Andre Van Staden Analyzes Mr. 58's Swing

Here's a video from instructor, Andre Van Staden, analyzing what makes Jim Furyk's swing so good:






3JACK

Dana Dahlquist and the Flat Spot in the Golf Swing

Here's a video from Dana Dahlquist with his student discussing angle of attack and the flat spot.



Some golfers may not understand the importance of the flat spot.  I had first heard the 'flat spot' bandied about by Jim McLean in one of his books (I think it was The 8 Step Swing).  IIRC, all McLean discussed was his belief that a flat spot existed and that you wanted to hit your driver on the flat spot.

It wasn't until recently that Chris Como and Dr. Sasho MacKenzie started to research the flat spot and found that it did exist and the longer the flat spot, the better.  The long the flat spot it creates more speed due to creating more parametric acceleration.  Furthermore, it makes the golfer more consistent and more accurate.

This is what I think was the real secret to Moe Norman's success.  Watch this video of Moe hitting balls.  At this point, Moe's eyesight is becoming an issue and he was grossly overweight and in his 60's.




Moe is still hitting the ball well, but you can see instances where his club head is hitting the turf further back, behind the ball.  Yet...he still hits the ball well.

What we also know about Moe?

He was known for small divots or almost no divot.  As Moe said 'bacon strips, not pork chops.'

Of course, some will dispute that Moe wasn't long.  However, these people usually saw Moe when he was in his 50's and 60's and was out-of-shape.  A few years ago I was told that Moe's driver weighed in at 465 grams.  I've been known to have a heavy driver and at its heaviest mine weighed 337 grams.

That's 128 grams heavier than my driver!

So if you find a way to lengthen that flat spot, I say go for it.



3JACK

Golf and Visualization with Eric Jones

Here's a couple of videos from Eric Jones discussing visualization in the golf swing.  I've found that quality visualization has a far larger reaching impact on your performance than consciously thinking about swing mechanics.





It's not that swing mechanics are unimportant, but being able to sense and feel those swing mechanics BEFORE you make your swing is something that I have found enables me to execute those mechanics and perform better than when I consciously think about swing mechanics.

A long time ago I had read an article about Fred Couples.  In the article they asked Fred how he hits a draw.  He says he visualizes a draw in his pre-shot routine and he hits the draw.  The same with a fade.

For years...I thought Couples was either goofing on the interviewer or was some surreal talent (well, he is that) that could make that work, but no ordinary human could reproduce that type of magic.

After understanding visualization better, I started to be able to do the same thing.  Instead of thinking about mechanics to hit a draw on command, I would visualize the shot and sense the swing I needed to make to produce that shot BEFORE I swung the club and I started producing that shot on command.

What I have seen thus far is when I can really visualize the ball's flight trajectory and then visualize myself making the swing I want to make, that's when I hit pay dirt and golf becomes really easy for me.  It's almost like an out-of-body experience of not only visualizing, but actually feeling the muscles, the balance of your body, etc. hitting the shot despite the fact that I'm standing behind the ball in my pre-shot routine.

Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest left hand pitcher of all time, Steve Carlton, was known to visualize himself getting into 'the zone' before a game and obviously it worked quite well for him.  I hope to have more blog posts on this to come.




3JACK

Scott Hamilton on BodiTrak

Here's a video from Scott Hamilton on how he uses the BodiTrak sytem.







3JACK

Kelvin Miyahira Analyzes Henrik Stenson's Golf Swing

Here's Kelvin Miyahira on his analysis of Henrik Stenson's golf swing






3JACK

Andrew Rice on Controlling the Clubface to Start Striping the Ball

Here's a video from Andrew Rice discussing hand path and clubface control for better ballstriking:






3JACK

Lucas Wald Driver Drill

Here's a drill from Lucas Wald with to help with the driver:

 

While this drill is simple, it actually serves quite a few different purposes.

A big part of the purpose of this drill is that it should help get a feel for eliminating actually thinking swing mechanics in the golf swing.  Some swing mechanics thoughts can be very complicated like something you may see out of M.O.R.A.D.  And some swing mechanics thoughts can be very simple like 'keep the head down' or 'keep the left arm straight.'  Whatever swing mechanics thoughts you're using, the use of swing thoughts are often counterproductive in terms of performance.

I used to think that you had to have conscious swing thoughts to play golf.  But after the past 2 years of utilizing slow motion practice and learning how to sense the swing instead of thinking about the swing while swinging, my mind has changed.  And sometimes it's not so much a swing though as it is thinking about timing your swing.

Another great part of this drill is that it starts to pick up the tempo of the swing.  If you want to gain distance off the tee, you really have to swing hard to do so.  Again, I used to be about 'effortless power', but over the past few years I have come to believe that even the most effortless swings like Sam Snead likely felt like they were putting an immense amount of effort to do so.  But between flexibility, their body dimensions and hand-eye coordination, they can make it look easy.




3JACK

Golfway Interview with AimPoint Creator Mark Sweeney

Here's an interview with AimPoint creator, Mark Sweeney, discussing his life in golf and understanding AimPoint.









3JACK

Forces and Motions Golf Lesson with Sales and Sinclair

Here's a video with Dennis Sales and Jon Sinclair discussing some biomechanical concepts with relation to 'swing plane.'







3JACK

Enlow Grips Review

One of my favorite quotes comes from Performance Psychologist, Dr. Bhrett McCabe...quoting his baseball coach at LSU, Skip Bertman:

If we as a team will do the things that no other team has the guts to do, we will always be on top.

It's why I'm a big fan of Bryson DeChambeau.  It's not so much that he has learned from The Golfing Machine or uses single length irons, it's that he is willing to try things that no other player has the guts to do.  And that reminds me a lot of what another great golfer, Moe Norman, once said:

A bad shot will never hurt my golf swing, it will only hurt my vanity.  And vanity is the luxury of fools.

You see, that's why so many golfers are afraid to think outside of the box and think on their own...they are afraid to have it fail because they think they will look foolish.  And that's a fear of hurting your vanity.  That's the beauty of Mr. DeChambeau (and Moe), he doesn't have a vain bone in his body.  If he tries something and it doesn't work out, it's no big deal.

The larger failure is not being willing to try.

***

Speaking of DeChambeau, one of the features of his equipment is the Jumbo Max Grips.  The grips are extremely oversized and weigh roughly 125 grams.

Recently, GEARS Golf tried out the Jumbo Max grips for themselves and found some interesting results.


Personally, I could NOT hit the Jumbo Max Grips.  I believe they are designed more for the golfer that grips the club more in the palms of the hands like DeChambeau does.  I grip the club more in my fingers.  I did see a similar result as to what GEARS showed...it was very hard to get the face closed at impact.  For me, I was hitting everything right and high and I just could not get a feel for the grip.

***

In the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show I had come across the Enlow Grips.  They were very much oversized grips like the Jumbo Max Grips, but they had a different feel to them that seemed preferable over the Jumbo Max Grips.  But this extremely oversized grip seemed too radical of an idea for me.  But, after trying the Jumbo Max Grips with no success, I made a promise to one day give the Enlow Grips a try.  And when I came across this video, it helped explain why the Enlow Grips felt different from the Jumbo Max Grips.


The Enlow Grips are reverse tapered grips.  So the butt section is smaller in diameter than the mouth of the grip.

Below is a picture of the butt diameter of the grip.  The Enlow Grip is on the right.  It has the same butt diameter as the standard size Golf Pride Tour Wrap 2G grip

And here's a look of the Enlow Grip at the mouth of the grip, showing the reverse taper design:

GRIP DIMENSIONS/INSTALLATION/FITTING

I use an air compressor to install my grips and I used it to install the Enlow Grip.  This was actually quite easy, you just need a little bit of grip solvent to get the mouth of the grip onto the shaft.  Then just use an air compressor.  You will probably need to wait about 20 minutes for that little bit of solvent to dry.

For standard grip installation, Enlow says you should wait 10 hours after installation to use the club.

The Enlow Grips weight about 125 grams.  I use MOI matching instead of swingweight matching.  I found that with the driver it increased the MOI by about 30 points (the same amount that the Jumbo Max Grips increase the MOI on my clubs.  However, when I installed the Enlow Grip on my 6-iron, the MOI only increased by 18 MOI points.


PERFORMANCE

This is the big part that readers are interested in.

Personally, I found the Enlow Grips to be FANTASTIC.

I first installed the grip on my Driver.  I didn't change the MOI.  The driver's MOI went from 2,825 to 2,855.  I kept it at 2,855 and immediately fell in love with the grip.  I was hitting the ball hard and more impressively, felt like I couldn't miss with the driver.

Over the weekend I used it and drove extremely well.

My belief is that the club head speed is really staying about the same with the Enlow Grip.  I certainly did not lose any distance off the tee.  However, I gained a lot of accuracy.  In fact, I found that with this grip it is almost impossible for me to miss left with this grip on the driver.  There were some rightward misses, but that was due to poor execution instead of the grip.

In fact, I found the greatest benefit to come from shots missed off the toe.  The grip seemed to make toe hits far more forgiving.  And I could work the ball right-to-left and left-to-right and hit the same trajectory windows that I did with the regular grips.

I had the grip blown off the driver and I installed it on the 6-iron.  Again, the same type of results.  I just couldn't miss left with this grip on the club and toe shots were far more forgiving.  It's almost like an automated grip.

Furthermore, the claim is that the grip is more ergonomically designed.  As Brad Enlow described, many common products have a reverse taper design.

I found that the Enlow Grips with the 6-iron took a few shots to get used to compared to the standard size grips.  With the driver I had no issue at all and picked it up right away.  But after a dozen shots or so with the 6-iron I stated to get the hang of it.

So give them a shot...you can find them at www.enlowgrips.com.  The only thing you have to lose is your vanity.






3JACK

How GEARS Defines Club Head Speed

Here's a video from Michael Neff of GEARS Golf explaining how GEARS defines club head speed and where players lose club head speed:








3JACK

The Basics of FocusBand

Here's a video with Jason Goldsmith and Graham Boulton explaining the basics of FocusBand and using it for golf:







3JACK

Kelvin Miyahira on Bryson DeChambeau's Swing

Here's a video from Kelvin Miyahira giving his thoughts on Bryson DeChambeau's golf swing:








3JACK

Examining the Warmup Routines of Tour Players

One thing I wanted to expand upon from my previous post where I reviewed my tournament round is my pre-round warmup routine.

For years I had wondered what is a good warmup routine and prior to the event I decided to come up with one. And what better way to determine a routine by looking at what some of the world’s best do prior to their event?











Here are some things I noticed about these warmup routines (and other videos of warmup routines from Tour players):

Typically, they show up about 1 hour before the round.

This gives them enough time to get what they want to get in without over-doing it.


Not over-doing it seems to be key theme to these routines

It’s almost like the players have a quota of time and balls hit from each station and they are going to stick to it, no matter what. What I see a lot of in amateur events (and I’m guilty of it myself) is getting stuck out on the range and if you’re struggling a bit that amateurs will continue to hit balls with that particular club until they ‘get it right.’

I think the Tour players look at the event sort of like taking the SAT’s. You either ‘have it’ or you ‘don’t have it’ and all of the extra practice directly prior to the round is not likely to change anything. In fact, it does the player no good to continue to struggle on the range. Perhaps amateurs need to view it as they are getting the bad shots out of their system on the range where it doesn’t count.

If a Tour player is set to spend 25 minutes on the range and hit about 8 drivers…they are going to stick to that schedule.


They practice each main part of the game

They get time in on the practice green, the range and the short game area. They will hit 50-100 yard wedges, full wedges, short irons, mid irons, long irons, 3-woods and drivers while they are on the range. It’s more important to get some practice in on all of the shots rather than focus on one area.


There is not much in the way of technique and mechanics being practiced

Again, it’s like taking the SAT’s…you either have it or you don’t. This is very smart by the Tour players because they are now engulfed in external focus (the target, the visual of the shot you want to hit, how the ball will fly and roll, etc) instead of internal focus (swing thoughts and visuals, what positions you are trying to hit and what motions you are trying to make). There’s a time and place for internal focus, but it’s not on game day.

If we do see some technique oriented stuff, it’s usually on the practice green, but it’s more of a drill on the greens.


They usually hit the putting green twice before they tee off.

Most of the players will either hit the putting green first or second in their routine. Then they’ll make it to the range or the short game area and most of them will then head back to the practice green again before they tee off.

The first time on the practice green appears to be more about getting an initial feel for the green along with some players working on some drills. The second appearance to the practice green is more about simulating putts they will have on the course.


There is virtually no downtime, particularly before they tee off.

The players move from station-to-station. It may not be super-intense, but they are not goofing off either. And most of them go to the practice green for the second time right before they tee off and they pretty much go right from the green to their first tee. I found this to be very different from my typical pre-round warmup routine where I would hang out for a while and try to calm my nerves instead of just going from the practice area right to the tee.


With that, I came up with my own pre-round warmup routine based on what I wanted to work on. I started to time each of these routines prior to the tournament to see how long they would take. Here is what I came up with.

• Show up 65 minutes prior to tee off

• Use the Ikkos system (13 minutes, 52 minutes left)

• Head to practice green with 10 golf balls. Speed/touch drill, clock drill and then 5 right-to-left putts and 5 left-to-right putts (14 minutes, 38 minutes left)

• Head to range (25 minutes, 13 minutes left)

12 slow motion 4-irons
6 regular speed 4-irons
8 9-irons
5 2-hybrids
5 3-hybrids
4 3-woods
8 Drivers
5 punch 6-irons
4 regular swing 6-irons

• Head to chipping green (6 minutes, 7 minutes left)

• Head to practice green (simulate some putts, hit some long 30+ foot putts) (6 minutes)

• Head to first tee

Unfortunately, I over-slept and only arrived to the course 45 minutes ahead of time. That meant cutting out the Ikkos practice. I also was a little slower moving around from station-to-station here than I was when I timed it at home. But, I did get in practice at each station, I just didn’t get to hit the putting green twice. Our tee time was at 7:57 and I arrived to my cart at 7:52 and they were anxious for me to get on the first tee.

But in the end, I think it was a better warmup routine than what I have typically employed. I plan on coming up with better routines on the practice green, so I can get what I want to get in and take it to the course.







3JACK

My Orlando Amateur Golf Tour Event Review

 

This past weekend, I played the Orlando Amateur Golf Tour event at Victoria Hills and came in 2nd with a 73 (+1).

Here are the final round metrics:

36-37 = 73 (+1)
3 birdies (#1, #5, #17), 4 bogeys (#4, #9, #13, #18)
Par-3s: Even Par (all pars), 3 /4 GIR
Par-4s: Even Par (2 birdies, 2 bogeys)
Par-5s: +1 (2 bogeys, 1 birdie, 1 par)

9/14 Fwys
11/18 GIR
6 impeded shots
29 putts
+9 15/5 Score

What I did well:

1. Driving – I routinely was hitting the ball 40-yards past my playing partners. On #2, I hit one about 60 yards past my playing partners and on #18 I was about 80 yards past my playing partners (unfortunately, I was in the woods).

2. Short Putting – Putts inside 6-feet tend to give me a lot of trouble, but I made everything outside of a 3-1/2 footer on 18. That was due to a leaf blowing right in between the putter and the ball as I was making my thru-stroke.

3. Mental Game – I was good and focused pretty well. For the most part, I was focusing on my target and the shot I wanted to hit and nothing else mattered. I was also sticking with the mentality of hitting great shots and accumulating great shots instead of worrying about avoiding bad shots and fretting over a bad shot.


What I didn’t do well:

1. Iron Play – I only struck 2 irons well all day, the approach on #1 with a P-Wedge that still ended up 40-feet short of the hole (still on the green). And a punch 6-iron into a wind on #13 that flew the green.

2. Drives on the Par-5’s - I only found 1 fairway on the 4 par-5’s. And that was not particularly a great drive, but I ended up making birdie, anyway. I had 3 impeded shots on the other 3 holes. Snap hook on #9 which is uncharacteristic of me. The drive on #15 requires a large draw and I struck it well, but pushed it. I flew the bunker and ended up in the St. Augustine grass. I actually hit a great shot on the 2nd shot, but was screwed over as the ball ended up just short of the bunker and I should have been given a free drop due to Ground Under Repair (it rained that night and morning). I made par. Then on #18 I hit one of my longest drives all day, just pushed it a little and I had to hit a rescue shot out of the woods. But, 4 good drives on those par-5’s and I could have easily played them at -2 under and won the event.

3. Birdie Putting – The greens were smooth, but slow and the pin positions were on some big slopes. Still, I struggled to get the ball to the hole. Speed control was an issue.


What to work on:

1. Continue to work on the irons, particularly the mid-to-short irons.

2. Acquire the mindset of treating all par-5’s just like you would a normal par-4, take your stock swing and focus on making good contact and finding the fairway.

3. Work on speed and distance control drills.

I played in the event to get some experience of playing in tournaments, again. I had not played in an event in 2 years and I was looking to play in the FSGA Mid-Am in September, so I wanted to get some tournaments to help with comfortability of playing in competitive events. I also wanted to use this experience to test my game and see where I’m at.

I did not get a practice round in at Victoria Hills as I was too busy and have played there about 15 times. With increased club speed, I was in some new areas off the tee that I wasn’t accustomed to. Per usual, I was very aggressive in hitting driver off the tee. I only layed up off the tee once, on the Par-4, 4th hole

They had the tee moved up on this particular hole. I have only played this hole from the back tee, so I wasn’t sure what to hit. It played to about 390 yards. I hit a 2-hybrid and had 145 yards to the middle of the green and I made the right play.

The only hole I regret hitting driver on is #6, the 380 yard par-4 (it goes downhill a bit, so the ball flies further and rolls more.

I hit driver and didn’t execute and ended up in the left woods where the red X is located. The issue with this is that the area indicated by the yellow X was very unkempt and I could have made a pretty good swing and ended up there and have a very tough lie. That narrowed the landing area considerably. The woes of not playing a practice round.

If there was some neat ‘golf drama’ on this level, it was between myself and my playing partner, Danny Nash. Nash also shot 73 (I beat him when we matched scorecards as I birdied #1). We were tied going into the Par-4 16th hole which plays about 360 yards, but is straight uphill and fairly narrow with trees right and left and a fairway bunker left.

Nash hit 3-wood off the tee and I hit driver. Nash was playing the old ‘if I hit 3-wood, I’m only going to have about 140 yards into the hole.’ My mentality is that I know if I take an average pass at the ball, I will likely be just fine. Nash hit the fairway (yellow X) and I hit a hard driver that also found the fairway (Red X). The advantage clearly went to me as I was about 50 yards ahead of Nash with 85 yards to the hole (the pin was all the way back). But Nash stuck an approach shot to about 7-feet. I then hit a good SW, but it spun back about 10-feet and I was left with a 25-footer. I missed my birdie putt well short and was happy to make the par-save and Nash made birdie to go 1-up.

We then got on #17 which is a 380 yard par-4 that is fairly narrow as well:

Once again, Nash played the more conservative shot with a 3-wood off the tee and I hit driver. He put his 3-wood in the bunker (red X) and I blasted my driver right down the middle to about 70 yards (yellow X) to the hole. Nash hit his fairway bunker shot well short and I stuck my L-Wedge to 8-feet. Nash ended up with a bogey and I made par to go 1-up. That was before I blasted my drive on 18 into the woods and came away with a bogey and Nash and I tied for score.

I came into the event with 3-goals:

1. To have the mentality of trying to hit great shots because you can’t play great golf unless you hit great shots. And trying to accumulate great shots instead of focusing on avoiding bad shots.

2. Avoid making bad strategic errors (sometimes I get so aggressive that I take shots that are too low of a percentage to pull off).

3. Have no worse than an average performance with my short game and putting. Nobody can get putts to fall with any consistency, but if I can avoid terrible rounds putting and with the short game around the green, I can at least continue to be aggressive because if I miss a GIR, I can still save par. And if the putts start to drop, then I can get into the 60’s.

I think I did a pretty good job with all 3 goals. I did have some issues with feeling comfortable with my irons and sometimes I didn’t hit good enough putts due to being timid. The only strategic error I think I made was on #6 (drive into the left woods), but that was due to having not played a practice round and I still made par (and hit the GIR) on the hole. I would say that my short game was at least at the average. I had a couple of poor shots and a couple of great shots and mostly average shots. And my putting was likely a little below average. I left myself with too many putts with ‘some meat on that bone.’ But I only missed 1 putt I should have made and countered that with a 40-footer I made on the first hole.

Overall, it was a fun experience and I like how it tested my game so I know what to work on.







3JACK

My Current WITB

Here's a look at my current WITB:

Click to Enlarge the specs sheet

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The 3-wood is new. I plan on installing a new shaft, soon. I replaced my old Edel L-Wedge with a new Edel L-Wedge and I like the new Edel logo better.

The Brick was something I tried out at the PGA Tour Superstore and was immediately digging it.  I have the Edel Torque Balanced E-3 Putter (along with 2 more Edel putters).  I really like the E-3 and putt very well with it on fast greens.  But, I prefer The Brick's feel, particularly on mis-hits. 

I will be trying out the Wishon Sterling Single Length irons out in May.  From there, I will likely be changing iron shafts (the Nippon iron shafts launch too high for me) and likely be switching irons to either the Wishon Sterling set or the Srixon Z945.  I also eagerly await the Hogan VKTR Hybrids that will be coming out.  My current hybrids are 7 years old.






3JACK

Science of the Golf Swing by the USGA

Here's a video from the USGA discussing some scientific concepts in the golf swing in layman's terms:






3JACK

Tour Sequencing with Brendon DeVore and Monte Scheinblum

Here's a video from Brendon DeVore of BeBetterGolf with Monte Scheinblum discussing sequencing using the MySwing 3D Motion Capture system.

 




3JACK

Kelvin Miyahira's Analysis of Danny Willett's Swing

Fresh off the Masters victory, here's an analysis of Danny Willett's swing by Kelvin Miyahira.








3JACK

Kelvin Miyahira's Thoughts on Jason Day's Back Injury

Here's a video from Kelvin Miyahira (www.kelvinmiyahira.com) explain his thoughts on what is the cause of Jason Day's back injury:







3JACK

3Jack Golf's 2016 PGA Tour Rundown - Houston

Jason Day wins the WGC Match Play and Bay Hill in back-to-back weeks:




Here are my picks for Houston:

Dustin Johnson +1200
Louis Oosthuizen +2000
JB Holmes +2500
Tony Finau +6600
Daniel Berger +8000
Jason Kokrak +8000
Charley Hoffman +8400
Patrick Rodgers +9000
Hudson Swafford +22500

VALUE PICK: Jhonattan Vegas +22500


ADJUSTED DRIVING DISTANCE



1. Bubba Watson
2. J.B. Holmes
3. Dustin Johnson
4. Andrew Loupe
5. Rory McIlroy
6. Gary Woodland
7. Luke List
8. Tony Finau
9. Jason Kokrak
10. Ryan Palmer
11. Patrick Rodgers
12. Jamie Lovemark
13. Robert Garrigus
14. Brooks Koepka
15. Smylie Kaufman
16. Charlie Beljan
17. Justin Thomas
18. Charles Howell III
19. Harold Varner III
20. Jason Day


186. Chad Collins
187. Abraham Ancer
188. Billy Hurley III
189. Kevin Na
190. John Huh
191. K.J. Choi
192. Lucas Lee
193. Ken Duke
194. Dicky Pride
195. Zac Blair
196. Colt Knost
197. Steve Stricker
198. Brian Gay
199. Tim Clark
200. Mark Wilson
201. Brian Davis
202. Justin Leonard
203. David Toms
204. Jon Curran
205. Darron Stiles


ADJUSTED HIT FAIRWAY %




1. Colt Knost
2. Thomas Aiken
3. Jason Bohn
4. David Toms
5. Danny Lee
6. Justin Leonard
7. Emiliano Grillo
8. Zac Blair
9. Mark Wilson
10. Jerry Kelly
11. Brice Garnett
12. Graeme McDowell
13. Darron Stiles
14. Kevin Kisner
15. Tim Clark
16. David Hearn
17. Justin Hicks
18. Russell Knox
19. John Huh
20. Chez Reavie


186. Gary Woodland
187. Camilo Villegas
188. Miguel Angel Carballo
189. Luke Guthrie
190. Charley Hoffman
191. Carlos Ortiz
192. Ricky Barnes
193. Retief Goosen
194. Tony Finau
195. Carl Pettersson
196. Rhein Gibson
197. Ernie Els
198. Seung-Yul Noh
199. Luke List
200. Steven Bowditch
201. Rob Oppenheim
202. Andres Gonzales
203. Robert Garrigus
204. Andrew Loupe
205. Nick Watney


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Emiliano Grillo
2. Kevin Kisner
3. Jason Bohn
4. Scott Piercy
5. Rickie Fowler
6. Jordan Spieth
7. Russell Henley
8. Danny Lee
9. Jim Herman
10. Hideki Matsuyama
11. Bubba Watson
12. Justin Rose
13. Boo Weekley
14. Thomas Aiken
15. Colt Knost
16. Russell Knox
17. Rory McIlroy
18. Webb Simpson
19. Keegan Bradley
20. Shane Lowry


186. D.J. Trahan
187. Aaron Baddeley
188. D.H. Lee
189. Billy Hurley III
190. Bronson Burgoon
191. Rhein Gibson
192. Steve Stricker
193. Robert Garrigus
194. Carl Pettersson
195. Ricky Barnes
196. Bud Cauley
197. Luke Guthrie
198. Luke Donald
199. Derek Fathauer
200. Andres Gonzales
201. Robert Allenby
202. Steven Bowditch
203. Retief Goosen
204. Ernie Els
205. Rob Oppenheim


RED ZONE PLAY (175-225 YARDS)



1. Hideki Matsuyama
2. Adam Scott
3. Jason Bohn
4. Ian Poulter
5. Robert Garrigus
6. Rory McIlroy
7. Jason Gore
8. Paul Casey
9. Emiliano Grillo
10. Lucas Lee
11. Justin Thomas
12. Webb Simpson
13. Hudson Swafford
14. Branden Grace
15. Tom Hoge
16. Graeme McDowell
17. William McGirt
18. Kevin Streelman
19. Chez Reavie
20. Graham DeLaet


186. Rory Sabbatini
187. David Hearn
188. Ken Duke
189. Miguel Angel Carballo
190. Derek Ernst
191. Hunter Mahan
192. J.J. Henry
193. Thomas Aiken
194. Carl Pettersson
195. Brian Harman
196. Anirban Lahiri
197. Morgan Hoffmann
198. Scott Pinckney
199. Stuart Appleby
200. Steve Marino
201. Chad Collins
202. Brendon Todd
203. Robert Allenby
204. Bo Van Pelt
205. Brian Gay


YELLOW ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Henrik Stenson
2. Ken Duke
3. Kevin Na
4. Brian Davis
5. Robert Garrigus
6. Luke Donald
7. Phil Mickelson
8. Kyle Stanley
9. Billy Horschel
10. Padraig Harrington
11. Marc Leishman
12. Greg Owen
13. Jon Curran
14. Adam Scott
15. Bryce Molder
16. Webb Simpson
17. Dustin Johnson
18. K.J. Choi
19. Bubba Watson
20. Kevin Kisner


186. Michael Kim
187. Charl Schwartzel
188. Brian Harman
189. D.H. Lee
190. J.J. Henry
191. D.A. Points
192. Stuart Appleby
193. Wes Roach
194. Ryan Moore
195. Geoff Ogilvy
196. Jordan Spieth
197. Hunter Mahan
198. Derek Ernst
199. Steve Marino
200. Robert Allenby
201. Andrew Landry
202. Billy Hurley III
203. Jarrod Lyle
204. Steve Stricker
205. Bud Cauley


GREEN ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)



1. Charl Schwartzel
2. Andrew Landry
3. Vaughn Taylor
4. Will MacKenzie
5. Stewart Cink
6. Justin Leonard
7. Matt Every
8. Justin Hicks
9. Luke Guthrie
10. Greg Owen
11. Darron Stiles
12. Henrik Norlander
13. Rob Oppenheim
14. Jimmy Walker
15. J.B. Holmes
16. Derek Fathauer
17. Dawie van der Walt
18. Scott Piercy
19. Brendon de Jonge
20. Steve Stricker


186. Miguel Angel Carballo
187. Brian Gay
188. Adam Hadwin
189. Bo Van Pelt
190. Chesson Hadley
191. Jason Day
192. Hiroshi Iwata
193. Will Wilcox
194. Jhonattan Vegas
195. Sung Kang
196. Sean O'Hair
197. Chad Campbell
198. Keegan Bradley
199. Charlie Beljan
200. Blayne Barber
201. Webb Simpson
202. Morgan Hoffmann
203. Angel Cabrera
204. Andres Gonzales
205. D.H. Lee


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Bud Cauley
2. Rickie Fowler
3. Padraig Harrington
4. Tim Wilkinson
5. Brice Garnett
6. Luke List
7. Jarrod Lyle
8. Scott Langley
9. Hideki Matsuyama
10. Jordan Spieth
11. Fabian Gomez
12. Retief Goosen
13. Patrick Rodgers
14. Brian Gay
15. Chad Campbell
16. Gary Woodland
17. Jon Curran
18. David Toms
19. Kevin Na
20. Freddie Jacobson


186. Ryo Ishikawa
187. Carlos Ortiz
188. Miguel Angel Carballo
189. Russell Henley
190. Charlie Beljan
191. William McGirt
192. Scott Stallings
193. Martin Laird
194. Brett Stegmaier
195. Hudson Swafford
196. Jhonattan Vegas
197. Scott Pinckney
198. Charl Schwartzel
199. Andres Gonzales
200. Daniel Summerhays
201. Graeme McDowell
202. Johnson Wagner
203. Matt Kuchar
204. Chesson Hadley
205. Pat Perez







3JACK

A New Mindset for Golf

With the news of Nick Watney being out for the year with a back injury and Jason Day re-injuring his back, the world of back injuries in pro golf has gotten me back to some concepts that I could see being very beneficial to future of golf. This was reinforced even more as a friend of mine sent me this video from David Epstein at TED Talk.



Epstein's speech covers a wide range of topics, but one of the key sticking points for me was idea that there have been advancements in sports technology and understanding of the sport that has led to athletes performing better even if they are not necessarily 'bigger, stronger and faster.'  One of the concepts that he mentions is how the *mindset* of sports has changed.  For instance, Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile barrier.  Not only did people think it was impossible for a human to physically break that barrier, but just attempting to break the 4-minute mile would lead to death from cardiac arrest.  Then Bannister broke the barrier and other runners followed suit.  Even with the new technology as Epstein describes, there are runners that would have broken the 4-minute mile using the same technology as Bannister.  Bannister broke the mold and now the mindset was established that it was possible to run a mile in under 4-minutes and to survive that endeavor.

While I could use this to say in golf we could create a mindset to do many great things that we never thought of being possible (Tour player with legitimately 135+ mph club speed dominating the Tour, hitting putting make % records, iron play performance, etc), I wanted to go more into the aspect of golf injury prevention and optimizing practice time instead.


THE LEGEND OF LIETZKE



If there's one thing I've grown frustrated as a golfer and a consumer of golf instruction is the constant practicing in order to achieve new swing mechanics and then to sustain new swing mechanics.  It often seems that golf is the only endeavor where it is needed so much.  If you have an expert guitar player that hasn't touched a guitar in over a month, they may not be quite sharp at first, but they'll still be proficient and after a little while they will start to play like they have never took any time off.  The same with a good free throw shooter in basketball.  With golfers often times we see drastic differences from day-to-day, even if they have been practicing.

Back in the 80's and 90's, one of the finest ballstrikers on Tour was Bruce Lietzke.  In fact, I did an article in 2013 Pro Golf Synopsis looking at all of the players since 1980 that were 1 standard deviation above the mean in both driving distance and hit fairway percentage in the same year.  It was a select group and nobody has accomplished that feat since 2001.  Lietzke did it twice.  So did Jack Nicklaus (1980 and 1982) and David Duval. 

The thing about Lietzke is that he was known for NEVER practicing.  In fact, there's an old story where his caddie wanted to see if it was true and at the end of the season left a banana inside Bruce's bag and when the season started up again months later, the banana (now spoiled) was still in his bag.

Furthermore, we look at the players of yesteryear and have to remember that driving ranges were not nearly as common nor were they filled with golf balls for golfers today.  As one famous retired Tour player once told me, if he could find a range the problem was that he and his caddie would have to pick up their own golf balls.  And I think it would be hard to contend that the great ballstrikers of yesteryear of Hogan, Snead, Nelson, Watson, Nicklaus, Trevino were not as good if not better than today's great ballstrikers.  Again, the last time somebody was better than 1-standard deviation from the mean in both distance and fairway percentage on Tour was 2001.

Experienced golfers are practicing more but it can be argued they are not better than experienced golfers of yesteryear.  And they seem to be getting injured more despite all of the advances in medicine, exercise and transportation.  To me, something doesn't quite add up.  I would expect at the very least the case of Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens described by Epstein...Bolt being technically faster time wise, but mostly thru the technology of running surfaces, shoes, etc. If everything was on the same level, Bolt and Owens would be in a dead heat. 

I don't think we have a dead heat these days.  As much as I like the guys on top of the golfing world right now, I don't believe any of them could are better than Nicklaus if they had the same equipment. I would easily argue for Tom Watson against and the same with Hogan and Snead.

To me, one of the major differences is in how we practice.

***

A few weeks ago, I got this message from a reader who had read my thoughts on utilizing slow motion practice to improve his swing.

Richie,

I just wanted to say I've started slow motion training and am seeing results like I never thought were possible. I thought of you, because I remembered reading your posts advocating it last year.

Anyway I've come up with a pretty solid practice routine where I use a ball every time, I hit seven different positions in slow motion, pause at impact, then release the club pushing the ball a few feet and holding into the finish position. It seems to help if all practice swings include a ball so when it's time to hit a shot your brain doesn't know the difference.

At impact to get into a tour pro looking impact position took a little time. My hips did not want to go there, but after hundreds of perfect reps it started to feel normal. What's interesting is there is absolutely no chance I could have hit that position at full speed consciously.

This whole thing is mind boggling. The only swing thought I still have is to get the takeaway right then I am just picturing the shot and where I want it to land. To my surprise most of the time the shot comes off how I imagined. The ball has a high penetrating flight when no swing thoughts are involved. The club is truly released. So if any swing thoughts are involved I know I'm manipulating the club and that needs to be avoided. Anyway I'm still in the honeymoon phase with this, but I know I'm on the right track.

I'm not a golf instructor, so I'm not trying to sell any type of practice or swing methodology.  But, I had seen the benefits of slow motion practice and here we see a golfer that was diligent enough to follow and he is now seeing those same benefits.  The big thing is that we both have cut out or swing thoughts from the swing.  It not only allows us to perform better on the course, but we are essentially grooving in the mechanics we wish to achieve.  Which brings me back to the Ikkos Advanced Motor Learning System.  I wrote a review about them here:

http://www.3jack.blogspot.com/2016/03/ikkos-advanced-motor-learning-review.html

The Ikkos system is based on slow motion practice and also uses a visual element to help.  What I've found is that you can get the mechanics you want, but still have some initial struggles with your ballstriking because your brain is not used to the timing of your body being in different positions than normal.  But with enough repetition, it starts to adapt unless you adjust your mechanics because you're initially not hitting it as well as hoped.

The point being?

I don't think it's impossible for golfers to learn mechanics much more quickly and to be able to do so with far less repetition.  I think there is room for practicing less and putting less stress on a player's back and striking the ball just as well, if not better.  We may not see the second coming of Bruce Lietzke, but I do not see any reason why players cannot have something where their main purpose of practicing on the range each day is to get in a small amount of practice to help with their timing and then they can head to the practice green and work on putting and short game practice. 

I think players like Lietzke had that innate ability to visualize and sense what they needed to do and players like Hogan, Nicklaus and Watson knew what to work on and how to work on it and get the most out of their practice time.  So a new mindset for golf may just end up being an old mindset for golf.





3JACK

Deciphering DeChambeau - The Driver

US Amateur Champ, Bryson DeChambeau made it to Bay Hill this past week and finished t-27th with a final round of 66.  I had the pleasure of watching Bryson in person and came away impressed.  He was also gaming a new driver which was out of the ordinary...but that's the ordinary for DeChambeau.

Bunkersparadise.com wrote an article about DeChambeau's driver that can be found here:

http://www.bunkersparadise.com/48568/bryson-dechambeaus-radical-new-driver/

What makes this really interesting is that DeChambeau had them remove the weight completely in order to make the club extremely light. A swing weight scale runs from A0 to G10 and Bubba Watson swings a driver that is D3. Bryson’s new driver is B9 which gives you some idea of how super light it is.

In addition to removing weight from the head the driver also has a JumboMax XL grip that weighs a whopping 121 grams vs normal grips at 50 grams. This puts even more of the weight away from the club head.

***

As many know, I do not use swingweight and prefer MOI measurement (total club MOI) to determine the heft of the club.  Although B-9 is very light, but not all B-9 swingweights are the same.  Also, the theory that adding weight to the grip will create a lighter feeling of heft is very misguided which is where the biggest flaw in the swingweight measurement resides.  It does not account for the total weight of the club and therefore it is saying that a club becomes lighter when you add weight to the total mass.

I tried the JumboMax Grips on my 3-iron a few months ago.  The JumboMax grips are exactly like they sound, they are far larger and heavier than your standard grip:

One of the interesting things I found with the JumboMax grips is how it actually increased the MOI (made it heftier).  I had my 3-iron set to 2,725 MOI with a Pure Grips P2 Wrap model.  Adding the JumboMax XL and the MOI shot up to 2,755 MOI.

What we know about swingweight is that adding 10 grams to the grip will change the swingweight by roughly 1.5 points.  So with a 70 gram difference between the JumboMax Grip and a normal grip, the swingweight would roughly be at D-0 if there was a regular grip on the head.  And with the difference that the JumboMax grips make on the MOI, it's a 'heavier' D-0 swingweight.  Still light for a Tour player, but not actually as light as the B-9 swingweight implies.

The big thing about Bryson's driver is that static weight of the club should be rather heavy.  I play my 45-1/2" driver at 2,825 which is at about D-4 swingweight (relatively heavy).  The static weight comes out to 318 grams (203 head weight + 50 gram grip weight + 65 gram trimmed shaft weight).

Bryson's driver should come out to roughly 375 grams.

180 gram head weight (estimated, we'll say 198 grams is Cobra headweight and remove the 18 gram weight)

120 gram grip weight

75 gram shaft weight (estimated after trimming)

So perhaps with the JumboMax grips, Bryson may have needed some weight taken off or he would have close to a 400+ gram driver.

Also remember that Bryson utilizes the JumboMax grips as he grips the club in the palms.  And when you look at his swing, it does not have much wrist-cock in the backswing.



So perhaps with a club that is as long as the driver, the weighting has to change in order for him to feel comfortable due to his grip in the palms and less wrist-cock in the backswing.  Either way, Mr. DeChambeau keeps it interesting for sure.






3JACK

Golf Smart Academy Video on Bowing the Left Wrist and Closing the Clubface

Here's a video from Golf Smart Academy explaining the bowing of the left wrist and its effect on the clubface and the club head path in the golf swing:







3JACK

How Jason Day Used FocusBand to Help Him Get Rid of the Yips

Interesting video on Jason Day's use of the FocusBand on how it helped him get rid of the yips:







3JACK

Pressure Plates vs. Force Plates with Golf Smart Academy

Here's a video from Golf Smart Academy discussing the differences between Force Plates and Pressure Plates.







3JACK

3Jack Golf's PGA Tour Rundown - Valspar

Adam Scott wins for the second week in a row at Doral:



Here’s how my picks finished:

Dustin Johnson +1100 (t-14th)
Bubba Watson +1100 (2nd)
Jason Day +1200 (t-23rd)
Rickie Fowler +1400 (t-8th)
Justin Rose +2500 (t-17th)
JB Holmes +2800 (59th)
Brooks Koepka +3000 (t-23rd)
Justin Thomas +4000 (t-35th)
Hideki Matsuyama +4000 (t-35th)

Value Pick: Graeme McDowell +5500 (t-28th)


Here are my picks for Valspar:

Jordan Spieth +500
Henrik Stenson +1200
Justin Thomas +2500
Jason Dufner +2500
Matt Kuchar +3000
Branden Grace +3300
Ryan Palmer +5000
Danny Lee +6600
Luke List +14000

Value Pick: Harold Varner III +20000



ADJUSTED DRIVING DISTANCE



1. Bubba Watson
2. J.B. Holmes
3. Dustin Johnson
4. Rory McIlroy
5. Andrew Loupe
6. Gary Woodland
7. Jason Kokrak
8. Tony Finau
9. Ryan Palmer
10. Luke List
11. Jamie Lovemark
12. Billy Hurley III
13. Ollie Schniederjans
14. Patrick Rodgers
15. Scott Hend
16. Robert Garrigus
17. Brooks Koepka
18. Smylie Kaufman
19. Charlie Beljan
20. Charles Howell III


194. Chad Collins
195. Kevin Na
196. John Huh
197. Cameron Smith
198. K.J. Choi
199. Brian Stuard
200. Lucas Lee
201. Dicky Pride
202. Zac Blair
203. Tim Clark
204. Andy Sullivan
205. Colt Knost
206. Brian Gay
207. Mark Wilson
208. Brian Davis
209. Steve Stricker
210. Justin Leonard
211. Jon Curran
212. David Toms
213. Darron Stiles



ADJUSTED DRIVING ACCURACY



1. Colt Knost
2. Thomas Aiken
3. Billy Horschel
4. David Toms
5. Jason Bohn
6. Danny Lee
7. Andy Sullivan
8. Zac Blair
9. Justin Leonard
10. Emiliano Grillo
11. Graeme McDowell
12. Kevin Kisner
13. John Huh
14. Brice Garnett
15. Jerry Kelly
16. Mark Wilson
17. Darron Stiles
18. Tim Clark
19. Blayne Barber
20. Chez Reavie


194. Miguel Angel Carballo
195. Luke Guthrie
196. Tony Finau
197. Ricky Barnes
198. Shawn Stefani
199. Derek Fathauer
200. Charley Hoffman
201. Rhein Gibson
202. Steven Bowditch
203. Carl Pettersson
204. Andres Gonzales
205. Andrew Loupe
206. Seung-Yul Noh
207. Carlos Ortiz
208. Luke List
209. Robert Garrigus
210. Ernie Els
211. Retief Goosen
212. Nick Watney
213. Rob Oppenheim


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Kevin Kisner
2. Jordan Spieth
3. Emiliano Grillo
4. Jason Bohn
5. Scott Piercy
6. Rickie Fowler
7. Jim Herman
8. Danny Lee
9. Russell Henley
10. Webb Simpson
11. Hideki Matsuyama
12. Rory McIlroy
13. Bubba Watson
14. Colt Knost
15. Bill Haas
16. Boo Weekley
17. Chez Reavie
18. Ryan Moore
19. Thomas Aiken
20. Lucas Glover


194. D.J. Trahan
195. D.H. Lee
196. Steve Stricker
197. Chad Collins
198. Rhein Gibson
199. Carl Pettersson
200. Robert Allenby
201. Ricky Barnes
202. Robert Garrigus
203. Luke Donald
204. Bud Cauley
205. Jamie Donaldson
206. Andres Gonzales
207. Steven Bowditch
208. Luke Guthrie
209. Derek Fathauer
210. Blake Adams
211. Ernie Els
212. Retief Goosen
213. Rob Oppenheim



GREEN ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)




1. Charl Schwartzel
2. Henrik Stenson
3. Andrew Landry
4. Rob Oppenheim
5. Will MacKenzie
6. Matt Every
7. Stewart Cink
8. Justin Leonard
9. Luke Guthrie
10. Vaughn Taylor
11. Greg Owen
12. Darron Stiles
13. Henrik Norlander
14. Danny Lee
15. Jimmy Walker
16. Derek Fathauer
17. J.B. Holmes
18. Francesco Molinari
19. Camilo Villegas
20. Dawie van der Walt


194. Brian Gay
195. Robert Allenby
196. Will Wilcox
197. Jason Day
198. Adam Hadwin
199. Jhonattan Vegas
200. Ollie Schniederjans
201. Hiroshi Iwata
202. George McNeill
203. John Huh
204. Blayne Barber
205. Ian Poulter
206. Rod Pampling
207. Sean O'Hair
208. Webb Simpson
209. Morgan Hoffmann
210. Keegan Bradley
211. D.H. Lee
212. Angel Cabrera
213. Andres Gonzales


YELLOW ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Brian Stuard
2. Rod Pampling
3. Luke Donald
4. Vaughn Taylor
5. Kevin Na
6. Brian Davis
7. Kyle Stanley
8. Robert Garrigus
9. Phil Mickelson
10. Padraig Harrington
11. Jerry Kelly
12. Greg Owen
13. Graeme McDowell
14. Hideki Matsuyama
15. Justin Leonard
16. Kevin Streelman
17. Bryce Molder
18. Webb Simpson
19. Bill Haas
20. Adam Scott


194. Geoff Ogilvy
195. Brian Harman
196. J.J. Henry
197. D.H. Lee
198. Andrew Loupe
199. D.A. Points
200. Troy Merritt
201. Wes Roach
202. Stuart Appleby
203. Robert Allenby
204. Derek Ernst
205. Steve Marino
206. Andrew Landry
207. Jarrod Lyle
208. Jordan Spieth
209. Charl Schwartzel
210. Blake Adams
211. Bud Cauley
212. Scott Hend
213. Ollie Schniederjans


RED ZONE PLAY (175-225 YARDS)



1. Rory McIlroy
2. Vaughn Taylor
3. Hideki Matsuyama
4. Jason Bohn
5. Adam Scott
6. Robert Garrigus
7. John Merrick
8. Jason Gore
9. Paul Casey
10. Ryan Moore
11. Emiliano Grillo
12. Andrew Loupe
13. Jhonattan Vegas
14. Webb Simpson
15. Henrik Stenson
16. William McGirt
17. Chez Reavie
18. Justin Thomas
19. Lucas Lee
20. Branden Grace


194. Anirban Lahiri
195. Thomas Aiken
196. Greg Owen
197. Steve Marino
198. Rory Sabbatini
199. Brian Harman
200. Harris English
201. J.J. Henry
202. Carl Pettersson
203. Stuart Appleby
204. Hunter Mahan
205. Chad Collins
206. Scott Pinckney
207. Brendon Todd
208. Brian Gay
209. Ernie Els
210. Bo Van Pelt
211. Vijay Singh
212. Jamie Donaldson
213. Robert Allenby


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Bud Cauley
2. Brian Gay
3. Rickie Fowler
4. Padraig Harrington
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Tim Wilkinson
7. Luke List
8. Brice Garnett
9. Jarrod Lyle
10. Stewart Cink
11. Scott Langley
12. Retief Goosen
13. Chad Campbell
14. Brian Stuard
15. Billy Horschel
16. Peter Malnati
17. Fabian Gomez
18. Zac Blair
19. Rod Pampling
20. Lucas Glover


194. Scott Pinckney
195. William McGirt
196. Scott Hend
197. Brett Stegmaier
198. Scott Stallings
199. Matt Every
200. Andres Gonzales
201. Russell Henley
202. Blake Adams
203. Graham DeLaet
204. Jhonattan Vegas
205. Vaughn Taylor
206. Rory Sabbatini
207. Johnson Wagner
208. Hudson Swafford
209. Charl Schwartzel
210. Matt Kuchar
211. Pat Perez
212. Chesson Hadley
213. Graeme McDowell





3JACK

Putt Geometry Video with John Graham

Here's a video with John Graham (www.johngrahamgolf.com) showing speed vs. line with putt geometry:










3JACK

Ikkos Advanced Motor Learning Review

The product that I was most excited about at the PGA Merchandise Show was the Ikkos Advanced Motor Learning system.  I don't know all of the specific details, so I will explain Ikkos as best as I can.  If there are any inaccuracies, I apologize.

The Ikkos system was developed by former US Olympic Swimming Coach, Sean Hutchison.  Swimming is very technique oriented and Hutchison was frustrated that his swimmers would struggle to incorporate the techniques he coached them on.  Eventually, he decided to research as much as he could on how people learn.  He eventually compiled enough information thru various scientists and researchers and thru trial and error came up with the Ikkos system which uses virtual reality headgear, a blindfold or blacked-out goggles along with binaural beats.  This system was then used by his swimmers and their techniques and swim times greatly improved.  So, why not try and apply this to another technique oriented sport like golf?

The Ikkos system consists of 3 things:

1.  The virtual reality headgear.

2.  A blindfold/blacked-out goggles.

3.  The app on your smart phone.

The app is actually free.  They charged for the headgear and the blindfold/blacked-out goggles (they were supposed to give me blacked-out goggles, but I received a blindfold instead.  I purchased some goggles and blacked them out myself which I will go into later on in the post).

Here's a video where I explain how things work.


The beauty of Ikkos is that you can use virtually any video.  Whether it's a video of your own or one off of YouTube.  For me, I had been having issues with shallowing out my shaft angle on the downswing and doing Kelvin Miyahira's 'right elbow move.'  So, I decided to tape my swing from DTL a week ago, Sunday February 28th.  Here's what I had:



I decided to use this drill which was basically me going in slow motion focusing just on making right elbow move.



I had been working on this for about 2 months.  In the past I had gotten it down for stretches at a time, but would lose it.  However, for the most part this was a move I struggled to execute.

I decided I would practice using the Ikkos Advanced Motor Learning system once a day for 6 straight days.  I would use the head gear as prescribed, then do the emulation with the blindfold on and then go to the range going at slow speed and working my way up to full speed.

I never taped my swing during the week.  I wanted to see how good the Ikkos system was, so I waited until today to video tape my swing and see what the changes looked like.  Here's what I had.



All I was really working on was my right elbow and right shoulder motion in the downswing.  I did not work on the backswing or any other part of the body.  Most people don't understand Kelvin Miyahira's work, so one of the main purposes of this drill was to flatten out the shaft angle.  Yes, I know there are potential parallax issues, but I think there are legitimate changes as to what has been going on in just 6 days.

Before (Feb 28th) is on the left, after (March 6th) is on the right:

These stills are not exactly at the same time in the swing, but I don't think it makes a difference when we look at the big picture.  The shaft in the Feb. 28th swing is bisecting the top of the right shoulder while in the after swing (March 6th) it is bisecting lower, closer to the mid-humerus bone.

Here the club head on the Feb. 28th swing is difficult to see as it is on the hands and almost outside the hands (closer towards the ball). In the March 6th swing, the club head is inside the hands a little.

So in just 6 days of using Ikkos, I have seen results.  And I have not hit anything more than a large bucket of balls each day which is about 85 balls.  And again, I only use the headgear once per day and follow the instructions.

There are a few things to note:

1.  In a presentation that Hutchison made at the PGA Merchandise Show, he said that they found that blacked-out goggles were preferable to blindfolds because the blindfolds close the eyes and the goggles do not and having the eyes open, but blacked-out advanced the person's learning.  That is why I bought my own goggles and found a way to black them out.

2.  You will feel a weird effect of the binaural beats that I can't quite explain.  As my friend Justin Blazer said when I showed him the system 'it feels like you're being brainwashed.'  It's not hazardous nor will it make you sick, but it has a mesmerizing sensation.

3.  The question was posed if Tiger Woods could watch his old swing and get back to it.  The question was 'yes' and 'no.'  The idea was that the swing would be a close facsimile, but the person's ability to come closer to replicating the model will depends on their flexibility, range of motion, injuries, etc.  So if you want to download Ben Hogan's swing, don't expect to make an exact swing like his if you don't have the body for it.

4.  Does this translate to better performance?  For me, it has.  I've noticed some increased ball speed and shots I simply couldn't hit before.  I don't know if that's due to the Ikkos system helping or the mechanics working.

To me, the big difference between this and learning something like swimming is that there is more timing involved in golf and you have to time that with a golf club and direct all of that towards a golf ball.

There were a couple of interesting things I have found:

A) You can execute the mechanics like you want, but the timing becomes a factor because your brain is not used to the new positions that your body is in.

B)  *IF* you understand the mechanics of what you *want* to do going into this, it is a great help and you can focus on working on 1 part and get a bunch of other mechanics to fall into place.

For instance, in my work I was trying to work on the right elbow and right shoulder movement and that started to move the path more towards the right.  After a while that started to produce some over-draws.  When I started to think about it for a second, I knew that my hip slide was problematic and only helping promote the over draw with the shallower shaft plane.  While I could not do it every time or even 75% of the time, my brain started to more naturally adapt and started to develop more pelvic rotation and that made it easier to straighten out the ball flight.

David Orr (flatstickacademy.com) says it a lot, there's a 'inner genius' in golfers.  In my mind, I translate that as golfers are far better at adapting than given credit for.  Unfortunately, too many golf instructors coach that 'inner genius' out of the golfer because they don't recognize the human's ability to adapt.  Since I knew Kelvin's mechanics with some competency, it was easy for me to understand why I was struggling with the over-draws, but with the Ikkos system my brain was able to SENSE the lower body action I needed to make to adapt and straighten out the over-draw without me actually having to *think* about it during my swing.

Thus far, I am very pleased with Ikkos and I'm very excited to continue to work with it in the future.





3JACK

Iron Spin Rates with Mark Crossfield

Here's a video from instructor, Mark Crossfield, discussing spin rates with the irons:









3JACK

3Jack Golf's PGA Tour Rundown - Doral

Adam Scott wins at PGA National:



Here’s how my picks fared at the Honda:

Rory McIlroy +550 (MC)
Rickie Fowler +1100 (t-6th)
Hideki Matsuyama +2000 (WD)
Phil Mickelson +2200 (t-37th)
Kevin Kisner +2500 (t-70th)
David Lingmerth +6000 (t-53rd)
Webb Simpson +7000 (WD)
Emiliano Grillo +7500 (t-74th)
Jamie Lovemark +9000 (MC)

Value Pick: Luke List +17500 (t-10th)


Here are my picks for Doral:

Dustin Johnson +1100
Bubba Watson +1100
Jason Day +1200
Rickie Fowler +1400
Justin Rose +2500
JB Holmes +2800
Brooks Koepka +3000
Justin Thomas +4000
Hideki Matsuyama +4000

Value Pick: Graeme McDowell +5500



ADJUSTED DRIVING DISTANCE



1. Dustin Johnson
2. Bubba Watson
3. J.B. Holmes
4. Rory McIlroy
5. Andrew Loupe
6. Gary Woodland
7. Jason Kokrak
8. Tony Finau
9. Ryan Palmer
10. Luke List
11. Jamie Lovemark
12. Ollie Schniederjans
13. Brooks Koepka
14. Patrick Rodgers
15. Robert Garrigus
16. Smylie Kaufman
17. Charlie Beljan
18. Charles Howell III
19. Justin Thomas
20. Charley Hoffman


199. Cameron Beckman
200. Cameron Smith
201. K.J. Choi
202. Ken Duke
203. Brian Stuard
204. Billy Hurley III
205. Lucas Lee
206. Dicky Pride
207. Zac Blair
208. Tim Clark
209. Colt Knost
210. Brian Gay
211. Mark Wilson
212. Brian Davis
213. Justin Hicks
214. Steve Stricker
215. Justin Leonard
216. Jon Curran
217. David Toms
218. Darron Stiles


ADJUSTED DRIVING ACCURACY




1. Colt Knost
2. Thomas Aiken
3. David Toms
4. Danny Lee
5. Jason Bohn
6. Zac Blair
7. Emiliano Grillo
8. Justin Leonard
9. Kevin Kisner
10. Andy Sullivan
11. Bill Haas
12. Ken Duke
13. John Huh
14. Graeme McDowell
15. Nicholas Thompson
16. Brice Garnett
17. Jordan Spieth
18. Jerry Kelly
19. Mark Wilson
20. Darron Stiles


199. Miguel Angel Carballo
200. Retief Goosen
201. Michael Putnam
202. Luke Guthrie
203. Tony Finau
204. Ricky Barnes
205. Steven Bowditch
206. Shawn Stefani
207. Derek Fathauer
208. Rhein Gibson
209. Carl Pettersson
210. Andres Gonzales
211. Andrew Loupe
212. Seung-Yul Noh
213. Carlos Ortiz
214. Luke List
215. Robert Garrigus
216. Ernie Els
217. Nick Watney
218. Rob Oppenheim



DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Kevin Kisner
2. Jordan Spieth
3. Emiliano Grillo
4. Scott Piercy
5. Rickie Fowler
6. Jason Bohn
7. Danny Lee
8. Jim Herman
9. Russell Henley
10. Webb Simpson
11. Bubba Watson
12. Hideki Matsuyama
13. Colt Knost
14. Boo Weekley
15. Chez Reavie
16. J.B. Holmes
17. Ryan Moore
18. Thomas Aiken
19. Russell Knox
20. Lucas Glover


199. D.J. Trahan
200. D.H. Lee
201. Steve Stricker
202. Chad Collins
203. Rhein Gibson
204. Carl Pettersson
205. Robert Allenby
206. Ricky Barnes
207. Robert Garrigus
208. Luke Donald
209. Bud Cauley
210. Michael Putnam
211. Andres Gonzales
212. Luke Guthrie
213. Steven Bowditch
214. Derek Fathauer
215. Retief Goosen
216. Blake Adams
217. Ernie Els
218. Rob Oppenheim


RED ZONE PLAY (175-225 YARDS)



1. Rory McIlroy
2. Sergio Garcia
3. Hideki Matsuyama
4. Paul Casey
5. Vaughn Taylor
6. Billy Hurley III
7. Jason Bohn
8. Robert Garrigus
9. John Merrick
10. Jason Gore
11. Ryan Moore
12. Webb Simpson
13. Emiliano Grillo
14. Andrew Loupe
15. Jhonattan Vegas
16. Chez Reavie
17. William McGirt
18. Adam Scott
19. Lucas Lee
20. Danny Lee



199. Greg Owen
200. Thomas Aiken
201. Steve Marino
202. Brian Harman
203. Rory Sabbatini
204. J.J. Henry
205. Carl Pettersson
206. Andres Romero
207. Michael Putnam
208. Hunter Mahan
209. Stuart Appleby
210. Chad Collins
211. Scott Pinckney
212. Brendon Todd
213. Brian Gay
214. Bo Van Pelt
215. Harris English
216. Vijay Singh
217. Ernie Els
218. Robert Allenby


YELLOW ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Ken Duke
2. Brian Stuard
3. Rod Pampling
4. Branden Grace
5. Luke Donald
6. Vaughn Taylor
7. Kevin Na
8. Billy Horschel
9. Brian Davis
10. Hideki Matsuyama
11. Kyle Stanley
12. Robert Garrigus
13. Padraig Harrington
14. Jerry Kelly
15. Greg Owen
16. Adam Scott
17. Marc Leishman
18. Phil Mickelson
19. Justin Leonard
20. Kevin Streelman


199. J.J. Henry
200. D.H. Lee
201. Andrew Loupe
202. D.A. Points
203. Troy Merritt
204. Wes Roach
205. Stuart Appleby
206. Robert Allenby
207. Billy Hurley III
208. Nicholas Thompson
209. Paul Casey
210. Derek Ernst
211. Steve Marino
212. Andrew Landry
213. Jarrod Lyle
214. Blake Adams
215. Charl Schwartzel
216. Bud Cauley
217. Ollie Schniederjans
218. Jordan Spieth


GREEN ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)



1. Charl Schwartzel
2. Andrew Landry
3. Rob Oppenheim
4. Will MacKenzie
5. Matt Every
6. Stewart Cink
7. Justin Leonard
8. Justin Hicks
9. J.B. Holmes
10. Ken Duke
11. Luke Guthrie
12. Vaughn Taylor
13. Sergio Garcia
14. Greg Owen
15. Darron Stiles
16. Henrik Norlander
17. Rickie Fowler
18. Derek Fathauer
19. Francesco Molinari
20. Scott Piercy


200. Ollie Schniederjans
201. Andres Romero
202. Hiroshi Iwata
203. George McNeill
204. Cameron Beckman
205. Nicholas Thompson
206. John Huh
207. Michael Putnam
208. Blayne Barber
209. Rod Pampling
210. Sean O'Hair
211. Billy Hurley III
212. Webb Simpson
213. Morgan Hoffmann
214. Keegan Bradley
215. D.H. Lee
216. Angel Cabrera
217. Andres Gonzales
218. Branden Grace


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Bud Cauley
2. Hideki Matsuyama
3. Brian Gay
4. Rickie Fowler
5. Padraig Harrington
6. Cameron Beckman
7. Tim Wilkinson
8. Luke List
9. Brice Garnett
10. Jarrod Lyle
11. Fabian Gomez
12. Stewart Cink
13. Scott Langley
14. Retief Goosen
15. Chad Campbell
16. Brian Stuard
17. Michael Putnam
18. Jordan Spieth
19. Peter Malnati
20. Zac Blair


199. Kevin Streelman
200. Scott Pinckney
201. Graeme McDowell
202. William McGirt
203. Brett Stegmaier
204. Scott Stallings
205. Matt Every
206. Matt Kuchar
207. Andres Gonzales
208. Russell Henley
209. Blake Adams
210. Graham DeLaet
211. Jhonattan Vegas
212. Vaughn Taylor
213. Billy Hurley III
214. Rory Sabbatini
215. Johnson Wagner
216. Hudson Swafford
217. Pat Perez
218. Chesson Hadley

Project X Launch Zone Iron Shafts

Here's a video on the new Project X Launch Zone iron shafts.  They are quickly becoming a hit on Tour and Adam Scott just won at the Honda Classic with these shafts in his irons:








3JACK

Megan Padua discussing Ikkos Motorlearning

Here's a video with golf instructor, Megan Padua (www.meganpaduagolf.com), and Ikkos founder and CEO, Sean Hutchinson, discussing the Ikkos headgear. I just received mine in the mail and I'm excited to try it out.









3JACK