Latest Lesson with Ted Fort 4.24.09

In my last lesson with Ted we sort of got back into 'swinging' over hitting. The 4-barrel pattern sequence releases the Power Accumulators in the order of #4-#1-#2-#3. However, a 'swinger' does not use the #1 Power Accumulator. I was actually struggling with releasing the #3 accumulator before the #2 accumulator, out of sequence. That would turn the clubface over and the pulls and hooks would come into play. Thus, my new sequence was #4-#2-#3 (no #1 accumulator in a 'swinging' pattern).

We also worked a bit on address position and footwork. Mainly not getting the weight on the toes and having the heel raise because it's 'pulled' up off the ground from the momentum of the swing and not 'lifted' off the ground by getting the weight up on the toes.

Anyway, here was my swing before seeing Ted:



My play started off pretty well after the lesson, then it became wildly inconsistent. In a 3-day stretch I shot 72 (on a 142 slope) which consisted of hitting 4 of the first 10 greens and then hitting the last 8 greens in regulation. The next day I shot my worst round of the year with an 84. And then the last day I shot 44-32 (-4 on the backside) for a 76 on a 139 slope.

One of the parts of my swing that improved was the downswing plane. I was doing a nice job of getting on the plane on the downswing.

It's difficult to see the clubshaft in this photo, but it's right in the middle 'covering' my right arm.

One of the issues I started developing was a bit of an over the top move again. I tried to figure it out and then I thought the problem was my backswing was getting too upright. Thus, I started taking the club back a too far inside.

I like the flatter and rounder golf swings and I was executing a flatter swing, unfortunately I was going about it the wrong way. One of the issues I have with my swing is that my club starts down on the downswing pretty upright, then I have to try and flatten it out. When it doesn't flatten out, it comes over the top and that dramatically impacts my ballstriking.

Thus, Ted and I got back into 'right forearm tracing.' Since Brian Gay's victory at Harbor Town, a lot of people have asked me about his swing and they generally like it. I tell them that Brian uses 'right forearm tracing.' In fact, Brian has stated that it has resurrected his career.

So what is it?

In TGM terms, the golfer tries to feel the #3 pressure point (the base joint of the right index finger) is tracing the club back and through. Almost like if the golfer had a laser pointer in their right hand and were trying to get the laser pointing back and through. But what we worked on with it was tracing the clubhead back and through on the *target line*. There is no conscious effort to arc the clubhead. It's actually *straight* back on the target line and *straight* through the target line. The clubhead will *naturally* come in on an arc and come through on an arc and you have to remember to keep the clubface square instead of having it closed.

I suggest you get a laser pointer and a stick it on a club or try with a flashlight and you'll see that you can get the laser pointer pointing back on the target line on the takeaway and still take the club back on an arc AND have a square clubface.

However, in order to do 'right forearm tracing', you need to get the right arm on plane at address. If you want to learn more, go over to Lynn Blake's Web site and purchase his 'Alignment Golf' DVD.

Anyway, here's my latest swing only 1 day after my lesson with Ted.





3JACK