Golf Putting Experts List!

These are the best of the BEST!

David Edel - www.edelgolf.com

Geoff Mangum - www.puttingzone.com

David Orr - www.orrgolf.com

Mark Sweeney - www.aimpointgolf.com

Bobby Clampett 5 Key Dynamics

Which of the five dynamics is most important?

The Impact Zone by Bobby Clampett identifies the five key dynamics in the swing:  flat left wrist at impact, a 4 inch forward swing bottom, loading, lag while sustaining it through the body pivot, and a straight plane line.  Last week, a student having just finished reading the book asked, Which of the five dynamics is most important?  I pointed out that Bobby listed the flat left wrist as the master dynamic however I wanted him to look at the book from a broader perspective.  I knew he was an amateur gourmet cook so I asked him to tell me his favorite recipe.   After he told me I asked him, which ingredient was the most important?   We enjoying a huge laugh as he grasped my point.  Each ingredient brings itís own needed flavor to the completed recipe.   In relation to the golf swing, each dynamic brings itís own necessary component to the shot being played.  Ranking them in terms of importance isnít really necessary nor recommended.  As a student of your game, you should know that dynamics applied in the short game are the same as the full swing.  Good habits learned in the short game will provide good habits in your full swing shots.  That is why I highly recommend applying the Impact Zone fundamentals to your game in the order that Clampett has laid them out in the book.
    In this first installment, weíll look at Dynamic #1.  Keep checking back into the Impact Zone website to read more about all five dynamics and other interesting Impact Zone related articles.

Dynamic #1:  Flat Left Wrist
The quickest way to understand the importance of a flat left wrist at impact, (and itís partner, a bent right wrist!), is for you to apply this dynamic directly into your putting game.  As you begin your putting stroke, keep in mind that wherever the clubface is pointed when the ball leaves the face (separation), that is the direction that the ball will go.  When it comes to pure direction, the clubface is the dominant factor where the ball goes, not the clubhead path!  Because impact is easier to comprehend at your slowest stroke, putting is the perfect place to grasp the importance of Dynamic #1. 
Keeping your face square to your intended target line is always easier when you have a flat left wrist to help you control your impact alignments.   Remember that your best golf lies in your ability to deliver the clubhead into and through impact on a consistently correct basis.  Being able to repeat your impact alignments on the golf course will immediately make you a much better player.   So, if you are interested in becoming a better golf player, then start by paying attention to your flat left wrist at impact.
A left wrist that is changing itís angle into impact and separation will be much more difficult to control during game conditions and will lead to inconsistent contact along with variable results.   A left wrist that is changing angles through impact will surely make your golf shot like a box of Cracker Jacks, (each box has an unknown surprise!).   If your left wrist is flat, (rather than cupping or bent), it will be easier to deliver the same dynamic loft of your clubface at impact, it will be easier to have a consistent angle of approach into impact, it will greatly improve your rhythmic delivery of the clubhead because your rate of speed will match up with your left arm, and it will help deliver your clubhead on plane into impact.   Learn to do it right, while keeping it simple (one key focus point at a time!) is the fastest way to become the best you can be.  Once you acquire the ability to have a flat left wrist at impact while putting, then apply that skill to your chipping stroke, then pitching stroke, etc. etc. etc.
Above all remember that the game of Golf is a journey.  Allow yourself the luxury of learning it slowly - one practice session at a time.  The process of learning new golf skills combines mental AND physical exercise.  Enjoy the wonderful process involved in your mind and body learning new golfing skills.   Be positive with yourself during the journey.  Realize that golf is a game of misses, (and the golfer that misses it the best usually wins!) therefore don't let a bad shot ruin your confidence that you can learn the skill or allow you to lose your energy and enthusiasm for acquiring the skill.   I'll say it again, be positive with your self!  At the same time be disciplined enough to find the necessary time to understand what you are trying to accomplish, to repeatedly apply the correct movements necessary to execute the technique, and eventually to learn how to let the good shots happen while playing the game on a golf course.   There isn't a better game on the planet so start improving today and enjoy the ride!
Ed Ibarguen

Bobby Clampett- Sand Chip Shot

Photos courtesy of Kerry Corcoran

The Chip Shot Sand Drill

This “go-to” drill will help develop – or re-focus – a forward swing bottom. The Sand Drill begins by drawing a straight line in the sand, and, using your sand wedge, addressing that line as if it were the ball and you were preparing to hit a chip shot. Now simply make the chip shot swing.  Even though you will not use a ball, the goal is for your club to enter the sand at the front edge of this line, then to continue swinging down and forward, so that the center of the divot lies four inches in front of the line. Look at this picture of me executing the sand drill with my wedge and my chipping stroke. You may be surprised, but the photos indisputably prove that even with the small chipping stroke swing, the center of the divot does, indeed, fall four inches in front of the ball.

Bobby Clampett Aimpoint

Photo courtesy of Kerry Corcoran

Start the ball on the target line for more consistent ball striking.

Grab a 5 iron.  (A 5 iron is a good middle-length club to use for practice) Place a coin 5 feet in front of the ball, in line with your target.  Then place a clubshaft or something similar 10 yards in front of the ball in line with the target.  Practice lining up to the coin, then tracking your eyes to the shaft in the ground and then to the target.  Practice this a few times then hit the shot.  Having someone stand behind you and tell you whether the ball started left or right of your target can be helpful feedback. 
If the ball is starting to the left of the target consistently, try moving the ball back in your stance a little bit. If you are still pulling the ball to the left, try visualizing your target more to the right and aim your hands on the downswing more toward the inside part of the ball so that you feel as if you are going to push the ball to the right of your target.  Do this until the ball consistently starts on line.
If the ball is consistently starting to the right of the target, try moving the ball more forward in your stance. If you are still pushing the ball, work on clearing the left hip quicker on the downswing so that the hands will aim and swing more quickly and farther to the left through the impact zone.  In changing your ball position, keep tabs on making sure you’re maintaining a 4 inch in front swing bottom.
If your shots start on your intended line of flight, but then hook or slice off line down range, feel good about the fact that you have swung correctly on plane through The Impact Zone, then make a grip adjustment. To correct hooks, weaken your grip by turning your hands to the left on the handle of the club. To correct slices, strengthen your grip by turning your hands to the right on the handle of the club.
The same drill can be used outdoors or inside hitting into a net.
Bobby with a 5 iron just past impact. This shot started a hair to the right of the target.  I made a small correction moving the ball 1/2  inch more forward in my stance.  Through constant use of this drill, I’ve improved the start line on my shots.  The better your start line, the more accurate a player you’ll become.

Bobby Clampett Chip Shot

Bobby demonstrates the dynamic impact position of chip shots.  Note the amount of forward lean of the clubshaft.  Without the aid of full loading and the use of the pivot, such forward lean (established at address) is needed to get the swing bottom in front of the ball to create dynamic impact.

Chip Shot Tips

The chip requires us to hit the ball up into the air, which imparts backspin on the golf ball.   The only way we can accomplish this effectively is to strike down on the ball with an accelerating stroke so that the bottom, meaning the center, of the swing arc and divot falls approximately four inches in front of the ball.  In other words, during the chipping stroke, the club moves downward and strikes the ball before it reaches both the ground and the bottom of its arc.  It then continues to descend to its low point of four inches in front of the ball, before it swings back up to complete the stroke. 
We want to maintain a Flat Left Wrist throughout the stroke, just as we do in putting.  Therefore we will address the chip with our left wrist in a flat position in the same manner as we did with our putting stroke.  However, because unlike the putt, a chip shot requires us to decisively strike down on the ball, we do need to adjust our set up position slightly from the putt to assure that we do so.   
We do this in two inter-related ways.  First we move the ball back from the (approximate) three inch position inside of our left heel where it was when putting, to a point past or behind the middle of our stance line, which automatically positions our hands more forward in relation to the ball.  This rearward ball position also automatically creates a clubshaft that leans or tilts even more pronouncedly forward.  As the chip shot lengthens and the swing gets longer, it will be less critical to have a “back-in-the-stance” ball position because of the increase in load, clubhead lag and the use of the pivot or workhorse will move the swing bottom farther forward.

Bobby Clampett Pitch Shot

Bobby demonstrates the pitch shot.  Note the divot and the 4 inch in front of the ball swing bottom.  To me, the pitch shot is the most important shot in the game.  That’s right, the most important!  Why, because it is the pure, fundamental building block of the entire golf swing.  The pitch shot has all the components of the full swing, in shortened version.  (Photos courtesy of Kerry Corcoran)

Loading and the Pitch Shot

The pitch shot requires some loading or cocking of the left wrist on the backswing.  The cocking of the left wrist builds potential power during the backswing.  Retaining the angle between the left wrist and the clubshaft “stores” that Loaded power until impact. The forward pivoting motion of the body initiates the pitch-shot’s downswing, while the mental focus throughout the downswing is on keeping the left wrist cocked for as long as feasible.  Letting one’s attention shift to the ball and the clubhead is another great disrupter of sustained Dynamics through the Impact Zone, whether on a pitch shot or a full drive.  Even if the golfer has hinged his or her wrists and the club fully on the backswing, normal human anxiety can easily take over and an over-eagerness to hit at the ball, rather than swing through it convulsively flips the clubhead prematurely. The ball should never be the focus in the swing, but rather the ball should just be in the way of the swing.
The left wrist will uncock before impact completely on its own during the downswing as a result of combined centrifugal force and gravity, and there isn’t a human being on earth than can stop if from doing so. In fact any uncocking or unhinging of the wrists during the early stages of the downswing in an attempt to add power, speed and/or loft to the club instantly annihilates any chance you have of striking the ball with a Flat Left Wrist and a Forward Swing Bottom through The Impact Zone. 
Learn to load the club on the backswing during the pitch shot, then practice storing this load for as long as feasible on the downswing, while initiating the downswing through the driving of the hips.  This will improve your strike of the ball and give you better results.

Bobby Clampett Impact Zone

How to increase clubhead lag on the downswing?

I often get asked during my clinics after convincing my audience of the need to Load and Lag the club, “Bobby, just how do I increase Lag?” It helps tremendously to exercise the art of visualization, because increasing Lag on the downswing is only possible when one has a clear mental image of having fully Loaded the club on the backswing and visualization the delaying the release of this Load on the downswing. 
But first, let me describe what Clubhead Lag is. From a purely descriptive point of view, Lag describes the condition of the clubhead continually trailing the body, arms and hands, and of course, the clubshaft, right up to impact and through The Impact Zone, where we want to apply all of our swing’s power and energy into the ball. So that’s a kind of moving or kinesthetic description of Lag looks like. 
We can also measure Lag and further define (and see) it as the size of the angle created between the left arm, wrist and hands and the clubshaft. The narrower that angle, the more Lag our swing will have at that point during the motion. Lag also involves the stress or bend we place on the clubshaft at the start of the downswing. In fact this very change of direction from the top of the backswing to the start of the downswing adds more Load in the club than that which we created in it with our wrist cock during the backswing. In other words, very shortly after we start down toward the Impact Zone, we have more stored power in our club than we had when we reached the top of our swing.
 When we successfully create Lag in our downswing, we certainly feel that clubhead trailing and retaining its stress or Load.  So Lag is both this quality of the clubhead trailing and the quantities of the angle between the left arm and the clubshaft, and the amount of stress or bend we create in that shaft.
Now that we know what lag is, let’s focus on how to deliver it into the ball.  The pivot is the workhorse of our swing, and we’ve already gotten some of the work we need out of it when it completed our backswing for us. Now is when we really need to drive our steed across the finish line.  By this I mean that we want the pivoting motion of the downswing to relieve our hands of any tendency they may have to become too active, because only by remaining soft and quiet on the club can our left wrist increase its cocking action (i.e., increase the club’s Lag) all the way through the Impact Zone.
Since we’re building our swing incrementally from the short shots to the long ones that on the full swing, it stands to reason that the hips will work even more authoritatively in the full swing to move our body and club through the Impact Zone. Indeed, the number one key that sustains our Lag from the top of our full swing all the way through the Impact Zone is a sound downswing pivot driven and led by the hips, with the shoulders arms and, finally, the club trailing throughout the motion. We said that Lag describes the condition of the club trailing, and that means something has to be leading. Well, what leads are our hips.

The Ballad of Jimmy Ballard

The Ballad of Jimmy Ballard
By James Dodson
Sep-2000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqTVlLar_JM&feature=player_embedded


Ostracized by the PGA establishment, golf's most controversial teacher has lived to see his unorthodox theories vindicated.

A decade ago, after just a 20-minute phone conversation with Jimmy Ballard, the so-called Pioneer of Connection, I began playing the golf game of my life—hitting the ball straighter than ever, getting up and down when it really counted. My confidence soared, and my USGA handicap plunged from seven to two and a half.

Yet it was strange. Of all the swing gurus I'd met, Ballard gave me the least advice. All he told me was that the large muscles of the body, specifically the shoulders and legs, control the fate of a golf shot. In particular he stressed the importance of maintaining the "triangle" created by the arms at address throughout the swing. By that he meant keeping the left arm "connected" to the body and using the right side of the body to "fire" (or initiate) the downswing.

Ballard has always believed that the golf swing is far simpler than it's made out to be, and that it's easily repeatable once a handful of unvarying principles of physics are understood. Or as he put it, in his Billy Sunday-like Alabama drawl: "It isn't like trying to reinvent the wheel. There's only a few principles that govern how you take back a golf club and return it to a square position at impact. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a load of snake oil."

Ballard's résumé speaks the volumes that he doesn't. During the '70s he worked on the swing of Tour players Mac McClendon, J.C. Snead, Dewitt Weaver, Jim Colbert, and Leonard Thompson. All enjoyed their first professional wins and saw their playing careers subsequently explode. Gary Player and Johnny Miller became ardent believers in the Ballard gospel of connection, as did Jerry Pate, Frank Beard, and Hubert Green. In the early eighties, when Ballard set up shop at Doral Golf and Country Club in Miami, a promising Louisiana golfer named Hal Sutton came to him; Sutton soon after captured the PGA Championship. He enjoyed his greatest year on tour in 1999 and has vowed never to work with anyone else again. "If I do, I hope somebody shoots me," he said. Sutton was followed by Sandy Lyle, who promptly went and captured the '87 Players Championship and the '88 Masters. Most notably, in 1980 Curtis Strange began working with Ballard, who told him it would probably take five years to produce the results Strange was after. As predicted, in 1985 Strange won his first money title; he went on to win two consecutive U.S. Opens in '88 and '89, all under Ballard's tutelage. Peter Jacobsen, who also transformed his career under Ballard, sums it up: "The best teacher in golf. Period."

Despite being named Golf Magazine Teacher of the Decade in the eighties, Ballard was overshadowed by David Leadbetter, the glamorous swing coach of Nick Faldo. Leadbetter's theories, especially his notion of "setting the angle" of the club on the takeaway, were almost diametrically opposed to Ballard's simpler principles of connection. So were their personalities: Leadbetter is a smooth talker, adept at wooing the press, while Ballard is folksy and rambunctious—and always seemed to be involved in a dustup with his pupils. For much of the '90s Ballard disappeared from the radar screen.

With a new decade dawning, and an old golf swing ailing, I recently went in search of Jimmy Ballard to see what a day rather than a 20-minute phone conversation with the Pioneer of Connection could do for my handicap (which is back up to seven, by the way). I came across him on the practice tee near his residence at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, taking a three-day break from one of his highly acclaimed players' schools.

The first question I asked him was why David Leadbetter, Dave Pelz, Rick Smith, Butch Harmon, and other swing gurus have become celebrities while Ballard, who arguably has groomed more champions than the others combined, remains so elusive.

"I suppose," he said with a husky laugh, "it has something to do with my personality. Admittedly, I'm intense. I let my feelings be known. I'm old-school that way, for better or worse, not as smooth and refined as some of these modern guys are. I have said things in print that bothered people, and my ideas have contradicted a lot of the modern thinking these guys are perpetuating, much of which will absolutely ruin your golf swing. In some ways I've always been my own worst enemy.

"From the beginning of my career I've been an outsider in the teaching business. I'm still not a member of the PGA of America [the organization of club and teaching professionals]. In many ways I'm the heretic of golf. But my ideas come from the same principles that gave Ben Hogan his ideas. They aren't new, but they work."

The foundation of Ballard's thinking goes back to 1960, when he went to work for a former Tour player and retired major-league baseball star by the name of Sam Byrd. Not only did Byrd win over 25 events in his PGA playing career, he nearly won the Masters twice and was runner-up to Byron Nelson at the PGA Championship in 1945.

Byrd owned and operated a par-three course and driving range in Birmingham, Alabama, and hired Ballard, then seventeen and a state amateur junior champ, as his teaching assistant. "Sam Byrd was one of the purest strikers of a ball that ever played the game," Ballard says emphatically, "but he was a controversial figure. He maintained that baseball and golf swings were identical, just on separate planes, and that the principles that governed hitting a baseball were exactly the same in golf."

Byrd, Ballard says, was Babe Ruth's roommate on the road, "and it was Ruth who taught Sam the trick of holding a handkerchief beneath his left arm in order to keep his left arm 'connected' to his body throughout the swing." Byrd also became convinced that a good golfer, like a slugger, "braced" with his right leg on the backswing, moved the head slightly to the right as the body naturally "coiled," and obtained power by "firing" the right side of the body at the target. "One swing was on a level plane, the other on a tilted plane," says Ballard, relating Byrd's gospel. "Other than that, they were totally identical. When Grantland Rice, the great sports writer, suggested to Sam that they write a book comparing the two swings, Sam just laughed, explained all of this, and said to him, 'That will be a damn short book.' "

It was Byrd, according to Ballard, who first told Ben Hogan about the handkerchief and a proper coil, ideas that clearly had a major impact on Hogan's thinking about the swing. Before Byrd, Hogan had suffered from a chronic duck hook, which nearly caused him to abandon the professional game and resign himself to being a club pro in Fort Worth, Texas. Instead, armed with Byrd's ideas about connection and his own dogged persistence, Hogan went on to become the finest shotmaker in the game and author (with Herbert Warren Wind) of maybe the best swing-instruction book ever: Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. That book is the spiritual antecedent of Jimmy Ballard's bestselling How to Perfect Your Golf Swing, published in 1981 by Golf Digest and now just out of print.

"Ben Hogan never gave proper credit to Sam Byrd, just like some of the great players I taught never gave me the credit I and others felt I was due in helping them understand the principles of the swing that elevated their games. I told them I didn't want credit for winning golf tournaments because I didn't hit a shot. All I wanted was for them to say that I'd given them information that helped their swings. A teacher's lifeblood is obviously his ideas."

During their 21 years together at the driving range, Byrd and Ballard turned out a stream of national, state, and local women's and juniors' champions. "That really opened some eyes and I think made us some enemies in the teaching ranks." Byrd held a Class A PGA America credential, and following his five-year apprenticeship under Byrd, so did Jimmy Ballard. "But a short while later I showed up at a pro-am event and was informed that I was no longer considered a member of the PGA of America. I had powerful lawyers who urged me to challenge the decision in the courts, but in the end I simply let it go. I planned to teach the game, and I would find my own damn way to do it."

Early in the 1970s Ballard set up shop at his own golf club, Pine Harbor Golf and Country Club, close to Pell City, Alabama. Soon a who's who of the professional world was finding its way to this rural corner of Alabama, even though the Alabama section of the PGA didn't even list Ballard on its teaching roster. "Basically, nobody knew how to find me except by word of mouth." The irony, he says, is that the PGA of America eventually sought him out and invited him to become a member again, but asked that he go through their teaching school in order to earn proper accreditation. "I was pleased that we might mend our fences after all this time," Ballard explains, "but there was no way on God's green earth I could go through their school and accept their ideas about the golf swing. I guess I'm hardheaded, but I told them they were dead wrong about the hands and the arms controlling a golf shot. They were wrong in saying the head should never move in the swing. They were wrong about so much, I'd have been a liar if I went through their school and accepted their ideas just to have that PGA designation."

Ballard moved to Doral in 1983, where his success with Sutton, Strange, and other pros, as well as his book, led to an invitation to join the teaching staff of Golf Digest. "I eventually got sideways with them too, I regret to say. In retrospect, I probably could have bent more. But they had Jim Flick and Bob Toski, two famous teachers who not only taught almost entirely different principles than I did but ridiculed many of my ideas, such as the concept of bracing against the right leg and a natural coil. They asserted that the arms and hands control a golf shot which, as promoted by many PGA of America teachers, was a belief I couldn't support. I couldn't endorse their philosophies, so I just stayed out here on my own, letting people find their way to me."

Several years ago an olive branch of sorts was extended when Ballard was invited to share the podium with several other prominent teachers at the PGA's 1996 World Teaching Summit at the Superdome in New Orleans. According to Ballard, his talks received the longest ovations, not to mention accolades from Craig and Dick Harmon. Two years later, during the same summit, Ballard says, he debated Jim Flick over the subject "body versus arms." Flick spent most of his time attacking Ballard's ideas, arguing, among other things, that they were great for "top players" but would not work for "the average Joe."

"I was really glad he did that," Ballard recalls with a Southern tent evangelist's sly smile. "Because we spent the whole time talking about my ideas rather than his. I was able to refute every one of his claims, most notably the one about my ideas being good for better players. And as I pointed out to the audience, I had developed my ideas by working with ordinary players and worked my way up to teaching the pros using them. The principles that make all good players excellent ballstrikers are exactly the same principles that make anyone a good ballstriker. That hasn't changed from the beginning with me."

Several years ago Ballard and his pal Jim Colbert set up a highly successful teaching partnership aimed at "the average guy," the Colbert-Ballard Golf Schools. It was eventually bought out by Family Golf Centers, which now uses the curriculum at its facilities nationwide. Ballard remains a consultant, training Family Golf instructors, but most of his energy these days goes into his players' schools, month-long sessions for developing better players that cost $15,000. Ballard's work in recent years includes shaping the games of PGA Tour star Jesper Parnevik ("He was about a six-handicapper when he first came to me in 1985") and Jason Allred, a recent national junior champion, and his methods continue to be the accepted basis of the Swedish Golf Federation's teaching philosophy. That may not sound like much, but Sweden has produced some of the most exciting and successful players of the 1990s.

One of Ballard's most controversial techniques, I found, is to explode conventional swing dogma. He systematically attacks such traditional notions as keeping the head down or still through the swing, keeping the left arm straight or "stiff" through impact, pulling down with the back of the left hand or the butt of the club, staying behind the ball at impact, and following through with the traditionally accepted bow or reverse-C finish. All, he says, are enemies of the connected golf swing.

He showed me a series of great players' swings (Ben Hogan, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus) at their peaks and compared them to photos taken before and after they'd hit their prime. The evidence was undeniable: At their apogee, all were doing exactly what Jimmy Ballard insisted makes for a great golf swing. The seven common denominators were all visible. And it may be that the unsung prophet is finally getting through. In a recent cover story in Golf Magazine the editors named five hallmarks of the new Millennium golf swing. All were principles Ballard has been preaching for almost 40 years.

On the range he watched me hit for ten minutes, then corrected a few items, primarily my tendency to "flatten" the backswing (thus coming "over the top" on the downswing) and allow my left elbow to become "disconnected" from my body during the swing. In addition, we worked on keeping the triangle intact and firing the right side.

Later that day, to put his thinking to the test, I drove back up to Ballard's old home at Doral and played the course. Applying what I learned, I hit 15 greens in regulation, three or four more than usual. However, what I liked best about Ballard's ideas was their functional simplicity. In other words, once I had them down, I didn't have to spend much time thinking about them. Yes, it was going to take time to rid myself of some old ideas and new bad habits, but it felt good to be connected again with a swing I knew would only get better.


Teeing Off Tips

1. The golfer must create connection at the outset through a braced connected address. To do that, Ballard recommends a "weightlifter's stance," with feet spaced approximately as wide as the shoulders, left foot slightly open, back straight, and knees flexed. (This way shoulders, arms, and hands are "connected" and form a "triangle.") You are set up to properly "brace" against the right leg on the backswing.

2. Begin the swing by taking the triangle and center away together. All great strikers, according to Ballard, swing the club back at least to waist level and sometimes beyond with the arm-shoulder triangle intact. Avoid cocking or rolling wrists on the takeaway.

3. "Coil" the body at the top of the swing into the brace of the right leg. Keep the left elbow connected to the body (place a handkerchief under left arm, if necessary) and the thumbs beneath the shaft at the top of the backswing. The head "floats" with the spine and follows the weight transfer; it should move naturally a bit to the right during the coil.

4. Reversing the direction of the club in order to make it recoil squarely into the back of the ball is initiated with the large muscles of the lower body, specifically with a kick of the right foot and knee toward the ball, and not with the arms and hands.

5. After initiating the change of direction, immediately release the right side and center. This ensures that the triangle returns to the original position, squaring the club to the ball at impact. Ballard maintains that "right is might," meaning that by "firing the large muscles of the right side," you release optimum firepower. Properly done, the arms and hands naturally release and the triangle is reformed at the top of the follow-through. The right forearm must never move under the left at impact or you will produce a push or slice. Similarly, if the right forearm crosses over the left, you will produce a duck hook.

6. Every great golfer maintains the triangle on the follow-through—at least until the club reaches waist level. The butt of the club points to the center of the body, which has uncoiled toward the target.

7. Complete the swing with the knees, hips, and shoulders level and the weight entirely on the left side. The straight, balanced finish is proof that connection has been maintained throughout the swing. Attempting to "stay behind the ball" and finishing in the once-widely-taught "reverse C" is a grave mistake, says Ballard, indicating an unfinished transfer of the body's weight through the swing.

Jim McLellen Anti-pro swing thoughts Best of BLOG!

Question 1: Is your back swing at least parallel, is your left arm reasonably straight, do you have a nice relaxed hip and shoulder turn as they follow the hands to the top of the back swing,
is your swing higher than your head, is your back swing nice and slow___lazy with little effort?

Question 2: Has your head remained still to the top of the back swing?

Question 3: If your finish full and complete, club beyond parallel, hands high, are you looking over your right elbow, is your right foot straight up and down (on your toes), with only enough weight on it to support your balance?

To score yourself simply video tape your swing. You may be surprised that what you THOUGHT you were doing and what you are actually doing can be shocking.

Golf Slice Surgery

How to fix your golf slice...for good.

Unless the stork just dropped you down the chimney & into your mom's outstretched arms and her soft & warm duel dairy facility...You know damn good and well what a slice is. NOT clueless, you fully understand that a ball slices because, at impact, the club head makes it spin in a clock-wise rotation. As a result of this encounter...the air catches the dimples and your ball rockets to the right over some guy's backyard fence, blasting through his patio glass door, knocking his prized Ming Vase off of the hand carved walnut mantle & onto his imported Italian tile floor___ transforming this prized collectible into Ming Dust. I should mention that this rich guy just happens to be the president of the local NRA and would love to show you exactly how his new 12 gauge shotgun works. Got Vaseline?

I first became aware of just how often the horrid slice infected the golfer at my Dad's driving range when I was 8 y/o. I was one of the lucky lads who fetched golf balls that were returned, back to the clubhouse, into another waiting bucket for resale. A gigantic percentage of the driving range balls were found on the right side of the range. Dad went so far as to install a 4 story, chicken wire fence, to keep the bad dog balls from flying onto our golf course. It worked....only a little bit!

SLICING 101...

A ball slices because:

1). the club face is open at the wreck (impact)
2). the club face is traveling across the ball...(outside-in) to the intended target,
3). an order of fries & biggie drink combo...
( for those of you w/o a sense of humor, it's a combination of 1 & 2 above)

All of the information that I have read, regarding the golf slice, has one thing in common (drum roll). . . . It doesn't work!

If you are cognizant that the family jewels are oftentimes hidden under those canary yellow, Palm Beach slacks, tucked appropriately out of the way, in the fruit of the looms with the valentine hearts__THEN__ you have what it takes to GET THIS ....The cure for the slice CAN Forever and Ever be YOURS & found in the next paragraphs....You Lucky Dog You!

So confident (AKA cocky) in my ability to fix a slice...I bet my students I can eliminate their slice in 5 shots or less or the lesson is free. Never lost the bet. I see on the Internet where some golf pro (?) needs 21 days to do it.. If he can't fix it in 5 balls he ain't gonna fix it!

As the club face leaves the ball it naturally opens up a full 1/4 turn by the time you reach the top of the back swing___ or you break both arms off at the shoulders. The next sentences are worth a kings ransom so take a hit off of your coffee mug and hang on every word. I usually sell this information, but you caught me in a generous mood today. Golfers slice the ball B/C they don't get the club face back to square at impact.

NOW, in order to get the club face back square at impact, the golfer must trick his swing by thinking that he is rolling the club face WAY TOO MUCH__ with his hands. The golfer must try to roll the club face 1/4 turn PAST square as if trying to hit the ball on the toe of the club head....NOT the club face. Likea thisa...(Use your Italian accent)

Here's what to do. Grab a 7 iron. Tee It UP. Take a nice big back swing....lazy smooth and slow. On the downswing have the sensation that you are GRADUALLY rolling the club face WAY TOO MUCH....with your hands. The casual observer won't be able to see this happen! One more point, make sure you are swinging directly to the target....not to the left of it.
IF the ball slices, you are not rolling. If the ball hooks, swing faster until the ball goes straight or hooks a little__ Your choice.

Hey Sailor, wanna have some fun? On the next shot don't roll the club face over at all. Actually__Try to slice it. Big slice. Next ball ROLL Way TOO MUCH again....does it hook? Too much hook?___ Swing faster. Play with it...nothing to lose but your slice.

For My Dad

Bud McLellan 1913-1962

One Move Golf Swing

The Secret of the Golf Swing is ONE move!

Yes, there are 3 pictures___your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The far picture to the right is the magic secret position that sets the foundation for the rare/great swing!

Notice the back swing is higher than Sam's hat which has NOT, NOT, NOT___moved! Because his swing is fluid, free flowing, and seamless this hallmark position encourages a full body and shoulder turn. This ONE move golf swing gives the impression of "effortless power"___ Sam has plenty of time to develop maximum acceleration by the time the club head reaches impact.

If the golfer has the ability to be in this stellar position at the top of the backswing, the chances of the rest of the swing being perfect approach 100%!
Jim McLellan
The AntiPro/The Maverick

Visit or Return to McGolf Home of the Perfect Golf Swing

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Sam's My Man

There are Only 3 Key Factors in a Great Golf Swing. 1) Full-High Back Swing, 2) Still Head, & 3) Full-High Finish. Everything else will follow naturally and automatically, contrary to what you are hearing from the Golf Industry Circus.

Check out Sam Snead on the Youtube link below!

I would say he's got it, wouldn't you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Gu7n7Vnm0

Jim McLellan

Become A Super Putter

Full title: Everything you always wanted to know about becoming a Super Putter but were afraid to Ask.

You've heard the claims . . . Buy this or that product or instruction material and shave 5 strokes, 12 strokes, or 20 strokes from your score card. Send check or Money order to "Bob's Secret to Fabulous Putting," 175 Bull's-eye Road, Pinball, Idaho 13131.

Get ready to get mad if you have invested money in learning how to putt and you still suck. For here my good buddy is a plan, for free, that will make a huge difference in your putting skill. You will discover that the problem isn't the putter it's the puttee.

First you need to fully understand the formula that will produce the putting magic you dream about. The technique is simple. The application requires a degree of dedicated practice. Here is the equation. 10% technique, 90% practice.

Most any grip will work, so pick one that seems comfortable. Pick a stance that seems well balanced for you. Place the ball in the stance that gives you the best results after a little experimentation. Feel like the action of the stroke is coming from the shoulders as per Volume II McLellan Golf DVDs. Keep the head very still, moving only the shoulders, arms and hands as one unit.

Find a putting green where you can putt for several hours. Use 3 or 4 new golf balls, and start with a 3 or 4 foot distance. Begin putting. If you don't make the putt it is because your putts are too short, too long, to the right or to the left. Notice the trend!

Interesting, as you continue to putt you will automatically begin to correct these variables. Keep track of what's going on, notice the trend, and write it down. Notice how after a few minutes you become a much better putter. At the end of an hour you will hardly resemble the putter you were when you started. Swing the putter straight back from the hole and straight to the hole using a silky smooth stroke . . . I like the feeling that the palm of my right hand swings the putter toward the hole.

Feel like you are putting a vintage roller skate wheel (on its edge). Stroke it so it doesn't wobble or tip over!

Practice for 10 to 15 minute intervals and sit down and analyze what's going on. Pick a day when you can spend 3 or 4 hours just practicing putting. You will be a totally different putter at the end of the day and you will definitely see a BIG difference when you tally up your score. Your new skill should help eliminate 3 putting.

Give God deserved credit for building an unbelievable awesome machine that has everything it takes for you to become an incredible golfer/putter. You need NOTHING else than the information found in this article and gobs of practice. Golfers think all they need is more information to play better golf as they sit in their Lazy Boy Recliners and read about IT. Reading about IT, won't make you better. You must take these simple tips and apply them through hours and hours of intelligent/dedicated practice on the putting green. The time invested will put a smile on your face that will be hard to wipe off.

Jim McLellan

The Anti-Pro/The Maverick

 

Butter Your Golf Swing

You've seen it, on very rare occasions, the golf swing that looks like it's just been buttered. The golf swing that appears effortless, lazy, great tempo, relaxed, unhurried, pretty, poetry in motion, EZ as pie . . . yet the ball explodes off the club face flying into the wild blue yonder.

How does this happen? Lets start with how it does NOT happen. As the golfer becomes older, he becomes more conservative, more cautious, more unsure, less confident. The result is, the swing becomes shorter, jerkier, choppier, lacks rhythm and tempo, and appears mechanical and thought driven. Flexibility goes in one direction . . . less and less flexible. The swing, inch by inch, becomes shorter both in the backswing and follow-through positions. Power is lost, distance is lost, any prettiness is lost, and economy of motion deteriorates.

On the other hand, the buttered swing is a big swing, a gorgeous swing, a swing that has all the time in the world to develop maximum clubhead speed and appears effortless.

Early swings of both Hogan and Snead were huge . . . way past level on the backswing and to a full, full, finish. Beautiful, effective swings especially among the ladies are full . . . they have to be to make up for their lack of strength compared to the male muscle power.

Take a look at Freddie Couples swing. Freddie is one of the longest hitters on the tour, yet his swing looks like he is "fixin" to fall asleep. Mr. Couples develops incredible clubhead speed because his backswing is "fully loaded," the gun is cocked, the spring is totally "wound up." Freddie swings past horizontal allowing his shoulders to follow his hands as he gathers power to "gradually" have the time to develop a down swing that is super fast . . . NOT hard. Take a tip from Freddie and make sure you really "wind up" so much so that your left shoulder actually points behind the ball on your backswing.

Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones, ViJay Singh, & some guy named Jim McLellan all thought that making sure the backswing was "clear back there" was key to an effective golf swing

You never hear me talk about body parts, unless it is where the hands go . . . BUT, if the swing is relaxed and the shoulders are not inhibited they will turn a great deal. This "torque" contributes a great deal to Freddie's power and tempo and will do wonders for yours as well.

When you practice, "without a ball," strive to swing way past level and way through to a full, full finish. The feeling will be that you have lost control of your swing and that you could never hit a ball with that big of a swing. Just the opposite will occur. The still head controls the swing and now that your fully "wound up"swing has time to develop all the speed it needs, your swing too, will look like it has just been freshly buttered. Pass the popcorn, please!

Jim McLellan

 

A Four Part Action Thriller!

1) Practice the "windup" position until you no longer

have to think about it.

2) Practice the "windup" position without moving your head until you no longer have to think about it.

3) Pracitce the finish position until you no longer have to think about it.

4) Swing the golf club without thinking about it.

Done!

 

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Having a problem keeping your eye on the ball? If I ask you to keep your eye on the ball, chances are you would look at the TOP of the ball, & then hit the TOP of the ball and..... TOP IT!
As you address the ball, stare at the BACK of the ball...the area of the ball where you want the clubhead to make contact with the ball. Continue to glare at the BACK of the ball until you become consciously aware that the ball is GONE. It will make a BIG difference in your golf.

The Swing's the Thing

.....Not The Body Parts! It's NOT about the pivot, grip, stance, knees, elbows, spine, shoulders, hips. It's NOT about move this, now this, now that, and finally this. It's about..... THE SWING!
The body parts are merely spectators in the bleachers. Down on the field is where the action takes place. Down on the field is where it's at!

The Swing, Swings and the ball gets in the way. Close your eyes and FEEL your hands swinging THE ......CLUBHEAD!

Golf Swing Relaxation Techniques

Being nervous and unable to relax is linked to the Electrical activity emanating from the brain.

When the brain is aroused and actively engaged in mental activities, it generates BETA waves. Beta waves are characteristics of a strongly engaged mind. A person making a speech or the nervous, high handicapped golfer is in the Beta brain wave state. "First Tee Jitters?"...Your brain is in the Beta brain wave state.

 

 

The next brainwave category is ALPHA. A person who takes time out to reflect or meditate is usually in an alpha state. Alpha will help avoid the "Heebie-Jeebies," and enable the golfer to relax and perform some fine golf shots.

When the person begins to daydream he is often in a THETA brainwave state. A person who is driving on a freeway, and discovers that they can't recall the last five miles, is often in a theta state. This is the ideal state to be in for those spectacular golf shots that keeps you coming back for more.

Before you arrive at the first tee begin to change your brain wave states from Beta, to somewhere in between Alpha and Theta.____ Turn off the BETA-Turn off the Noise! Find a quite place, behind a tree someplace.... Take some deep breaths, be aware of slowing down your heart rate, and hum a nice slow waltz tune in your head. A Strauss waltz or "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," work great. Take several practice swings using the waltz tune as you swing, diverting the mind from any chance of being "uptight." You are "Zoned" and that's where all great shots are born.

You are naturally in these brain wave states several times durng the day. Try to activate them when you want to play your best golf. The sensation you will have is that you are "NOT THERE"___ "something else" is swinging your golf club, for YOU. Very important Stuff...here! But you've become acustomed to expect it, haven't you?

Jim McLellan

 

 

Rust Free Golf Swing

Keeping your golf swing "Oiled" and rust free is easy once this simple "routine" becomes routine.

Have a club by the back door and one in the trunk of your car. Any old ratty club will do. Anytime you can steal as little as 30 seconds, oil your swing by having a nice full backswing and follow-through. Key word FULL...Swing back further than usual and through to a very FULL finish...stretching the swing more and more with each oiling session. Remember to...Swing past horizontal (level) on the backswing & to a super full, stretchy finish!

There are many opportunities to steal a moment in time, Before you go to work, coffee breaks, commercials on TV, any spare minute, and there are plenty of them. 30 seconds will do wonders, 5 minutes is perfect!

Inside your skull, the golf groove in your cerebellum is being soaked & bathed in precious, priceless, natural human bean oil....Never having a chance to get rusty.

We keep our dance steps (Yes, we dance) "rust free" in only 30 seconds a day and it is enough to strut our stuff come Saturday night!

No need to spend a small fortune on gas to drive over to the practice range and back. Your own backyard is the perfect place for a "tune up"! Your swing will be as smoooooooothe as "Oil on Wet Glass". 

 

 

Perfect Timing For Your Golf Swing

Waltz time was invented to "time" the perfect golf swing! Waltz Time, ----"times" your golf swing like an Offenhauser running at Indy.

A great old time favorite waltz tune, that every red blooded American knows, is "TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME!" The meter for the song should be nice and slow like you would expect on a hot July afternoon at Yankee Stadium. See link at the bottom of this post, courtesy Elaine McLellan.

Here's the magic in how it works: Following the lyrics, do this:

Take me....for the back swing.
Out...for the forward swing.
To the ball game...some time at the finish and getting ready for your next swing.

Then again:
Take me....for the back swing.
Out...for the forward swing.
To the crowd...some time at the finish and getting ready for your next swing.

Then:
Buy me some....back swing
Peanuts.... forward swing....etc...

If you can pipe the music into your backyard...good for you and the neighbors. If not, a mini recorder, Ipod, or whatever should work fine. OR, you can just hear the song in your head and swing with PERFECT RHYTHM. Your swing will purr like a Persian Kitty.
Click here for Take Me Out to The Ball Game 

Golf Swing Myth

The golf swing does NOT start at the ball. The wind-up starts at the ball. All the energy that goes into the "backswing" is completely wasted. The swing stops momentarily before it returns to the ball. Anytime there is a back and forth direction change, there is a complete stop.The back swing is the "cocking of the gun"...Not the firing of the gun!Looking for more distance and control? Think of the Swing as 2 separate parts. ONE...The effortless wind-up. & TWO the forward swing to a beautiful finish...NOT to the ball. The ball simply "gets in the way" of the golf swing. You do NOT 1) swing, 2) HIT, and 3) swing. You swing~ You want to be a Swinger not a Hitter. Hitters are Sluggers.

Jim McLellan

The Door Hinge

Why does the door open and shut...perfectly every time??? Because___The doors hinge is screwed to the stationary door jam.

Why do professional golfers hit the ball cleanly and consistently every time? Because a part of their swing is stationary...just like the door jam above.

Today, there is some idiotic controversy over whether or not it is important for the golfers head to remain still. Those who don't think it is important haven't studied the correlation between a still head and superb shot making__consistently.

Watch the pros on the tube. "Sight" their head on an object in the background and watch how still their heads are. Visit a driving range and watch how the more the golfers heads move, the worse they do.

I have studied the importance of keeping the head still since man first walked upright.

Sam Snead has won more golf tournaments than any golfer ever....His trademark straw hat....never moves! Watch other pros. Other things in the swing may vary, But the head is still!

High handicap golfers have a problem topping the ball. Watch their swings. As they start their back swings they lift their head, which lifts the club, which causes them to top...or miss...the ball.

It is quite elementary Watson. The head come up... you top it. The head goes down...you hit the ground. The head moves away from the ball, you toe it. The head moves towards the ball you shank it!

There is NO need to have a short back swing for fear that you will move your head. You can have a big beautiful golf swing__AND__ a still head.

How important is it to keep the head still on ALL shots, including putting? It is THE KEY to

Your Finest Golf!

Remember the door hinge__and relate it to your swing. Big swing with a still head produces superb golf shots, every time!

 

How the Golf Swing Really Works

How habits are formed in the brain is fascinating. Understanding how the brain works can open new doors for the golfer in search of his best golf swing.

Most golfers (95%) never experience the pleasure of finding their very own best golf. However, a small minority, 5% or so do! Success or failure depends on what part of the brain the golfer is using.

We can watch a concert pianist's hands on the keyboard or be captivated by the superhuman moves of an Olympic ice skater. We are witness to what's going on in the brain. Muscles DON'T have memory! MOVEMENT comes from the brain!

When the golfer repeats his swing__OFTEN__ the action is controlled by an unconscious part of the brain called the BASAL GANGLIA.....allowing him to operate on auto-pilot...the good shots.

When we do something new the PREFRONTAL CORTEX, an area of the brain that involves decision making, is in control. Golfers who continue to bombard the prefrontal cortex with new information (usually ineffective) ___ never send the "right stuff" to the Basal Ganglia, where great swings live!

Practicing the golf swing over and over, becomes a habit that LITERALLY moves the control of the action from the Prefrontal Cortex to the Basal Ganglia. Understanding the key factors of how a golf swing really works and Quickly moving those key factors from the Prefrontal Cortex to the Basal Ganglia >>>>moves the golfer into "Auto-Pilot" and from the ordinary class golfer to the exceptional golfer.

One Minute Golf Lesson

It is NOT important how you get to a good backswing & follow through position. It IS important that you do.

IF you do, indeed, understand these two key positions...Chances are you will GET THERE... AUTOMATICALLY

 

 

Our Creed

My creed goes something like this: Keep it simple, stick to the basics, practice consistently with enthusiasm and intensity, use logic, be creative and intuitive, be confident in your applications, be happy and deal with your misery. Be real. Stop fussing. There are absolutely no secrets. Nothing's new. Collect the necessary information and get to work. The clutter of intelligence, the waste of words describing a simple thing, the superior heaps of decaying mental rubbish surrounding our game is EVERYWHERE. The sensible applications of the basics to YOUR GAME is simple.. not necessarily EASY....You actually have to get off your can and do it....But, at the end of the day you will have the feeling that it is, indeed, SIMPLE! There are people out there who have read so much they think they actually know something. The learning's not in the reading,... it's in the doing.
Inspired by & in harmony with Dave Draper
http://www.davedraper.com/

Another Alignment technique -

First establish the ball-target line by standing directly behind the ball. Second, locate an object (eg. tuft of grass or divot mark) about 6 feet away on the ball-target line - red dot, labelled "X". Third, stand alongside the ball, and place the clubhead behind the ball so that the clubface (short blue line) faces point "X". Fourth, make sure that your foot stance line is perpendicular to the clubface, which means that the stance line is parallel to the ball-target line - yellow line. Fifth, make sure that an extension of the stance line (yellow line) points well left of the target (double-headed red arrow) - as viewed when glancing out of the corner of the left eye at the left shoulder. As a rough approximation, the width of the double-headed red arrow at the target should be about 7 feet for every 100 yards of distance.