Nick Faldo Swing Thoughts

[saevel25]

He was on the golf fix recently, i thought he had some good swing thoughts.

A key transition to the downswing is to seperate your left shoulder from your chin. When you bring the club up the left shoulder is near the chin, drive that left shoulder to the target as the hips unwind.

Keep the right shoulder as high as possible, with out lifting out of your stance. Most people drive underneath the ball trying to help the ball into the air, when you should just let the force of teh clubhead moving in an arch to carry it to the ball, rather than try to force it to the ball. Remember, you set up at address with your shoulder high, why would you want to lift your left shoudler high into the air and drive your right shoulder down at the ball. You only move the contact point with the ball back in your stance and you hit it fat or you thin shots, or you might get lucky.

[iacas]

  saevel25 said:

He was on the golf fix recently, i thought he had some good swing thoughts.

I think Nick Faldo's a boob. Tom Watson is still competing - nearly winning majors (and certainly leading them) at age 59 and 60 and Nick Faldo hasn't been relevant for 15 years.

Look at his swing progression through the years. Is it any wonder why he can't hit a ball very far at all anymore (left) versus how he used to (right)?

[saevel25]

Just because your Faldo's age doesn't mean you have to compete. I think he enjoy's doing comentary. I don't get your point with the images, am i suppose to recognize something there. I see the transition. Still Faldo won a few majors in his lifetime and one of the better players through the 80's and into the 90's

[soon_tourpro]

he simple didnt have the head for hig level golf in the last years.
He sought psychological help but they couldnt help him.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

  saevel25 said:

He was on the golf fix recently, i thought he had some good swing thoughts.

The best swing thought is NO swing thought at all, because if you're set up correctly at address, you only need to swing the club..... more often then not, swing thoughts only lead to over thinking and bad shots!

[saevel25]

Well i swing the club, the ball goes left... it was found out that i am over rotating my hands through impact.

[Randy4h]

  iacas said:

I think Nick Faldo's a boob. Tom Watson is still competing - nearly winning majors (and certainly leading them) at age 59 and 60 and Nick Faldo hasn't been relevant for 15 years.

Faldo is anything but a boob, as you say. Have you read his instruction book, "A Swing For Life"? Are you familiar with the Faldo Golf Institute? He was a control player, not a long ball hitter. Six majors, along with his Ryder Cup record, are more than enough validation and "relevance".

[anthony]

  Titleist_ProV1x said:

The best swing thought is NO swing thought at all, because if you're set up correctly at address, you only need to swing the club..... more often then not, swing thoughts only lead to over thinking and bad shots!

Couldn't agree more.

[Zeph]

  Titleist_ProV1x said:

The best swing thought is NO swing thought at all, because if you're set up correctly at address, you only need to swing the club..... more often then not, swing thoughts only lead to over thinking and bad shots!

Easy to say at handicap 3 and having everything working automatically.

[senorchipotle]

  Titleist_ProV1x said:

The best swing thought is NO swing thought at all, because if you're set up correctly at address, you only need to swing the club..... more often then not, swing thoughts only lead to over thinking and bad shots!

if it were that easy, the pga tour would be flooded with sandtrappers.

[jamo]

  Randy4h said:

Faldo is anything but a boob, as you say. Have you read his instruction book, "A Swing For Life"? Are you familiar with the Faldo Golf Institute? He was a control player, not a long ball hitter. Six majors, along with his Ryder Cup record, are more than enough validation and "relevance".

Being a good player doesn't make you a good teacher. Two very different entities.

[Randy4h]

  jamo said:

Being a good player doesn't make you a good teacher. Two very different entities.

Very true. Faldo is/was both an excellent player and a good instructor, in my opinion.

[Rexx]

The image on the left looks like a wedge vs. woods for the other two. Maybe a factor if he was trying to hit some sort've 3/4 shot and didn't swing through as much. What's up with the yellow line(s)? It's clearly further outside his foot from left to right, but what's it supposed to show?

And I don't have a horse in this race, but I believe a lot of what has been said about his past behavior. And either he's changed (possible) or he's got a good "act" going.

[david_wedzik]

  saevel25 said:

JI don't get your point with the images, am i suppose to recognize something there.

Yes...you are supposed to recognize that Faldo has gotten worse and his career came to an end (ridiculously short hitter at the end) as the photos worked from right to left. The image on the right is fantastic while the one on the left looks like Grandma.

  Randy4h said:

Faldo is anything but a boob, as you say. Have you read his instruction book, "A Swing For Life"? Are you familiar with the Faldo Golf Institute? He was a control player, not a long ball hitter. Six majors, along with his Ryder Cup record, are more than enough validation and "relevance".

Agreed on the six majors and those were one with swings that were like the one on the far right (for the record I was a huge Faldo fan at that time) and some of the time (though they were less frequent) swinging like the photo in the middle. And what does the Faldo Golf Institute have to do with anything. He was a great player at one time who put his name on a golf institute. Has nothing at all to do with his playing ability or his ability to teach.

  Rexx said:

The image on the left looks like a wedge vs. woods for the other two. Maybe a factor if he was trying to hit some sort've 3/4 shot and didn't swing through as much. What's up with the yellow line(s)? It's clearly further outside his foot from left to right, but what's it supposed to show?

The yellow line represents how much higher his beltline has raised in his good swing on the right (earlier in career around the time of Golf, The Winning Formula). This move allowed him to hit the ball much further, higher, etc....trait of most ALL great players. Red arrows show the difference in his extension from his knees all the way to his neck. Notice how in the photo on the left he looks like he is chewing on his shoulder?...on the right his spine is extended, back tilting away from the target, neck extended, etc.

Dave

[Randy4h]

  david_wedzik said:

Agreed on the six majors and those were one with swings that were like the one on the far right (for the record I was a huge Faldo fan at that time) and some of the time (though they were less frequent) swinging like the photo in the middle. And what does the Faldo Golf Institute have to do with anything. He was a great player at one time who put his name on a golf institute. Has nothing at all to do with his playing ability or his ability to teach.

It would be interesting to have the years those 3 pictures were taken. The one on the left is obviously the most recent, judging by his waistline if nothing else. I could be wrong, but I would venture that the picture on the right was in his youth, before he and Leadbetter revamped his swing. The middle picture would be after his swing changes, and when he won all of his majors.

Having read his instructional book and seen his "Playing Lessons from the Pros" on TGC, I would argue your point that he does not have the ability to teach. And I have never heard that he is not directly involved with his Golf Institute. While I realize that his other responsibilities limit his time, I imagine he would have periodic get-togethers with his teaching staff, similar to other big-name instructors. I am not a Faldo sycophant, but I do think he has much knowledge of the game, which he has shared with the public. He is certainly not a "boob".

[MikeLowry5]

  iacas said:

I think Nick Faldo's a boob. Tom Watson is still competing - nearly winning majors (and certainly leading them) at age 59 and 60 and Nick Faldo hasn't been relevant for 15 years.

Not my intention to get into a pissing match with the guy who runs the forum but I would have put 1000:1 that you would be the first to reply with a comment saying how much of an idiot Nick Faldo is or that Michael Breed is stupid. I think everyone here knows you do not like them and anything that comes out of their mouth you don't like

I agree with the OP that he had some good, funtional thoughts. Not an expert at golf, learning a lot here so maybe that disqualifies me from speaking at all.

[iacas]

  saevel25 said:

I don't get your point with the images, am i suppose to recognize something there.

Yes, you should see a difference. Faldo hit the ball higher and farther with the swing on the right. It's how he hit the ball when he was playing well.

Now he tells people to swing like the version you see on the left. The image was taken from an instructional piece. He's remained in his forward flexion and has failed to extend and even really to jump at the ball much (by extending - but it's almost literally a "jump"). He hits the ball low and short now.

  Randy4h said:

Faldo is anything but a boob, as you say. Have you read his instruction book, "A Swing For Life"? Are you familiar with the Faldo Golf Institute? He was a control player, not a long ball hitter.

I'm quite familiar with Faldo's capacity as a player. But his ability has left him - unlike it's left Tom Watson and a great many other players who are competing well past Faldo's age or even the age he was 10 years ago when he stopped being relevant - and I contend that it's left him because he doesn't know nearly as much about the golf swing as he thinks he does.

You've likely seen the Ball Flight video and the thread in which I originally posted the two still images of Nick Faldo getting something as basic as the ball flight laws wrong.

  jamo said:

Being a good player doesn't make you a good teacher. Two very different entities.

Yep.

  Randy4h said:

Very true. Faldo is/was both an excellent player and a good instructor, in my opinion.

That's your opinion. I've got some proof that he's not. He isn't preaching today what he used to do, he's wrong about the ball flight laws, and who in their right minds wants to finish a swing looking like the Faldo on the far left? Who wants to hit the ball low and short?

  Rexx said:

The image on the left looks like a wedge vs. woods for the other two. Maybe a factor if he was trying to hit some sort've 3/4 shot and didn't swing through as much. What's up with the yellow line(s)? It's clearly further outside his foot from left to right, but what's it supposed to show?

All of the arrows were added by others (not me) to illustrate some of the differences between how Faldo used to play and how he plays now.

The yellow line illustrates the height of his belt. You want to swing low, you stay in forward flexion and don't extend. You want to hit the ball high and farther, you almost literally jump at the ball and you extend, you throw your arms up in the air, you expand your chest, your neck, your back... it all extends and really adds height to the ball. Guys we've given this lesson to (not actually throwing a rock, but the move throwing a rock helps simulate or which helps a player get a feeling for) almost always double the height of their shots, and many will triple it. Nick Faldo hits the ball low and short nowadays. He used to hit it high and (relatively) far.

[iacas]

  MikeLowry5 said:

Not my intention to get into a pissing match with the guy who runs the forum but I would have put 1000:1 that you would be the first to reply with a comment saying how much of an idiot Nick Faldo is or that Michael Breed is stupid. I think everyone here knows you do not like them and anything that comes out of their mouth you don't like

When they say something that makes sense, I'll give them credit.

But in most cases I have what I'd call actual "proof" that they're wrong about a lot of things. Nick Faldo you have his swing progression in this thread. You have his statements about the ball flight laws and how to escape trouble. I saw a video Michael Breed did where the guy was hitting what he called "low pull-hooks." Michael told the guy the clubface was fine but he had to swing out to the right more. Huh? Yeah, if the guy wants to hit even BIGGER pull-draws, swing to the right more. You'll really get the ball to snap left then. The "pull" tells you the clubface is NOT correct, and though Michael did answer the question I submitted to him, he doesn't exhibit that he actually understands the ball flight laws in real life situations, like the "low pull hook" one. I don't dislike Michael Breed's teaching, or Nick Faldo's teaching, or Hank Haney's teaching without considered, careful reasoning, and I respect their abilities as players more than you can imagine. But winning six majors doesn't mean you can teach, clearly...