We all know Tom's story. But for me it was something a little different. I was playing decent golf before but one night before a tournament I hurt my right ankle. The next morning I found I could not put my weight on it but didn't want to bail on my partner. So went to the course early to see what swing I can piece together. So naturally I started with my weight mostly on my front foot and striped the ball one after another. So warmed up like that with possibly the best ball striking Ive experienced. Wound up shooting a 79 on a pretty tough course. Then went home that night and did some research and here I am. Ive since ready the S&T red book 3 times. Also as a side note Ive picked up yardage I thought I lost due to advancing in age but nope just was not getting the Krispy KFC contact I am now. went from shooting high 80's to low 90's to consictently shooting high 70's to mid 80's on a bad day. Those bad days are usually putting related. So lets hear your stories!
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I'm retiring in June and am just now taking up golf. Bought clubs about a month ago and was surfing youtube for golf tips. Found Tom's videos and they made sense to me with my background in tennis, baseball and skiing. I practiced some of the techniques in the back yard and went to the driving range. WOW, about 1/4 of the bucket were good, the rest at least went more or less down range without hitting anyone. The next couple of times went better and yesterday my wife and I went to play a par 3. Had a great time, was 16 over par (putting and chipping need a LOT of work). I'm starting Tom's course at the beginning and will be out for a full 18 holes in July. Any thoughts or advice for a newbie?
Hi all,
What led me here was essentially left arm straight!
Now that I’m heading down the rabbit hole a number of elements have emerged that has totally changed my game (for the better)
and in no particular order.
Confidence
Improved irons (need to work on crispy factor)
3 woods and hybrids that just jump of the face 😊
Oh did I mention confidence?
One thing I realised that this is a lead sided game even the great Moe Norman mentioned this.
I could go on but let me report back after my next game😊⛳️
I think the thing that made this feel like the swing I should follow is I only hit good shots when I focused no no weight shift in feet and keep straight lead arm. When this stuff popped up it made total sense from when I hit the good shots.
That and regardless of how the pros get to the Swing a good swing has all the elements taught here so just made sense.
Simple.. it works.. :)
Hi.
Started playing Golf in May again after a break of 20 years.
Gave 3 Swingschools a try.
Each one for about 4-5 weeks:
Bobby Jones - classical way
Pete Cowen - spiral way
Tom Saguto - stack+tilt way
Decided to stay with Tom in the end.
Pure focus on tee, fairway and approach.
No Driver. Maximum 5 Iron and FW5.
Played 8/10 rounds under 90.
Next year shortgame and Putting. Thx for your effort Tom and GL to all others. Cheers
Took up golf at the start of the year to give my son company, and absolutely feel in love with the it. Began having lessons and did improve but was so inconsistent with thinning and fatting shots with the odd good one thrown in which would keep you coming back. Then at the start of July whilst playing a round I was hit in the eye with a golf ball and blinded. Whilst off work I have watched numerous golf videos and came across stack and tilt. I'd watched Tom's videos before but didn't realise this was the style he used. Anyway went to the range today and hit my first ball in 12 weeks using S&T hoping it will give me a more consistent and simplified swing 🙏.
I was searching for a swing that is simple, repeatable and powerful. By simple I mean fewer moving parts to think about. I feel that because the S&T swing is simple it’s also very repeatable. And my distance is very good. All these things builds confidence when you step up to the ball. Glad I discovered Tom and S&T.
After studying SnT for several years, it's clear the overall teaching program is far easier to understand and learn, especially with Tom and Rob Cheney providing far more detail than the SnT red book. That noted, in my opinion there is a major reason why folks see immediate improvement. That improvement is the result of curtailing otherwise historically moderate to excessive shifts off the ball at the start of the backswing.
A weight distribution of 55/45 for those who shifted in prior years, and/or a 60/40 distribution for those who likely shifted way too much, now keeps those players more stacked over the ball. The shifters, at least in my experience, will still want to shift, even in SnT, but the revised weight distribution serves to curtail shifting, and thus the low point of the swing becomes more discoverable.
The other major part is maintaining a relationship with the ball via shoulder turn, or maintaining spine angle. If I had to pick a chicken and egg scenario, I'd say the relationship to the ball is #1 to nail down, and maintaining weight distribution is #2.
Why snt? I have been on a mission to become a better golfer and I have continued to make improvements. My previous swing motion was much more similar to the Jimmy Ballard, Rocco Mediate swing. I fell in love with that move because it was so similar to other sports I had played…throwing a ball, throwing a punch, etc. It worked. However, by “it worked”, I mean my handicap continued to drop. I was a 12-14…got down to a solid sub 10. Mostly hanging out around 7-10. However, I would hit a hot streak and throw in some really low scores and every year my handicap would get down 4-5 and I couldn’t come close to playing to it. It was embarrassing. I could be striping the ball one week and then the next week I was hitting big blocks, thin shots, hooks, and throw in the occasional top or something of that variety. For me that was it. The entire premise of snt is built around a consistent low point. This past year I decided I was all in and just committed to snt. This year, I have been a 3-4 handicap almost the entire year and I have confidence Incan play to it. Now, I see a clear path to being a scratch golfer.
Hello Katanas,
All your describes sounds like a good way to approach but, and maybe this is a question for all and if Tom can chime in. The rolling of the hands is a big question for me. Should they roll? Or should they be quite? Am I missing something? Thx.
BTW...I just thought about the OP's original question: "What made you turn to Stack and Tilt?".
That question is very very similar to: "What made you turn to Eric Clapton for guitar lessons?"
Then that kind of begs the question: "What the HECK were you doing before?" LOL.
Got to be honest here...found S&T via Rob Cheney videos, but I only searched for SnT because my old pro started teaching SnT.
The thing about SnT is people think it's somehow a "different" golf swing, meaning it's unique, for which only "we" employ. Actually, the SnT swing method IS THE PRO TOUR swing, sans a few tour pro exceptions. Plummer was able to pick a name for a system to best accentuate the primary moves so folks could understand the baseline concepts far faster. Tom and Rob go far beyond Plummer IMO.
I can't count the number of times a pro tour player, like Tiger, or even way back to Nicklaus, talked about being "over the ball" at the top, meaning stacked. While Nicklaus lifted his lead heel on the backswing, he was still over the ball. Same for Hogan, Woods, etc, etc. Plus, placing more weight on the lead side for irons is now a universal teaching, and trying to maintain a bend in the trail knee at the top has since been found to be of little benefit, and actually a detriment.
The Shift & Lift swing, in my opinion, was not so much taught in the old days, but rather a huge misinterpretation of the swing due to Hogan's book. I think a LOT of folks completely misinterpreted the movements and got into trouble, or their instructors were lousy at explaining the swing.
Back in my day of high school and college golf, the shift part was never meant to mean moving the weight on top of, or to the outside my trail foot at the top. My old golf coaches would place golf balls under the outside of my trail foot to keep my weight centered at the top...stay OVER the ball. While there was a shift, it was a shift into the inside of my trial heel. SO MANY guys got this wrong a long time ago and never recovered. To this day there remains a degree of pressure on the inside of my trail heel at the top when I follow all of Tom's teachings.
The "lift" part is something folks can, and will do even with the SnT swing because most folks have never turned back far enough, and/or they still employ a straight right foot. However, and maybe I was lucky, but my old coaches didn't mind some flaring of the right foot. But if someone didn't gain that insight, their right foot position severely limited their backswing turn. As such they were relegated to lifting the club to the top.
SnT / Bennett & Plummer / Tom / Rob have done excellent jobs in terms of detailing what is called an "SnT swing", but in reality they are teaching us how to swing like the tour pros.
Hi just joined a few days ago but have been changing my swing to stack and tilt over the last 6 or so months. The reason i switched is for whatever reason my practice swings were great ( shocker right?) and then put a ball in front of me i crumple. Having specific swing thoughts have helped to take my mind off the ball and juat think about the shot and where i want it to go. Too soon to tell about this program but I have a feeling having a structured plan to follow should help quite a bit.
I knew very little about the breakdown of the golf swing let alone the S&T red book. I joined just for the what is wrong with this guy entertainment. Truth is it is that approach to learning and making it fun and still maintaining the drive and dedication to doing it right that got me hooked. I've only been a member since March and appreciate the approach and the forum to read others experiences that helps me. 👍 Thx Tom and Thank you all for your contribution.
speaking of @Tom Saguto entertainment value and "what's wrong with this guy?" :). I was in the Florida Keys this winter and saw some dudes hanging out at a bar wearing these glasses and I laughed out loud recalling this driver video. My wife looked and me and I said it was too hard to explain. :). Thanks Tom.
I can't recall really. After watching a few YT videos and trying it out I was impressed how well I was hitting my irons. I said hmm.... this might work. Then I looked at the pricing structure and was impressed it was only $10/month. I've tried other programs that tease you with a few instructions then sock you $30/month. With the instant success, @Tom Saguto entertainment value, and only $10/month I was intrigued and now I'm hooked.
@My Golf Quest I discovered the S&T on You Tube following Tom. I was so impressed by the way I was starting to make crispy KFC contact with it that I signed up for Saguto.Golf. I know one thing for sure! Golf is a whole lot more fun for me than it used to be!