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Post by jonnygrouville on Mar 17, 2010 23:11:01 GMT -5
I have been described as an armsy player that lacks a dynamic pivot. I believe I do best with drills in learning movement patterns. Thanks. You are not alone! But I am far from an expert. You might have heard it before, but I have found the drill of hitting pitches with my right thumb and forefinger off the grip really useful in working on my pivot. It makes it very difficult to flip or flick at the ball with the hands so you feel much more like you are hitting the ball with your pivot instead. The strikes gets better the more you feel that you have your belt-buckle pointing in front of the ball by impact. As Richie says, footwork is important and the importance of this is underemphasised in a lot of golf teaching. Whatever your thoughts (starting down from the ground up, leaving the clubhead at the top of the swing for a fraction of a second, etc.) this drill seems to provide more awareness and feedback on how your pivot is working.
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Post by vjsinger on Mar 18, 2010 11:54:29 GMT -5
Johnny, Cool. I'll try that. I've heard of it before, but forgot about it and never experimented, Thank you.
Richie, Can you help me out a little more? What exactly am I looking for in the foot action of those great strikers?
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 18, 2010 18:18:50 GMT -5
Look at their right foot action. Especially Knudson who does it about as well as anybody ever.
This video of Mike Bennett can help as well.
Anything more and I'm really giving it away. But they basically push off the ground with their feet, particulary their right foot.
3JACK
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Post by vjsinger on Mar 18, 2010 20:57:16 GMT -5
Ok. So basically the right instep and inside of the right knee get closer to the ground in the downswing, right? I would think this helps you maintain axis tilt without spinning out of the shot too early..Is that correct? Is Quiros another example in this swing? This is now my favorite swing in modern golf. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6_xgo_ik1Q
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 18, 2010 21:32:24 GMT -5
you've got the idea. ABS does it a bit differently, more like Knudson or Greg Norman's old footwork. But to each his own.
I'm not sure how tall you are, but I'm 6'4" tall and since I've gone to more standard shaft lengths, that has forced me to flex the knees a lot more at address. Lag prescribed that for me and all tall players. If you look at Knudson, he was a bit of a taller golfer who had a ton of knee flex. Anyway, I think the critical part *for me* is to get a lot of knee flex at address and concentrate on keeping the right knee very flexed in the downswing. S&T guys call it a 'jump' type of motion, I just feel like I'm pushing and driving with that right foot.
3JACK
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Post by vjsinger on Mar 18, 2010 21:45:36 GMT -5
I'm 6'2" and pretty rotund:), but still pretty flexible for my size. I have the Hogan 99 Apex blades with the stiff shafts. I'm pretty sure the clubs are too long and light for Lags liking. Do you play with your Hogans everyday now and how long is your 5 iron?
I think you're starting to convince me I need to do Lags modules again, even with the price hike. It seems he really gets into the minute details of the swing like no other instructor I've read about. Thanks for the advice and taking the time.
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 19, 2010 16:43:58 GMT -5
vjsinger - I have to say I'm quite pleased to see a golfer who has just gotten into the game and says they are serious about playing the game and using blades. I truly believe that blades are the best path to really learning how to play the game.
That's one of the things that appealed to me about Lag's ABS teaching was reading about how and why blade irons are good and how and why CB and GI irons are really bad for your game. I pretty much grew up on blades, but also played some player CB's intermittently in that time. I always hit the ball best when I was gaming blades.
In my college career I showed up with some super small Ram FX Tour Grinds. You could stir your coffee with those bad boys. But, my coach didn't like them and told me that I needed to start 'playing for my misses' and the next thing I know I was hitting some Titleist 962 CB's. To make matters worse, clubfitting was in its infancy stage and I was fitted with 1" longer graphite shafts. UGH.
My swing went down the tubes and A MAJOR REASON why I quit the game for 8 years was the confusion and frustration over equipment.
Anyway, I do play with my Hogan's every day. In fact, I simply cannot hit my Mizuno's, which are about 2* upright and +1/2" longer. In fact, that's why I'm probably going to the Scratch Golf HQ in Tennessee next week...my wedges are now way too upright for me and I really can't hit them well at all. Everything is fat or a big pull.
My IPT's and Apex PC's are 5* flat. The 5-iron is a 55* lie angle. The IPT has a 5-iron length of 37.5" long. The Apex PC is 37.75" long. I think you're fine at 37.75" or 38.0" for the 5-iron. Lag actualy has his 5-iron at 38.0" long. With my IPT's, I just play them 1 club longer. But because I can hit them better and more consistenty, the loss of distance is not an issue. I actually hit the Apex PC's just as long as my Mizuno's.
My IPT's are a D-6 swingweight. The Apex PC's are about D-7. If the clubs are light I start firing the hands too early instead of getting into pitch elbow and then firing the hands.
3JACK
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 19, 2010 16:47:02 GMT -5
I think you're starting to convince me I need to do Lags modules again, even with the price hike. It seems he really gets into the minute details of the swing like no other instructor I've read about. Thanks for the advice and taking the time. I like Lag as a teacher and I like him as a person. THAT BEING SAID, I can't persuade people to take his modules because there is no guarantee there won't be another price hike. However, my guess is that there won't be another price hike for the rest of 2010. 3JACK
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Post by vjsinger on Mar 19, 2010 18:08:44 GMT -5
If it does go up another, say $100..will you still continue? Do you think it is worth it to your long term game improvement? Furthermore, Do you think it is necessary to finish all of the program? Will you finish it?
BTW. Thanks for the last post. I need to check my swing weights and lengths. A couple of more questions, What kind of shafts are you using in the blades? Will you get a modern shaft for them? I ask because I have recently bought some Vintage Macgregor MT blades that I like, but the shafts are like telephone poles, just crazy. I need to figure out something else if I'm going to keep them and play them. Thanks again.
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Post by jonnygrouville on Mar 19, 2010 20:49:37 GMT -5
I showed up at college with Mizuno TP-11s. Not sure what the US model name for those was, but they're the tiny clean looking blades. One and two iron in the bag, back in the day when pitching wedges had enough loft to not need a gap wedge. Didn't think I would find a picture, but here is the one iron! blog.golfdigest.co.jp/user/polish-a-club-on-a-rainyday/img/715/img20070824_1.jpgAlways liked Mizunos as their 'standard' was always slightly flatter than anyone else. I'm 6'0" (or 5'12" as my brother calls it), but always like the flatter lies. I still own them, but not sure where they are. Likewise, I was convinced and then convinced myself that the shafts were too stiff when I stopped playing a lot and I needed something more 'helpful'. Only went back to blades last year. Someone else had a set of TP-9s (the Mizunos with the Macgregor style 'wing' on the back)... www.intertec.se/bilder/beauty.JPG...but we were the only ones with blades on the team. I remember those Ram irons, but it was the Ram wedges that were most highly prized. Especially the mythical cobalt. Rumour had it they stopped making them because they needed the stuff for bullet-proofing things in the Gulf War (giving away my era).
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Post by slice_oftheday on Mar 19, 2010 21:17:47 GMT -5
Rich,
I hit mostly pulls and fats with my wedges as well at a standard lie angle. If you get Scratch wedges, will you play them at 5° flat like your irons?
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 19, 2010 21:31:21 GMT -5
Yes. Since Scratch has such a soft steel, it should be really easy to bend those irons. That's why I want to go to Scratch (I've got to test them out first) because I'm afraid with a lot of the new forged wedges, their steel may not be up to snuff to bend them a lot.
3JACK
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 19, 2010 21:50:01 GMT -5
If it does go up another, say $100..will you still continue? Do you think it is worth it to your long term game improvement? Furthermore, Do you think it is necessary to finish all of the program? Will you finish it? BTW. Thanks for the last post. I need to check my swing weights and lengths. A couple of more questions, What kind of shafts are you using in the blades? Will you get a modern shaft for them? I ask because I have recently bought some Vintage Macgregor MT blades that I like, but the shafts are like telephone poles, just crazy. I need to figure out something else if I'm going to keep them and play them. Thanks again. If the modules went up to $300 I won't continue because I simply cannot afford that. I also have other options. As crazy as some people at ABS think I am, I do believe that John Dochety teaches a very similar type of pattern and could teach that type of pattern and do it for $50 an hour. The travel is a pain in the ass, but it's more feasible than a $300 module...regardless of what anybody says. $200 is a big expense for me. Plus, I think there would be a lack of trust for me. One time price hike...okay...he didn't plan things well out and had to make a price hike. Another price hike? If anything it shows that he really didn't plan things out and it effects me too much. I was planning on only refinishing one set and probably a set that I plan on playing with. But, the good news is that I think my gamers are going to be the '67 Percussions. Those clubs are awesome. And the good news is the set I have don't need re-finishing. Maybe some paintfill, but that's about it. The IPT's and Apex PC's need refinishing. Currently I have some True Temper shafts in the IPT's and Percussions, but some DG S300 in the Apex PC's. I like heavier clubs and Dynamic Gold is a pretty heavy shaft. I will probaby go to some DG's in IPT's and Percussions because I would like to get the shafts a little longer, so the 5-iron is about 37.75 to 38" long. I would also just keep the old shafts in case I don't like the DG's for some reason. Here's what I would do if I were you and it depends on how much you paid for those Macgregor MT blades. Go to a Mizuno fitter and try out the Mizuno shaft optimizer. Hit some shot with it and find out what DG shaft it says you should hit. Don't go with a light DG shaft or a 'high launch', just a plain ole DG shaft. Get the shaft it recommends and have one installed in your MT 5-iron. Then IF the MT blades are forged (they CANNOT BE CAST), get the 5-iron bent to 56 degree lie angle to start with. That's about 4* flat. Now go to the range and try it out. You'll probably catch a lot of shots off the toe early, but you'll find you will need to have more knee flex at address and then keep that flex in the downswing. Your swing will naturally start to flatten as well IF you are on the elbow plane on the downswing. If you're on the TSP on the downswing, then these flat lies won't help until you get on the elbow plane. This way...as long as those MT blades didn't cost a bunch, you can try it out and see how it feels. And if you like it, you can change the rest of them down the line. If you don't, you're probably out $30-$40 for the 5-iron re-shaft and bend. If you like the shaft, but don't like the lie angles, then you can just re-bend the iron again. They shouldn't snap IF they are forged. I had my Apex PC 3-iron bent 8 DEGREES because it was a little upright to begin with. But like I said, just start off with a 5-iron and the very worst, you are out of one club that shouldn't have cost you much. 3JACK
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Post by slice_oftheday on Mar 19, 2010 21:50:07 GMT -5
Rich,
Which model of Scratch wedges are you interested in? The 1018, 8620, or Tour Custom?
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Post by Richie3Jack on Mar 19, 2010 21:51:36 GMT -5
I remember those Ram irons, but it was the Ram wedges that were most highly prized. Especially the mythical cobalt. Rumour had it they stopped making them because they needed the stuff for bullet-proofing things in the Gulf War (giving away my era). I had one of those Ram wedges. Really nothing to write home about. 3JACK
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