Muscle Memory is bunk...

Contrary to popular opinion, muscles do not have memory ability.
Muscles are controlled by your brain, which explains why brain-dead individuals do not move a lot. The muscles can only contract and stretch...not memorize.

If you buy into the old wives' tale of muscle memory then you would also believe that practice makes perfect. The supposition is that if you 'pay your dues' on the practice tee, you will become a good player.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, scores of golfers are worse off for the amount of practice that they do. They simply become better at making bad shots. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

Only the brain has memory capabilities.
So what is the purpose of practice then and what are you trying to 'memorize'?

Practice will bridge the gap between learning and execution and you are trying to memorize the kinaesthetic feel of correct swing mechanics. When you have done that, you simply reproduce that feel which will then reproduce the correct mechanics.

Alignment Golf vs. Position Golf

This article is by Homer Kelley and in his words...thanks
to my coach Chuck Evans for transcribing it.

The subject for this outing is-the difference between
"Alignment Golf" ( hand controlled pivot) and "Position
Golf" (pivot controlled hands). Position golf advocates
teaching the pivot components (especially) to move from an
Address Location to a Top Location to an Impact location to
a finish location in such a manner as to cause the Arms to
whip the Clubhead along a path that passes through the Ball
Location. Then to practice adjusting these various locations
to vary and control Ball Behavior.

I know, because I spent 15 years trying to reduce that to
shift to some sort of pattern. All the time, with a cry
"Golf is an art, and not a science." ringing far and wide.
And to this day. "Einstein was a great engineer but a lousy
golfer and" - all engineers are doomed to lousy golfing -
unless they ignored engineering, which they apparently do.

"Alignment Golf" holds that the relationships of those
"Component Locations", "Positions" AND "Movements", with
each other along the target line are the "Golfing
Imperatives."

Here is the point of apparent confusion for some seekers.
The Hands and the Arms do not substitute for the Pivot. The
Pivot is the entire substance of Zone #1 of the G.O.L.F.
techniques advocates precision relationships and movements
of the Pivot. Which must be educated to make any adjustment
of these relationships and movements that Hands declare
necessary for avoiding interference with its complete
freedom in executing the Three Functions of the Club - those
of the Clubshaft, the Clubhead and the Clubface. All three
of which must be kept completely coordinated but completely
independent - the only procedure available for consistently
precise impact.

The advantages of this is obvious in The Golfing Machine. All these
factors can be identified, cataloged and assembled into a
completely compatible and repeatable - as well as infinitely
and voluntarily adjustable Patterns.

So Hand Controlled Pivots are Pivots at their best. Now -
what is recommended, is educating the Pivot Components - per
Zone 1 - OUT OF THEIR DICTATORIAL FIXED POSITION SYNDROME
forthwith! Third with, if possible. At least, get started!!

Homer Kelley December 1982

Oakley Endorsement

Justin Tang Golf is proud to endorse the new Oakley Radars.
Under the new contract, Justin will be wearing the Radars when he works on the games of the region's top amateurs as well as budding beginners.

Of the revolutionary Hydrophobic, Oleophobic and High Definition Optics, Tang said: "I have never seen anything like this before, nothing out there even comes close to emulating Oakley's innovation."

The Squat Down

Many golf writers, theorists and pros all concur (for once) on the benefit of the 'squat' look at the start of the downstroke. This move is found only in the best ballstrikers and some have gone as far as to anoint it 'Sam Snead's Squat' in reference to Slammin' Sammy's downstroke move.

Check out Sam and Ben Hogan as well as Long Drive champs, Brian Pavlet and David Mobley.

The key to making this move is NOT by squatting down.
The squat down happens as a result of something else.
H _ _ _ _

The Hand Controlled Pivot

What on earth are those green lines drawn over Kenny Perry?

If you have the answer, you would have understood the essence of the golf swing.

Special thanks to V1 Pro Swing Analysis Software for the clips of Kenny Perry.

Article in iseekgolf.com

This was an article done by www.iseekgolf.com on me in December of 2006.
Enjoy!

Your Driver: Armed For Power

Aqilah the Ace

A short progress report on Aqilah the Ace...looks like she is in good company with former World No.1 David Duval...

Axis Tilts

Improper Axis Tilts can cause all manner of fat and topped shots as well as trajectories that are too high.

The corrected Axis Tilts in the following pictures produced a steeper angle of attack, a more delofted clubface and shots that were compressed and launched at a lower angle.

Jim Leong

This is getting to be old news...

This is Jim's before and after impact alignments.
Check out the flat left wrist on the after as well as the head and the center of the sternum and hips going ahead of his pre-established head positioned (blue line).

Although a forward sway is strongly discouraged, it is useful as a transitionary move on the downstroke to enable Jim to steepen his angle of attack and compress the ball.

Also notice the very quiet left foot on the after shot.

"The sound of impact is different," said Jim.

The Function of the Golf Stroke

The function of the golf stroke is not to hit the ball a specific distance to a specific location.

The function of the golf stroke is to control the Clubshaft, Clubhead and Clubface from the Address to the Top to the Finish.

The Right Forearm controls the Clubshaft, the Right Index finger controls the Clubhead and the back of the Left Wrist controls the Clubface.

When you can control these 3 elements of the golf club, you will control the ball and then you will control the course.

Due to a lack of time...

Bobby also came along with his buddy Benson. Besides identifying a flaw in the setup, we also noticed that Benson was coming over the top. Because of a lack of time, we could only share with him one little move to help him move the club on an inside out path.

Elapsed time: 1 minute

Bobby is good!

Mr. Bobby S came straight from the airport after flying in from Indonesia for lessons. This is what we managed to do for him.



The impact position is the first thing that we always work on...if there is impact fallout there is no point working on other parts of the game for this is the moment of truth.

In the after picture, check out Bobby's flat left wrist, lower launch of the ball (evidence of delofting the club and compressing the ball) as well as the reduction of the axis tilt (see that the right shoulder is not too under the left shoulder).
Also notice that his eye line is not tilted but rather parallel to his target line - the eyeline does have an effect on how your brain perceives space and affects your motion.



After fixing Bobby's impact alignments, we then proceeded to work on the plane of his clubshaft. Previously due to incomplete information (i.e. take the club back on an inside arc), Bobby was going underplane big time.

By explaining to him the proper mechanics and then putting him through the motion, Bobby was able to identify the feel of being onplane and get his shaft onplane during the backstroke.

Elapsed time for correction? 5 minutes each.
Bobby is going back to Indonesia a happy man.

All in a day's work...

Was working with two junior players this afternoon. This is the fruit of our labor after 30 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. If these guys continue to improve at this speed, the other junior players had better watch their back.

Check out the shaft positions in the 'after' shots - no sweat.

You could very well be the next 'success story'...

What do you lose by calling us? Your slices, hooks, pushes, pulls, lack of distance...

Bobby Clampett and Medicus Golf Institute

It is official...Bobby Clampett has joined Medicus Golf Institute in its efforts to revolutionize golf instruction.

Bobby has also released his new book entitled The Impact Zone.

Registration for Impact Zone Golf Schools with Bobby Clampett is now open.
You may email jtang@medicusgolfinstitute.com for more information or click HERE

Hit down on the 3-wood

Whoever teaches golfers to "hit up" and/or "sweep" fairway woods and drivers ought to be BANNED from teaching. Check out the slow motion footage of Ernie Els when the camera is focused on the ball. If the clubface is pointing at the ground post impact, any person in his / her right mind will deduce that the clubhead is travelling on a downward trajectory.

And while you are watching, just ignore the commentary. Its an object case of "overexplaining the obvious and underexplaining the necessary."



Golf is not rocket science. The golf swing is a circle - you either hit up or down. If you are not hitting up, then you are hitting down. There are no flat spots for you to "sweep" the ball as sexy a concept as that may be.

It is this very thing about trying to hit up on the long irons, fairway woods and drivers that causes all manner of weak shots - topped shots, pop ups etc.
The next time you pull out one of the longer clubs, hit down on them and watch them fly.

Newton's 3rd Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

You hit DOWN on the ball, your scores will go DOWN.
You hit UP on the ball, your scores will go UP.

GET IT?

Swing Down The Line

As a corollary to "square the clubface", many golfers will also agree that they need to "swing down the line" with the clubhead. Some others may feel like they need to "point" to where they want the ball to end up.

In the pictures that follow, it is evident that the clubhead is moving down, out and forward.



Why then the fixation on swinging down the line, focusing only on the forward component of the clubhead's downstroke orbit? How about the down and out?

To focus only on the forward portion of the clubhead's downstroke orbit is to commit golf's cardinal sin - the bending of the left wrist.

Square Clubface...

In teaching folklore, one of the most revered advice has got to be: "Hit the ball with a square clubface."

This is true albeit a half truth. The next question that needs to be asked is this, "square to what" ?

The target line?



Or the arc of the swing?



The next question, how do you "do it"?

Plane and Simple

When the clubshaft is said to be on plane, it will have the two characteristics:
1. The entire shaft will lie full length on the face of the plane
2. The shaft will always point at the plane line except when they are parallel to one another.

The following snap shot of Ben Hogan illustrates this.



The next picture illustrates the before and after of a student. Notice how off plane he was in the before and how on plane he is after a MERE 2 minutes.
Even he was stunned...

China Golf Vol. 122 - Swing MOI

China Golf Vol. 121 - Hinge Action

Justin Tang Golf has contributed to the past 2 issues of China Golf magazine. China Golf is the biggest circulating golf magazine in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Attached are some excerpts.

The Tripod

Little has been spoken about the position of the head in the golf swing. As a result, golfers place it where it feels most comfortable. From teaching varying levels of golfers, I notice that most of them tend to address it too far to their trailing side.

For the right-handed golfers, they position the head too far to the right and for the lefties; it is too far to the left. When the head is not centered as it ought to be, the center of the swing shifts. The center of the swing is the left shoulder for the right-handed golfer and again, vice versa for the left handed golfer.

Now, conduct a simple test in front of the mirror. Stand upright with the head centered; tilt your head slightly to the right over the right kneecap. Observe how your left shoulder moves in tandem with the amount of head movement.

This faulty setup is one of the reasons why golfers hit their shots fat all the time. To circumvent this problem, most golfers then start to bend the lead wrist or flip to prevent the club head from impacting the ground before the ball.

This is called club head throwaway and is the number one malfunction in golf. This causes all sorts of maladies from lack of distance to wild shots. It also causes lack of compression and the “duffer’s low-flying nothing ball” in the words of Mr. Homer Kelley.

There has also been a plethora of instruction (X-Factor, Y-Factor, Connected Swing) that tells you to move your head over to the right side and then back to the center. As explained above, this is geometrically imprecise and no one – not even Tiger Woods – can move back and forth the same distance ALL the time. The pros that play with this style make it work for them most of the time because of their hand-eye-coordination.

Trust me, you DO NOT HAVE that coordination. If you did, you would be on Tour. I will make this statement here. Most of the Tour Pros you see are using non-optimum mechanics. Again, they make it work because they are able to compensate (and you can’t).

Look at the picture of Sam Snead and learn. Set your head in the center of your body, this will form what is called a ‘tripod’. The head is one point, the left foot another and the right the last one. Maintain this tripod from address, backstroke, impact and at least to follow through. Get this and watch how consistent you become!

The Moment Of Truth

If one was to single out the most important portion of the golf swing, it would have to be impact. Impact is defined as section of the golf swing where the club meets the ball. Looking at the myriad of swings on the professional tours, only one section of ALL their swings look similar, the moment of truth – IMPACT.

This moment of truth can explain why people with seemingly good swings can make awfully bad shots (the lithe hot chick at the range); and why professionals with swings that resemble a butcher in action can win majors (Jim Furyk, Hubert Green et al).

Until one has an idea of what impact should feel like, it is pointless to work on the other aspects of the golf swing. Yes, how you grip, how you stand, half swings and full swings have no place in your curriculum unless and until you master the gateway to correct golf.

Too many people try to walk before they can even crawl so to speak in golf. Having given more lessons than I care to remember, less than a handful of students was actually thrilled at not being able to hit full swings under my tutelage.

Most players have been given a wrong concept of how to learn and play by their well meaning friends. Notwithstanding, this problem is further compounded by some coaches who encourage them to practice with their 7 irons until they build in some semblance of muscle memory.

Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent your motion whether correct or wrong! If you cannot even strike the ball correctly in a chip shot, you will have no chance with a full swing.

So what are optimum impact alignments?

1. A flat left wrist and a bent right wrist
2. Hands ahead of the ball
3. Grip end of the club leaning towards the target
4. Hands opposite the left thigh
5. Head centered between the stance

If You Can't Teach Yourself, You Can't Teach Anyone

If one cannot teach oneself, how can one teach another?

The best way to validate one's "theories" and pedagogy is to see if it works on oneself.

If it doesn't, then it is just B.S period.

This is a video of myself pitching left-handed.

No...I didn't practice for hours on end to get this, this is probably my 3rd time attempting a pitch shot. Its simply a matter of knowing what to do and then doing it.

Another Win...

This is the scorecard of a student, Lionel Ho, who won the recent 'C' Medal of the Mercedes Benz Trophy in Keppel Club.

The Results We Get...

So what are the kind of results that we get?
Instead of harping too much about it, we will let you see pictures.
All done in the space of half an hour.

Very quickly, proper impact has a player hitting down on the ball with a flat left wrist, and a head that is centered between the feet. By examining the before and after pictures of these two players, its quite blatant that they made REAL progress.

Getting a flat left wrist is the first thing that we work on in our schools and lessons. Why? Because if you are able to keep your left wrist flat throughout the entire swing, you will go out tommorrow and break 80.

I know my answer is not straight to the point. But if you want the real deal on the flat left wrist, why not arrange an appointment with me? You will be glad you did.

There Isn't A Universal Golf Swing

There isn't a universal golf swing

By Chuck Evans,

Currently there is a lot of publicity about a "new" golf swing of the future. This swing is being touted as the "fix-all" for every golfer.

Golfers will buy into anything that they think may improve their game no matter how ludicrous it may be. We are all looking to play better golf, hit more consistent shots, make more putts, and the search for this elusive "Holy Grail" will never end. But to think and promote that one golf swing will work with everyone is simply insanity!

For example, do you really think that someone like Craig Stadler can move his body and club like someone as flexible as Camilo Villegas, absolutley NOT! Yet the golfing public so desperately wants to find the "secret" that they will buy into this.

I personally feel sorry for the golfing world. We, at the Medicus Golf Institute, have spent our entire careers helping golfers play better and without trying to stick every player into some type of mold. We take what their tendencies are, show them options, and then let them decide which variation is the easiest for them to replicate.

I can remember growing up as a young player when we all wanted to swing like Ben Hogan. The truth is that to duplicate anyone else, you would need several factors.

1. Be built like the player
2. Have the same flexibility as the player
3. Have the same mindset as the player

Without all of the above characteristics you will never be able to duplicate their swing. Sure, to the untrained eye it may appear to look a alike - or close - but the pure mechanics would not match up.

Several years ago I approached IBM and MIT with an idea. I wanted to develop a "Virtual Reality" that would place sensors on the body. These sensors would not only provide data about the flexibility of the player but would also send stimuli to the body for movement.

In the "helmet" there would be a viewing visor - or screen - that the player would see whomever they were trying to emulate. As the "model" moved the body sensors would activate and move the player along with the model.

IBM and MIT both told me that my idea was way beyond the available technology. Here we are years later and we still do not have the ability to build such a machine.

Humans are not perfect, so to try and build a perfect golf stroke is unattainable. The only way to actually build a perfect model is to use mechanical devices such as Iron Byron. But even with this machine it has limitations. Remember it was based on Byron Nelson's swing and not perfect swing mechanics.

Do yourself a favor and find an instructor that will help you attain your goals while using what you are capable of impact separation, a straight plane line, and can monitor/feel the sweetspot against your forefinger you can do virtually anything else you want to do.

Chuck Evans is one of only 31 teachers worldwide designated to hold a "Doctorate in Golf Stroke Engineering." He is executive director of instruction for the Medicus Golf Institute and has served as director of schools for the PGA Tour Golf Academy and the director of instruction for the United States Golf Institute. He can be reached at cevans@medicusgolfinstitute.com

How to make $20 FAST...

I was actually LYING when I said "No-Results-Money-Back-Guarantee"...I am extremely apologetic and ashamed of myself.

What I really meant to communicate was this...if you take lessons from me and do not learn:

- to COMPRESS the ball BETTER
- to stop SHANKING
- to stop SLICING
- to stop HOOKING
- how to learn the golf swing EFFECTIVELY and EFFICIENTLY
- how to gain a COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING of the golf swing
- to pinpoint with absolute certainty the faults that are PLAGUING your game
- what TRADITIONAL golf instruction has done to WRECK your swing
- how to use your mind to CONTROL your emotions, your game and your opponent
- to hit the ball FURTHER
- to hit the ball STRAIGHTER
- how to get out of bunkers in 2 minutes like Gary Player
- how to hit your long irons, fairway woods, hybrids and driver with POWER and CONSISTENCY. No, you do not 'sweep' them nor hit up on them
- to gain the RESPECT of your CLIENTS, BOSS and PEERS on the golf course

I will refund you your lesson fees and GIVE you $20 on top of that for wasting your time. How about that?

Up next, the $10,000 Instructor Challenge, watch this space...

Seeing, Thinking, Feeling and Doing

What you see, think, feel and do are sometimes very different, this is especially true of golf.

What you see Camilo Villegas do is most likely not what you think he is doing.

When you think your swing looks like Tiger Woods', it most likely is not what you are doing.

We all have a friend who thinks he sounds like Frank Sinatra and goes to the trouble to prove it. We all know that he doesn't sound like Frank and hope that the neighbours don't call the cops for noise pollution when he belts out "My Way".

Why? Simply because the dude cannot hear himself sing. In like fashion, most of us balk when we hear a tape recording of ourselves singing.

It is no different in golf. If we do not use feedback mechanisms to show us what we are doing when we are doing something, we will never be able to identify the correct kinaesthetic feel that produces the correct swing motion. If we cannot identify the feel, then we will only have fleeting moments of precision.

Insanity

Insanity has been rightly defined as: "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result each time."

So why is it that we see so many golfers today pounding bucket after bucket of balls at driving ranges the world over? What's more, each time they send the ball slicing, they get frustrated demean themselves and then make the exact same motion and curse at the ball for not going straight!

To initiate a change in the ball flight, you need to initiate a change in your swing motion. An axiom that is worth mentioning here - "What feels right is wrong, what feels wrong is right."
When you start to make a change in your swing motion, you must feel awkward and out of your comfort zone. Otherwise you will be making the same old motion and guess what, you will get the same old results!

The Short Game - Your Long Game's DNA

The long game magnifies whatever errors that are present in your swing.
The short game shows up whatever errors these are. In other words, the short game is the skeleton of your long game.

The most common instructional error I see is trying to correct mistakes in the full swing by working on the full swing!

My swing speed with the driver is around 119 mph on average. So many things are moving at the same at such a high speed.

Firstly without the aid of a proper video camera and software to capture the swing, it is impossible for the naked eye to detect faults. What looks 'natural' to the naked eyes usually looks like garbage on slow motion on a video camera.

Secondly, even with the aid of a video camera, there will be too many faults in a full swing. Trying to change 10 things in one go simply does not work.

Hick's Law states that when we concentrate on more than one concept at a time, our reaction time increases exponentially - no wonder so many people become paralysed over the ball!

Jack Nicklaus said that when he practiced, he tried to have no more than one swing thought. Jack, of course, is the winningest major champion of all time (18 professional majors).

The easiest solution then is to identify the flaw in the full swing and then go back to the short game to correct it. A little outside-in path on a chip shot will mutate into an uncontrollable slice producing machine.