I went to the range this evening to work on the 2.8 THE BEST GOLF SWING PRACTICE DRILL OF ALL TIME. I am going to work on this drill until the feeling is engrained and has wiped out a couple of decades of ugly swings and associated feelings and bad results. About 30 minutes in, I sensed I was being watched. I did a glance around, and sure enough, I saw 'Bob' out of the corner of my eye. Bob was looking for an opening, just a glimpse of recognition so he could move in. Almost every range around the US has a 'Bob.' You know the type - hangs around the range ready to give his unsolicited advice to tell you what is wrong with your swing. I didn't acknowledge his presence, but he sauntered over and stood about 10' away right behind me. I was determined not to acknowledge him, hit 10 or so balls, and he finally blinked.
" How's your swing going?"
"Good, just working on a drill."
"What are you working on?"
"Crisp contact, compressing the ball."
"You want to know what you are doing wrong?"
Now mind you, he's probably watched me hit 25 7-irons perfectly with a half swing, all going about 135 yards with a nice soft draw. After thinking of a half dozen smart-ass retorts, I decided to be preemptive.
"Let me guess, I have too much weight on my left side, and I'm reverse tilting?"
"Yes! You can never get back over to your right side with all of that weight on the left!" He is trying to show me with his club, but I am not looking. Not deterred, he has now walked in front of me and making an exaggerated tilt to the left, then an exaggerated tilt back to the right with the club sticking into the ground a foot behind the ball.
"Thanks for the tip." I say a silent prayer that he will walk away, but I know that's not happening.
I hit two more balls, and Bob says, "You are still doing it."
"I know because that's what I want to do."
"But that's going to cause all sorts of inconsistency."
"But you've watched me hit balls for 10 minutes, and I am striping them. Isn't the goal of the golf swing to have your weight going forward into impact?"
Bob is now confused, probably because he is being forced to think that one through. He then comes back with the 'load up the energy on your right side, then release that energy theory.'
Against all better judgment, I say those three dreaded words. "I use Stack and Tilt."
Bob begins to explain why SnT is bad, no tour players use it, blah, blah, blah and I cut him off.
"Hey Bob, what's your handicap?" He proudly says he's a 7.
"Why aren't you scratch?"
He laughs nervously, but says, "I'm trying to get there, but golf is hard."
"Yes, it is and I'm trying to simplify it. I appreciate you wanting to help, but unless you can pull out a PGA teaching card from your pocket, I'm going to follow the advice of my PGA instructor. Thanks." I go back to my drills, head down. I don't need any new friends anyway.
I know Bob won't be the last member of the SnT Haters Club, but it makes me more determined to follow the course in order and not get ahead of myself, not go back to what is 'comfortable' and has caused me to call the Golf Suicide Hotline 100x over the years and hate the game I love.
I'm sure none of you can relate . . . but sharing just in case.
@Tom Saguto, @jpness Now you guys opened a portal... It's like playing with Ouija board, once you open it just a little, you never know whats going to come through... no matter how veiled the reference... please for the love of God and everything sacred on this forum... stop before its too late!! 🤣
LOL! I'm flattered, John!
If you can arrange for the latter I'll deliver on the former, except that the Secret Service will probably nix the Katana....🤣
Wi 2.0???.......🤣🤣🤣
Yeah - the Cancel Culture is after us, folks. This weight forward/hands in stuff cannot, does not, should not work - okay, it does work, but it's still wrong because the Deep State Golf Instruction Swamp says so - and thus we must continue to shift our weight into a firm trail side (don't worry about that little twinge in your trail knee and that tightness in your lower back, Michelle - you're still young and your body can handle it...), lift our arms, drop our arms, snap our physiological rubber band and unload it into our lead knee (Tiger's surgeries? Oh - no, honey - those was from that other "incident"), all while perfectly timing the rolling of our hands at the fractional millisecond of impact.
You - @Buford T Ogletree and @ihmpadre - are deplorable swing blasphemers, and you will be persecuted. However, armed with the truths of physics, geometry, and human physiology - and therefore in possession of the tremendous effortless power source of angular momentum - your ball flight will speak for itself, and you will persevere (and perhaps even obtain a few envious converts in the process).
Well played!!
Tom
I was on the range Friday for my post round session. Halfway through my basket comes the local high school girl’s golf team up-and-coming superstar. She had an entourage with her. I’m not kidding. What I ascertained were two coaches, dad and some other person RIGHT NEXT TO ME. Luckily @Tom Saguto recommended the book “Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game” which is doing wonders for me. So using what I learned, I ignored Michelle Wi 2.0 next to me, went through my pre-shot routine on every single range ball, focus on my target (practicing with a purpose) and let’r rip. Now I’m hitting some pretty good shots and making some nice bacon strips, at which point I hear her coach talking about somebody that has too much weight on their lead leg (wonder who that could be?). Undeterred I just keep right in doing my thing and I can honestly say, it felt pretty darn good.
My teaching pro wanted me to lift the arms via a hinge after a long wide disconnected takeaway and THEN I could do the Saguto connected downswing sequence as the downswing begins. I told him that I played the best three games of my life with the connected upper arms, including long drives! I burned through the first lesson package with my teacher and got no where. I don't have enough hours in a lifetime to learn his back swing. Now, on the second lesson series, we will spend the last 6 lessons on the short game. He said, "well, I can't teach you if you won't do my back swing. I did not budge. So, we will finish up with the final lessons on the short game then I am done with all in person lessons unless I take a vacation to South Carolina and take a lesson with Tom.
Dad says he's over it. He only twitches occasionally with a putter in his hands now... 😬🤣
He did enjoy the Webber debacle of '93 though!
The basketball gods were watching over the Tar Heels that day. Also when Chris Webber called the time out in '93. Sorry for bringing up bad memories to all of the Big Blue alums.
PS: @mpandichjr & @tarheeldave - My dad was Georgetown '84 and still laments over Fred Brown tossing the ball to James Worthy with seconds on the clock and down by one...
🤣🤣🤣
@mpandichjr - Your post already killed my Friday!! It's only mid-morning and now I've got to figure out how to get through the rest of the day with a somewhat straight face....
Ah yes... Stack and Tilt. The dark side of golf. Evil swing sorcery. The cult that is quietly, surreptitiously gathering lost swings from the vast purgatorial abyss of failed "conventional" instruction and leading them to the way and the truth of a method rooted in the unchanging principles of physics and geometry. Creating heinously horrifying creatures of repeatability, predictable ball flight, and effortless power. Like a hideous, unstoppable amoeba slowly yet steadily consuming the golfing globe. Resistance is futile, "Bob"; you will be assimilated or suffer the endless consequences and inescapable frustrations of Shift & Lift. Mwahahaha.....Mwahahahaha.....
Well played, my extra-crispy friend!!
Tom
Thats pretty funny! Nice job not going off on "Bob!" I like that, "Bob" LOL
135 yard 7 iron with a practice drill sound really good!
Thanks Dave, now if we can only fix our basketball team. . . . UNC '81
I feel your pain S&T brother. Every week one of my playing partners tells me I'm "hooding" the club. I don't know what he is talking about and don't really care. I'm nice and like the old coot and just smile and hit my iron down the fairway.