AMA Thread (@iacas)

[stealthhwk]

I know your not much of an equipment guy but I was curious as to which ball camp you fit in. Some say fit for swing speed, others say it doesnt matter. I havnt noticed much until recently. Unless Im striking the ball very well I seem to have trouble launching urethane covered balls high enough. Whats your take?

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

I know your not much of an equipment guy but I was curious as to which ball camp you fit in. Some say fit for swing speed, others say it doesnt matter. I havnt noticed much until recently. Unless Im striking the ball very well I seem to have trouble launching urethane covered balls high enough. Whats your take?

I don't think I understand the question. Swing speed is always a critical part of fitting.

[stealthhwk]

10 minutes ago, iacas said:

I don't think I understand the question. Swing speed is always a critical part of fitting.

ie: slower swing needs lower compression. Slow swings cant compress tour ball like prov1. 

[iacas]

Just now, stealthhwk said:

ie: slower swing needs lower compression. Slow swings cant compress tour ball like prov1. 

Common myth.

A higher compression ball will almost always have higher ball speed coming off the clubface. What lower compression balls tend to do is spin more and stay aloft a bit longer.

Let's try to stick to the format a bit more closely, though. One question - and if it's an odd one, just try to make it well defined or clear so I can do my best to answer the question as you intended to ask it.

[Ernest Jones]

On 2/26/2016 at 10:39 AM, stealthhwk said:

@iacas, Thanks for all your hard work on tst, lsw, and helping golfers improve their quality of life by playing better golf, esp doing all this for little or no coin. I tend to fight a strong grip, it comes back fast and in a hurry. Any idea how i can place my hands on the grip the exact same way every time? 

@iacas can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the point of this thread is to ask Erik questions about HIM, not questions about your swing.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

@iacas can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the point of this thread is to ask Erik questions about HIM, not questions about your swing.

Well, the second "A" in "AMA" is "anything" so… but generally speaking, yeah, those types of questions are going to get shorter answers, because we have other threads (topics) far better suited for them.

Let's get this back on the right path now, if possible. The rules are in the first post.

[Hardspoon]

In the past 5 years, what is the longest you've gone without either playing golf, practicing golf, or teaching golf...and why?

(up to you how you want to define "practicing"; ie, does a two minute mirror drill count?)

[iacas]

28 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

In the past 5 years, what is the longest you've gone without either playing golf, practicing golf, or teaching golf...and why?

(up to you how you want to define "practicing"; ie, does a two minute mirror drill count?)

Probably a few days. I'm also going to count times when I was training people to teach golf or giving speeches or presentations/talks on golf in there as things that would invalidate a "no go" streak.

So, though I want to say "a day" it might be as many as three, possibly four, in the last six years. If you count posting on TST in a Member Swing thread, it may not even be that long.

I probably spend 60-80 hours most weeks thinking about golf, or at least doing something closely related to golf. As I type this, I'm downtown with my daughter, wife, and my daughter's friend. Hitting some balls, putzing around on the computer, watching Natalie and her friend hit balls or putt, etc.

I do a lot of golf stuff.

• We're training LSW instructors now for our LSW clinics.
• I have Analyzr.
• I built and maintain the websites for some golf courses, like WWGC.
• I have The Sand Trap .com.
• I have evolvr.
• We train instructors and teach 5SK.
• I'm working on a book for girls who want to get college scholarships.
• I teach people golf, of course.

Fortunately the kiddo can be involved in a bit of that…

Oh, "why?" I may have just taken a break from it or something. Even my vacations involve teaching a golf clinic one of the days or something like that.

[Big C]

Do you get as much satisfaction from your students' achievements (say winning a club championship, breaking 80 for the first time, etc.) as you would from your own golf milestones (shooting 65 on a regulation course, for instance)?

To some degree, I imagine you have to feel genuine enthusiasm for others successes if you are going to be a good instructor. Still, I can't imagine anything more satisfying than actually doing it myself.

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, Big C said:

Do you get as much satisfaction from your students' achievements (say winning a club championship, breaking 80 for the first time, etc.) as you would from your own golf milestones (shooting 65 on a regulation course, for instance)?

No. Not even close. I know I contribute a fair amount to helping golfers get better, and while I'm very, very glad for them (and proud of them), I never feel as though I deserve any credit. I feel like all I did was point them in the right direction and help them get there. They still put in all the work. They still DID the thing. I helped them, but… I tend to dramatically downplay my role in that. I'm really not very good at taking credit or bragging, and I generally feel almost embarrassed when golfers thank me more than briefly, too.

In other words, if a golfer feels i deserve 10% of the credit, I often feel or react like it's closer to 0.1%. I'm sure the true "contribution" might be somewhere in the middle, but… I just really don't give myself a lot of credit.

I'm glad for them, and happy for them, and proud of them, too… again.

4 hours ago, Big C said:

To some degree, I imagine you have to feel genuine enthusiasm for others successes if you are going to be a good instructor. Still, I can't imagine anything more satisfying than actually doing it myself.

That's the funny thing, too. As a golfer I feel like I'd be closer to the 10%!  If I can find a feeling that helps me with the last big piece I've been working on in my swing, I'm going to give that person a TON of credit for helping me find it!

I guess in some ways it's the nature of the beast.

Good question. Tough to answer, but I hope to have conveyed my feelings. In short, I just generally don't take credit for anything someone else does themselves, while at the same time being thrilled for them.

[newtogolf]

Have you ever had a student like a Charles Barkley or worse where you felt it was in their best interest to give up golf or hopes of getting good at it?  

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Have you ever had a student like a Charles Barkley or worse where you felt it was in their best interest to give up golf or hopes of getting good at it?  

Yeah.

There are some people - they're rare, so no worries - who simply seem to lack almost all proprioception or natural ability. You tell them to do something with their right knee, and they suddenly start jerking and bending and twisting both knees around randomly, like they're inventing some new dance moves or something.

I've had about two students - a very, very small fraction of a percentage - ever. One wasn't even really mine, but someone we were kind of team teaching.

And… the challenge of course is still not impossible. If someone seemingly lacks all physical coordination and/or proprioception, you've just got to find a way to improve the motion without using the typical feels or motions or descriptions. Maybe rather than saying "move your hip away from the wall" or something, you find another way to get them to do what you're asking.

Tough, but not impossible. Still, difficult enough that I don't know if their time and energy isn't better spent doing something else.

But again, very very rare.

[RandallT]

In the Myers-Briggs thing, are you an N or an S? Just curious, as we're discussing this with one of my daughters right now regarding her learning style. Most of us are a mix, of course, and I can see both in you. You do like discussing the "Big Picture," but I think I detect a bit more of the pragmatic facts and details of the S? 

Does this aspect of one's personality impact how your students learn? Does it impact how you instructors teach at all? The reason I ask is that I'm curious if you ever size people up regarding the way they learn and adjust accordingly.

Some of us might like to get the big picture first about the golf swing, and then fit into that picture the various facts and tips. For example, as an N, I wanted to know the big picture of 5SK first, and then go through each element separately. It would drive me nuts if I had an instructor that just started telling me how to fix specific things, without knowing what overarching principles the instructor was using as a guide.

Others may just want to learn each of the keys as they become relevant to their own swing, and then over time piece together that there is an overall method behind the instruction. All they need is the detail of what they need to work on first. Give them the bottom line "priority" and off they go! The big picture falls in place as they go off and make good progress with very focused practice on what drills were provided to them.

I'm sure you know all about it, but just a few points to refresh your memory from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/sensing-or-intuition.htm

Quote

N: The following statements generally apply to me:

• I remember events by what I read "between the lines" about their meaning.
• I solve problems by leaping between different ideas and possibilities.
• I am interested in doing things that are new and different.
• I like to see the big picture, then to find out the facts.
• I trust impressions, symbols, and metaphors more than what I actually experienced
• Sometimes I think so much about new possibilities that I never look at how to make them a reality.

 

S: The following statements generally apply to me:

• I remember events as snapshots of what actually happened.
• I solve problems by working through facts until I understand the problem.
• I am pragmatic and look to the "bottom line."
• I start with facts and then form a big picture.
• I trust experience first and trust words and symbols less.
• Sometimes I pay so much attention to facts, either present or past, that I miss new possibilities.

 

[iacas]

7 hours ago, RandallT said:

In the Myers-Briggs thing, are you an N or an S? Just curious, as we're discussing this with one of my daughters right now regarding her learning style. Most of us are a mix, of course, and I can see both in you. You do like discussing the "Big Picture," but I think I detect a bit more of the pragmatic facts and details of the S? 

Does this aspect of one's personality impact how your students learn? Does it impact how you instructors teach at all? The reason I ask is that I'm curious if you ever size people up regarding the way they learn and adjust accordingly.

Some of us might like to get the big picture first about the golf swing, and then fit into that picture the various facts and tips. For example, as an N, I wanted to know the big picture of 5SK first, and then go through each element separately. It would drive me nuts if I had an instructor that just started telling me how to fix specific things, without knowing what overarching principles the instructor was using as a guide.

Others may just want to learn each of the keys as they become relevant to their own swing, and then over time piece together that there is an overall method behind the instruction. All they need is the detail of what they need to work on first. Give them the bottom line "priority" and off they go! The big picture falls in place as they go off and make good progress with very focused practice on what drills were provided to them.

I'm sure you know all about it, but just a few points to refresh your memory from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/sensing-or-intuition.htm

I'm generally an ISTP, but I think some of those things are super dependent on the situation. With a friend, I'm one way, and with a stranger, or my dentist, or a student, another way perhaps. I think almost everyone short of people with autism or something are pretty much toward the middle of ISTP or ENRON or whatever the other types are.

As for teaching people, I don't know that personality type matters a whole lot, and in some ways, I basically try the shotgun approach of just trying to cover everything (maybe calling it the spray can approach sounds better?). I've met engineers who want to know all of the little details, and some who just want the big picture because, as one said it, "I worry enough about the details in my job. Just give me the broad strokes here."

By saying I give the spray can approach I mean I often start with the big picture to explain things. Sometimes I even back out so far as to say "well, great golfers have five things in common. Today we're going to work on _________" and then narrow it down to the exact thing I'd like them to do that day. I clue in or try to stay alert to things they say which would help shape my responses so they can learn best - do they like to learn by doing? Do they like me to move them there so they can feel it, or do they like to do it completely on their own even if they goof up a few times before they get it? Do they like training aids? How much exaggeration do they need? Do they care about the "why?" at all - and if they do, is it actually helping them or do they just think they want to know the "why?" (Some people get muddled in the details, for others it helps create clarity and helps them to "buy in" if they "get it.")

In general, though, I think people can be all sorts of shades of things. Sometimes a student who wants to know all of the details will only be that way at first, and then once they trust you, barely want to know more than the ONE single most important thing for them at the time…

[freshmanUTA]

If you had to have a job going anything that doesn't relate to golf, what would it be, and why. Also, where would you live if not the US.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, freshmanUTA said:

If you had to have a job going anything that doesn't relate to golf, what would it be, and why.

You just get one question so I'll answer that one. I think I answered the other one already anyway. Australia seems nice, but they don't always let many people move there.

One job that does not relate to golf? Computer stuff, or chemistry stuff. Heck, something that combined the two would be great. They are, after all, two of my degrees. If I could work for a French company doing computer science and lab work, that'd be ideal and would let me use all of my degrees.

[Dave325]

Hypothetically, if you were a High Handicapper and wanted to create a practice regimen to get to scratch.... What would that plan look like for your weekly practice schedule?

[iacas]

On March 9, 2016 at 7:13 AM, Dave325 said:

Hypothetically, if you were a High Handicapper and wanted to create a practice regimen to get to scratch.... What would that plan look like for your weekly practice schedule?

I'd leave that in the hands of the instructor teaching me, as I'd have no real clue what my priorities were, or my strengths, or weaknesses.

I know that sounds like a pretty lame response, but… that's the only real answer I can give you.