Does anyone else find themselves looking at Tom's website at work and seeing something that you just have to try and end up going to the rest room or any other quiet location to try it out ? I know I do! ๐
100%. My wife is typically pretty good about knowing what Iโm doing but every now and then she will hit me with the โwhat on earth are you doing?โ and I tell her Iโm pretending to chop wood with an axe and that she wouldnโt understand
Tom, why not post a vid of you on the course, full 18 with a second S&T golfer?
I'm sure it would be entertaining as well as very useful for those of us trying to improve our game? If your playing partner was someone well known it would be even more entertaining. Would be a great youtube vid.
There's a lot of planning, time, and effort behind the scenes of your seemingly simple "why not" question, @Bill K..... ๐
I don't think we are short on content here for those trying to improve their games, and I do have some course vlogs on the YT channel, including this one. This is not to say that what you are suggesting isn't a great and fun idea or that it won't happen at some future date, it's just not on my radar at present as my primary focus remains in doing all I can in support of my online school and its members.
It is that critical, @Gerry_Lager. If you keep your head and accordingly the center of your swing circle in place as the weight continues to load forward through impact (70% at the transition, 80% halfway down, 90% through the zone), you cannot help but to shallow the path. Conversely, let that upper torso go and it's then all we can do to save our shot from the perils of steepness. Nice self-discovery!
Don't try Fleetwood's position out of the box because one must be limber and the lower body must be clearing early in the downswing....otherwise....CRUNCH of the lower back. Just try to get the baseline feeling of the head staying in position with short shots, say 60 yard wedge shots. Easy does it, and you'll be surprised how quickly you will feel the difference. Also keep in mind that your ball position may be such that your "moving your head" swing required it to be in a certain position, and your non-moving head swing might require a new ball position, both within your stance AND distance from the ball. I find if my head stays in position, my club path is much closer to my toes...maybe up to 2 inches. Watch the pro's, they are very close to the ball on iron shots, or closer than the average player.
"Keep your head down", "don't look up", "oh I looked up again!", are commonly heard. But when people make these comments, or are told about their mistake, they often don't understand the main issue. For one, keeping the head down keeps the shoulders from flattening on the backswing and especially on the downswing. Believe it or not, a LOT of folks do not grasp the fact that wherever the head moves, so do the shoulders. This is important because the low point in the swing is just inside the left shoulder. Thus if the head moves left, the low point moves left and vice versa.
Plus, if the head moves up, or away from the ground on the downswing, the club will accelerate in the opposite direction, or down into the ground. If anyone has ever snapped a towel, the towel moves away and at the last second the wrist holding the towel juts back, sending the towel outward and SNAP. If you've ever heard a tour pro hit an iron shot, it sounds much different because their left leg is straightening very quickly (towel wrist jutting back) and therefore the club "thuds" into the ground and the ball hisses away. But that requires sharp timing of the position of the club head in relation to the left leg extension timing. This is why I can hit a 220 yard drive, or 260 yard drive, sometimes the timing is excellent or otherwise it's not.
What I have found is most mediocre players move their head up on the downswing which flattens their shoulders. Not because they want to move their head, but because they have to move their head because they're swinging from the top-down, not bottom-up. The top-down swing means the shoulders are moving while the lower body is not. Therefore, as the club travels down, their shoulders are doing the work their lower body should be doing, thus their head pulls up and away from the ball, their lower body juts outward, or early extension. They believe they "looked up" but they actually had to pull away from the ball. Blame a lazy lower body, not the head. LOL.
i've been having issues, especially with driver not getting distance. I feel like I'm making good contact. In my simulator the flight looks good, feels good. After analyzing my swing notice my head moving towards the target. I know @Tom Saguto says this in many videos but I'd like to put emphasis on it. KEEP THE HEAD STILL!!. while watching all of Tom's videos notice his head staying where it starts. I noticed with driver my back spin was way to high up in the 4k area. if I keep my head back behind the ball (that's how i set up with ball forward) the club head shallows out a bit before the ball and the angle of attack goes down causing the back spin numbers to go into the mid 2ks. which is ideal... long story short. Don't overlook the head position during the swing. Thoughts?
Getting good contact on 8/9/P - good contact on 7 iron 60% of the time.
Trying to iron out tendency for knee to kick left sometimes. Tried right leg shift at start of downswing - that was a comedy. Move leg/hip a touch left to make space for and encourage downswing - simple - NOOOOO - my stupid head thinks my left leg is taking it on a walk so it follows - brilliant result, no space for downswing.๐
That did the trick, Tom. I've a much better understanding of the physical issues that make it impossible for me to do anything near a full swing and why I cannot even get a consistent swing, good or bad. I've only about 35-40 degrees of rotation in my right forearm. Switch to left handed ... nah, I'm not that desperate.
So I'm guessing I must learn to stop at that limit and stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Much appreciated.
Some guys hit it a long way with a little swing, Norm. As Dirty Harry famously said, "A man's got to know his limitations..." Once we know them - AND once we agree to live within them as they relate to the golf swing - it's amazing what we can accomplish. Otherwise here are some of the potential consequences of trying to take it back too far:
1) the lead arm will bend and/or lift
2) the wrists will break down
3) the lead knee will kick inward towards the trail side
4) the lead shoulder will level out and lose its orientation towards the ball
5) weight will shift into the trail side and bring the low point back with it, resulting in inconsistent contact and unpredictable ball flight.
6) you'll "chicken wing" and/or flip through impact
7) pain, discomfort, and/or possible injury
None of these add up to good golf, and life is too short to play bad golf....
Enjoy that half swing. Tony Finau is making a pretty good living with it...
Thanks Tom."Successfully Incorporated" - that indeed is on my wish list ๐Yippee - played twice at the weekend and definitely managed many swings that were less rushed and more completed in the backswing.
Guess what - my shoulder stopped tilting. My second oldest could outdrive me with a gap wedge held down the shaft.๐
So its back do day one, lesson one !! Not quite, but nearly.
Sounds like your youngest son may now need to brush up on his distance spitting skills, @norman morrow......๐คฃ
I'm very glad you that tip resonated well and helped you rescue yourself from the ledge! I actually have an entire course in the school that is essentially based on a trail-arm driven swing. It's called the Simplest Golf Swing Ever, and I designed it as an option for golfers who have certain physical limitations or who just need a completely different way to feel and ingrain a proper swing. I encourage you to give it a look and see if it helps you to supplement what you have already successfully incorporated from that lesson video.
Focused on shoulder down, posture, arms attached etc etc etc etc๐ - why am I sinking in quicksand - an occasional crisp shot, the rest. so bad I cringe that my youngest son could spit further than my drives. Then in the darkest recesses of the site, I find this. https://saguto.golf/courses/867039/lectures/15767824 "training the trail arm".
Because I wrecked my right shoulder and now have an artificial one, I've been protecting it on the back-swing but despite my best efforts I couldn't overcome the mental block that created a wall preventing me completing a full back-swing. Although, Tom intended this drill for the downswing, it has "I hope permanently" fixed my problem. I use the feel of my right arm pulling the club back at the end of the back-swing - this means I finish it properly, get the wrists set, and the enhanced feel of power in the downswing is unreal.
Thanks Tom - just proves that the path to being a smiley old golfer is far from straight ๐
Did anyone get up and practice Tom's disco knee dance move he did in a recent video? I sent it to the Dancing With the Stars chief choreographer. LOL.
Actually the above referenced video is extremely important to watch because people often overlook faulty knee movement. "Disco knees" hamper the foundation of the golf swing.
While I like all the videos, I especially like the videos that focus more on the fundamentals because IMO that adds-up to about 90% of what's needed to play good golf. The rest of the details are contingent upon those fundamentals, or they almost happen by default.
I also think Tom's duets with Eric Cogorno are excellent.
@Brandon Wall ST is camera based and R10 is radar based. I use ST and really like it. I don't have room for radar based indoors. If you look at the R10 specs the 3mph is within the margin of error. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/695391#specs.
@Gerry_Lager@Brandon Wall@brian_russ@Ian "Twiggy" JonesItโs funny, I do the same. I have golf videos I am watching and I see something that seems to make senseโฆbam, run into the simulator to give it a try.I have the SC300 for the range, Arccos for the course, Skytrak (need to sell), and upgraded to the Uneekor system. For the money, skytrak is great. Because of the shot delay, I didnโt like playing courses with it. It also wasnโt good for short game shots and putting as it just missed too many shots. The Uneekor is totally badass. It shows slow motion video of the actual club ball impact. I installed the Uneekor probably about a year ago so I really havenโt used it much. I am going through to get my stuff setup now. The best part about my setup is that I will have a camera face on and dtl and the video will go to a big TV so I can see the shot on the screen and the face-on/dtl video on each shot. Of course, this simulator setup has been a point of contention with my wife. โBut wife, the kids can use this to really hone in their games for the golf team.โ :(
@Brandon Wall@Gerry_Lager The Skytrak doesnโt measure club head speed. Itโs just an estimate. You can connect a SkyPro club monitor and it will sync with Skytrak to include actual club data.The ST just takes two pictures of the ball and calculates everything based on that. All club data is an estimate. Itโs a great device. I compared it to Trackman, HD Golf, and Uneekor and it provided impressive comparisons, for the money itโs solid. I upgraded my sim and will be selling the skytrak soon. The R10 is not really comparable, but just may be the coolest launch monitor for the driving range. Rapsodo, VoiceCaddie SC300i are very similar to the R10.
Wow what a piece of kit that is for the price! I was tempted with the G80 but as I had a GPS watch I thought better of it.
This R10 though seems to be getting great early reviews and for the price, its metrics and the courses, I would much rather save my cash and get this R10.
Have been trying to find out if like the G80 you can use it without a ball but I can't find a definite answer.
Saguto golfers could get the R10 then we can all come together for a virtual round! Just need to work on the virtual bar!
Did you get the R10? I just saw one at the range last week. Very nice. Another buddy has the new Rapsodo setup and it works very well too. The new tech is really amazing.I have had the SC300 for a few years now, The new model is the SC300i. Itโs been spot on, although I donโt use it very often because I have a simulator at my house with the Uneekor launch monitor (started off with Skytrak and upgraded)โฆI also use arccos sensors to track actual shots when playing.
I watch the videos while on my computer at night when my wife and I are relaxing. Little does she know I'm watching the videos with google chrome's live caption that translates the speech to text...then I disappear for a few minutes to the simulator in the basement ;)
@Ian "Twiggy" Jones It can be pretty accurate after a fair amount of 'tweaking'. It helps to know your actual distances so you can adjust the parameters to match your real life distances. I like mine and it does help my game but it definitely has it's limitations. It's hard to beat for the money.
@brian_russ thanks. Iโve been considering getting one for a while now to just keep my game going through the winter. Iโve got a portable launch monitor which has been a godsend since switching to S&T to map my progress and yardages. Ive not got a lot of room indoors for a permanent setup so Optishot would be ideal just to keep me ticking over and oiled when I canโt get out to play.
I do it all the time. I start watching a video, put it on pause and then go to the garage and start swinging. I am suffering from the dreaded Sagutoholic syndrome!
100%. My wife is typically pretty good about knowing what Iโm doing but every now and then she will hit me with the โwhat on earth are you doing?โ and I tell her Iโm pretending to chop wood with an axe and that she wouldnโt understand
Tom, why not post a vid of you on the course, full 18 with a second S&T golfer?
I'm sure it would be entertaining as well as very useful for those of us trying to improve our game? If your playing partner was someone well known it would be even more entertaining. Would be a great youtube vid.
It is that critical, @Gerry_Lager. If you keep your head and accordingly the center of your swing circle in place as the weight continues to load forward through impact (70% at the transition, 80% halfway down, 90% through the zone), you cannot help but to shallow the path. Conversely, let that upper torso go and it's then all we can do to save our shot from the perils of steepness. Nice self-discovery!
Yes - Fleetwood demonstrates this perfectly, @GolfLivesMatter!
Here's your target head placement...Tommy Fleetwood...maybe not exactly...but you get the idea...
i've been having issues, especially with driver not getting distance. I feel like I'm making good contact. In my simulator the flight looks good, feels good. After analyzing my swing notice my head moving towards the target. I know @Tom Saguto says this in many videos but I'd like to put emphasis on it. KEEP THE HEAD STILL!!. while watching all of Tom's videos notice his head staying where it starts. I noticed with driver my back spin was way to high up in the 4k area. if I keep my head back behind the ball (that's how i set up with ball forward) the club head shallows out a bit before the ball and the angle of attack goes down causing the back spin numbers to go into the mid 2ks. which is ideal... long story short. Don't overlook the head position during the swing. Thoughts?
Really gained a lot from Simplest Golf Swing Ever
Getting good contact on 8/9/P - good contact on 7 iron 60% of the time.
Trying to iron out tendency for knee to kick left sometimes. Tried right leg shift at start of downswing - that was a comedy. Move leg/hip a touch left to make space for and encourage downswing - simple - NOOOOO - my stupid head thinks my left leg is taking it on a walk so it follows - brilliant result, no space for downswing.๐
Would getting legless on a bottle of Rum help ?
1 yes 2 yes 3 yes ... - all the way to 7
That did the trick, Tom. I've a much better understanding of the physical issues that make it impossible for me to do anything near a full swing and why I cannot even get a consistent swing, good or bad. I've only about 35-40 degrees of rotation in my right forearm. Switch to left handed ... nah, I'm not that desperate.
So I'm guessing I must learn to stop at that limit and stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Much appreciated.
Thanks Half-Swing-Norm.
Thanks Tom. "Successfully Incorporated" - that indeed is on my wish list ๐ Yippee - played twice at the weekend and definitely managed many swings that were less rushed and more completed in the backswing.
Guess what - my shoulder stopped tilting. My second oldest could outdrive me with a gap wedge held down the shaft.๐
So its back do day one, lesson one !! Not quite, but nearly.
I will for sure look at Simplest Golf Swing Ever.
Sounds like your youngest son may now need to brush up on his distance spitting skills, @norman morrow......๐คฃ
I'm very glad you that tip resonated well and helped you rescue yourself from the ledge! I actually have an entire course in the school that is essentially based on a trail-arm driven swing. It's called the Simplest Golf Swing Ever, and I designed it as an option for golfers who have certain physical limitations or who just need a completely different way to feel and ingrain a proper swing. I encourage you to give it a look and see if it helps you to supplement what you have already successfully incorporated from that lesson video.
Well done!
TS
Focused on shoulder down, posture, arms attached etc etc etc etc๐ - why am I sinking in quicksand - an occasional crisp shot, the rest. so bad I cringe that my youngest son could spit further than my drives. Then in the darkest recesses of the site, I find this. https://saguto.golf/courses/867039/lectures/15767824 "training the trail arm".
Because I wrecked my right shoulder and now have an artificial one, I've been protecting it on the back-swing but despite my best efforts I couldn't overcome the mental block that created a wall preventing me completing a full back-swing. Although, Tom intended this drill for the downswing, it has "I hope permanently" fixed my problem. I use the feel of my right arm pulling the club back at the end of the back-swing - this means I finish it properly, get the wrists set, and the enhanced feel of power in the downswing is unreal.
Thanks Tom - just proves that the path to being a smiley old golfer is far from straight ๐
Did anyone get up and practice Tom's disco knee dance move he did in a recent video? I sent it to the Dancing With the Stars chief choreographer. LOL.
Actually the above referenced video is extremely important to watch because people often overlook faulty knee movement. "Disco knees" hamper the foundation of the golf swing.
While I like all the videos, I especially like the videos that focus more on the fundamentals because IMO that adds-up to about 90% of what's needed to play good golf. The rest of the details are contingent upon those fundamentals, or they almost happen by default.
I also think Tom's duets with Eric Cogorno are excellent.
I had a vc300 before this. For 600$ it has some cool features. I canโt wait to take it to the range in the spring.
@Brandon Wall ST is camera based and R10 is radar based. I use ST and really like it. I don't have room for radar based indoors. If you look at the R10 specs the 3mph is within the margin of error. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/695391#specs.
I have a R10. I compared it to a skytrak last weekend. I noticed total distance was accurate but swing speed was off. Y as much as 3mph.
Take a look at the Garmin Approach R10. It's brand new but it looks really impressive for about $600.
I watch the videos while on my computer at night when my wife and I are relaxing. Little does she know I'm watching the videos with google chrome's live caption that translates the speech to text...then I disappear for a few minutes to the simulator in the basement ;)
I do it all the time. I start watching a video, put it on pause and then go to the garage and start swinging. I am suffering from the dreaded Sagutoholic syndrome!