Priority Piece

**14ledo81** · December 31, 2014

I have a question for the instructors. Would also like to hear anybody's input as well.

What goes into your decision making on defining the priority piece for a particular golfer?

I have a few guesses.

1) The piece that would lead to the quickest improvement?

2) The piece that would lead to the best long-term improvement (would not necessarily be different from #1)?

3) Based on the golfers own goals for improvement?

4) The simpler items first? (relatively easy to fix)

Thought this could be an interesting topic.

**Abu3baid** · December 31, 2014

The other interesting part would be if Mike for example identified a priority piece how often would Erik agree with him? If he didn't agree or visa versa would it even be a big deal at all really? I'm assuming that the decision on what is the biggest flaw and fixing it would fix as many other things as possible, while at the same time taking into consideration the key in which the flaw exists.

**divot dave** · December 31, 2014

I would guess it would be based on achieving the keys in order. so if you're casting the club and finishing on your back foot and your head is swaying all over the place, the priority would be key #1, steady head. fix that, then move on to key 2 fixing the weight transfer issue... fix that then move on to key 3: inline impact and so on...

If it were up to me, I honestly wouldn't deviate from that approach, as fixing one key often leads to an easier fix of other issues in the chain.

**billchao** · December 31, 2014

I would guess it would be based on achieving the keys in order. so if you're casting the club and finishing on your back foot and your head is swaying all over the place, the priority would be key #1, steady head. fix that, then move on to key 2 fixing the weight transfer issue... fix that then move on to key 3: inline impact and so on... If it were up to me, I honestly wouldn't deviate from that approach, as fixing one key often leads to an easier fix of other issues in the chain.

I don't believe you need to achieve the keys in order (I mean like mastery of them). Key #1 does help with Key #2 and so forth, but if someone's Key #4 is affecting their swing more than their Key #1, I would think Key #4 is the priority. Anyway, it's not like the drills provided isolate the Keys, so often you'll work on your priority and it will fix more than one Key at a time. [Rule] @14ledo81 , I'm obviously not an instructor, but I tend to look at priorities from a scoring standpoint. For example, issues with contact (fat and thin shots, poor Keys #1 - #3) is more important than curve and lateral misses (Keys #4 & #5, with some #3). Kind of pointless to work on ballflight when someone isn't hitting it solidly to begin with ;-)

**14ledo81** · December 31, 2014

I'm assuming that the decision on what is the biggest flaw and fixing it would fix as many other things as possible, while at the same time taking into consideration the key in which the flaw exists.

Good one. This could be it as well.

@14ledo81, I'm obviously not an instructor, but I tend to look at priorities from a scoring standpoint. For example, issues with contact (fat and thin shots, poor Keys #1 - #3) is more important than curve and lateral misses (Keys #4 & #5, with some #3). Kind of pointless to work on ballflight when someone isn't hitting it solidly to begin with

I agree with you on this. I have also witnessed (in my swing threads) Mike and Erik instructing in this manner.

How about which key of the first three though?

**billchao** · December 31, 2014

How about which key of the first three though?

The answer to that is....it depends

***iacas*** · December 31, 2014

What goes into your decision making on defining the priority piece for a particular golfer?

Everything.

Can the golfer do it? What handicap are they now? What are their goals? What's holding them back most now? Do they have a double compensation going on right now (sometimes you have to fix two things if they are compensating for each other)? Is the student coming back in a week? A few months? Never? What's the guy's clubhead speed? What tournaments are coming up? What's costing him the most strokes? How difficult is it going to be?

Heck, sometimes the "priority piece" is spread across a few lessons. Sometimes if something is easy, but a lower priority, it's "bundled in" to the same lesson. Grip/stance/posture issues are often in the latter. You "get things for free" with them, and they take no athletic or dynamic skill, so just do them.

Generally speaking, ball flight matters second, because hitting the ball solidly speaks to advancing your ball, and that's important (as we say in Lowest Score Wins ). Plus, if you're glancing the ball and putting a lot of "sidespin" on it, you're not hitting the ball solidly anyway, so it's rare to have someone who has Keys #1-3 down but completely lac

1) The piece that would lead to the quickest improvement?

2) The piece that would lead to the best long-term improvement (would not necessarily be different from #1)?

3) Based on the golfers own goals for improvement?

4) The simpler items first? (relatively easy to fix)

I addressed this above with "everything" but re: 1) Typically "band-aids" are avoided unless the player has a tournament coming up or a pressing need to play better right NOW. Two weeks spent with a "band-aid" won't really set many players back much, so long as they know it's a band-aid and they need to come in for some stitches or something afterward.

The other interesting part would be if Mike for example identified a priority piece how often would Erik agree with him? If he didn't agree or visa versa would it even be a big deal at all really?

Sometimes we disagree, but it's rare.

When we do it's typically it's simply a matter of "this golfer has two major issues, that aren't really linked, and I prefer fixing this one while Mike prefers fixing the other one first." Again, though, rare. We check ourselves fairly often too, discussing swings we see on the Facebook, on evolvr, etc.

**mvmac** · December 31, 2014

Thought this could be an interesting topic.

It is an interesting topic and something we discuss regularly. I feel a lot of instructors miss the priority piece and they fall back to what they think the golf swing is "supposed" to look like. Part of becoming a good instructor is really understanding cause and effect and allowing for flexibility.

The other interesting part would be if Mike for example identified a priority piece how often would Erik agree with him? If he didn't agree or visa versa would it even be a big deal at all really?

As Erik said, we agree most of the time. Even if we do disagree, neither of us is necessarily "wrong". I feel the discussions we have where we "check" ourselves is a big part of why we're great instructors.

I would guess it would be based on achieving the keys in order. so if you're casting the club and finishing on your back foot and your head is swaying all over the place, the priority would be key #1, steady head. fix that, then move on to key 2 fixing the weight transfer issue... fix that then move on to key 3: inline impact and so on...

If it were up to me, I honestly wouldn't deviate from that approach, as fixing one key often leads to an easier fix of other issues in the chain.

I agree focusing on one Key often leads to improvement with others but the ordering of the Keys doesn't really factor in to what the priority is. You can have a player who moves their head two inches on the backswing but severely lacks getting the weight forward and they're complaining about poor contact and slicing it off the planet. It doesn't make a lot of sense to work on Key #1 when improvement with Key #2 will immediately help the golfer.

@14ledo81, I'm obviously not an instructor, but I tend to look at priorities from a scoring standpoint. For example, issues with contact (fat and thin shots, poor Keys #1 - #3) is more important than curve and lateral misses (Keys #4 & #5, with some #3). Kind of pointless to work on ballflight when someone isn't hitting it solidly to begin with

Yep.

How about which key of the first three though?

Just depends on what the issue is. Sometimes Key #1 needs to be addressed because the golfer puts themselves in position that no amount of Key #2 work will help (or will help for very long). See that from a lot of players that don't turn and just slide the hips back, they just can't "recover".

I addressed this above with "everything" but re: 1) Typically "band-aids" are avoided unless the player has a tournament coming up or a pressing need to play better right NOW. Two weeks spent with a "band-aid" won't really set many players back much, so long as they know it's a band-aid and they need to come in for some stitches or something afterward.

Yeah if the golfer has to play and they're pulling the ball, the band-aid could be to just aim the face more right. Obviously there is a reason the golfer is pulling the ball but you gotta consider the situation.

**14ledo81** · December 31, 2014

@mvmac and @iacas , thanks for the responses.

I have always found it interesting. Ever since I first heard of the term "priority piece".

**Jakester23** · December 31, 2014

I know this is totally OT but its so f*%$ing cool that you guys (Mike and Erik) are here helping us. When you talk about this stuff its makes me feel like your speaking a different language (I was going to say spanish but I should know that so that wouldn't work). It kind of sounds to me like both of you like the diagnosis part what someone is doing wrong which is really cool.

**Hammer 4** · December 31, 2014

This may be a tad OT, but here goes. Re: Priority Piece. In the 90's when I took lessons, I was told to swing like I was in a phone booth, or barrel, not 1 of the instructors I had ever told me about why things in the gold swing needed to happen to make good contact, it was more about, how a proper swing should look. Never heard anyone say, keep a steady head, get your weight forward, ect.

Now, with what Erik, and Mike are doing teaching wise, with the 5 Simple Keys, a student can see and understand why you need to do certain things in the swing to make good contact, and be more consistent. I know in my lessons with Mike and Dana, they make it easier to understand, what, and why you need to do what they are saying, and teaching me. It's then up to me, or the student to Practice these things, one piece at a time. IMHO, in the long run, it makes it much easier to learn to make a good swing, and play better golf.

Even though with my back problems, and the fact I have a really hard time keeping a second axis, I try, all though with some discomfort, contact is much better. Also, these Priority Pieces are something that you can always work on, and understand what, and why they work. I think it's by far the best way for slow learners like me to learn...

**mvmac** · January 1, 2015

Sometimes we disagree, but it's rare.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/78903/my-swing-rob-thompson#post_1089703

I know this is totally OT but its so f*%$ing cool that you guys (Mike and Erik) are here helping us.

Please make sure to remind the "haters" about that in 2015

**Jakester23** · January 1, 2015

:-) [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/78903/my-swing-rob-thompson#post_1089703]http://thesandtrap.com/t/78903/my-swing-rob-thompson#post_1089703[/URL] Please make sure to remind the "haters" about that in 2015 ;-)

Oh I will. Just as long as you tell me what a hater is.

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