yardage off the tee, which it does, but because the average player can only produce an ineffective, uncontrollable “slice” ball flight.

Tour players have plenty of power, and there are many who play a “fade” and are very effective with it. The ” fade” is an effective ball flight. The “slice” is not. The truth is that good players are able to make the ball go either direction at will.

The problem for high handicappers is that they are victims of only being able to produce the “slice”, because they are not able to create an “inside” path on their downswing.

To reaffirm the reason for this post, Rickie’s swing is a great example of the “inside” path. I am always happy when I am able to help my students produce a more effective downswing from the “inside”. It is a real game changer for a player who has only been able to “slice” the ball.

Picture below left is the club going up on the backswing, picture below right is the club moving on the inside path to impact, on the downswing. A slightly higher plane going up and a slightly lower plane coming down.

Note that the picture on the right is the optimized position to apply the club to the ball from the “inside”. Rickie actually drops the club “down” on the first move of the downswing, waiting for his hips to “push out” and move the club from the inside to the ball. Unfortunately, the high handicap player starts the club “OUT”, on the first move in the downswing, putting the club in a very steep position, causing a delivery of the club on an “outside” path. The further outside the club approaches the ball, the bigger the slice, and the more loss of power!

Please view the Amazing Angle training video displayed on this site. If you have tried to change your downswing but have been unable to do so, the Amazing Angle can help you make the change to an “inside” delivery and a more consistent and effective “draw” ball flight.

Practice “slowly and deliberately”.

 

What about Rickie Fowlers golf swing, Part 2

Building on Rickie Fowlers golf swing Part 1, we are examining photos from the August 2012 issue of Golf Magazine. These are photos that will help you understand how to develop an inside delivery of your club head to impact.

In the last post, Part1, we took a look at Rickies “move away” position. I stated that I believe this “outside the hands” position begins and leads to a momentum “chain reaction” that moves the club on the downswing on an inside rather than outside swing path to impact.

Remember that all powerful golf swings begin with a connected move away of the forward shoulder in a “downward and backward” coiling movement. Note Rickie’s left shoulder position in picture 3.

Clearly, at the “left arm parallel position”, Rickies club is obviously in a much steeper position than in the “original shaft plane position” of picture 1. See below.

I think that putting the club in a steeper position at this point paves the way for a dropping down and backward movement to start the downswing, as seen in the swings of Jim Furyk and Sergio Garcia, both noted as great ball strikers, that have natural ” draw” ball flights. If you try this in practice, you would feel the loop movement, “outside to inside”. If you are currently coming “over the top” or “outside” on your downswing, you will feel the difference.

My point is as we will see in Parts 3 and 4 of this series, that this is an effective position to be in at this point in your golf swing. As I will show, it does in fact lead to an inside delivery of the club producing a ” right to left” or “draw” ball flight.

In the Amazing Angle Swing System training video, I state that “swing style” is not of significant importance to me. It is obvious that there are many different “looking” swings on the PGA tour. Eliminating your uncontrollable slice and establishing a consistent, effective ball flight is the significant issue.

Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4, and as always practice “slowly and deliberately”.