A Right Brained Approach to Golf

The following is another article I wrote for Korean Magazine Golf Guide and Golf Guide USA. I am honored to write for them and share my philosophies with the wonderful Korean people. I cannot wait to return! The Key to Golf I would like to take this months topic away from putting and share with you what I believe is the secret to golf. When you practice a few simple things away from the golf course, every aspect of your game will improve, from putting through the long game. When you can learn to balance your body and perform the simple task of tossing a ball, you will be able to play this great game without the anxiety of swing thoughts. Allow me to explain There is a fairly good chance you have spent your time in golf only swinging in one direction. If you play right handed, you rotate with force to the left towards your target. The right hip and pelvis rotate up and forward. Over time, your muscles get out of balance. It is common for me to see someones right hip higher at address, which tends to open the shoulders as well. This can also lead to the right leg being shorter than the left, which causes excessive tilt, especially in putting. The simplest way to correct this is to rotate the other way. First, I would pivot with a club across your shoulders. Do it gently at first, and gradually start to go faster as you feel your body open up. If you still have difficulty, consult a qualified trainer for assistance. When you can make a full turn on your left handed backswing, then you can stay in your posture and rotate freely and quickly as you come through the ball right handed. If you have problems hooking the ball, this exercise is invaluable for you. Your body will not slow down through impact, therefore the club head will not pass your hands. When you can rotate through left handed with speed, then your right handed backswing will improve. The easiest way to keep the club in front of you, as you have been taught, is to have your torso turn freely and quickly on the backswing. If your torso is tight going that way, your arms are more likely to outrace your chest, which lets the clubhead get too inside. As you bring your body back into balance, you will then be able to more easily execute the correct sequence in your golf swing, as I alluded to in the previous paragraph. All you need is a ball that weighs a few pounds. First, gently pull your shoulders down and tighten your stomach and core. Feel like your arms are very passive. As you make a turn away from the target in preparation for tossing the ball, notice how your torso is almost fully coiled and your arms are still in front of you. It would be very awkward to have your arms go faster than your chest. It is the same sequence for swinging a club. If your arms and wrist joints are relaxed, the club will then travel up the plane line because that is what it is designed to do. This is your backswing. As you move forward to toss the ball, it is natural to first shift onto your front leg, and then rotate through. This is the kinematic sequence for your downswing. It is no more complicated than that! This move allows your arms time to drop in your swing, and it moves the bottom of arc forward, which in turn compresses the ball Balance your body to free it up and incorporate a natural motion into your golf swing, and you will play the best golf of your life! The second part of the article expands upon these concepts. I will post soon…

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A Right Brained Approach to Golf

Want to putt like Zach Johnson? Here’s how – www.golfweek.com

Below is a great story from James Achenbach, writer for GolfWeek. Enjoy! Photo By Associated Press By James Achenbach June 1, 2010 1:01 p.m. Archive In winning the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas on May 30, Zach Johnson sank more than 100 feet of putts during the final nine holes of the tournament. He made 24 birdies in 72 holes. Heres what Johnsons putting instructor, Pat OBrien, said about his pupils putting stroke: Hes kind of old school. He holds the putter in the palm of his left hand. I advocate holding it in the fingers, but there is no way I would try to change somebody like Zach. The accommodation we make for his grip is to cup the left wrist a little bit at setup. This locks him in, so nothing breaks down. I learned this from Payne Stewart. He was always a streaky putter until the last year of his life. He started cupping that wrist. He got a foundation and a system, and he became one of the best putters in the world. OBriens simple philosophy: The whole idea in putting is to return to square at impact without thinking about it. Thats true for everybody, not just Zach Johnson. Zach came to me with that grip. We met in 2000 at a Buy.com event in Richland, Washington. We started working together in 2001. Right away I asked him to cup that left wrist. Johnson has became a poster boy for addressing the ball with the putter shaft angled slightly backwards. Sometimes I have to get him more (straight) up and down (with the shaft), OBrien said, but he does so many things so well. Success in putting is all about setup, about flow and proper fundamentals, about allowing the putter to go where it is supposed to go. With Zach and many good putters, the mechanics are there. Nothing is going to get away. It (making putts) happens because of the flow of things, the timing and the rhythm. OBrien stresses a putting stroke without swing thoughts: I teach golfers (mostly amateurs) all the time who focus endlessly on mechanics and positions and swing thoughts all that garbage. You cant play golf that way. Good putting is all about physically calming yourself down and allowing that freedom of motion. Johnsons SeeMore FGP putter is 34 inches long with 2.5 degrees of loft. Johnson is so smooth and technically sound, according to OBrien, the putter head is never manipulated during the stroke. The stroke just happens, said OBrien, who teaches at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas, Texas. Zach allows it to happen. The putter is designed to swing (perfectly) on a plane. Besides OBrien, the Johnson support team includes swing instructor Mike Bender, named 2009 National Teacher of the Year by the PGA of America, and sports psychologist Morris Pickens. Speaking candidly, OBrien said, When it comes to putting, sports psychology will only work if you have an inherent belief that the putter will get back to square. This will happen only if you have the proper setup and fundamentals. Johnson has it, and OBrien says you can, too. People can learn to putt, OBrien said. I believe this with all my heart and soul. On my website (www.patobriengolf.com), I practically give all my information away. I am passionate about helping all golfers improve. Maybe most golfers cant hit the ball as straight and far as Zach, but they can learn to putt like he does. I believe this. I really believe it.

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Want to putt like Zach Johnson? Heres how – www.golfweek.com

Zach’s Grip

By now, you have heard from most commentators about Zach's grip and how he angles the shaft slightly behind the ball at address. I want to thank Ian Baker Finch, Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz from CBS for taking the time to talk to me about it. I appreciate that it is unusual, and I will explain why. This is a picture I took of Zach's grip Wednesday of Colonial. Little did I know that I would be commenting on it again by Sunday! I took it because he made a small adjustment on his off week, where he placed a little sliver of his left heel pad on top of the grip. This gave him a “locked in” feeling, without tension of course, and I wanted to document it for future reference. If you are familiar with my teaching, this is not the grip that I advocate. Below is my grip. My left heel pad is more on top, and my right heel pad covers more of my left hand fingers. I believe you have better leverage with the left hand this way, and the left wrist is less likely to break down through impact. The right hand is less likely to dominate as well. For more, go to earlier posts on the grip or have a look at my DVD . The main similarity between the two is that both of us have our forearms square to our target line. Zach turns his right hand more under to achieve this, and it matches the feeling he has in his strong full swing grip. When we first started working together, in 2001, I let him keep his grip out of comfort and familiarity. I did, however, remember a tip that Payne Stewart told me when he putted his best in 1999. He felt a slight cup in his left wrist at setup, and he maintained that angle throughout the stroke. When I told Zach this, he liked the feeling and it has remained that way ever since. If Zach were to keep his grip and get the shaft and his hands even with the ball, or slightly ahead of the ball, there would be way too much wrist play on the backswing. He would create too much shaft angle, taking loft off of the putter. He would then have to put that loft back on the putter before impact, or get a putter with 6 degrees of loft as a compensation. His left wrist would break down or cup on the way through, giving a scooping sensation. This is exactly why people go to left hand low, or the claw, because they are tired of the sensation of the right hand taking over and the left hand collapsing. So, in essence, we start with that cup and we maintain it. He has 2.5 degrees of loft on his putter. He probably starts with 4 degrees and it is the same at impact. When we put the ball on a camera,it rolls the way we want it to. That is about as technical as I get. I probably get beat up on the technical forums, but I'm ok with that. Putting is an art, not a science. If you told me I could not grip the putter the way I wanted to, I would use Zach's grip. It obviously works for him, and I am proud of his reputation from his peers as one of the best putters on tour. Although his style of grip is not what I teach, everything else he does is textbook. I am smart enough to recognize that he is special, and my thanks to the late, great Payne Stewart for preparing me to teach Zach, in a way. I do not think that any of this is coincidental- the big Man upstairs gets all the credit!

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Zach’s Grip

I’m back, early.

It is now five days since the big wedding. It was a spectacular event. Mrs. Guru and I are very happy. Unfortunately an emergency forced us to cut our honeymoon in Vegas short and come back home in less than 48 hours. But the time we had there was spectacular at the new hotel Vdara

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Im back, early.

Colonial Preview

My pal 4Checker did a nice Colonial preview over at The Golf Space. Check it out.

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Colonial Preview

Play Your Best Golf – www.texaslinksmagazine.com

“This is an article that I am most proud, as it crystallizes my teaching philosophy.

Acushnet wins latest legal decision in patent dispute with Callaway

Puerto Rico Open Saturday Part 1

I called this post Part 1 because I plan on doing a few updates today. But Id rather spend my time on the course seeing the action and taking photos, than sit here in the press room looking at the backs of golf writers heads. With that in mind I wont be in the press room for extended periods of time writing for hours. Ill do that later. Time to gather content.

Tournament Status

Even though it is Saturday and the action has been going today for a few hours, the first round hasnt been completed. In fact, some players havent even started their first round.
Above: Rocco Mediate chips close on the par-5 5th hole, en route to birdie.

Rain

By 2pm on the first day of play Thursday over six inches of rain had rendered the course uplayable. There are unconfirmed reports that theres been over 14 inches of rain this week. Just to put that in perspective, the YEARLY rain fall for my home state of Utah is just over 15 inches.

The play I did watch yesterday was greatly affected by the standing water. I saw players drives hit the fairway and bounce backwards. Theyre playing preferred lies due to the massive amount of water in the ground.

Notables

Skip Kendall is in the house, leading after his first round with a -7 65. There are a handful players sitting at -5. John Daly is in the field. His first round is done and hes at -3. (Pictured right: Steve Flesch ponders his last shot from a greenside bunker.)

My Status

I have a terrible cold and cough. I feel like Im going to hack out a lung soon. I went roughly two days without sleep and nearly 24 hours without food, getting here and doing the gig yesterday (Friday). Then I had a few too many adult beverages at the cocktail party. I was weak from being so tired and having not eaten. I woke up at 4:30am with a massive headache. I was obviously dehydrated this morning because I chugged about a gallon of water and cramberry (local spelling) juice. Im good now though. Im uploading about 90 photos from yesterday to the HOG Puerto Rico Open Gallery right now and then Im off to hit the course.

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Puerto Rico Open Saturday Part 1

Golf Channel Tiger Woods

I know there are many critics of The Golf Channel. I’ve been one. They’re the best golf television channel out there, and the worst. They’re the only one so they lay claim to both awards. Many people, myself included, have complained about the “all Tiger all the time TGC coverage.” I’d wondered if that would change

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Golf Channel Tiger Woods

Will 2010 Be Your Best Golf Ever?

Will you allow 2010 to be your best golf year ever? If this is your goal then I have some suggestions for you:

1. First work on making solid impact with the golf ball before you start working on fixing your direction issues.

Solid impact supersedes everything else in the golf swing since it determines how the golf ball will fly. Often times Golfers are more focused on the direction they hit the golf ball. Which is understandable however, thats not the solution as far as becoming more consistent.

Too often Golfers are overly concerned with fixing their golf swing to eliminate slices and hooks. And yes, if you do have slices and hooks – you should gain better control of your ball flight. However, when trying to fix your golf swing for the sole purpose of stopping a slice you will usually just end up making even more compensations in your golf swing and causing even more inconsistency.

Have you ever went to a golf lesson to fix a slice or hook? Afterwards most Golfers are even more inconsistent or worse than before their lesson! Because trying to soley fix a slice or hook is usually based on new compensations trying to fix your old compensations. Which just means youre throwing even more compensations into your golf swing!

Trying to fix the direction you hit the golf ball before you start improving your impact will just keep you on the same merry-go-round you have been riding for the last ____ (fill in the blank) years.

However, once youre focused on learning to hit the golf ball more solid its so much easier to fix direction and gain distance. Golf Instructors often debate whether the most important part of the golf swing is swing path, swing plane or clubface. And during most golf lessons what you most likely will be working on, will be that Instructors preference. Yet, you should be working on all 3, along with your angle of approach into the golf ball at the same time if you want to improve.

Now some people might say that that is too much to think about at one time. Yet, I would passionately disagree with anyone that brings that up. Because you can work on all 4 of those points (without thinking of all those 4 points) if youre working on improving your impact with the golf ball.

How do we do it?

By helping you to control your Center of Gravity. Once you understand how important your Center of Gravity is and how it can guide all 4 of those points without you having to think about each one – you will start hitting the golf ball more solid which will allow you to start controlling your direction with much more ease.

The unfortunate thing is that most Golfers are not trained to do it that way. Theyre trained to think about each point individually. Thats one reason why the majority of Golfers do not ever improve their golf swing from year to year.

2. Make it a point to See it, Feel it, Do it before each shot.

The typical Golfer walks up to their golf ball, takes a couple of Ornamental Practice Swings, glances down the middle of the fairway and then swings.

That is poor, poor, poor!

Visualizing where youre going to hit the golf ball sets-up your entire shot. Now some people will say Well Marc, Im not good enough to visualize before each shot. My swing isnt consistent enough at this point and I need to be more focused on that, rather than visualizing. When I do get better, maybe Ill start to think about visualizing my shot.

If thats you I believe youre missing the point. Because being able to start to see your shot before you even swing will actually help you to improve your golf swing. By seeing it youre telling yourself where you want to hit the golf ball. Once you do that its amazing how your mind communicates to your muscles to make the proper golf swing movement. No, it doesnt guarantee all your shots will be great however Id wager a large sum of cash that youre going to hit more good shots than if you fail to See it first.

Because once you See it then youll be able to Feel it. Most Golfers just walk up to the golf ball and take an Ornamental Practice Swing. Why Ornamental? Well, the way most Golfers do it – theres no purpose to it – its just for show because everyone else does it, so you do it. Some might say that they use their practice swing to get loose. Well, if you need to get loose just stretch, itll do more for you than a couple of practice swings.

Some might say – I take my practice swing to get my rhythm. Well, youll get more rhythm by whistling a song before you swing than youll get from your Ornamental Practice Swings.

Wed rather you take a Rehearsal Swing rather than an Ornamental Practice Swing. Whats the difference? Well, with a Rehearsal Swing youre actually rehearshing the shot youre about to play. Youre preparing yourself for your next shot by rehearsing the actual swing youre about to make.

Most Golfers? Theyre just swinging at air! Accomplishing nothing except allowing themselves to ask the recurring question of: Why do my practice swings feel so good yet when I go to hit a golf ball it hardly ever feels as good? Why cant I just hit the golf ball with my practice swing?

To become more consistent – learn to Feel it before you actually swing.

The reason so many Golfers improve with GMS is because we help our Golfers with the total picture. First we work on improving your swing motion using some really excellent drills so that you can better understand your golf swing and improve it. And because of this improved motion – you start to develop a more solid, consistent impact. And its amazing how much easier it is for us to help you improve your direction and distance, once we have helped you with hitting the golf ball more solid!

As opposed to most Golfers/Golf Instructors that first work on direction and wait until they hit it straight before working on hitting it solid.

Then we use See it, Feel it, Do it to work on you visualizing your shots so that youre actually telling your brain what you want to do before you do it. Which will have your brain telling your muscles what they need to be doing. And your muscles will move the golf club correctly. Which will have the golf club telling the golf ball where to go.

And by incorporating an excellent swing technique with mental technique – our Golfers improve!

If you want to improve your golf swing you first need to get away from the style of instruction that hasnt been working for you. Then you need to understand why having a PLAN of using See it, Feel it, Do it will further improve your golf swing and overall game.

GMS is nothing like anything you have ever tried before. Maybe thats why so many finally improve!

The Monkey works on their golf swing with the sole purpose of fixing the direction they hit the golf ball

The Player first focuses on learning to hit the golf ball more solid and then is amazed at how that helps them to hit the ball more consistently

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

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Will 2010 Be Your Best Golf Ever?

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