I’ve had FMS and TPI screens and shoulder mobility is a big issue for me, but beyond just looking to start cranking on the rotator cuff, I’m interested in determining the root of what I see as a common problem among middle aged and older males who work in office buildings and have two kids and a mortgage. And that would be the issue of poor overall posture and movement ability.

Let me know what you think of this Part 1 of a product review for a device that I’m not ready to even use yet for reasons explained in the video series.

Facing reality about impact conditions

My passion when it comes to the golf business is the plight of the mid handicap player who has experience in the game.  Their #1 stated desire is always either “consistency” or “I want to hit it more solid” or “I want more distance”. All three of these goals, when it comes to an average golfer, are best achieved by examining impact conditions and seeing whether there is a quality strike of the golf ball happening.  Most mid handicappers are flippers, whether they’re aware of it or not.  The flipper is someone who bends their lead wrist coming into impact, to add loft and prevent the club from burying into the turf a foot behind the ball.

I find that a lot of people who shoot in the 90s are lying to themselves when it comes to the way they’re hitting their irons.  The belief is that they just need to practice more often, hit more golf balls, or play more golf for the consistency to fall into place and for them to hit their best shots more often.  But the reality is that the quality shots from the fairway are usually the result of some very  good timing that allows for the clubhead to bottom out at or before the ball but not be slowed down by the turf.  It’s often a matter of them having the ideal lie which allows the ball striking lie to continue.  Learning to flip the club well should not be the goal, this is a recipe for a lifetime of mediocre golf.  The tell tale signs that you are a flipper are as follows:

• You alternate between fat and thin shots, meaning that their low point is behind the golf ball
• You would prefer to have a shot where the golf ball is perched in the rough rather than have to hit off a tight fairway lie, because you are afraid of the fat shot
• You make good contact on the driving range off the mats but often are laying the sod down when you get onto the golf course, especially in wet conditions
• You cannot power the ball out of deep rough with any club but a wedge
• You struggle hitting balls off a downhill lie
• You struggle hitting balls below the feet
• You tremor at the thought of a  fairway bunker shot

In this video, Martin Chuck (inventor of the Tour Striker) talks about his passion, the understanding of forward shaft lean and how to achieve it.  His product falls into the category of “diabolical” in my book because it exposes the player’s weakness, which is that they are likely not impacting the golf ball with forward shaft lean.  The reasons for this will be covered in future posts but the key takeaway is that there are drills to be done to help identify flipping and to work on eliminating it and replacing it with a body driven pivot and a powerful release using the tool as it was designed.  Another diabolical approach would be to practice in the sand for large blocks of time.  Spending time in a fairway bunker intensifies the practice session and tells the truth about impact much more than hitting balls off forgiving range mats that provide a false sense of confidence which fades once we’re on the golf course dealing with the realities of turf, sand, and physics.

Hit the little ball before the big ball!

Martin Chuck, inventor of the Tour Striker training club, is one of the top instructors in the world.  As judged by me.  Below is a cool video using a grape to demonstrate the concept of clubhead lag.  Martin is doing a lot to simplify the concepts written in the classic golf book “The Golfing Machine”

Tour Striker

You most likely know Martin Chuck as the inventor of the most diabolically evil training aid ever, The Tour Striker.  While I have not used the Tour Striker yet, I know it’s a good tool from the many hundreds of teachers and golfers that have told me of its effects.  When you look at it you can clearly see that it will force you to “modify intent” as Martin so brilliantly put it during his interview with Fred Greene on the Golf Smarter Podcast last month.  You simply cannot scoop the ball using this training club and therein lies the value–the tool forces you to change your ways and to produce forward shaft lean at impact.  For that reason alone I love it, although I’m sure if I tried it I might learn to hate it.  Because it would not let me get away with the scoop picking that I typically do with my mid and longer irons and I would have to face reality.

Check out the Tour Striker!

The Tour Striker

I made it quite clear for the past two years that I was intent on getting to a seven index by the end of 2011.  So the inevitable question must be asked: Did I reach my goal?  The answer, in short, is no.  I got as low as 11.3 and I’m currently an 11.6.  Find out what happened and what I learned:

In 2012, there will be lots more golf biomechanics, golf fitness, product reviews, book reviews, profiles of instructors, practice drills, and deep thoughts.

Hi Nick,

The Golf Improvement Pyramid

In my next post I will answer John’s last question about my own experiences during 2011, and the answer will be framed in relation to the golf progress pyramid.

The quote that I would counter comes from a guy who knows a thing or two about effort:

“You must work very hard to become a natural golfer.”
- Gary Player

I provide my answer to the question in the video below, please leave a comment if you agree and especially if you disagree.  In essence my belief is that while the mind is in charge of the body, it is limited by the extent of the player’s ability on any given day, which is shaped by innate athleticism and most important, by training and experiences.

Anyone who has read my blog or met me will know that I’m a big supporter of those who treat golf as a motor skill.  Yes the mind plays a major role but every golfer is limited by what their body is capable of, just as a racecar driver is limited by the car they take to the track.  It’s my firm belief that the frustrated midhandicap golfer (my target audience) is most likely wasting their time with their golf improvement efforts if they haven’t been physically screened.  For instance, the inability to hinge at the hip joints is rampant for middle aged executives, partially due to sitting at a desk staring at a computer monitor all day, with other causes that I’ll save for future posts.

The 2010 World Golf Fitness Summit presented by TPI

In November 2010 dozens of the top minds in golf fitness and biomechanics gathered in Orlando for the semi-annual World Golf Fitness Summit as put together by TPI.  This is my tribute to the presenters that week.

Here are the golf fitness professionals mentioned, in the order they appear in the video

Dr. Greg Rose
Dave Phillips
Jamie Sadlowski
Ben Shear
Jeff Banaszak
Mark Verstegen
Lance Gill
Jason Glass
Ryan Crysler
Milo Bryant
Sean Cochran
Sean Foley
Gray Cook
Janet Alexander
Mike Bennett
Andy Plummer
Craig Davies
Dr. Harry Sese
Dr. Mike Voight
Granger Beaton
Tyler Ferrell
Dee Tidwell
Mike Dixey
James Sieckmann
Robert Yang
Don Parsons
Mark Blackburn
Thomas Plummer
My Red Foam Roller
My 16kg Kettlebell
Gray Cook & Brett Jones: Kettlebells From the Ground Up

Why we play golf

In my mind the fundamental reason we play this game is to become one with the universe for however brief a moment on the golf course. When you strike a golf ball exactly as intended using the leverage of the shaft, finding the sweetest spot on the clubface, and harnessing all the momentum available between your own human body and the earth’s gravity, you can briefly create a work of art in the air that defies that very gravity and then uses it to drop the ball back to earth where you imagined it should land.  We are both creating art and exercising the brute force that we’re capable of when given the right tool.

There’s the feeling of compressing a ball with an iron that provides inarguable confirmation of our mastery of the tool in hand.  The walk from the tee to a drive in the middle of the fairway allows time to reflect on how far we’ve come, and to enjoy having made our path easier to the green.  The crafty escape from a difficult mess in the woods reminds us that we can respond to adversity because of our acquired skill.  Draining a 15 foot putt and watching it follow our intended line exactly as imagined allows us to develop a vision and watch it come to life.  Golf provides businessmen the chance to be artists and for someone slight of build to generate explosive power.  The game can be played from birth to death and each round is a journey with a known start and finish but with outcomes that cannot be predicted.  No two courses or golf shots are identical, and a controlled shot is the reward for being able to let go of control–of the clubface, body, and mind.