Match Play Magic - An Excerpt

Match Play Magic

The key to winning golf especially match play is to have zero expectations.
By zero expectations, I don’t mean to say that one should have a careless attitude about everything.

You ought to have expectations about what you are personal capability, your composure, shot selection – things you are able to control.

What you ought to have zero expectations about are things without your control. Some examples of these things are wind strength, direction, the distance your opponent smashes his drives, whether or not he is able to make his putt; and if you play in tournaments – whether the referee rules to or away from your favor.

If one gets excited (happy or angry) with things outside of one’s control, it can only lead to one’s emotions to the subject to the whims of others (human or otherwise). Sure, you may be able to catch lightning in a bottle twice, but sooner or later the law of probabilities will catch up with you.

After you have assimilated the sections teaching you how to learn, improve as much as you desire; and having a game plan, the next step would be to master yourself, specifically your emotions.

Emotion is defined as a feeling; of anger, peace, courage or fear.

Having a zero expectation about things outside your control is very beneficial. When you have the mindset that anything can happen on the golf course, you cease to have any unrealistic or imagined expectations.

An example of these are, your opponent fluffing a tap in putt and your opponent double bogeying the entire back nine.

If you do not have any expectations, you then cease to have any emotions when things go for or against you. When your opponent does miss a short putt, you do not get excited. When you opponent makes a 60 footer, you do not get excited. When you are able to keep your emotions on an even keel, then you retain control over yourself. Positive or negative excitement causes your adrenal glands to pump adrenaline into your system. An “adrenalized” state can be recognized by a state of short shallow breaths, shaking hands and feet among others.

Instead of the usual antidote of taking deep breaths and focusing on something else other than the match at hand, wouldn’t it be easier on the golfer had the adrenaline not been pumped in the first place? We all know how effective deep breathing is on the course.

The number one killer of match play games is fear. Fear stems from a situation of not knowing what might happen in the future. If you know what will happen in the next minute, then how can you fear? On the other hand, if you know that what will happen next is out of your control and you expect anything to happen, then what is there to fear or defend against? Why fear or worry about what you cannot do anything about?

What should you do then in a match play?

Be evenly matched up – which means either squaring off with a person of the same playing ability or taking strokes off a better opponent. Pride leads to a man’s fall.
Be clear about your own golfing abilities; of the distance you are able to achieve, the shots you are able to hit etc. Once you have taken stock of these, you are then able to calculate percentages into the shots at hand. Again this is described in preceding sections about your personal game plan.

You should only hit high percentage shots even though this may be nothing more than a 10 meter punch from under the trees to set up a bogey play. In the long run, if you have a solid game plan that requires you to hit your high percentage shots, you will save more shots in the long run and hopefully win more matches.

Be non-expectant about the things outside of your control. Some of the worse students I have had used to admit to playing “Hail Mary” golf; that is keep doing what he wants to do instead of what he needs to do and hope and pray things go their way.

Such an attitude reflects cessation of control and without control; you will not be in control emotionally to stick to your game plan and let your percentages work in your favor.

Instead of allowing the situation to cause you to react, read the situation for what it is, adjust your game plan accordingly, all the while making sure the percentages still remain in your favor.

Preface to The Disciplined Golfer

Preface

Golf is deceptively simple, or so it seems. The ball is not in motion like a football. You neither have to worry about someone wrestling you to the ground nor does the equipment require Herculean strength to manipulate. Why then do we have so many problems with the golf ball?

This manual was written to address the disparity between the perceived ease and actual difficulty of golf. The truth of the matter is that golf is both easy and difficult.

Today, we have more knowledge of the golf swing today than centuries past, yet a visit to the range will show that the problems that plagued our golfing brothers of yesteryear still infect the enthusiasts that take up the game each year. If knowledge equals power, we should be better. Yet, that isn’t the case. The key is being objective with information and judge it against a quantifiable benchmark.

Each new comer to the sport will be infected with well meaning advice from friends who can barely hit the ball efficiently. Old saws like “keep your left arm straight” and “keep your head down” are the usual suspects.

Should such simplistic advice were to be the “be all and end all” of a golfer’s problems, then golfers should have no problems playing to a decent level (below 80s).

Take another golfer and prescribe scientifically correct information as part of an improvement program, and his fate won’t be very much different from the new comer described above. Why?

The two golfers above though they differed in knowledge, they were united in a lack of understanding of themselves. Proper information plus a proper understanding of self is like sodium and chloride together – they produce something beneficial. Apart from each other, they are deadly.

Most of us cede control and ascribe our golfing weakness to elements outside of ourselves and control. The magic bullet is not some secret technique, being stronger or even practicing more. The barrier that prevents us from becoming as good as we are capable of lies within.

I am not referring to golf psychology where one pictures the shot before pulling the trigger or deep breathing techniques to conquer stress etc.

You can visualize all you care for, but if you have faulty mechanics, the shots are just not going to happen. If you are 70 yrs old, visualize all you want, you won’t be airmailing your tee shots 300 yards. Visualization must be tempered with a realistic assessment of one’s capability.

What I am referring to is an understanding of how you work. I will be outlining:

1) Beliefs and their impact on perception
2) The role of information and knowledge
3) The relationship between mental know how and physical execution.
4) A process to bridge the gap.

Once you accept responsibility for your improvement and not ascribe it to external forces, understand and apply these 4 principles, then the game that you once thought easy will become easy and you can improve as much as you want to.

The Disciplined Golfer - Developing a Winning Game

Golf is actually an easy game...

Think about it:

1) The ball is not moving

2) You get to play in a very pleasant environment

3) You do not have to worry about anyone tackling or trying to break your legs

4) The equipment that you use to play the game is quite light as compared to weightlifting

5) You do not really need to be very fit to enjoy the game

So why do so many of us have problems with the white ball?

1) We are impatient - we want instant results. Hey, did you learn to drive your car in 5 minutes?

2) We think we know better than the pro - granted some pros can't tell the difference between the back of a donkey and a dog, most pros actually know what they are talking about. I once had a lady take a lesson from me. Throughout the lesson, she kept saying: "I think I know already." The result was the same...fat and topped shots. The ball never lies.

3) We are not really doing what they pro is telling us and what we think we are doing - this is what we call a faulty feedback loop. I believe that if you picked up any golf magazine and followed any of the tips to the letter inside, it would work to a certain extent. Are you really doing what you should be doing?

I have spent many years researching on data collected from teaching and observing students. The problem it seems that prevents us from playing good golf is not so much more information as pertaining to technique, rather it is lack of good information on learning psychology.

Most of the information on golf techniques are no more than the same information packaged in a different way. I challenge anyone to provide me with some new "tip" that has not been published or taught by an eminent teacher in the past.

This post is certainly not meant to foment any unrest among golf pros etc...As I have iterated before, my passion is to help people get better at this game, I am not worried at all if people are upset over my comments, I still sleep soundly at night.
I am currently writing a book entitled "The Disciplined Golfer - Developing a Winning Game". I truly believe that this will change the way you look at learning golf whether you are a beginner or an experienced golfer trying to improve.

Impact - 1/4 of the JTG Swing Model

Students exhibiting commendable impact alignments during their 2nd lesson.

Impact is 1/4 of the JTG Swing Model...

The Inside Men

Its been said that the Over-The-Top move is the most prevalent error amongst amateur golfers. For both Garrett and Rohit (8 and 6 months playing experience), that doesn't seem to be the case.

What's the secret here you may ask...
The secret is that there are no secrets, only dedication to improvement, hard work and the correct application of drills.

Stack and Tilt from the Horse's Mouth

As told by Lynn Blake:

I think the greatest benefit of Stack and Tilt (Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett) is its emphasis on the centered and stationary head. When you keep your head steady -- no Swaying (Fourth Snare / 3-F-7-D) -- good things happen.

As Andy explained to me on the practice tee of last year's AT&T Classic, the much misunderstood 'tilt' portion of S&T is necessary to restore the centered head of the player who has swayed to the right (and 'tilted' his spine away from the target). In other words, after the Sway, you must 'tilt back' (toward the target) to re-center the head that never should have moved in the first place! This is the demon they fight in so many of the players who come to them.

"But Andy," said I, "What if the player keeps his head centered and stationary . . . like this . . ." (and I demonstrated my backstroke).

"That's perfect," said he. "You don't need to tilt."

So . . . if you sway to the right, S&T dictates that you 'tilt back' to the left to restore the centered head (and the 'stack' of the lower and upper body). But, if you correctly 'stack', i.e., never 'unstack', then you don't need to 'tilt'.

Guess the editors at Golf Digest didn't think we needed a system just called 'Stack'.

Stack and Tilt Revisited

(L-Before R-After)

After having problems hitting the ball fat, Kevin was taught how to tilt his shoulders on the takeaway to produce a "stacked" backswing.

Notice in the picture on the left, the head is almost over the right foot. As mentioned earlier in another post, if the head doesn't shift back to where it was at address, the club will bottom out too early.

In the picture on the right, the head is in a much better position. From there, all Kevin needs to do is to bring the club down on the ball without shifting anything.

The result? Purely struck shots that resembled F-14s taking off an aircraft carrier.

The Most Important Club(s) In Your Bag

Much has been made of the saying "Drive for show, Putt for dough."
Either, that saying needs to carry a caveat - ceteris paribus - or else its just a thoughtless quote.

If you can't drive the ball far and straight enough, then however many putts you make on the green will be meaningless. Who wants to be 6 on and then 1 putt on a par 4 / 5? Not me for sure.

The most important clubs in any golfers' bag are the driver (or equivalent), wedge and putter - in that order.

Here is why...

The Driver

One needs to put the drive reasonably far off the tee to have a chance to reach the green in regulation or be near it. It pays to ensure that your driver's loft and shaft flex and weight are suited to your swing speed. Most amateurs use too little loft and too stiff a shaft.

The Wedge

If you miss the drive and send it careening into the woods, after a little punch-out (hopefully no heroics here), you will most likely be left with a 50-60m shot to set up a par putt. Here is where the wedges will come in handy.

If you did put your drive in the fairway, but missed your approach to the green, you would still likely need to use your wedge for a pitch shot or some kind of chip to the green to again set up your par putt.

Here, most amateurs are unsure of how far and how fast they need to swing their wedges to achieve the required distances. The wedge game is unlike the normal iron shots where they are typically swung with full swing. The wedge game is an intricate web of different swing lengths, swing speed, ball positions etc to achieve a plethora of high, low, running, spinning shots for different distances to put the ball close to the hole.

I have shots for 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110 programmed into my arsenal of wedge shots. Using a combination of 4 wedges, 3 different swing lengths, 3 finish positions, I have a wide range of shots at my disposal for the situation at hand.

Once you put the ball on the dance floor, its time to think about sinking that sucker for birdie, par or bogey.

The Putter

For a scratch golfer, 36 or half of his shots are made on the putting green. If a 24 handicapper quits 3 putting just 9 greens, he would have become a 15 handicapper overnight. What better way to stop 3 putting than by FIRST putting those wedge shots within 8-10 feet where your percentage of sinking them is 50%?

The next steps to becoming a wizard on the greens are:

1) Read the line of the putt. Most people take too little break. Take more break, gravity can at times help pull the ball into the hole.

2) Feel the distance of the putt. Walk from where your ball is to your target (break or hole). This will allow your brain to register the distance required to stroke the ball.

3) Make a putting stroke that is arcing, not a straight back and straight through type.

4) Make imaginary putts. If your putt needs to travel 40 feet, look at the halfway mark of that, which is 20 feet. Make an imaginary stroke and try to "feel" how much force is needed to stroke the ball there.

If you know what gets the ball to 20 feet, just a little bit more will send the ball 30 feet (which happens to be the next halfway point between 20 feet and the final target) right? Again make an imaginary stroke.

Finally now that you have a reference for 30 feet, you now need to have a stroke reference for 40 feet. Go ahead and make that imaginary stroke again.

Now look at your final target and make that reference stroke. Think only in terms of making a beautiful and unhurried stroke. Hopefully the ball went in!

If you follow these keys, its unthinkable not to have your handicap drop.

The Importance of A Centered Head

Traditional golf instruction has a golfer move his head to the right in an attempt to "coil", get a bigger "X Factor" or "Y Factor" or "O". On the surface, while it seems that this is reasonable, it actually creates more faults than it cures.

At address, before the golfer does anything, he has actually matched his head position and more specifically his left shoulder with the ball position. To move the head and as corollary, the left shoulder - which is the low point of the swing, where the club bottoms out - one would then have to move the ball to maintain this synchronicity, or risk hitting it thin or fat.

What typically happens then is that the golfer will either have to sway his head and left shoulder back to the left on the downstroke or "get stuck" if he doesn't have the adequate physical capability to sway back on time.

The first option has its own pitfalls, instead of a "pure" sway that is the mirror opposite of how he moved his head to the right, Joe Hacker will utilize the right shoulder in a roundhouse fashion and cut across the correct swing plane.

Another thing that can happen is that he overcooks the sway and moves his low point way ahead of the ball and hit half tops. This of course is a better option than hitting it fat as the ball should run out to almost where it would be had it been struck properly.

The most egregious of effects produced by a moving head would be its companion, the dip as the golfer initiates the downswing. The end result of which is a fat shot, or if the golfer bends the left wrist or left elbow to prevent bottoming out before impact, weak, high powerless shots.

The next time you get to the range, watch to see if your head is moving out of position. The head should be centered between your feet, the way it would be when you are brushing your teeth.

On your backswing, the head should feel centered while your back should feel like its turning to face the target. From there, the downswing should be reflexive with plenty of lag. Hold your finish as your shot takes off with a crack like an F14 taking off into the distance.

Plus 4 Impact

JT is a plus-4 handicapper from the southern hemisphere over in Singapore to practice during the winter season. Check out his impact and what makes it different from the typical social players'.

Note the centered head position or Tripod; the left arm and club shaft forming an almost straight line at impact and the slightly bowed left wrist ala Tiger Woods. All these add up to 300 plus yard carries with the driver.

For all skeptics, kindly call me - I will arrange for a match...;)

Stack and Tilt - Coming Soon...

The blueprint of the Stack and Tilt Swing is finally available to Medicus Golf Instructors! For those seeking to learn the hottest swing on tour can either call for private lessons or wait for a Summer School in Singapore...Meanwhile, enjoy the sheer poetry of Mike Bennett's swing.

Pretty Polly

Polly - who is one of the most talented students I have met - is able to take information, assimilate it and then make almost instantaneous changes.

Here, at Line 1, where the shaft is parallel to the ground and target line, she changes her takeaway from outside the target line to one that is on line. Note the position of the clubhead as a result.



As a result of the change in Line 1 above, she is able to make a flatter backswing. Though her arms and shaft at not at the optimal plane angle, it is a huge change from her old backswing where her left arm covers (almost) her entire face!

Also notice the position of her right elbow. While we don't want it tucked to closely to the body, we certainly don't want it flying like a 747 either. Ideally, it should point to the ground with the upper arm and lower arm forming a 90 degree angle.

With a flatter backswing, she is able to turn more and then match the rpms of the swing of her body and hands. I have no doubts this girl will improve her game very quickly at her rate of improvement.

At Justin Tang Golf, we help you define the ROOT CAUSE of your problems, not the SYMPTOMS and solve your problems quick without unnecessary waste of time.

Cindy's Impact Fix

Cindy is a very consistent 12 handicapper who manages to beat her male counterparts on a more than regular basis. Despite this, she thought she thought she would be able to play better had she more distance.

Our video analysis revealed a breakdown in the impact zone. Once Cindy is able to internalise the feel of proper impact, she will no doubt be able to add distance to her already pinpoint iron game. Watch out!

Article in Singapore Business Review

Driver Swing

Turn up the volume. The driver used is the Callaway FT 3 Fusion with a Grafalloy Blue shaft.

BROWN NAMED EUROPEAN TOUR GOLFER OF THE MONTH

I met Mark Brown at last year's rendition of the Barclay's Singapore Open together with his coach Mal Tongue (whom I had the pleasure of training with for 2 weeks) as well as his buddies, Brad Iles and Richard Lee.

Brownie as he is known is as unpretentious and humble as professional tournament golfers. We wish him all the best and look to him to achieving even greater success.

This is an excerpt from the European PGA Tour's webpage in which it is announced that Mark is named the European PGA Tour's golfer of the month for February.

An outstanding two week spell in India which saw him win for the first time on both The European Tour and the Asian Tour has resulted in New Zealander Mark Brown being named as The European Tour Golfer of the Month for February.

The 33 year old, who considered quitting professional golf in 2003, proved he had made the right decision to rededicate himself to the game with a sensational end to the month which caught the eye of the judging panel which comprised members of the Association of Golf Writers, as well as journalists from radio and television.

Brown’s first victory came in the Sail Open Golf Championship at Jaypee Greens on the Asian Tour where he held off the strong challenge of local favourite Jyoti Randhawa before he outlasted a world class field the following week to win the Johnnie Walker Classic at the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi.

The dual successes helped Brown undertake a meteoric rise up the Official World Golf Ranking to a career high of 64th from 322nd at the start of 2008 and he now occupies the proud position of the highest placed New Zealand golfer on the list.

“I joined The European Tour last year as an Affiliate Member and hoped if I could play half decently I could possibly get into the top 115 on the Order of Merit,” he said. “But now to be in the winners’ category, I am still pinching myself. This is a fantastic award and I am very proud of that.

“The first win was special as it was my first on Tour but the second, against a field as strong as The European Tour in the Johnnie Walker Classic, was incredible. It has opened a few doors to me so I am looking forward to some new opportunities in the future.”

Brown emerged as the panel’s selection from a strong list of contenders, headed by World Number Three Ernie Els, who followed up his tie for sixth place in the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters – his third top ten of The 2008 European Tour season – with his first victory on the US PGA Tour in nearly four years when he came from behind to pip fellow European Tour Member Luke Donald in the Honda Classic.

Other winners from the month considered were; India’s SSP Chowrasia, who thrilled the home spectators with his maiden European Tour triumph in the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters; Felipe Aguilar, who became the first Chilean golfer to win on The European Tour when he triumphed in the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open; and South Africa’s James Kingston who won the Vodacom Championship on his home Sunshine Tour.

Brown is the second monthly winner of the 2008 season, the accolade for January having gone to Germany’s Martin Kaymer following his success in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. At the end of the season, all the monthly winners will be considered for the award of European Tour Golfer of the Year.

Speed Limit Exceeded...

You don't need to be a big guy to generate high clubhead speed.
All you need are strong forearms, flexible wrists and a working knowledge of how to lag the clubhead.

My Swing Through The Years...

Ewan Porter

Video of My Swing

He can talk the talk, but can he walk the walk? You decide...

Jacob Eliminates His OTT

The trick is where the instructor puts the shaft.

Is Model Golf by Ralph Mann the Model?

Is “Model Golf” by Ralph Mann “The” Model?
by Chuck Evans and Randy Sparks

At Medicus Golf Institute, we are frequently asked about the viability of the new age golf swings that are being hyped – as well as those which may be from the past. One such email was recently sent to us regarding Model Golf by Ralph Mann. The following is our synopsis of Model Golf by Chuck Evans, Executive Director of Instruction for Medicus Golf.

Indeed, Model Golf was based on top pros – but their models were developed 15-20 years ago. Model Golf also has the "model" moving the club off plane and tilting backwards. When I asked Ralph Mann about this and the differences between Hitters and Swingers, he replied, "I don't believe in Hitting versus Swinging." When I asked about the model being off plane, he replied, "That’s what our research showed the best do." I replied, “Would it not be better, for teaching purposes, to show them a model that IS on plane?” We spent two days together at the PGA Tour Academy where they installed the system. We tested it for two months and threw it out. To give you an example, one of the models they used was Vance Heafner. He hasn't played the tour since the late 80's.

Although brilliant in concept, Model Golf should never be used as a “model” for a number of reasons:



1. The model is based on an accumulation of other golfers and not the golfer that is learning.

2. The model has numerous swing flaws, meaning a player that complies with the model will inherit these flaws.

3. The model does not take into account what the student physically can and cannot do.

According to Model Golf, the pro model slides roughly two inches very early in the backswing. During the transition move, the pro will then use his hips to “bump” his weight forward (for those same two inches) and then stop sliding. The downswing then turns into a rotary motion. Model Golf states that the swing will be a weak, arm-dominated swing if there is no lateral move off of the ball. By sliding away from and then back towards the ball during the transition, the golfer loads (or “stretches”) the muscles that propel the rotary motion to the ball.

Hip Slide is a variation and several players certainly do use. However, for most players – and this applies to tour players as well – Hip Slide can be a dangerous thing. First, timing issues arise since you cannot move in a straight line and a circle at the same time. Personally, I have never seen a player that moves off the ball (to their right) in the backstroke get back to where they started. This now affects the ball location relative to the Low Point. If the Low Point has moved back, the ball location has effectively moved forward. When the ball location moves forward like this, the player ends up hitting fat shots and tries to time impact via a flipping of the hands. Secondly, most players that move off the ball (mainly middle to high handicappers) never get the correct rotational motion in the downstroke. They have plenty of Hip Slide – but no Hip Turn!

Additionally, the golfer need not slide laterally to create the aforementioned “stretch” in Model Golf. Rather, we at Medicus Golf Institute see this “stretch” as being created by simply leaving the hands at the top while moving the Right Shoulder down plane from the top. This move stretches the left arm against the chest and creates what we call "Pivot Lag."

One important key to remember is that even the world's best players make compensations in their golf strokes. Tour players are just better at compensating than the average player and are also experts at hand manipulation. If someone wants to create the perfect Golfing Machine, they need not look further than Iron Byron. Mechanical devices don't need to make last minute adjustments during the stroke. They do, however, require that the ball be placed precisely in the same place each time. If it is not, the ball goes everywhere – just like a human.

Our preference at Medicus Golf Institute is for golfers to move as few things as possible in the smallest amount of space possible – something that will eliminate a lot of “faults.”

Though we do not teach with straitjackets on our students, we prefer a set-up with 60% of weight on the target side. You then leave it there during the backstroke and downstroke. After pre-setting this weight, you then either simply rotate (Swinging) or take the right shoulder and right arm down plane to the inside aft quadrant of the ball (Hitting). By proceeding in this way, a golfer has successfully eliminated one more moving part.

If one does not set-up as prescribed above, there is a minimal “hip bump” to start the downstroke. But even then, this motion is no more than two inches.

For a game-changing experience where you’ll learn more about how to build your golf swing your way, sign up today for a Medicus Institute Golf School near you.

Visit to NZ Golf Academy

October saw Justin Tang make a trip to visit the New Zealand Golf Academy based in Cambridge.

During the visit, he got to share ideas with 3 former National Coaches of New Zealand, Mal Tongue, Shane Scott and Bob McDonald. Also, he got to play around with some cool gadgets at the academy.

Appended are some pictures and a video.

Teaching an Old Man New Tricks...

The senior golfer in the pictures remarked that you can't teach an old man new tricks. Guess he was wrong because by the second lesson, he was putting some serious compression on the ball.

The Incredible Power of Visual Learning

The Incredible Power of Visual Learning
Here is an excerpt from an article that just appeared in Scientific American Mind. It's from the April/May 2006 edition:

"Humans See, Human Do - Brain Cells That Mirror Actions We See Are Key to Learning..."
"[Mirror] neurons are scattered throughout key parts of our brain -- the premotor cortext and centers for language, empathy, and pain -- and fire not only as we perform a certain action but also when we watch someone else perform that action. These neurons have been studied in the past for their roles in movement and other functions. Now, however, researchers are examining them intensely for what seems to be an additional function -- the way they fire in response to something observed. The discovery of this mechanism, made about a decade ago, suggests that everything we watch someone else do, we do as well -- in our minds. At its most basic, this finding means we mentally rehearse or imitate every action we witness, whether it is a somersault or a subtle smile. It explains how we learn to smile, talk, walk, dance, or play tennis."
Scientific American Mind
April/May 2006
P. 23-24

Shaft Flex Point: Myth or Legend?

Golf Shaft Flex Point: Myth or Legend?
By: Mike Tait
President, and Club Designer of SMT Golf
You hear players giving advice all the time on getting the correct flex point on the shaft you are using. Retail store clerks tout the magic of this phenomenon when they have you in front of the display of brightly painted shafts on the wall. Truth be told, while not a myth, it has turned into one of the biggest mysteries in the sport.

Players have been conditioned to believe that the difference between a high flex point and a low flex point can be virtually from just below the grip to right above the ferrule on the clubhead. But the truth is that the distance between High and Low Flex Point is basically 2.5 inches in the middle of the shaft. Arguably hardly worth talking about, but I, of course, find myself unable to stop here.

Flex point is most talked about when discussing a shaft choice to make the golf ball trajectory change, The higher the "flex point", the lower the peak trajectory of the shot for that particular club. The lower the "flex point" the higher the peak trajectory will be for the club used. In reality, I have found that "flex point" is used more like a crutch in the clubfitting process and certainly when diagnosing playing problems. And is all too often used to help "ring the register" because it is something we have all heard of but really know almost nothing about.

Players and clubmakers are quick to want to suggest reshafting to a shaft with a different flex point, but in reality we might want to be looking at it a bit differently, perhaps a bit more logically.

We have all come to the golf course or driving range with a swing speed. I don't care what yours is, and you don't care what mine is. Each club in our bags really has a maximum speed that we can swing it. After a big bucket of balls, logic might tell us that we are probably swinging it a bit slower than earlier in the bucket due to muscle fatigue. We are not Tour Professionals and only have so many full swings in us before we lose a bit of the edge. As weekend players, we tend to reach that level sooner than your conditioned golf professional will.

That being said, and if you agree with that statement, you can agree that shaft WEIGHT has much more to do with trajectory and certainly has taken much more than its share of the blame, and of course, the glory, for the elusive "flex point" issue. What I mean is, if we all swing at a max speed, and we put a heavier product in out hands, we are certainly going to swing it a bit slower. If we swing it a bit slower, the ball flight laws tell us that the ball will not spin as much and therefore will not rise as high. Of course, if we go to a lighter shaft, we will swing the club just a bit faster, in effect adding spin to the ball causing it to rise quicker and higher. Either way, the blame or kudos are often given to "flex point". The example is really quite simple. Can you throw a bowling ball higher or a baseball higher? Remember, you came to me with a swing speed, and that did not really change within the two throws required to complete this simple test.

Don't get me wrong, flex point is not like the Loch Ness Monster, it can actually be found and identified. But just like the Loch Ness Monster, because we can find it, doesn't mean that we always know what to do with it, or if it has any real value once we have our hands on it.

I contend that shaft WEIGHT or overall weight of the club (not swingweight) has much more to do with the overall trajectory of our shots than "flex point" will ever have.

The answer, as with virtually all of my teachings and theories is really quite simple and basic. If you want to hit the ball higher, you can and should look to a lighter shaft or lighter overall product. If you want to hit the ball lower, you should look to a heavier shaft or heavier product.

Certainly loft and length are an issue, but for the sake of this topic, we will stick with weight and how it gets confused by virtually everyone for "flex point".

In the SMT - RLM shaft lineup, the sales leader Miridio is the lightest weight and produces arguably the highest trajectory of the three shafts available, while the Argent being slightly heavier tends to keep the ball down out of the wind a bit more than the others. The Basalt, is the perfect combination of the two. Experiment to see what works best for you, but take an assessment of your own game by asking yourself how you tend to hit the ball overall..... higher or lower, and how would changing that ball flight alter your game? But don't get bogged down in the marketing hype when looking to buy a new shaft. Close the catalogs and the golf magazines and use some common sense. If the shaft is heavier, the ball will fly lower in the same clubhead and if the shaft is lighter weight it will generally make the ball fly higher. It really is as simple as that.

Has Golf Become a Frustrating Form of Recreation?

In an earlier article I spoke about the decline of the game and laid part of the blame at the feet of not only the governing bodies of golf but also at the feet of those who are developing and designing golf courses.

It is my opinion though that the majority of blame is directly on the shoulders of the PGA. It is my opinion that those who are responsible for the education and teaching of how to play the game have and are failing miserably. The fact of the matter is that though equipment has seen improvement beyond what many thought possible, the handicaps and skill set of golf players throughout the industry has improved ZERO. When it comes to true handicaps, way too many golfers do not have nor can they play to a 10 handicap or less.

In the beginning Medicus Golf was a training aid company with a purpose of helping golfers. We have now expanded our mission to include not only that of aids but to also assist golfers to improve through golf swing education. But this is not why I mention this. I mention this due to the fact that on a daily basis we are in contact with hundreds of golfers calling to purchase swing aids. In most cases these golfers are presently working with someone who is providing lessons for them. This does not make logical sense to me though I must admit that for our business this is a good thing. But, why would anyone who is working with a golf teacher/educator ever have a need for a training aid. It is one thing when an instructor would request the student to place an order to assist them with their swing faults but this is seldom the case. The students are the ones who are still searching on their own. The other amazing thing to me is that most students see and view their instructor as the best thing since sliced bread. This makes no sense.

It is my opinion that the students are not improving due to those who are providing the information are teaching a lot of experience and feel, and though in general the information may be good, it is far from being complete. With the information being incomplete the student never gets the correct mechanics for them and then the natural progression into their OWN feel, not the teachers, is never accomplished.

As Homer Kelley stated, “There are a lot of very smart people playing some very poor golf.” Why is this the case? They lack the information to succeed! Period! No ifs, ands or buts.

So until golfers, especially new to the game or those who have left frustrated with the game, can get the correct information, so the game is not a frustrating form of recreation, the game of golf will suffer. This added to the equipment issues, course design and other issues mentioned in the previous article, makes a turnaround for growth quite bleak but…..the fix is NOT that hard to implement, sell or get across to the public. All we need is to implement change with correct educational information of how to play the game and to make the game fun for all.

Randy Sparks

Jim and the Twistdown

Check out how Jim twisted his way to an inside-out clubhead path.

Sergioesque

Lady-in-red after her 4th lesson. Her clubhead lag looks almost SERGIOESQUE.

Putt Like The Pros

Golf tip: Putt like the pros

Look at the world's best putters and they all have at least one thing in common: Once they pick the line, they focus on the pace of the putt. They do not "fall in love" with the line. This only leads to putts that are short.

The best putters use different types of strokes and grips. Some of them use a straight back/straight through type of stroke while others use the arc approach.

Let's examine these types of strokes.

1. With the arc approach the club moves back, up, and in during the backstroke, which means it has to move down, out, and forward in the downstroke. Because the player is using this arc approach, ball location is critical. Too far forward and you will pull the putt and too far back and you will push it.

2. The straight back and through method produces a putter face that essentially looks at the ball during the stroke. Since the putter is now moving on a vertical plane there is no inward motion, which means there is no outward motion. Ball location isn't nearly as critical since the face isn't opening or closing.

Players also have a variety of ways they stand at the ball when putting: Some use the so-called square stance, while others use an open one.

Then there is putter and grip styles.

Ken Green uses a putter about 30 inches long while other Bruce Leitzke uses a long putter anchored at the top of his chest. Grip styles range from overlap to reverse overlap, the claw, the saw, cross handed, you name it!

The bottom line is use whatever you want style you want, as long as you're making putts.

Don't be worried about what your playing partners may think or say, you're the one making the putts, not them.

Bernhard Langer has overcome the yips at several times in his career. Do you think he cares what other players think about his putting style?

Whatever you decide to do, stick to it and work on it. Good putting can make up a lot of strokes and bring that handicap down.

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 Golfing Machine and the United States Golf Institute.