Hi Tom
I have been following your program for a few months now. Specifically, the Golf Swing Simplified series. I have done downswing drills(straight arms, lateral bump, shoulders etc). Slowly I started to initiate the downswing with a slight lateral bump towards the target. This improved my golf striking.
In an effort to get more distance, I started to explore Power & Distance program. I did the drills and a couple of range sessions(skateboard) in the Crack the Whip in 4.x series.
A few days ago I went out to play and my game just fell apart. I was trying to initiate my downswing with skateboard logic, i.e. moving my trail foot behind lead foot. I started to hit balls all over the place.
Then a few days later, I went out, and I completely tried to forget the Crack the whip thoughts(meaning no skateboard) - just focused to bumping forward to start downswing and my ball striking became so much better. Same or better than before mostly.
Thoughts? How do I incorporate the skateboard logic in my swing. What should initiate the downswing?
thanks, Samir
Don't sweat it Samir. If you've ever played the piano or guitar, there's easy, easy/intermediate, intermediate, intermediate/advanced, and advanced levels of play.
If I jump from easy to intermediate too quickly, everything starts falling apart because my brain and fingers are not trained sufficiently to absorb the notes and respond quickly, or accurately enough, i.e., not enough foundation has been built yet.
Tom's drills are like playing scales which build foundations to support more advanced levels. I use his drills all the time on the course and hit bullet shots to greens that other guys marvel and wonder how I do that. I will literally pull out a 9 iron for a 115 yard shot even though I can hit the 9 up to 145 yards because I can control that "drill shot" much better. Guys ask me "what did you hit there?". When I say 9 iron punch they just shake their heads and walk away. LOL.
Welcome to the Members' Forum, @samirbajaj2 - I hope to see you participating regularly in this great community going forward!
You need to be patient with the process and let your ball striking be your guide at this juncture. Your consistency and confidence will tell you when it is time to get into the more advanced instruction such as the Power + Distance class. For example, there are many folks in the school who have been using Drill 2.8 as their full swing for several months. Although it's missing some of the power accumulators, it's reliable, produces sufficient distance to play the course, and it really helps them to ingrain the correct S&T movements as the battle their "ghosts of swings past".
Based on what you are saying, I'd stick with what is working well for you right now. Once you've really got it grooved and you are comfortable that you can easily dial back to this default swing, then you can slowly start to build in the power accumulators.
At that point, if you are still experiencing difficulties then it may be a good time to submit a couple of videos for a V1 Analysis - an effective and inexpensive service that I highly recommend to everyone in the school. I liken it to bringing your swing into the shop for a tune-up or minor repair. Scheduling one on a quarterly basis for preventive maintenance will do wonders for keeping things humming along nicely, and it's also a great tool for pinpointing and resolving any issues that arise. The process involves downloading the free V1 app and then submitting two videos to me through the app - one down-the-line (captured from your stance line, not the target line) and the other face-on. You'll find more information about the V1 Analysis halfway down this page on the Saguto.Golf site.
Keep up the great work and have fun out there!
Tom