Ground Reaction Forces with Chris Welch

Here's a video from Chris Welch of Zenolink on Ground Reaction Forces in the golf swing:









3JACK

Bunker Lesson with James Sieckmann

Here's a video with James Sieckmann's thoughts on bunker play:









3JACK

3Jack Golf's PGA Tour Rundown - Week 9

Jason Day just won the Accenture Match Play in an epic match against Victor Dubuisson.




Anyway, here’s how my picks at Riviera finished up:

Dustin Johnson: 14/1 (2nd)
Webb Simpson: 18/1 (t-70th)
Graham DeLaet: 22/1 (t-70th)
Hideki Matsuyama: 28/1 (t-23rd)
Keegan Bradley: 28/1 (t-20th)
Harris English: 33/1 (t-10th)
Ryan Moore: 33/1 (MC)
Kevin Stadler: 75/1 (t-23rd)
Cameron Tringale: 100/1 (t-12th)

Value Pick: Luke Guthrie (125/1) (t-40th)

Here are my picks for the Honda.

Adam Scott: 16/1
Charl Schwartzel: 20/1
Graeme McDowell: 22/1
Justin Rose: 25/1
Keegan Bradley: 28/1
Rickie Fowler: 28/1
Ryan Palmer: 75/1
Robert Garrigus: 100/1
Brendan Steele: 125/1

Value Pick: Ben Crane (150/1)


Here are the current rankings:

DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Bubba Watson
2. Kevin Streelman
3. Hunter Mahan
4. Ryan Moore
5. Lee Westwood
6. Kevin Stadler
7. Justin Hicks
8. Derek Ernst
9. John Merrick
10. Hideki Matsuyama


166. Retief Goosen
167. Andrew Loupe
168. Aaron Baddeley
169. Seung-Yul Noh
170. Troy Merritt
171. Tyrone Van Aswegen
172. Jamie Lovemark
173. Bud Cauley
174. Mike Weir
175. Bobby Gates


BIRDIE ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)



1. Ryo Ishikawa
2. Alex Aragon
3. Chesson Hadley
4. Marc Leishman
5. Brian Stuard
6. Michael Putnam
7. Hideki Matsuyama
8. Harrison Frazar
9. Tim Clark
10. Jason Bohn


166. Brendon de Jonge
167. James Hahn
168. Scott Verplank
169. Luke Guthrie
170. Jhonattan Vegas
171. Sean O'Hair
172. Tommy Gainey
173. Derek Ernst
174. Aaron Baddeley
175. Wes Roach


SAFE ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Rickie Fowler
2. Ryan Moore
3. K.J. Choi
4. Dustin Johnson
5. Marc Leishman
6. Peter Malnati
7. Jordan Spieth
8. Spencer Levin
9. Hideki Matsuyama
10. Charley Hoffman


166. Andres Romero
167. Andrew Loupe
168. Jonathan Byrd
169. Troy Matteson
170. Bobby Gates
171. Kevin Tway
172. Justin Thomas
173. Ben Curtis
174. Jhonattan Vegas
175. Gary Woodland


DANGER ZONE (175-225 YARDS)



1. Bubba Watson
2. Chad Campbell
3. Jordan Spieth
4. Matt Every
5. Ian Poulter
6. Stewart Cink
7. Kyle Stanley
8. Heath Slocum
9. Robert Streb
10. Kevin Streelman


166. Martin Flores
167. John Huh
168. Ben Curtis
169. James Driscoll
170. Woody Austin
171. Peter Malnati
172. Richard Lee
173. Bud Cauley
174. Kiradech Aphibarnrat
175. Scott Verplank


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Bud Cauley
2. Lee Westwood
3. Andrew Loupe
4. Tim Clark
5. Jeff Overton
6. Brian Stuard
7. Jason Dufner
8. Jerry Kelly
9. Zach Johnson
10. Roberto Castro


166. Alex Aragon
167. Ben Martin
168. Tommy Gainey
169. Bronson La'Cassie
170. Greg Chalmers
171. Robert Allenby
172. Ted Potter, Jr.
173. Andrew Svoboda
174. Hudson Swafford
175. J.J. Henry





3JACK

RIP Harold Ramis

3JACK

Are You Turning Like a Tour Player?

Here's the 5 Simple Keys guys with a video on the body rotation on the downswing:










3JACK

Some Ramblings on Equipment

One of the things I have been contemplating lately is how so much equipment is often designed for the higher handicapper golfers. Even the equipment that is supposed to be designed for the lower handicappers tends to have design features that play more towards helping the high handicapper.

I started to think about this more after the PGA Merchandise Show.

One of the things Dr. Rob Neal (www.biodynamics.com) discussed in his presentation at the Open Forum 2 was that the average shaft lean at impact for a Tour player for shots from 30-80 yards using a Sand Wedge was 16-degrees. The range was practically anywhere from 13-degrees to 17-degrees according to Dr. Neal. Golf Instructor and Edel Golf wedge designer has discussed this quite a bit as to why he designed the Edel wedges with more bounce and created a fitting system for that bounce:



One of the things Adams discussed at the Open Forum was how when they measured the forward shaft lean of players with wedge shots around the green years ago it was right in line with Dr. Neal's findings of roughly 16-degrees of forward shaft lean. That's why the Edel wedges feature higher bounce angles. If a golfer is getting 16* of forward shaft lean at impact but is playing with 6* of bounce angle in their wedge, the golfer is likely to stick the wedge into the ground with the leading edge. That is unless they make a large compensation in order to get rid of that forward shaft lean as Adams mentions with golfers 'backing up' out of the shot. And what we know about higher handicap golfers is that they usually have much less forward shaft lean than the better players. So that's why those OEM wedges have much less bounce. It works well for a 20 handicapper, but the better golfer with more forward shaft lean now has to work around them.

And this also makes me feel the same way with the irons.



We see that the Callaway X-Forged has more bounce, but the Mizuno and the Titleist clubs still seem to be much more oriented towards the golfer with less forward shaft lean at impact. So for better players out there, they should really check into the bounce angles of their irons and wedges.

The other part of the club I looked at and asked questions about at the PGA Show was shaft design.

What I have noticed with most shafts that I have tinkered with is that they are usually designed with more weight up towards the butt end of the shaft than the tip end.

So, what happens is that when the shaft is trimmed, the shaft becomes much lighter than it was when it was not trimmed.

For instance, I played around with a 130 gram KBS Shaft and trimmed it to a Sand Wedge length.  After I trimmed it to SW length and re-measured its weight it came out to 107 grams. 

Part of what I think this does is that it increases the concentration of the club's total mass towards the head.

Here is an example of what I mean.

Let's use the example of the SW with the 130 gram raw shaft that gets trimmed and weighs 107 grams after trimming.  Also, we will say that the head weighs 300 grams and the grip weighs 50 grams:

(107 gram shaft + 50 gram grip) / 300 gram head = 52.3% of mass concentration in shaft+grip

Let's say we get a shaft that weights 120 grams after being trimmed:

(120 gram shaft + 50 gram grip) / 300 gram head = 56.8% of mass concentration in shaft+grip

So as the % gets higher towards the *shaft+grip*, the ball will launch higher and spin more.  That's great if you're a 10 handicap that needs all of the help launching the ball that one can get.  But, if you're a 2-handicap looking for a penetrating ball flight with the shorter irons, this could be a problem.

The other conflict is that they generally make shafts for 6-irons.  And when the shaft gets longer there tends to be a very high concentration of the mass towards the shaft+grip.  This means the ball launches lower and spins less.  But we don't need lower launch and spin help with the long irons since they are already designed with a lower loft. 

This leads golfers into purchasing hybrids because they cannot hit their long irons well even when they make a good pass at it.

It's one of the interesting things I found with the Nippon Modus 130 shaft.



The 'high end' (towards the butt) of the tip section of the Modus 130 is very soft.  Then the 'low end' of the tip section gets very stiff.  The shaft is also designed with a lot of steps towards the tip and when I trimmed it, it was still rather heavy after trimming, meaning that more weight was towards the tip instead of towards the butt section like most shafts.

The step pattern towards the tip would usually indicate a very stiff shaft.  But, Nippon has figured out a way to create a shaft geared more towards the better player by being able to keep it heavy after trimming which keeps the concentration of mass higher towards the shaft.  All the while creating a tip profile that creates a ball flight that will not be too soft which would result in flying too high and spinning too much.

I just think that better golfers may want to look out for this when it comes to the performance of equipment for their golf swing.









3JACK

My Thoughts on Tiger's Driver Struggles

Here’s another video from Dr. Bhrett McCabe discussing ‘going for what you want.'



Since I attended Dr. McCabe’s MINDSide discussion, I have really thought about this…almost on a constant basis. And recently I have thought about not only it applying to my game, but how I think it applies to Tiger Woods and his struggles with the driver as well.

One of the things I have struggled with figuring out is the ‘go to shot.’ I have tried for years and years to develop that ‘go to shot’ that may not bring forth the best results, but the idea is that when the pressure is on I can safely hit that shot and stay out of trouble. And over the years I’ve been unable to find that ‘go to shot’ that I can hit consistently. Some days it works. But, more often than not it doesn’t work.

I also started to think about something I find to be a struggle…trying to do something I call ‘hedging my bets’ with a golf swing and it continually resulting in poor performance.

One of the holes I like to use as a situation where I would be likely to try and ‘hedge my bets’ is the 3rd hole at Bay Hill:



To get a better understanding of what I mean by ‘hedging my bets’ is that with water left, I would not only aim towards the right side of the fairway, but I would then make a swing where I could not hit a hook in fear of the water. Now, more often than not I would not find the water. But, I would instead still hit a lousy shot and end up well right of the fairway and probably making poor contact so the ball would not go very far.

Essentially, I’ve ‘hedged my bets’ by trying to take that 1-bad shot (hook into the water) out of the equation. The problem is that when you ‘hedge your bets’, you never get the payoff. And from what I have understood from Dr. McCabe is that you are actually more likely to hit a poor shot. You’re not ‘going for what you want’ and instead you are playing towards your fears.



I think the same thing is happening to Tiger with his driver.

What do I know about Tiger?

He generally hits every club in the bag VERY well if not the best on Tour, EXCEPT for his driver.

He hits his long irons very well, mid irons…short irons…wedges….etc, all well. The statistics are right there to prove. And he’s a very good 3-wood player. He uses it off the tee a lot and hits it quite well. This despite the 3-wood being the toughest club for PGA Tour players to master.

However, when he gets a driver in his hand, the swing is completely different than the way he typically swings with the rest of his clubs.

I will paint this scenario.

Tiger is on the course and finally pulls out his driver. I can say with certainty that he is going to be playing a pronounced cut-shot off the tee. He’s aimed well left and is obviously trying to cut it. I think most would agree with me that this happens almost every time he pulls the driver out of the bag.

But, when we see him hit the 3-wood off the tee, he rarely plays for that pronounced cut. He usually takes his ‘stock swing’ and tries to hit it straight or with a little draw.

Recently, Tiger stated in an interview that the idea is to eliminate the dead-block off the tee. And with the pronounced cut that he and Sean Foley have come up with, it takes that dead-block right out of the equation. And in Tiger’s words…the miss with the pronounced cut shot is a straight pull and Tiger feels like he can play with a pull.

To me, that sounds like he is ‘hedging his bets.’

The problem is twofold, IMO.

1. A ‘good swing’ with the pronounced cut shot will not produce the same results as a ‘good swing’ with more of his ‘stock swing’ with the driver. A ‘good swing’ with the pronounced cut shot may result in a 300 yard drive down the middle. But had he taken his ‘stock swing’ and struck it pretty well, he may have hit it 340 yards down the middle.

2. Because he’s trying to ‘hedge his bets’, he’s more likely to make bad swings and hit those straight pulls off the tee. He’s playing towards his fears and not playing towards what he wants.

The issue here is that nobody has ever questioned the psyche and mindset of Tiger Woods. Instead, they want to blame Tiger’s struggles with the driver on the mechanics and of course…Sean Foley. However, my feeling is that Foley has squared away his mechanics enough where Tiger hits extremely well with the rest of the clubs in his bag. It’s just that the mentality with the driver and Tiger’s lack of trust in those mechanics when he has the driver in his hand get him away from employing the mechanics that work so well with the rest of the clubs in his bag. And I think if Tiger starts to ‘go for what he wants’ with the driver, just like he does with the 3-wood off the tee, we will see the Tiger of old.





3JACK

3Jack Golf's 2014 PGA Tour Rundown - Week 7

Jimmy Walker wins his 3rd tournament of the season



Here are how my picks did at Pebble Beach:

Phil Mickelson: 12/1 (t-19th)
Kevin Stadler: 40/1 (t-45th)
Ryan Palmer: 40/1 (t-32nd)
Charley Hoffman: 55/1 (MC)
K.J. Choi: 66/1 (MC)
Spencer Levin: 66/1 (MC)
Roberto Castro: 100/1 (t-19th)
Justin Hicks: 125/1 (MC)
John Peterson: 150/1 (MDF)

Value Pick: Brian Davis 200/1 (t-13th)

Here are my picks for Riviera:

Dustin Johnson: 14/1
Webb Simpson: 18/1
Graham DeLaet: 22/1
Hideki Matsuyama: 28/1
Keegan Bradley: 28/1
Harris English: 33/1
Ryan Moore: 33/1
Kevin Stadler: 75/1
Cameron Tringale: 100/1

Value Pick: Luke Guthrie (125/1)

Here are my updated rankings:


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Bubba Watson
2. Kevin Streelman
3. Ryan Moore
4. Kevin Stadler
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Derek Ernst
7. Justin Hicks
8. Graham DeLaet
9. John Merrick
10. Boo Weekley


159. Seung-Yul Noh
160. Aaron Baddeley
161. Andres Romero
162. Troy Merritt
163. Tyrone Van Aswegen
164. Jamie Lovemark
165. Retief Goosen
166. Bud Cauley
167. Bobby Gates
168. Mike Weir


BIRDIE ZONE PLAY



1. Ryo Ishikawa
2. Alex Aragon
3. Hideki Matsuyama
4. Chesson Hadley
5. Marc Leishman
6. Matt Every
7. Michael Putnam
8. Harrison Frazar
9. Tim Clark
10. William McGirt


159. James Hahn
160. Jhonattan Vegas
161. Chad Campbell
162. Scott Verplank
163. Sean O'Hair
164. Brendon de Jonge
165. Derek Ernst
166. Aaron Baddeley
167. Tommy Gainey
168. Wes Roach


SAFE ZONE PLAY



1. Rickie Fowler
2. K.J. Choi
3. Ryan Moore
4. John Merrick
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Kevin Na
7. Peter Malnati
8. Max Homa
9. Spencer Levin
10. Ryo Ishikawa


159. Jonathan Byrd
160. Andrew Loupe
161. Erik Compton
162. Andres Romero
163. Bobby Gates
164. Kevin Tway
165. Ben Curtis
166. Justin Thomas
167. Gary Woodland
168. Jhonattan Vegas


DANGER ZONE



1. Bubba Watson
2. Chad Campbell
3. Matt Every
4. Jordan Spieth
5. Bo Van Pelt
6. Rickie Fowler
7. Heath Slocum
8. Hudson Swafford
9. Robert Streb
10. Kyle Stanley


159. Johnson Wagner
160. Aaron Baddeley
161. James Driscoll
162. Woody Austin
163. Peter Malnati
164. Richard Lee
165. Max Homa
166. Bud Cauley
167. Kiradech Aphibarnrat
168. Scott Verplank


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Bud Cauley
2. Andrew Loupe
3. Justin Leonard
4. Tim Clark
5. Brian Stuard
6. Jeff Overton
7. Jerry Kelly
8. Zach Johnson
9. Roberto Castro
10. Robert Streb


159. Greg Chalmers
160. Bronson La'Cassie
161. Stuart Appleby
162. Brendan Steele
163. Tommy Gainey
164. Ted Potter, Jr.
165. Robert Allenby
166. Andrew Svoboda
167. Hudson Swafford
168. J.J. Henry







3JACK

Benefit Golf Scramble - March 1st

On March 1st at the Whispering Pines Golf Club in Myrtle Beach there will be a Benefit Golf Scramble tournament with all proceeds going to a friend of mine's daughter, Fallon Emery, who was diagnosed with brain cancer.

For those that cannot participate in the tournament, we can still donate to the benefit.  One can donate $100 and get a hole sponsorship on holes 1, 9 and 18.  Hole sponsorship on the other holes is only $50.  If you would like to register to play the event, it will be $65 a person ($55 for Coastal Carolina students and faculty).

All donations and hole sponsorship can be directed to:  sigep.fallon.golf@gmail.com

For more on Fallon's story, please visit www.fiercefallon.com





3JACK

The Upside of Failure with Dr. Bhrett McCabe

On the Friday of the PGA Merchandise Show I was invited to a roundtable discussion called 'The MINDSide' hosted by David Graham from The Marriott Golf Academy in Orlando (the old Faldo Golf Institute).

The information was presented by Performance and Sports Psychologist, Dr. Bhrett McCabe. Bhrett was a former pitcher for LSU and thru his playing career and his own struggles overcoming an injury that led him to pursuing a career in injury rehabilitation, performance, and sports psychology.

What I found from listening to Bhrett after a couple of hours was I learned more and had more questions answered along with my own thoughts and observations articulated upon and explained thru the science of the brain and how it works than I've ever learned in my entire life. Not only did it apply to golf, but it applied to life and virtually any task or goal in life. I would highly recommend any parent to go see him immediately so they can better understand how to guide their child regardless of what avenues they decide to take in their life. I plan on presenting a lot of information that Bhrett provides on the blog in the future because I feel like I have finally found that missing piece to the puzzle between improving mechanics and being able to take that out to the course to improve one's performance beyond their wildest dreams.

Here's a video where Bhrett briefly discusses the upside of failure.









3JACK

Masters of the Wedge Game by James Ridyard

Here's a video from James Ridyard on the 'Masters of the Wedge Game.' Recently, James and John Graham produced a video series for sale called 'Short Game Secrets.' It can be found at www.shortgamesecrets.tv

I highly recommend it.







3JACK

3Jack Golf's 2014 PGA Tour Rundown - Week 6

One of the Tour’s best ballstrikers, Kevin Stadler, wins at Scottsdale for his first career victory:



Two weeks ago I didn’t do the rundown because of the PGA Merchandise show. This past week I didn’t do the rundown as I came down with bronchitis.

Here are my picks for Pebble Beach:

Phil Mickelson: 12/1
Kevin Stadler: 40/1
Ryan Palmer: 40/1
Charley Hoffman: 55/1
K.J. Choi: 66/1
Spencer Levin: 66/1
Roberto Castro: 100/1
Justin Hicks: 125/1
John Peterson: 150/1

Value Pick: Brian Davis 200/1


Here are the updated rankings for the 2013-2014 season:

DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS


1. Bubba Watson
2. Kevin Streelman
3. Kiradech Aphibarnrat
4. Ryan Moore
5. Kevin Stadler
6. Roberto Castro
7. Justin Hicks
8. Hideki Matsuyama
9. Derek Ernst
10. Graham DeLaet


158. Johnson Wagner
159. Aaron Baddeley
160. Scott Verplank
161. Tyrone Van Aswegen
162. Seung-Yul Noh
163. Jamie Lovemark
164. Bud Cauley
165. Bobby Gates
166. Retief Goosen
167. Mike Weir


BIRDIE ZONE



1. Ryo Ishikawa
2. Chesson Hadley
3. Hideki Matsuyama
4. Alex Aragon
5. Jason Bohn
6. Marc Leishman
7. Jose Coceres
8. Bo Van Pelt
9. Matt Every
10. Michael Putnam


158. Michael Thompson
159. Scott Verplank
160. Greg Chalmers
161. Tommy Gainey
162. Brendon de Jonge
163. Derek Ernst
164. Jordan Spieth
165. Sean O'Hair
166. Aaron Baddeley
167. Wes Roach


SAFE ZONE



1. Rickie Fowler
2. Ryan Moore
3. John Merrick
4. K.J. Choi
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Ryo Ishikawa
7. Marc Leishman
8. Camilo Villegas
9. Graham DeLaet
10. Spencer Levin


158. D.H. Lee
159. Sean O'Hair
160. Bud Cauley
161. Ben Curtis
162. Justin Thomas
163. Phil Mickelson
164. Andres Romero
165. Bobby Gates
166. Gary Woodland
167. Jhonattan Vegas


DANGER ZONE


1. Bubba Watson
2. Matt Every
3. Chad Campbell
4. Kyle Stanley
5. Jordan Spieth
6. Rickie Fowler
7. Bo Van Pelt
8. George McNeill
9. Heath Slocum
10. Stewart Cink


158. Aaron Baddeley
159. John Huh
160. Wes Roach
161. Martin Flores
162. Peter Malnati
163. Richard Lee
164. Bud Cauley
165. Woody Austin
166. Kiradech Aphibarnrat
167. Scott Verplank


SHORT GAME PLAY
1. Bud Cauley
2. Roberto Castro
3. Justin Leonard
4. Tim Clark
5. Kevin Stadler
6. Brian Stuard
7. Jeff Overton
8. Seung-Yul Noh
9. Zach Johnson
10. Kiradech Aphibarnrat


158. John Peterson
159. Tommy Gainey
160. Troy Matteson
161. Danny Lee
162. Robert Allenby
163. Chesson Hadley
164. Greg Chalmers
165. Hudson Swafford
166. Andrew Svoboda
167. J.J. Henry






3JACK

New Yonex TC Forged Blade

At the PGA Show I tried the TC Forged blade and was very impressed with them. The ball seemed to rocket off the face. There was a small launch monitor device on what looked like a Smart Phone that had me hitting the 6-iron 174 yards into a 2-club wind (I hit my 6-iron about 180 yards). The club has a titanium insert that is supposed to help with the perimeter weighting of the club. So it looks like a blade, but act like a combination of a cavity back and muscle back.











3JACK