Information on the Taylormade SLDR Driver

It seems that we golf product consumers have been laboring under the false assumption that our drivers, (tee club), should have the center of gravity in the back of the club with a low loft of 8 or 9 degrees, and produce a high spin rate of 3200. The joke has been on us for many years.

Last night I attended a very informative presentation by the club designers and sales representatives at the Taylormade company.

Testing and experimentation now prove to my satisfaction that our drivers have been designed improperly.

In the old days, wooden headed drivers were 11 or 12 degrees in loft, to produce a functional ball flight. When metal woods came out, I was surprised to see that the physical lofts were much lower 7, 8, or 9 degrees, with tour players commonly playing 7 degrees.

Of course we all want to “play what the pros play”. However, in this case, playing a low lofted driver, we now know was harmful in terms of distance and directional control.

So, here is the take home. The magical numbers for producing maximum driver distances are 17/1700. A 17 degree launch angle accompanied by a 1700 spin rate, regardless of your club head speed will produce optimum driving results.

I always felt that we had been playing drivers with too little loft. If this is the future of golf, and I believe it to be true, you deserve to see if this new technology can revolutionize your game !

 

What it means to be an impact based golf instructor !

As a 25 year golf instructor, there are two important pieces of information that I consider every day as I teach new students and work with my regular clientele.

1). There are many DIFFERENT looking golf swings that are very effective,
2). Regardless of what a swing looks like, the players mannerisms, the player must be able to arrive at a functional impact position.

So, to me it is important that a student be able to understand and execute a position at impact that will produce an effective and consistent ball flight.

It seems to me then, that if you want to improve your golf swing or if you are starting out as a new player, you should become proficient at a “chipping” stroke, which for success depends on a perfect impact position. Or as Bobby Clampett, the creator of the “Impact Zone” puts it, you should teach from the “green, back to the tee”.

Perfecting your impact position in a “chipping stroke”, which is a small golf swing, allows the student a chance to become proficient at “impact”, the most critical time of a larger faster golf swing, in a small slow and deliberate training process.

When the “chipping” stroke is mastered the student can move on successfully to larger more sophisticated golf swings and produce consistent, correct impact positions and predictable ball flights.

 

For full power, finish your backswing !

A few days ago I decided to chronicle my first practice session of the 2014 season. Here is one element of my swing that I discovered quickly that was not allowing great ball contact and a consistent ball flight. It happens to be the 3rd on my list of 7 “swing killer positions and movements” in the Amazing Angle swing training system!

Completing your backswing is the 3rd position in the swing training system. Observe the 2 pictures below provided by V-1 golf.

Note that the shoulders have rotated on a plane that was set up by the original posture position at address. The spine position is stabilized, as shown through a steady head position. The left arm, one of the sides of the original “triangle” at address, has remained “firm”. One important part of this position, if it is going to provide maximum power in the downswing, is the function of the “right shoulder”, for right handed players. We all have been taught that the “left or forward shoulder should be turned at least 90 degrees getting your back turned to the target. For all you seniors especially, experiment with the position of the “right shoulder”. Make sure to feel the right shoulder pull back away from your chest. This will allow for a “fully loaded and coiled” backswing.

Practicing this position in a warm up session with your Amazing Angle swing trainer will prepare you to make a great end of the backswing position!

As always, practice slowly and deliberately!

 

My thoughts on the comments of Patrick Reed about “confidence”

We always hear about how important confidence is in sports. If a major league batter gets in a slump his coaches tell him to “keep swinging”. Any great NBA star that is zero for five from the field keeps on shooting like he’s making everything. Every great player knows a great play is going to happen soon, if they don’t believe it, they won’t be there next year.

This is what confidence is about in sports. If your really good, you know it, Period, and you believe it! Your very existence is based on it. For PGA tour players, butterflies may or may not be a part of the first tee at the masters, but if they are present these guys deal with it. If your ego is too fragile you won’t last long.

So, young Patrick Reed says he is a top five player! During that interview he was serious. He wasn’t bragging. He believes. He convinced me that he is serious about winning. I think he will be a top five player.

Go get em Patrick.

 

Make more putts in 2014 !!

Because I am the worlds worst putter, I have experimented with every type of putter on the market to make more putts!

Here are 2 positive things that I have discovered while wearing the carpet out this winter. 1. There are many good putters on the market right now. How the putter looks to you personally is a serious consideration. How it feels when you strike a putt is also very important.

2. I have also figured out that I wasn’t really using my shoulders as most good putting instructors recommend. At some time in the past, I know I have used my shoulders correctly, but like most of the mechanical movements in the golf swing, my body evidently forgot what is was supposed to do. Seriously, if you feel that you aren’t making your share of putts, you may be over using your hands and arms!

Using your shoulders the correct way will feel very uncomfortable when you start reconstructing your stroke. Just hang in there and keep rocking your shoulders. It is truly a more consistent way to make a putting stroke. As I always tell my students, the inside, your shoulders, should be moving the outside, your arms and hands.

Check out this picture of the “fatso 5.0 Super Stroke” putter grip. You have no doubt seen tour pros using this grip. It seems to have helped me get my hands out of the stroke which leads me to use my shoulders more positively.

If you are not using a long putter, the fatso grip may be a favorable experiment to help you make more putts this summer!

 

First practice session for 2014

Time to get started ! I hope this will be a great season for you and I. I am now 62 years old and like most other seniors, I am experiencing those inevitable happenings that occur in golf and life that we are not expecting and are certainly not happy about, (ie), loss of distance, being tired, etc.

To combat these inevitabilities, I have done quite a bit of work at the gym this winter doing golf specific exercises, and a significant amount of work on the elliptical, accompanied by regularly applied “slow and deliberate practice” with the Amazing Angle.

Since “golf fitness” has become such a hot topic with tour pros, I have decided to devote some time to this subject as it results to both golf and life, throughout this golf season.

Today however, I am going to state exactly how my first practice session will be conducted. In the next post I will comment on how and how much
the preparation improved my abilities over last season.

To begin, I will be starting the session with a dozen full swing reps with the Amazing Angle, slowly and deliberately ! There will be an effort to create more club head speed by focusing on post impact and a balanced finish. For everyone out there also starting practice soon, I believe it is super important to get off to a good start by trying to focus on moving club head speed from early in the downswing, (incorrect), to later in the swing, impact and post impact. Slow and Deliberate practice can help you focus attention on these positions.

The ball striking portion of this practice will only contain 60 practice balls. Starting out you seniors especially should treat your golf muscles with care.

1) Will devote about 10 practice balls to the line drill with a wedge, chipping mode, concentrating on impact position and “forward divot”. Get the idea in your head early on that the back of the ball will be struck first creating a divot that occurs consistently in front of the line.

2) 10 balls devoted to a pitching stroke, same idea of creating back of the ball contact.

3) 10 balls devoted to full swing mode with pitching wedge.

4) 10 balls devoted to mid iron full swings. Picturing the images of these swing sequences will be very helpful before actually hitting balls.

5) 10 balls devoted to your favorite hybrid.

6) let the “big dog” eat on your last 10 practice balls.

For this practice session especially, I will focus on paying attention to “back of the ball” contact during each of these segments, while trying to get my speed to occur later in my swing.

The next post will provide details of my results. We will see how “slow and deliberate” practice pays off! For those not familiar with the concept of deliberate practice, check out my website. http://www.amazinganglegolf.com.