Sunday, October 29, 2017

Video Review: Concepts On Transition and Impact with Joe Mayo and Grant Waite

Recently, I watched the latest of a series of videos from golf instructor Joe Mayo Concepts on Transition and Impact with Grant Waite. You can purchase the video at: 

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/grantwaite/239995492
Concepts On Transition and Impact with Grant Waite from Joseph Mayo on Vimeo.

A while back I did a review of Mayo's other video Understanding Torques and Forces in the Golf Swing with Dr. Sasho MacKenzie.

http://3jack.blogspot.com/2017/01/understanding-torques-and-forces-in.html

The Concepts on Transition and Impact expands upon Understanding Torques and Forces Forces.  Whereas Torques and Forces goes over the basics in the principles researched by Dr. Sasho MacKenzie of Net Force and Center of Mass and why the players on Tour tend to flatten their shaft instead of steepening the shaft; Concepts on Transition gives the viewer a better idea on how to execute it as well as troubleshooting issues.

Concepts on Transition and Impact gives the viewer a great look at how different Tour players are able to shallow their transition using different methods.  And then the video goes into some simple concepts on how Mayo and Waite generally advise golfers to get out of being 'too steep.'  But, it also applies to better golfers who are able to come more from the inside, but are actually 'too steep' and struggle with their driver as a result.

I have felt for a long time that Charles Howell III older swing was a good example of a player that comes from the inside, but is still too steep in transition:


The video also explains in detail how golfers like Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are able to rotate the pelvis and torso so much in the downswing and still hit draws.  And it discusses in detail what 'getting stuck' is and why players like Dustin Johnson do not 'get stuck.'

The only negatives about the video is that they used some white tape to represent where the Center of Mass of the club is using a black graphite shafted driver and it was difficult to see that illustrated given the lighting. 

And if you wanted a better look at the subject matter it would have helped to have video of players illustrating their examples.  However, there may have been some copyright issues with trying to do that.

In all, I would still recommend getting both videos. But, in particular, it's advisable to get Understanding Torques and Forces in the Golf Swing, first.  That explains the basic principles in physics from Dr. Sasho MacKenzie.  Concepts in Transition and Impact is a little more theoretical, based on those principles from MacKenzie.  Both videos will be a tremendous help to teachers and golfers.






3JACK

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

What To Look For: 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship




As the Tour plays the WGC – HSBC Championship in Sheshan, the US gets back into the swing of things with the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi being played at the Country Club of Jackson.

The Sanderson Farms Championship has been a part of the PGA Tour schedule, under one name or another, since 1968.  In 2014 they moved the event to the CC of Jackson. 

I haven’t heard a lot about CC of Jackson from the pros likely due to it being basically an alternate field event so many of the pros do not get to play there every year.  The successful Tour players won’t play there because they are either playing the HSBC or they are taking time off as it’s a small purse event.  And the players that do play here are usually struggling to keep their card and may not be exempt to play here each year.

This means that there will be big-time amateurs that just turned pro in the event like Derek Bard (New Hartford, NY boy..from my neck of the woods), Ross Bell and Sam Burns.  It’s also the event that the winner of the Club Pro Championship (Omar Uresti) is exempt in. 

Uresti received a lot of criticism for being allowed to play in the Club Pro Championship since he is just removed from the Tour while many of the other participants are working 40-80 hour weeks either on the driving range or in the shop (or both).  While I see the point, the bigger issue in this is that the status of golfer’s has been a faulty process with glaring holes in the status in all of golf.

I’ve played amateur events with fellow amateurs who actually teach golf on a full time basis.  And any big-time Mid-Amateur event will likely consist of former Tour or Mini-Tour players that decided to get their amateur status back and work jobs where they basically play golf for a living.  Then there’s David Eger who couldn’t compete on Tour anymore and got his amateur status back so he could compete on the amateur level and then eventually got his pro status back so he could play on the Champions Tour.  If Uresti is legitimately working full-time at a club then his situation is far less egregious than others golfers gaming the system.

Anyway, CC of Jackson may have a weaker field, but it’s a big boy course where ballstriking from long distance plays a big role.  The final ‘critical hole’ of the event will be the drivable par-4, 15th hole which plays 330 yards long. 

PROJECTED WINNING SCORE: -18


3JACK’S FAVORITES

Chesson Hadley +1,400
Jason Kokrak +2,200
William McGirt +2,500
Kevin Streelman +2,800
Andrew Landry +3,300
Ben Martin +3,300


3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS

Robert Garrigus +4,000
Brandon Hagy +4,500
Jonathan Randolph +10,000
Rick Lamb +12,500







3JACK

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

What To Look For: 2017 Safeway Open

The Tour opens the 2017-2018 season at Silverado CC for the Safeway Open.


Given that this is the opening event and they just had the Presidents Cup (or as I refer to it as ‘The Beatings’) there’s not a strong field for this event. The purse is at $6.2 million which isn’t super enticing either.

The course plays to 7,172 yards at a par-72. Generally the course is pretty well liked but the greens do feature a lot of crown and saddle slopes (old school AimPoint talk) and that can frustrate the players with the flatstick.

It’s a big boy course for the players as it really stresses hitting GIR with long approach shots and then being able to have the short game around the green to clean up some miscues. The nice feature of the course is that the 18th hole is projected to be one of the Critical Holes for the event. It’s also a last ditch effort for those who lost their Tour card to regain it.

Projected Winning Score: -16

3JACK’S FAVORITES

Webb Simpson +1,600
Phil Mickelson +1,600
Zach Johnson +2,500
Kevin Na +2,800
Brendan Steele +2,800


3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS

Martin Laird +3,300
Luke List +5,000
Grayson Murray +6,600
Harris English +8,000
Andrew Landry +12,500




3JACK