Tag: instruction

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Keep your elbow straight

Years ago when I first started playing golf, I used to practice at a driving range in Hawaii Kai on the Island of Oahu.  I started playing during the summer when I was home from college and I hit the ball ok.  I was using a set of Mizuno used clubs that my parents bought.  The driving range wasn’t far and I had just graduated from college and didn’t have a job yet.  It was a great time because I could go hit a couple buckets of balls every day.  Through college I had played summers, but this was the first time I was able to play consistently.  I was flirting with breaking 100 for a while, but just couldn’t break through.  I watched the golf channel and read some magazines, but the thing that really helped me to break 100 was the straight elbow.

You’ve probably heard people say to keep your left elbow straight (for right handers).  I started practicing keeping my elbow straight throughout my swing.  The technique is fairly easy to explain.  Instead of breaking your elbow at the top of the swing, you keep your arm straight.  The concept is that this will help you do several things.  First and foremost it gives you the ability to get back to a good ball striking position consistently.  Some say to get back to address position, although there are some important differences between the position at address and when striking the ball.  Either way, you’ll get to a ball striking position easily and consistently.

This tip will help you get to a good strike position several ways.  For example, it will improve your transition at the top of the swing.  When people get to the top of the swing, and the elbow breaks, it can become difficult to make the same movement consistently.  It’s just one more variable that you have to account for in the swing.  When you swing harder or softer, faster or slower, you must adjust the timing and amount that you break your elbow.  However, if you keep the elbow straight, it takes that variable out of the swing.  Whether you are swinging hard or soft, you don’t have to worry about adjusting your elbow.

Another way it helps is by keeping your hands in front of your body.  You may have heard this tip before as well.  You may have also heard people say to keep the triangle between your arms and chest throughout the swing.  These are all related concepts.  Keeping your elbow straight will help.

In any case, try keeping your elbow straight through your swing.  It helped me find a consistent swing and break 100.  And actually I hit it longer, too.  It felt strange at first, but now it’s second nature.  Try it!  Good luck and hit it long and straight!

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Tiger Woods DVD’s are awesome!

I’m a Tiger fan. I’ve heard different points of view, like “you hate him or love him”, but I’m a fan. I always have been. Even if you’re one of those people that doesn’t like him, you have to respect him. You have to respect what he’s done, not only with his own career, but for the game. Player winnings are higher than they’ve ever been. More people watch tournaments when he’s playing and even more when he’s near the top of the leaderboard. He’s the highest paid athlete in the world and his philanthropy is just as tremendous. How did he get this way? Is it his work ethic? His mental toughness? Pure talent? He may be the only person that can tell us, but he’ll be analyzed by golfers and athletes for generations to come.

With my obvious admiration of the man, it’s easy to see why I was so excited when this three dvd collection hit the market. I was one of the first to have it. I’ve watched the story and his swings over and over. It even helped my swing to watch. I especially noticed my timing improve when I watched his swing before practicing.

Here’s part of the official description:
Tiger: The Authorized DVD Collection is the real deal: a comprehensive three-part biography of the world’s most famous golfer, narrated by Laurence Fishburne and anchored by interviews with Woods himself, his father and mother, and others. The first part, “Tiger’s Prowl: His Life” (85 minutes), summarizes his early life, with home movies of him swinging a club as a toddler, his 1975 TV appearance with Bob Hope on The Mike Douglas Show, his U.S. Juniors and U.S. Amateur championships, his time at Stanford, and discussion of his multiracial heritage and how he got his nickname. The second part, “Tiger’s Prey: His Majors” (75 minutes) is the best, with less time devoted to talking-head interviews and more to golf footage. From his first major win at the 1997 Masters to the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, Woods either dominates the field by several strokes or shows his steely will to win, such as when he outlasts the surprising Bob May at the 2000 PGA Championship. But it hasn’t all been easy for Tiger, and the segment also covers his struggles in 2004, his second straight year without winning a major tournament. The last part, “Tiger’s Prints: His Legacy” (65 minutes), might seem premature considering Woods was still under 30 at the time of this 2004 documentary, but there’s no doubt that he has already had a major impact on the game…

There are a few videos about Tiger Woods, but this is the most complete. It really only gets to 2004 and a lot has happened since then, but it’s a pretty great collection of his feats. Of course, at the time I’m writing this, he’s about to come back from knee surgery after winning the US Open on a torn ACL, so there much more to chronicle. But if you want more Tiger or know someone who does, I’d recommend this DVD set. Enjoy.

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Tour Tempo

When I lived in San Diego, I played golf year around. I tinkered with my swing quite a bit while I was there and one book I found interesting was Tour Tempo, by John Novosel and John Garrity. It was a very interesting concept and it improved my swing.

The idea is that every tour player has a rhythm to their swing. In fact, the ratio of backswing to downswing are the same for all players even if they swing faster or slower. The book goes on to help you develop this same rhythm. It does this using music, counting, and a few other techniques.

It was really an interesting concept and the reasoning behind it isn’t very clear, but it worked for me. Some think the tour tempo shortens the swing, or promotes a smoother transition, or just gives people a more consistent swing though. In any case, it wasn’t hard to do and I downloaded some music to listen to before and during practice. It really helped. It gave me a consistent rhythm to think about during the swing and something to emulate while on the golf course. It made my swing more repeatable. It even improved my swing when I tried to give it a little extra. When I swung harder, I tried to keep the same rhythm, just faster. That helped, too.

All in all, it was a worthwhile exercise and it helped me break 80. Try it!

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The Plane Truth, One plane or two?

When I moved to San Diego, I needed a golf coach. I liked my previous one and I liked having someone look at my swing with a critical eye. I found someone, but the interesting thing was that he had a different philosophy than my previous coach. He taught the one plane swing and my previous coach taught the more upright two plane swing. About that time, I had heard about the book The Plane Truth by Jim Hardy

The Plane Truth compared the two swings, but generally supported the one plane swing. The book is a great comparison of the two swings. It goes through both swings and breaks them down from the setup to follow through. The most important benefit of this book is that it helped me wade through the various tips in magazines and on TV. It helps differentiate which bits of advice are suitable for the one plane or the two plane swing. That made it a lot easier to decide what to work on at the driving range.

When I first learned to golf, my natural swing was a little flatter and more of a one plane swing. However, when I started taking lessons in Honolulu, my coach had me move more toward the modern two plane swing. I used it pretty well, but seemed to plateau. As a result, I considered moving back more toward my natural swing. For the most part, I hit the ball great. I was longer and even broke 80! Unfortunately, it wasn’t all easy. There were a few difficulties, especially with the encouragement to adopt a ‘flying elbow’ type of move.

I still use some of the important philosophies of the one plane swing, but I had to move away from my coach. It’s pretty tough to change your swing based on a book. In any case, the book was a useful read no matter which swing plane you choose or which one your coach wants you to adopt.