Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sevam1 & TGM

For you big Sevam1 fans, I thought this would interest you in regards to the feet and TGM. In particular, my personal golf instructor Ted Fort. I was going thru the Lynn Blake forum and came across this post from the past (http://www.lynnblakegolf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4899)

This man has been a lifetime seeker of the truth. He's been involved in TGM for years. He gave me the short list of all the lessons that he had taken. He told me that he had NEVER seen himself on video with a Flat Left Wrist, until today. (hence the Amazing Change)

We worked for 45 minutes yesterday, and this is the video from the beginning of the lesson today.


I've actually gotten a lot of people PM with similar positions on the left at impact and ask me if that is 'flipping.' Well, yes..it is. See, on the left pic frame the clubshaft does not form a straight line with the left arm. In the righ pic frame it does. That's one of the big things I like about the Taly, if the golfer were to put that on their left arm, the clubhead in the left pic frame would go past the red ball (aka 'the clown's nose') on the Taly. But in the right pic frame the clubhead would be properly behind the red ball on the Taly. I'm digressing, so let's get back to how this applies to Sevam1's great book, 'The Secret Is In The Dirt.'

Anyway, Ted wanted the posters in this thread to guess what they changed. And here's some of his posts on the subject.

7-17: Foot Loading - enabled him to get the FLW at Impact.

In his backstroke, he was getting closer to the ball. He had been told to do thousands of chips/pitches with the FLW, which doesn't hurt anyone. But, he never had the ability to keep it in a longer stroke.

His weight was so much on his toes that it changed the geometry. Getting closer to the ball discouraged Extensor Action. And, with the loss in structure, his wrist couldn't stay flat.

The circle was where his head started.

So, he would get closer to the ball, never really clearing the hip. The right elbow was inevitably on a collision course with the right kidney. Then the arm would take the detour, go around, and pull inward. The left arm became slightly bent, and the left wrist bent.

He felt like he was 10 miles from the ball at Impact, just to get the result that we did.


You can see that he has more weight up on the toes in the left hand frame versus the right hand frame.

Take a look at the differences in a couple of my swings. One from over a month ago.

And here's a pic of one of my most recent impact positions.


Look at the right foot. In the first pic the weight is up more towards the toes. On the second pic, the right heel is practically on the ground.

I really believe that just about any golfer who can improve their footwork can improve their ballstriking. I'm not saying it will make a 10 handicapper into a pro, but I think it will make a noticeable difference in the ballstriking improving.

The problem is that most instruction ignores footwork or teaches it incorrectly or in an incomplete fashion. Thankfully, TGM, Sevam1 and Shawn Clement do about the best job of teaching footwork I've seen.

Remember a couple of key points.

1. It's okay for the right heel to come up off the ground at impact. But it needs to come up off the ground for the right reason. If it's being lifted up off the ground, by the golfer getting the weight up on the toes, that's a problematic component. Instead, the golfer wants the right heel up off the ground if it is PULLED up off the ground from the momentum of the golf swing.

2. Like Ted mentioned, it starts at ADDRESS. The weight needs to get in the proper position of the feet at address. Sevam1 likes to talk about the pressure points being the ball of the foot and the heel. Shawn Clement talks about the arches of the feet being like 'suction cups' to the ground. Homer Kelley talks about the weight being distributed in the feet so a golfer could easily raise the toes upward if they were to choose to do so.

Some good drills for improving footwork are:

A. Hit shots with your toes raised upward.

B. Hit shots barefooted with your toes raised upward (Sam Snead Drill)

C. Stick a golf ball or a door wedge under the toes of your right foot and hit golf balls while that is under your toes.

D. Hit shots flat footed.

But the big parts are the weight distribution at address and making sure the momentum of the swing pulls the heel up off the ground instead of lifting the heel off the ground by getting the weight up on the toes. Don't be afraid to use basic, acquired and total motion to get this down.








3JACK

1 comment:

Joe Duffer said...

Good Stuff... Thanks !!