Passive golf swing?

[jambalaya]

I have read, watched, and listened to everything on Ron’s website. My thoughts are these:

Yeah, I wasn't totally buying that "head restricts the body turn idea" either. Sure, eventually you are going to let the head go or it will restrict your finish but most peoples heads are on the ball at contact. I am going to toy around with notion the next time I am on the range though.

Oh, and I will take a couple of bad shots (Annika) if it will get me 73 tour wins.

[$2 Nassau]

I have a passive golf swing. Unfortunately the wrong body parts are passive while others are overly active. lol

[SubPar]

Yeah, I wasn't totally buying that "head restricts the body turn idea" either. Sure, eventually you are going to let the head go or it will restrict your finish but most peoples heads are on the ball at contact. I am going to toy around with notion the next time I am on the range though.

When I turn my head forward on the down swing I generally hit better shots. It shakes me up, just like making 6 foot putts one after the other,

with my eyes closed . It distrubs me, but there is some truth in those results. SubPar

[Sandman Logan]

Well, I tried the swing at the driving range on Friday.

First thought - feels good. Liked the iron feel. Didn't get any more distance out of the swing but definitely felt like it was straighter.

- side note - I have a chronic slice that creeps up on me as the irons get longer, and into the hybrid and driver.

The longer irons and hybrid/fairway woods felt good too. Definitely felt like I was hitting them better, more on the downangle. Hit a few pretty straight as well, but also an equal # of slices. Since it was the 1st time I'd try this I wasn't too concerned.

The driver - first 2 shots normal slice. Then I remembered, no weight shift, stay back. AND - they went straight. Straight! Several in a row right towards the mountains, maybe a slight fade but very minimal. I remember seeing Lovick and Ron talking in their video about how you can mess up a few good shots in a row by pushing it, so I didn't. Still had a few start to creep more to slice than straight but I brought them back. The distance was greater for me than the irons. I couldn't wait to get out and play.

PLAYED SATURDAY
Went to Vista Valencia for the first time - an 'Executive course' with only par 3's and 4's. The driver, front 9, not pretty. I thought I was doing it right but I think I was shifting my weight still. The irons, felt great. Loved it. Again, not more distance but much more controlable. It only took a few holes to find that I was a believer now in passive golf.

The back nine was a par 30 and I hit a 39. Being a bogy + golfer I was happy with the results. Had 3 pars and a birdie. The irons stayed true. I had a shot into the green with a 5 fairway wood about 190 yards out sitting on a slope. I took it back nice and easy, let the body do the work and dang if that ball didn't go straight at the green. Unfortunately I was aiming to compensate for my normal fade/slice and it popped into the sand trap. However, that straight and tru shot was one I don't think I'll forget. For my drives, well they started staying in the fairway. I kept to the left side (being a leftie) throughout the swing and the ball started cooperating.

Can't wait to get out and hit again.

I need to concentrate on accelerating at the right time and stop rushing the downswing. I tend to overswing and come over the top if I'm not paying attention, but this swing can really go a long ways in solving that problem.

With only one range and one game under my belt I can't wait to continue with passive golf. This could be what I've been looking for - - - the holy grail - - - a repeatable swing.

Thanks Ron !

[Doctorfro]

The OPs original statement about hitting it like there's no ball there is probably the best thing about this thread. In my last lesson I took my instructor gave me that swing thought of just making it my practice swing and forget about impact and I was nutting the ball. To me sound advice. Ron Del Barrio??

[kurtbayne]

I futzed around with the head looking at the target.

The fun thing about this is that you see the ball early in its ball flight, not 50-100 yards out when head is back with a full swing.

Seeing the early ball flight might also be good for getting better concentration on ball trajectory on pitches and chips. Of course, looking at the target on putts is a beneficial drill.

[akgolfnut]

1st post here. I came across this forum after visiting RDB's website, and googling more info about his swing. I like his swing theory, hopefully I get to try it out this weekend. I had a question - for those who visited his site, did you watch his 'ball placement' video. He said for all clubs that you hit on the ground, place the ball in the middle of your stance, to promote the descending hit. Even a fairway wood. But my question is what about when you tee up an iron or fairway wood? Still middle of the stance for all, or back to conventional way? Subpar since you have seen him maybe you can ask him this....I sent him a message via his YouTube page, but no response. thanks.

[SubPar]

1st post here. I came across this forum after visiting RDB's website, and googling more info about his swing. I like his swing theory, hopefully I get to try it out this weekend. I had a question - for those who visited his site, did you watch his 'ball placement' video. He said for all clubs that you hit on the ground, place the ball in the middle of your stance, to promote the descending hit. Even a fairway wood. But my question is what about when you tee up an iron or fairway wood? Still middle of the stance for all, or back to conventional way? Subpar since you have seen him maybe you can ask him this....I sent him a message via his YouTube page, but no response. thanks.

Most of us tend to "pick" the ball, so playing it a little back helps catch it on the downward angle. Ball position is clearly relative to your individual swing though. My observation is that he tees the ball up in a fairly traditional manner (i.e., just inside the left heel).

He's pretty much teaching all day every day, so he's not too good about checking e-mail or this forum. I am encouraging the range to install a wireless router, so customers and instructors can have web access... no luck yet. SubPar

[akgolfnut]

Most of us tend to "pick" the ball, so playing it a little back helps catch it on the downward angle. Ball position is clearly relative to your individual swing though. My observation is that he tees the ball up in a fairly traditional manner (i.e., just inside the left heel).

Thanks. Yes, I noticed on his introductory video, he is teeing up the ball forward for the 3-iron and 3-wood.

[Flogger]

Most of us tend to "pick" the ball, so playing it a little back helps catch it on the downward angle. Ball position is clearly relative to your individual swing though. My observation is that he tees the ball up in a fairly traditional manner (i.e., just inside the left heel).

Howdy all!

Subpar and I are trying to really put something together to either do a clinic or a clinic and a web-anar! I have had over 300,000 hits on my web site and it's awesome that there are so many people really interested in learning the golf swing. Of course the information and the length of the clips is not even close to 1/10 of what really needs to be said and my only goal there was to kind of give back to this great game that has given so much to me. Be that as it may, I have had happy cows and not so happy cows! ie; he's full of shit... he talks too fast, he's got man boobs and bad hair etc... I LOVE IT! At the end of the day, if just one person gets something out of my FREE website then that makes my day. I am working with subpar to figure out how we can put together a clinic (free of course!) or a live web-anar. Do I have all of the answers to the perfect golf swing? Hummm... let me think about that one? Okay I don;t do drugs so of course I wouldn't even think of saying something that stupid, however, I do have a different way for all of you to simply try it and see what you get out of it. Until we can set something up, keep asking those questions and for the love of God, get your asses on the practice green and dedicate the same amount of time practicing your putting as you do with hitting balls! Sorry, didn't mean to channel Depak Chopra on you all but STFU and putt til you can't stand it! Cheers, RdB

[jambalaya]

I incorporated two things in my golf swing in my round yesterday. One was to tuck my elbows in so they point at my hips and the other was the passive golf swing approach. Yeah, I was letting my head go like Annika. The results were intriuging. Of course I was afraid of whiffing the ball or topping it but nothing of the sort happened. I hit some really good shots. The most noticeable thing is that turning the head early restricted or muted the hit impulse. My swing was more of a steady, smooth acceleration. I wasn't trying to do that little bit extra just before impact.

A had a few problem shots, mostly a few fat irons. But, I was more on line with all my shots. A tendency I found with my driver and 3 wood off the tee was a bit of a hook. I got a little lazy a few times and didn't keep turning my body to a complete follow through. It is essential to finish. I was also feeling, though I would need video to confirm, a tendency to slide on the forward swing. All in all though I plan to keep the experiment going. I really like the feeling of my swing smoothing out, less tension and effort.

[SubPar]

In the past 5 days: A hole-in-one and a string of shots right at the stick, resulting in numerous birdies and par saves... all the result of finally trusting passive arms and the head turn prior to impact.

More as the story develops,

SubPar

[madcityscott]

Has anyone stuck with this technique? I tried it at the range a couple of months ago but didn't trust it enough to stick with it. But after not improving through traditional methods I'm considering trying it again.

[golftrainer]

I know for me personally...I've "toned" down my swing and am hitting it much farther! I'm a physical "hitter" of the ball, but I'm am working very hard at my tempo and it's paying off. I haven't lost and distance, but I can find my ball more often...LOL.

[Runarak]

I just came across the Passive swing videos as I am revamping my swing of old.  I am finding that Ron's techniques are really working for me.  I am having fewer swing thoughts and getting a lot more consistency and distance with much less effort. Any updates from others using this method?

[JPJeffery]

Well, I've come across RdB's videos now and again but it only clicked with me last night what he seems to be saying. I liked the idea (or what I've interpreted is the idea) so much I went to try it at the range tonight.

Some of my swings utterly sucked, I think because I was relaxing too much and losing control of the club. However, some of them felt really good and had some good results too, I swear I was hitting the driver about 10-20 yards further (note, that only means 160-170 rather than 150-160...)

So, I have some reason to think this swing model is a good one, even if the essence of the message is to "relax, dude!". The VideoJug video by Rickard Strongert (referenced by the original poster of this thread) has the same kind of 'swing, don't hit' message.

My only concern is the detrimental effect this seemed to be having on my lower half movement in that I seemed to have completely lost any of the drive I used to create from my hips etc.

JP