When Does It Become 'Thinking Too Much?'

[Richie3Jack]

I prefer teachers who attack and focus upon impact first and foremost. I think any level of golfer would agree that impact is the 'moment of truth' and is objective in nature.

I think people don't get the difference between understanding and thinking.

Understanding to me is fully grasping a concept. Thinking is usually confusion from not understanding what's going on.

I like teachers that more or less have a 'program' in mind for developing my swing. We then figure out what my main misses are and what the root causes of those misses are and work from there.

Ted Fort and John Dochety were excellent working with me on these issues and focusing on impact. And one is a TGM Authorized Instructor and the other knows TGM down pat and has taken 6 darome classes.

Yet, despite their high level of knowledge of mechanics, alignments, physics and biomechanics of the golf swing, they were able to make things quite easy to understand and approach to the golf course.

With Dochety we broke down the misses as:

Toes = over-accelerating the arms

Shots Missed Left = not enough pivot of the body coming into impact.

Thin shots = over-accelerating the arms.

Fat Shots = not enough pivot.

From there it was pretty easy to work on because I started to notice that most of my missed shots were related to over-accelerating the arms, so I was able to focus on what we worked on in regards to that issue.

I think golfers who think too much really don't understand their misses and unfortunately, a lot of that has to do with the instructor not simplifying it enough for them.

Curious as to what others think.





3JACK

[imperfectgolfer]

3jack

You wrote-:

"Toes = over-accelerating the arms

Shots Missed Left = not enough pivot of the body coming into impact.

Thin shots = over-accelerating the arms.

Fat Shots = not enough pivot."

Do these causal connections only apply to your personal swing or are they general principles?

Either way, can you please provide a biomechanical/mechanical explanation that links the cause to the effect?

Jeff.

[Richie3Jack]

From talking to John they are quite common connections. The over-accelerating of the arms with a frozen right wrist would de-loft the club and mess up the low point for me. If I didn't pivot enough the plane line would be too far out to the right which would cause the hook.

I was typically doing one or the other when focusing on it. But in the end I'd say that the over-accelerating of the arms was the main problem. I was able to deduct that this needed to be worked on because we broke down the misses and I figured most of my misses were over-acceleration of the arms misses.

But, when I went to see John we were quite detailed in our talks, from things like the 4 Power Accumulators, #4 PP, P6-P8, CP vs. CF release, etc.

Obviously, I'm much more versed in those subjects than your average golfer, but I'm hardly a rocket scientist and haven't take a geometry or physics class since I was 17 years old. Yet, I had far less thoughts and thinking when hitting shots than when I see the average amateur get a lesson from a pro at the golf club.





3JACK

[imperfectgolfer]

3jack

You wrote-: "From talking to John they are quite common connections. The over-accelerating of the arms with a frozen right wrist would de-loft the club and mess up the low point for me. If I didn't pivot enough the plane line would be too far out to the right which would cause the hook."

OK - you are talking about your specific swing problems, rather than general principles.

I was confused because I can think of many other causes of toe hits, thin shots, fat shots and "shots missed left".

Jeff.

[Richie3Jack]

Yes, you get the point.

But my point of this thread is that discussing the swing in great detail is a lot different than 'thinking too much.'




3JACK

[mudball]

Feb 28, 2010 11:54:44 GMT -5 Richie3Jack said:

Yes, you get the point.

But my point of this thread is that discussing the swing in great detail is a lot different than 'thinking too much.'


3JACK

Richie - I think that thinking too much can cause a problem - it can lead to trying too many things without really getting one concept down and correct.

Understanding on the other hand would tend to lead to connecting new swing thoughts and perhaps new learning to your fundamentals. So that's a good thing.

I always play my best when I think the least. Carefree golfswing leads to great shots. But if I don't understand why then I don't trust it and it will only last a short while.

So now I have two rules... carefree (as in not thinking) but because I trust it and understand what is happening and what I am trying to achieve.