Will Butch Harmon help Ernie Els improve his swing?

[Three Putt]

I'm not a "Big Ern" fan, so really don't follow his game. His swing looks pretty damn good to me, maybe it is the other half of the game...putting?

[Craig Mac]

I found it kind of interesting that Els said he need to "get different words coming toward me", seems to me it might be for a mental reason as well. I doubt he would completely rework that syrupy swing, but ya never know. I think it will be a good thing for Els, a fresh start for him.

[bwmgolfer]

Yes i think so i think that butch will tweak it so that it is a little more compact.. look for earnie to win again this year

[Crafty]

I feel that Ernie will defintely see the same type of quick improvement that Phil saw. In my eyes, changing instructors is like changing putters (just way way more expensive). You get a quick psychological boost and make more putts right away. This can be compared to Phil winning three weeks after he switched to Butch.

I think Ernie will definitely improve in the short-term, but long term improvement may or may not happen.

[tm22721]

I have always wondered - what are the attributes of a compact golf swing ?

Keeping the club more 'connected' to the body ? Doesn't distance depend on width ?

[Avid Golfer]

I have always wondered - what are the attributes of a compact golf swing ?

Peoples theories on what makes a compact swing may vary. My definition of a compact swing is a swing that lacks unnecessary (excess or ineffective) moving parts. I wouldn't consider a swing that goes past parallel (like John Daly), or a swing with lots of feet, knee, and hip movement (like Mickelson's old swing) a compact swing. A swing where the arms and body move in sync would be my idea of a compact swing.

If you read the Physics of Golf , Newton on the Tee , or Golf the Winning Formula each of them explain that width (what appears to be happening when you look at a swing from the face on front view) is not a significant source of power in the swing. What good does swinging the arms far away from the body in the back swing do when they just come back close (on a narrower path) to the body on the downswing. In addition, Steve Elkington said in his book Five Fundamentals the biggest power generation comes from the body, the arms provide less, and the the wrist provide the least. Finally, Jim Mclean said in his X-factor study that the thing that distinguishes the big hitters from the short ones is the gap between the shoulders and the hips (also termed as the X-Factor stretch).

[Doctorfro]

Personally, I don't think Ernie's swing is his problem - it seems more mental to me. Make his swing more compact? I don't think this will help as much as it did with Phil and his past-parallel swing. I suppose hearing different advice could help, but seems like it could hurt. I just hope he isn't grasping at straws.

On target. Mostly mental.

[Chilidipper]

On target. Mostly mental.

Ding ding 2 winners lets make it 3! With Ernie its between the ears atleast in my opinion it is. His flat stick has let him down quit a bit too. I think he needs a instructor to help him with his putter.

[Avid Golfer]

His flat stick has let him down quit a bit too. I think he needs a instructor to help him with his putter.

Shortly after Els announced he was officially going to Harmon I thought; boy he seems to be following Phil around in his changes. Phil had gone to Callaway, Ernie played with Phil at the Nissan Open (now Northern Trust Open formerly LA Open) and then the week after that switched to Callaway. Phil went to Butch Harmon to work on his swing last year, and now Ernie is going to Butch Harmon. Then I thought the next step is for Ernie to go to Dave Pelz to work on his putting.

Regardless I think Els is putting better this year then he did last year. (To show you what a small difference putting makes at that level in 2004 Els won three times on the PGA Tour (6 times world wide) and averaged 1.740 putts per GIR, in 2007 he didn't win on the PGA Tour (won 2 times world wide) and averaged 1.764 putts per GIR. A .024 difference not significant enough to matter) (granted Bo Weekly screwed Els out of a PGA Tour win in 2007 by chipping in two holes in a row). If they hadn't shown Els missing putts on TV would you have even thought about his putting as being a problem? Probably not...

[rudygu]

Peoples theories on what makes a compact swing may vary. My definition of a compact swing is a swing that lacks unnecessary (excess or ineffective) moving parts. I wouldn't consider a swing that goes past parallel (like John Daly), or a swing with lots of feet, knee, and hip movement (like Mickelson's old swing) a compact swing. A swing where the arms and body move in sync would be my idea of a compact swing.

I agree with this completely - which is why I don't really understand how Butch could make Ernie's swing much more compact. His swing really doesn't seem to have any unnecessary moving parts - his shoulder vs. hip turn is awesome and his body and arms look in sync to me. I suppose they could work on shortening his backswing, but he's not past parallel, so I don't think I would consider that an improvement.