Ron Del Barrio

[songwriter]

  kfowler said:

Ochoa is the queen of head turn. She said she developed it at a young age trying to keep her head behind the ball. Watch one of her driver sequences. Looks like she got hit with a left hook during the downswing.

No, I think you mean a right hook. Ochoa turns her head to her right, AWAY from the target. Ron del Barrio allows his head to turn targetward as the body rotates toward the target. That's my take, anyway.

To me, Ochoa's head turn looks very ugly. Yuck. Plus, she has this little move at the end of her swing that says "Yeah, I striped that one, let's make another follow through move for the camera." Needless to say, I don't like to watch her hit it.

[SubPar]

  kfowler said:

Ochoa is the queen of head turn. She said she developed it at a young age trying to keep her head behind the ball. Watch one of her driver sequences. Looks like she got hit with a left hook during the downswing.

She kind of turns her head back with a little tilt up. What Ron does is what the Swedes have been doing for decades. When you do what he does, you never see the club hit the ball. It helps me keep the "hit" out of the swing, but I am not able to do it every time yet.

SubPar

[kfowler]

  songwriter said:

No, I think you mean a right hook. Ochoa turns her head to her right, AWAY from the target. Ron del Barrio allows his head to turn targetward as the body rotates toward the target. That's my take, anyway.

You're right. I wasn't even thinking if it would be left or right.

[golfaddiction]

I'm going to try letting my head turn forward next time I'm at the range. In practice it felt pretty good, and I definitely have issues completing my turn through the ball (and thus slicing shots). My aim is it turn my head at the point of impact, or ever so slightly before, not 1/2 way through the downswing which Ron seems to do.

[kfowler]

I just watched all his videos. Interesting. Goes against many of the teachings I've had. He mentions that it would. I certainly like his emphasise on passive arms and hands. i really struggle with that one.

[SubPar]

  kfowler said:

I just watched all his videos. Interesting. Goes against many of the teachings I've had. He mentions that it would. I certainly like his emphasise on passive arms and hands. i really struggle with that one.

The recent responses to this thread inspired me to work on the passive arms/head turn thing more this morning. With this swing I get a much nicer trajectory and hit straight, high shots which land softly. I've got to just make it a goal to get this into my normal swing on the course.

When I look at the ball, I hit "at the ball". With this technique I swing more freely through the ball. One thing that has been helping me on the course is to take the club back and drop it a couple of times before I take my shot. When I reinforce the concept of keeping my arms relaxed I hit some really nice shots. Recently I've been getting a lot of comments on how easy and smooth my swing is which tells me I'm moving in the right direction. SubPar

[kfowler]

He contradicts himself a little when describing staying in the center position. In one video he describes being in a barrel and only turning with in that circle. Hence eliminating the lateral shift. In another video, he talks about staying left and getting left during the swing. I think he's just saying this to get his point across but it's a bit confusing.

I want to download his swing and put it on my analyzer to see it better in slow mo. Specifically his head at impact.

[SubPar]

  kfowler said:

He contradicts himself a little when describing staying in the center position. In one video he describes being in a barrel and only turning with in that circle. Hence eliminating the lateral shift. In another video, he talks about staying left and getting left during the swing.

He's talking about keeping his weight loaded about 60/40 on his left side. You can do that and still rotate around your center of gravity.

Watching his swings you can see the weight is not ever shifted toward the right side. He rotates around his center point through impact and then goes left slightly after the ball is gone. SubPar

[iacas]

I don't care enough about this to bother this Ron fellow with my question - or more likely I'm comfortable enough with how I'm playing and what I'm working on not to ask him - but I wonder what he would think about Power Accumulators 1 and 4 (I believe). They are - and I'm not sure which one is which, if I even have the right numbers - the left arm karate chopping down (making the angle between the left forearm and the shoulder line bigger) and the right elbow straightening.

Ben Hogan did it. Tiger Woods does it. And there's really very little passive about it. One of the training drills for this feeling (more the left arm than the right) is to swing to the top, push your hips forward into your impact position, and then just greaten that angle between your left arm and your shoulder line. Your shoulders will be almost 30 degrees closed and you'll hit a low hook with even a wedge, but that's the point: the arms move fairly aggressively across the chest, the handle gets through the ball first, you get a good shaft lean at impact, etc.

I think when you're swinging properly the arms might feel somewhat passive, but they're still doing work. I think perhaps this RDB swing goes too far in the direction of laziness or "passiveness." I've seen pros work on drills you wouldn't do with an RDB swing, and talk about "pulling down" into the ball and things like that.

[Ron del Barrio]

  SubPar said:

He's talking about keeping his weight loaded about 60/40 on his left side. You can do that and still rotate around your center of gravity.

Howdy everyone on the Sand Trap. I'm new to the posting thing so be easy on me, except for SubPar who never is! In regards to the video clips on my website, for the most part all of them are very quick tips and not meant to be the end all of the instruction for each clip. On the iron shots or anything we strike on the ground I was trying to say that the left leg is the dominant leg to rotate on and the driver or any that is teed off of the ground and not trying to descend on, the right leg is the dominant leg to rotate on. Even saying that there is a few more things that must happen but hopefully you get the picture,

Feel free to ask any other questions if you have em!! Cheers, Ron

[songwriter]

Ron, from one who is definitely interested in getting max driver distance, Bobby Clampett says in his new book, the one that is based on the few inches after impact, that super high speed digital photography has now shown that contrary to popular folk wisdom, even pro golfers do NOT swing UP on the driver. Despite what they think happens. That the clubhead is actually moving down. Got a response? Does his revelation (if true) surprise you?

(Not trying to be smarty pants, I like your video tips and suspect you a fine teacher.)

[kfowler]

Hi Ron. Thanks for posting. I've enjoyed your site. Your comment on weight and legs clears up my original question.

Question 1: Can you talk more about the head movement. I see the logic in rotating your head through allows your shoulders to follow. However, it's still difficult to get over not keeping your eye on the ball. Especially since this is what is taught in every sport.

Question 2: Based on your grip video, I've been trying to grip more with the fingers. For your left hand, does the middle of your hand, the "life line" crease", actually touch the club. Or is the majority of the pressure in your fingers and the pad of your palm?

[SubPar]

  kfowler said:

...

I have been having good luck with the head turn. I am working it into my game by starting with chip and pitch shots. I am getting the feel of rotating my shoulders through, and not looking at the ball, with these "small" swings. The more I get comfortable taking my eye off the ball chipping the easier it is getting to do it with the longer shots.

SubPar

[bioman]

  songwriter said:

Ron, from one who is definitely interested in getting max driver distance, Bobby Clampett says in his new book, the one that is based on the few inches after impact, that super high speed digital photography has now shown that contrary to popular folk wisdom, even pro golfers do NOT swing UP on the driver. Despite what they think happens. That the clubhead is actually moving down. Got a response? Does his revelation (if true) surprise you?

This seems likes it very possible. It seems logical that when you try to swing up on your driver, all that is happening is that the rate of fall decreases on the clubhead and the swing just shallows out during impact. Therefore, giving us the feeling we are swinging up.

[willie]

hi guys i am thinking of converting to rdb swing method, is ron still teaching and can anyone share any experiences of using the ron del barrio swing method please

[madcityscott]

  willie said:

hi guys i am thinking of converting to rdb swing method, is ron still teaching and can anyone share any experiences of using the ron del barrio swing method please

Part of the reason I never committed to his technique is I couldn't find many testimonials. But I suppose you could try it for a couple of months and see how it goes.

[Ron del Barrio]

  madcityscott said:

Part of the reason I never committed to his technique is I couldn't find many testimonials. But I suppose you could try it for a couple of months and see how it goes.

Hi madcityscott,

Your in mid cali and I'm in southern. If you're in this neck of the woods, come take a freebie and check it out!

[madcityscott]

  Ron del Barrio said:

Hi madcityscott,

My wife's from your area. Next time I'm down there I'll take you up on it!