Darrell Klassen

[Sherryken]

Has anyone ever tried or heard of Darrell and his simple golf. I have a friend who says he explains the game in a very simple way. any info?

[poser]

He is insane like his sweater I pray people avoid his teachings.  Saw a video of him on youtube and could only take about 20 seconds of it.

[tristanhilton85]

I'd stay away... if you want to understand the game (and swing) better you can check out the Golf Evolution YouTube videos, the Stack and Tilt DVDs and the Stack and Tilt Book.

[nescafe]

Darrell comes across as a salesman.  If you can get past the salesman part of his personality, you can learn to play some good golf.  I am in the fairway more than most players, and when I want to take it up a notch on a more open hole I can hit it 260-270yds and keep it in the fairway.  His philosophy is to swing free and that golf is an easy game.  I'm a better iron player from 150yds in, and have a solid chipping and pitching game; need to spend more time putting.  Darrell gets me out of my head...away from thinking about the mechanics of the swing and into playing the game.   He advocates going to the range or to the chipping and putting practice greens; and experimenting on your own and having fun.   Did any of you watch Butch Harmon on the David Feherty show this year?   He said the PGA is now in the process of totally revamping their teaching program. He apologized and said that himself and the PGA had made a grievous error and had spent most of their time teaching the mechanics of the swing; and had neglected the teaching of the game itself.  I believe clubhead is king, but even better is knowing how a push-draw feels; and while I know that it is an inside to out swing path with the clubhead slightly closed to that path...I would rather know how it feels and swing freely than thinking about the mechanics in the swing.

[dozu]

Originally Posted by poser

He is insane like his sweater I pray people avoid his teachings.  Saw a video of him on youtube and could only take about 20 seconds of it.

agreed.... he gets a lot of things wrong... avoid him.

[logman]

Originally Posted by dozu

agreed.... he gets a lot of things wrong... avoid him.

Like what, What does he get "wrong"?

[dozu]

club face at impact, wrist action for the 'release'.. just to name a couple..... anyway, that's not important.

I just think he, like many other instructors, knows only 1 way to swing the club and 1 way to teach.... therefore the chance of student success is slim.

I'd recommend EA Tischler's work.... great stuff for helping amateurs understand the golf swing.

[poser]

I only remember him saying the driver face opens 7 degrees at impact then turned it off.  Also saying that a clubface can never be square blah blah blah

[Valleygolfer]

I just bothers me that he laughs at inappropriate times.

[Rimrock]

Klassen has some good information and I got it for free.  You just have to listen to what he says and parse the info.  Someone posted that he was turned off by the 7 degree comment.  First, I don't think that person looked at a protractor to see how much 7 degrees is.  Second, that comment was how much you can torque the head.  Later Klassen says that if the club head moves just 1 degree it will send the ball left or right NOT straight.  That is useful.

Do I like his sweaters ?  NO!  Do I like his funny laugh?  NO!  If I were to turn off all the college professors i had because I did not like the way they looked or talked I wouldn't have graduated from college.

Now, I am not saying to buy Klassens's stuff.  What I am saying is you can gain some insight if you just listen to what is said.

[Rimrock]

Tishler has some great videos and just looking at the one on stance helped me more than all videos I have watched.  BUT, that said, I spent a long time looking at different videos of his and was ready to toss him aside because the quality of the videos and the way his voice came across got to be annoying.  Additionally, like all the "professional teachers" they have more to say on a technical side than one can apply.

Klassen tries to keep it simple although he gets to wordy also.

The bottom line is:

Whether it is Tishler or Klassen or McLean or Haney they want you to buy their DVD's or programs or go to their schools....

If you can get on tip from any of the FREE instruction on youtube PRACTICE it!!  You see, you can listen to all of these guys but at no time do they REALLY REALLY stress practice.  It seems it is just an afterthought and it gets buried in their instruction.  WHY?  Because if you practice just a few free tips and master them you may not need to buy anything and then they don't make money.

Tishler was instructing Mark Wertz.  If Mark was smart he would be taking notes and taking videos (with sound) of what Tishler is saying so he could refer back to them in the future and also to review them (like practicing) so that when on the course he can mentally have them as an arsenal to fix his swing if it goes wrong.  Professionals like Tiger Woods rely on others to help them because they have the money.  If they were REALLY smart, they would be compiling all the info that is given to them so that they could review it at their leisure.  But then, like I said, they have the money and I don't.  As Pirot, the Agatha Christy  detective, says use the gray cells.

[ezclaude]

Avoid him. His videos are not at all professional. Some segments are cut off and of course there is his annoying silly laugh. He has refused to honor his money back guarantee.

[chatbuster]

Well, where do I start. I ordered the PowerPoint video. Seventy bucks. It arrived 10 days later on a Saturday.

I waited until I came back from a party that night. It was around 2:00 AM and I had been driven home by a friend because I had a few vodka tonics at the party.

Once home, I decided to watch the DVD. After about ten minutes of crap I started to watch the same 10 minutes of crap..again, without rewinding the DVD. At first I thought I had dosed off and somehow I had missed the next 45 minutes of instruction so I kept watching. Sure as I am sitting here after 10 minutes the crap starts all over again!

I find out that the instruction on the DVD was about 10 minutes or so and it kept repeating the same 10 minutes in order to fill the advertised lengh of the DVD.

I contacted Mr. Klassen in order to get my money back and his response to me was "repetition is the key to learning" WOW!

I tried to get my money back and asked my credit card company to reverse the charges which they did, until Mr. Klassen produced all of these pages of Terms and Conditions that are not readily available when you order the DVD since anyone that would had the opportunity to see these Terms would never purchase anything from this guy. He has taken every possible reason that a buyer would have for wanting their money back and has written a clause against it. trust me when I tell you that there is no way to get your money back, unless you take him to court but wait, he has written a clause about this too, you would have to travel to California, to his home town in order to contest his scam in front of the court AND you wave your rights to be heard by a jury of your piers. You tell me, have you ever seen an honest, honorable vendor place so many conditions if they know they are selling something of value to a customer? I don't think so.

BTW, want to know the "secret" of the PowerPoint? The secret I paid 70.00 to learn? Here it is: Make sure that your swing reaches maximum speed at a point beyond the ball,  in other words, hit thru the ball, not at it.

Thanks gentlemen, I need 70.00 from each of you....and forget about getting your money back.

[pholmes]

I was already irritated by a scumbag I just dealt with in my personal life so hearing that pissed me off. Sorry about that but I'm sure karma has something really bad waiting for that gentleman. I even had to edit my first post because it was to harsh.

[drsagacity]

Wow. I am surprised to hear such negativity. For me, Klassen's stuff has been outstanding. It's pretty simple and it works really well if you just do exactly what he describes. There are a bunch of ways to get the ball out there, but if you can commit to a few pretty simple things, combined with knowing what makes the ball curve... then it's pretty easy to play good golf. More than anything, I like the fact that I now have a single swing thought for every club in the bag. I am now shooting the best scores of my life following Klassen's PowerPoint method.

[Ernest Jones]

Wow. I am surprised to hear such negativity. For me, Klassen's stuff has been outstanding. It's pretty simple and it works really well if you just do exactly what he describes. There are a bunch of ways to get the ball out there, but if you can commit to a few pretty simple things, combined with knowing what makes the ball curve... then it's pretty easy to play good golf. More than anything, I like the fact that I now have a single swing thought for every club in the bag. I am now shooting the best scores of my life following Klassen's PowerPoint method.

You should hear what we have to say about Dalton McCrary. ;-) Seeing as you're a Klassen fan (but not a shill, I'm sure) could you offer some comment on the post I've pasted below: [quote name="chatbuster" url="/t/53906/darrell-klassen/0_100#post_843471"]Well, where do I start. I ordered the PowerPoint video. Seventy bucks. It arrived 10 days later on a Saturday. I waited until I came back from a party that night. It was around 2:00 AM and I had been driven home by a friend because I had a few vodka tonics at the party. Once home, I decided to watch the DVD. After about ten minutes of crap I started to watch the same 10 minutes of crap..again, without rewinding the DVD. At first I thought I had dosed off and somehow I had missed the next 45 minutes of instruction so I kept watching. Sure as I am sitting here after 10 minutes the crap starts all over again! I find out that the instruction on the DVD was about 10 minutes or so and it kept repeating the same 10 minutes in order to fill the advertised lengh of the DVD. I contacted Mr. Klassen in order to get my money back and his response to me was "repetition is the key to learning" WOW! I tried to get my money back and asked my credit card company to reverse the charges which they did, until Mr. Klassen produced all of these pages of Terms and Conditions that are not readily available when you order the DVD since anyone that would had the opportunity to see these Terms would never purchase anything from this guy. He has taken every possible reason that a buyer would have for wanting their money back and has written a clause against it. trust me when I tell you that there is no way to get your money back, unless you take him to court but wait, he has written a clause about this too, you would have to travel to California, to his home town in order to contest his scam in front of the court AND you wave your rights to be heard by a jury of your piers. You tell me, have you ever seen an honest, honorable vendor place so many conditions if they know they are selling something of value to a customer? I don't think so. BTW, want to know the "secret" of the PowerPoint? The secret I paid 70.00 to learn? Here it is: Make sure that your swing reaches maximum speed at a point beyond the ball,  in other words, hit thru the ball, not at it. Thanks gentlemen, I need 70.00 from each of you....and forget about getting your money back. [/quote]

[drsagacity]

Ernest,

I don't know what I can say to respond. It sounds like you had a bad experience. I didn't buy the specific video you discussed, but I have purchased a few of his books. To me, it's really not about just accelerating through the ball, but using the combination of ball flight laws and a PowerPoint that is on the right line and low to the ground. This combination, mixed with the release he teaches makes controlling ball flight really easy.

I think his best tip was to play with ping pong balls in the back yard because lift and spin control is the same for every ball. Once you know how your release - PowerPoint path matches to the ball flight, well, it's easy. I like it.

I can't comment much more on your specific experience.

[c peterich]

Wasn't this the guy that called out tiger in his book to call him for lessons? Unreal