Instructional Video Critique Topic

[iacas]

@Jim Venetos is not worth the time. He plays 142 x 3 shots with his pitching wedge? Okay, what's the technique difference between his 125-yard shot and his 124-yard shot and his 126-yard shot? Oh, there is none, and he's nowhere near precise enough to hit those carry yardages to ± 0.5 yards anyway?

So you play 142 x 3 = 426 shots with your pitching wedge but only four with your driver, Jim?

That's the critique: not worth the time.

[iacas]

One of the former Elite Golf guys posted this on Instagram. Since they no longer embed, I'll copy the text below, but I encourage you to visit the link and see it fully:

TJ Kathrineberg (@tjkgolf17) • Instagram photos and videos

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207 likes, 22 comments - tjkgolf17 on October 13, 2024: "If you really wanna side bend… if it matches up with other things you like to do in your golf swing… be my guest. Side bend it up. But are we really going to...

If you really wanna side bend… if it matches up with other things you like to do in your golf swing… be my guest. Side bend it up.

But are we really going to pretend that this type of excess side bend is “healthy?” I’ve worked with people who speak about “health consequences” for things like banking the trail foot, and yet will continuously push young junior golfers into more and more and more side bend in efforts to “shallow” the club.

These young pga tour players (if they want to keep playing) will almost certainly need to adjust their swing patterns later in their career to take some of the load off their spines.

I feel as if that’s common sense. I don’t see a heck of a lot of thoracic side bend on the champions tour. Some, yes. Excess, no.

Why not encourage a young junior into a pattern they can play with their entire lives? 🤷‍♂️

[saevel25]

Yikes, that is not good for that golfer. 

You are just asking for back issues doing rotation + side tilt + front tilt. Golfers naturally have degenerative disc issues if you practice and play long enough. Most people do in general, so it doesn't help. A desk job can cause issues. Still, doing all that extra side bend + torquing the back at such a high speed can't be good in the long term. 

The evidence is out there right? Professional golfers with excessive side bend are going away from it because of back issues. I have no idea who thought of the idea that this was healthy. It is absurd.

I will still say, this year has been the best for my back in a long time. More arms, less body for shallowing allowed me to play the most pain free. There was years were the next day for me after practice or playing is a crap shoot if my back would lock up or I would have some sort of nerve pain (sciatic).

 

 

[iacas]

from:

I commented only… "I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

It's a bit catty, but at the same time… generous given the content of not only that section, but much of the rest of the video.

[Ty_Webb]

SuperSpeed Golf (@superspeedgolf) • Instagram reel

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117 likes, 6 comments - superspeedgolf on February 9, 2025: "Sway too much in the backswing? You might need to work on your lateral force ⬅️➡️ Lateral Force is one of the 4 ground reaction force protocols we have in the...

 

Thoughts? He talks quite a bit about GRF on the trail foot and when it should be higher - curious what people think of what he has to say.

Edited February 12 by Ty_Webb
Trying a different one

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Ty_Webb said:

Thoughts? He talks quite a bit about GRF on the trail foot and when it should be higher - curious what people think of what he has to say.

Late in the backswing and VERY early in the transition/downswing.

It's the brown dot here. He's talking about the lateral force. It first stops you from going backward away from the target, then pushes you forward toward the target.

[iacas]

I wrote up a response as a YouTube comment that I won't be posting on YouTube.

What an absolute load of garbage. Your arm doesn't "slingshot" or "bounce" - you use the muscles in your arm to move your arm and throw the baseball. In one video you've managed to get roughly five areas of science almost completely backward. At best, your video sets up a straw man as nobody is telling golfers to do anything like what you show when you're demonstrating a "bad tennis player."

The golfers you see on your lesson tee must be from a completely different world than almost anyone else on Earth, because most golfers do something more like what you prefer to teach - their arms are too passive for too long, they stay "up" too long, and are carried out toward the ball from the top. From there, they stall their pivot, often early extending while right tilting to TRY to not swing 15° left.

You know… we have ways of measuring these things these days, but you're still stuck with a poor understanding of how the golf swing works and are peddling it to some unsuspecting and unfortunate souls.

But, I know… you teach "athletes." I hope for your sake that's just code for "dumb" because anyone with even a room temperature IQ understands that there's nothing truly "effortless" about the golf swing.

I also sent a tweet:

https://x.com/iacas/status/1899237716316844217

[GolfLug]

Jeez.. Now this is bad.

For starters, what he says (passive-activation of arms; not sure what that means other than that's a confusing oxymoron) and what he does do not look like the same thing at all. I also do not, not by a mile, understand terms like 'slingshot', 'bounce' etc. let alone know how to apply them in a golf swing. Maybe he means them as feel words, which we know ain't real. Muscles don't stretch and snap like a rubber band to create work motion as far as I know. That is straight up biologically wrong. 

Maybe he is trying to say 'don't throw your hands at the ball' or something to that effect. 

14 hours ago, iacas said:

The golfers you see on your lesson tee must be from a completely different world than almost anyone else on Earth, because most golfers do something more like what you prefer to teach - their arms are too passive for too long, they stay "up" too long, and are carried out toward the ball from the top. From there, they stall their pivot, often early extending while right tilting to TRY to not swing 15° left.

That would be my first thought and try. I guess I would probably spin out in trying to get arms caught up at some point if I leave them 'suspended' at A4. Again, what I'm seeing on the vid and what he does do not seem at all like the same thing. So now we are mechanically mislead too. 

I looked him up and he seems to have some followers on YT so this isn't exactly a victimless crime either. Ugh. 

[saevel25]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

What an absolute load of garbage. Your arm doesn't "slingshot" or "bounce" - you use the muscles in your arm to move your arm and throw the baseball.

Yep. 

31 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Muscles don't stretch and snap like a rubber band to create work motion as far as I know. That is straight up biologically wrong. 

They don't. 

Sliding Filament Theory, Sarcomere, Muscle Contraction, Myosin

It is actually interesting that the entire picture of muscle contraction is not fully understood. For the most part we have a very good understanding of how muscles contract. 

There is a tube, where filaments are pull inward or released outward. 

Quote

An Analogy for Sliding Filaments in a Sarcomere Shortening Event
Imagine that you are standing between two large bookcases loaded with books. These large bookcases are several meters apart and are positioned on rails so that they can be easily moved. You are given the task of bringing the two bookcases together, but you are limited to using only your arms and two ropes. Standing centered between the bookcases, you pull on the two ropes — one per arm — which are tied securely to each bookcase. In a repetitive fashion, you pull each rope toward you, regrasp it, and then pull again. Eventually, as you progress through the length of rope, the bookcases move together and approach you. In this example, your arms are similar to the myosin molecules, the ropes are the actin filaments, and the bookcases are the z discs to which the actin is secured, which make up the lateral ends of a sarcomere. Similar to the way you would remain centered between the bookcases, the myosin filaments remain centered during normal muscle contraction (Figure 2B).

They are not rubber bands. 

I can understand where the confusion comes from. When you turn, you feel that stretch. Just because you stretch doesn't mean it will rebound automatically. The muscles have to contract to bring you back to center. 

 

 

[4zim]

Someone just posted this video on Reddit. I’ve only watched the first 7 minutes, so can’t comment on the whole thing.

 

In the past, I’ve really thought the hips rotate around back until a lesson in person with Erik and I’m still working on it. I like the way he explains it here.

He makes it sound easy but there are a couple of different movements to apply in the right sequence, which is easier said than done. Still, interesting to hear them discuss the concepts and think about it in the context of what I’m working on in lessons. I’d be interested in hearing some thoughts from those of you with more knowledge of the golf swing though

 

 

[iacas]

30 minutes? To watch Golf Sidekick? Hmmmm.

[Stryper]

This may be a first for this thread with someone posting their own video and open to a complete roast?

I made the video based on the theory with which we built StanceMate, and the PGA-certified coaches that helped build that theory into a product, so it's time to put it out there.

If it's a roasting, so be it!

PS: Currently laid up after full shoulder reconstruction so replies may be sporadic and littered with mistakes from one-handed typing.

 

Edited June 2 by Stryper

[iacas]

20 minutes ago, Stryper said:

PS: Currently laid up after full shoulder reconstruction so replies may be sporadic and littered with mistakes from one-handed typing.

Oh, man, sorry to hear that.

I'll try to watch the video when I have a minute. Thanks for putting it up there.

[Stryper]

9 minutes ago, iacas said:

Oh, man, sorry to hear that.

I'll try to watch the video when I have a minute. Thanks for putting it up there.

I'd be very interested to know what you think about "your swing thought for low point for every club (except driver) is just inside your lead heel". I was working with that for a few weeks before the op and it was working very well, although of course it had an effect on other aspects (mostly faults it exposed) of the swing that then needed to be worked on. 

[iacas]

On 6/2/2025 at 7:41 PM, Stryper said:

I'd be very interested to know what you think about "your swing thought for low point for every club (except driver) is just inside your lead heel". I was working with that for a few weeks before the op and it was working very well, although of course it had an effect on other aspects (mostly faults it exposed) of the swing that then needed to be worked on. 

I think of the low point as generally under the lead shoulder or armpit. Something close to that. That can vary, though, depending on some other things a golfer does, but it's a general starting point.

I will say I'm not a big fan of the AI type text to speech voices. I think we still connect as humans with another clearly human voice with better inflection, tone, and even small imperfections. This feels like a corporate training video (not that I've done one of those in decades) or those formulaic-for-clicks Shorts on YouTube.

[saevel25]

44 minutes ago, iacas said:

I will say I'm not a big fan of the AI type text to speech voices. I think we still connect as humans with another clearly human voice with better inflection, tone, and even small imperfections.

I agree, in general I find it very off putting to listen to an AI voice. It is more common on very short videos, and almost immediately causes me to skip the video. If the instructor is not comfortable talking into a mic, maybe pay someone to do it. The AI voice generation has a long way to go. 

[Stryper]

Thanks for the feedback. As a small business owner it's hard to keep costs down but if it's doing the video a disservice it will be a necessary evil.

[iacas]

This video is a train wreck for multiple reasons…

Andy Plummer most will know. The golfer is Tom Saguto, he of 400k YouTube subscribers and you can follow his plan to get "crispy ballstriking"… as seen in the video above???

Oy. No more comments for now. Curious to hear what y'all think.