Archive for February, 2010

Low and Slow Reduces Distance

February 28, 2010

Ever wonder why some players can swing with very little effort and hit the ball a mile?  Ernie Els and Fred Couples are a few pros that come to mind.  Many recreational players look like they are swinging with a lot of effort and have a hard time hitting it out of their shadow.  What gives?

Ernie Els - Slow Tempo- I think not!

You would be surprised to hear that Els and Couples actually have a much faster tempo than almost any of us.  If you’ve read the book “Tour Tempo”, you know what I’m talking about.   While their swings look silky smooth, PGA pros have a much quicker tempo than it looks. 

The effortless swing of top players comes from a few things.  First of all, these players usually don’t re-route the club in either direction, they stay in balance and they have perfect sequencing of the golf swing, utilizing their lower body to initiate the downswing.  All of these things add up to effortless looking swings that produce tons of distance.

Most of us have very slow backswings and then rush our downswings.  The reasons for this are many, not the least of which is advice to take the club back low and slow.  A long, slow backswing often creates an out of balance swing that results in re-routing and improper sequencing of the golf swing.  If you don’t sequence properly your swing will look fast, but your speed at the ball will be slow.

A properly sequenced golf swing is built from the ground up, with the hips pulling the shoulders and hands along for the ride.  This looks slower than it is because the speed in the hands is building gradually and doesn’t reach its highest rate until near impact.

Want to hit it further?  Improve your tempo!  We can help!!

www.totallydriven.com

Forged vs. Cast Irons

February 28, 2010

Golfers often get confused as to the difference between forged and cast irons. The common misconception is that cast irons are large cavity back clubs made to benefit mid and high handicap golfers and that forged irons are strictly unforgiving blades that are made strictly for low handicappers and professionals.

You can actually find cast blades, forged cavity backs and even some very forgiving forged irons. The difference is really in the manufacturing process. Forging involves literally pounding or compressing a soft piece of carbon steel in its solid form, from which the head is made into the designed shape, after which a number of other machining steps are necessary to complete the process. Casting involves turning the metal into its molten, liquid state, after which it is poured into a mold to form the head design. From there the cast irons also go through some additional steps to finish them.

It ends out that forged clubs are more easily adjustable for loft and lie (which is helpful if your swing is undergoing changes), but also are softer and wear a bit faster. Cast clubs are more difficult to adjust, but may wear a bit longer particularly in the grooves.

If you have a cast iron and forged iron with exactly the same shape and specs in the two heads, and the heads are both shafted to the same exact specs (including shaft alignment), hitting the same ball, the shots will fly identical distances and many players would never know the difference. Some however can distinguish, and like the “softer feel” of a forged club. It really becomes more of what looks and feels best for the individual and then practicality. Most golfers know deep down when their game is not up to playing a blade or tiny cavity back iron (whether forged or cast).

Ultimately, getting the irons properly fit with the correct grip size, length, lie- angle, swing-weight as well as shaft weight, flex and bend point needs to be done regardless of the head chosen. Then depending on your ability, angle of attack, ball flight, thin or fat tendencies a club-head that meets your needs should be selected that meets your eye as well.

This is where Totally Driven’s  professional club-fitting expertise will greatly enhance your decision making and help answer any additional questions you may have.

Andy Thompson

www.totallydriven.com

Backswing- How Long?

February 17, 2010

During our Totally Driven Distance Improvement Assessments we often see players trying to create a longer swing than their body is capable of.  This often results in an out to in swing path that actually reduces their distance.  This long swing usually results in the player coming out of posture, incorrect sequencing and many other swing flaws.

Why do so many golfers overswing?  Read any golf magazine and you will find tips on increasing shoulder turn to create more distance.  Golfers are just doing what they are told.   This is not a problem if the player is flexible enough to swing to parallel without coming out of posture and over- rotating the hips.

Here are some keys we have found to determine if you have limitations that would prohibit you from getting to parallel in your backswing (effectively).

1.  What is the flexiblity in your thumbs?  Can you do this?

Can you bend to 90 degrees or more?

If your thumb bends to less than 90 degrees you have limited flexibility in your thumb.  If you reach 90 degrees you have good flexibility and over 90 degrees is great.  If you can’t bend your thumb in this manner to 90 degrees or more this will limit the amount of backswing you are capable of.  Thumb flexibility is also a big advantage when trying to create lag in the golf swing.  Here are some exercises to improve thumb flexibility: http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8114450/hand-stretches-hand-exercises-physioadvisor.htm

2.  Wrist flexibility.   If you can’t bend in this direction close to 90 degrees you have limited wrist flexibility. 

This is the direction the the wrist needs to cock during the golf swing and if you are limited you won’t be able to effectively get to parallel in the backswing.  Here are some exercises to help increase this flexibility.  http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8113750/wrist-stretches-wrist-flexibility-exercises-ph.htm

Sergio Garcia- Flexible thumb and wrist= lots of lag!

3.  Hip flexibility.  Many players have limited hip flexibility thus making getting to parallel impossible unless you over-rotate your shoulders and take your hips along for the ride.  The problem here is that often the player is now out of position to make a good downswing. 

So if you have limited flexibility in these areas you have choices.   You can learn to shorten your swing (you will probably not lose distance as JB Holmes has shown us) or you can increase your flexibility through some hard work.  Or you can continue overswinging which creates inconsistency, poor mechanics and usually undesirable results.

As always, we’re here to help.

Andy Thompson

www.totallydriven.com

7 Weeks – 30 More Yards

February 6, 2010

Today we retested one of our students on the launch monitor to see if his driving distance had improved after 7 weeks in our Power Improvement Program.

This particular player is a 2 handicap, but does this mainly by being a good iron player with a solid short game.   When he came in his distance off the tee was the biggest limiting factor for him.  Below are his before and after numbers on the launch monitor:

Ball Speed  Backspin  Launch Angle  Carry Dist  Total Distance   Side Spin

12/7/09

137.6        3089                 8.9 deg               207.0         235.4 yds         R680

2/6/10

145.8       2735                   10.9 deg             236.3         266.8 yds        R491

Obviously, the results after 7 weeks of work are outstanding.   He gained 8.2 MPH ball speed and over 30 yards in total distance while also reducing his sidespin.  So how did this happen?

Number one, we had a dedicated player who puts in the work necessary to improve his game.   Secondly, we determined where his power leaks were and created a plan of attack specific to his needs.

In this particular case when we did the evaluation a number of things stood out.  His major swing flaws were an over the top move with a pronounced slide during his downswing.   On the K-Vest his sequencing was not in the correct order.  Instead of hips leading thorax leading hands, his downswing started with thorax then hips then hands.   His X Factor was 39 and didn’t improve during the swing (we would like to see a higher X Factor that increases during the start of the downswing).  His power testing showed that he lacked power in his legs while his thorax and core strength was good.  He also failed a number of physical Titleist Performance tests that directly correlated with his golf swing flaws.

Titleist Performance Testing

We started this player on a Titleist Performance Institute workout that was specific to his needs.   He was not able to make an efficient swing because his body wouldn’t allow it.   Once his workouts were under way we started working on biomechanical feedback on the K-Vest.  He was in weekly with work in between sessions as we then moved to some drills to  increase speed and improve his swing.  

K-Vest Biomechanical Drills

The results speak for themselves, but the reality is we feel he still has more distance to be gained.  His slide is much improved, but not gone thus his attack angle is improving (as noted by his improved launch and spin numbers and pictures at impact).  Next week we will retest on the K-Vest as well as Power Test in order to further measure progress. 

Could this have been done by just giving this player golf lessons?   It’s doubtful that this much progress would have been made.  This player has worked with some top golf instructors in the past and distance has always been an issue.

The good news is we are only halfway through his program.  We fully believe this player will be hitting the ball consistently 280 yards by the golf season – a full 45 yards improvement!

Andy Thompson, www.totallydriven.com

Jamie Sadlowski, the Distance King

February 5, 2010

In Totally Driven’s never ending search for learning about creating more distance/power for our players we recently had the opportunity to see Long Drive Champion Jamie Sadlowski and former champ Art Sellinger perform an exhibition in Orlando.

We were able to pick Jamie’s brain a bit and found some very interesting information.   First of all for those who don’t know, Jamie is only about 6′ tall and 170 pounds wringing wet.   No one would think he is the longest driver on the face of the earth by looking at him.   Also, Jamie is about as non-technical as you can get.  He doesn’t like to see his swing on video and doesn’t want to talk about positions of the golf swing.  

Jamie Sadlowski, not big but powerful

Being from Canada, Sadlowski was a hockey player before he was a golfer.  Interestingly he played hockey left handed and swings a golf club right handed.   It’s been my experience that generally the longest drivers of the golf ball who played hockey played both sports from the same side.   Jamie actually started playing golf cross-handed with his left hand low on the golf club.   He said he could hit it well over 300 yards this way.   Art Sellinger explained that Jamie has very flexible wrists that would allow him to be able to not only play cross-handed, but get to a John Daly like backswing position with his club well past parallel at the top of his swing now.  His workouts are focused on flexibility and developing speed more than strength.

We saw Jamie hitting a 30″ long driver 320 yards.   This is 4-5 inches shorter than the average putter.  His club-head speed with the driver is 150 mph and ball speed is 215 mph.  Art said Jamie has been hitting the ball 400 yards since he was 16 years old.   He also hits the ball pretty darn straight.  We never saw a huge slice or hook.

What did we learn about how to increase distance in the golf swing?  First of all, raw strength or size is not a prerequisite for hitting the golf ball far but focus on developing speed is important.  Secondly, a natural swing may create more power than a pleasing on plane, positionally taught golf swing.  Also, cross-training may be beneficial.

We’re striving to learn as much as possible so that we can help everyone we work with to hit it long and straight!

Andy Thompson, Totally Driven


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