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iacas

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Blog Entries posted by iacas

  1. iacas
    I told my daughter today that she'd never run out of golf students if she taught three things pretty well:
    That the body is responsible for moving the club around you and that the arms move the club up in the backswing. That this process reverses (and that people rotate far too early relative to the "down") in the downswing. How to get the weight forward. It's true, too. She might not be able to teach a Tour player, but there are a LOT of golfers who need to work on exactly those things.
    Consider how well you do those things in your own golf swing.
  2. iacas

    Padraig Harrington On Making Putts

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I sent a long text to a  student of mine today. The parts that don't apply to most, I'll chop out, and instead focus on the parts that many can use. If you read the text as a conversation between me, the student/golfer, and a putting-specific instructor, it should make sense.
    I encouraged the student to "be a bit more athletic about the putts in the 'makeable' range. Line up, make sure that everything is aimed where you want it to be, and then take a last look at the hole for speed. When you look back at the ball, GO almost immediately. Be more athletic."
    I also wrote "you can’t expect to make a putt, or even think that you should make 50% of your 8-footers, or whatever. This may just be me, but I have always just tried to hit a good putt. You can hit a great putt and a spike mark or something you didn’t see can deflect your ball off-line. You can’t expect to make a putt (or expect to miss it), but you can expect and ask yourself to hit a 'good putt' and then accept whatever the result is."
    I then wrote about how "I’m watching a Padraig Harrington video in the background and he just said 'You can’t use the result to determine whether you did it right or wrong. Whether you did it right or wrong is here (points down at where the ball was), the result is a bonus.”
    I've queued the video up to that point here:
    When you're done watching that, skip ahead to 7:45 to watch another good part.
  3. iacas
    A good drill for a LOT of players to do.
    Note how he also shifts forward with the increased flex on his left knee as he drops the hands down.
    This is a bit of what I call "throwing" as well - you can feel it in the left arm OR the right arm. I generally prefer it in the right, but you may feel it differently than I or the majority.
  4. iacas

    Good Rory Flow IG Post

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    Steve Furlonger (@sfgolfperform) • Instagram photos and videos
    Steve Furlonger shared a post on Instagram: "Arguably one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the modern era is @rorymcilroy . Pound for pound his output from not the biggest frame on tour at 1.75 m / 5’ 9”... That's it. That's the tweet. 😉
    Go watch the video, though.
  5. iacas

    Good Drill for Width

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I posted it to Twitter and Instagram, so here it is:
    Erik J. Barzeski (@iacas) • Instagram reel
    Erik J. Barzeski shared a post on Instagram: "Great drill here to help stop the right elbow from going too far around your body. Put your right forearm near your elbow on your left hand and keep it there, allowing...
  6. iacas

    Black and Blue Attrition Game

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I came up with a game for my college kids to play today and I'd like to share it with you. Here were the rules I gave them:
    Play the black tees on odd # holes, blue tees on even # holes. (Par fives are: 3, 8, 13, 15. Par threes are: 6, 9, 12, 14.) The first 16 holes are grouped into four-hole groups: 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16. Except for the putter, which may be used on all holes, players may use each club in their bag only one time per four-hole group. If you plan to hit driver on #3, you cannot hit it on holes 1, 2, or 4. On 17 and 18, players have access to their full bag (all clubs). If you take a stroke-and-distance penalty, you may re-hit the same club. The way I see it, and the way it proved out…
    The game is designed to emphasize playing golf. HItting shots. Not just "oh, 150? That's a pitching wedge" or "stock yardage, hit a driver on every par 4 or 5" golf. It forces players to plan ahead a bit. It forces players to think about what shot they want to leave - it's easier to chip-and-run a 7I up from the fairway just short of the green (or putt from 20 yards) than it is to play over a bunker to a short-sided hole with your 9I because you used up your wedges). It clearly rewards players who don't go at flags and who can hit greens - they probably won't run out of wedges. What we found today was that if you were playing well, it surprisingly had almost no effect. If you were playing poorly, it almost multiplied the pain. My assistant coach thinks it's a great game to figure out who can qualify for the #4 or #5 spot on a team week to week, as it really creates separation.
  8. iacas

    Updated Wall Drill for Pivot Flow

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    For higher handicappers, I prefer a fairly centered, stable pivot, as I've noted here:
    A link at the bottom of that blog post links you to this page, with a self-explanatory title:
    For better players, I prefer a little bit of "flow."
    Here's a drill you can do to get a bit of a feel for this:
    Yes, you also use a wall for this drill, too. 😄
  9. iacas

    Vineyard Vines Flow Trace

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    For a student, I traced out a little "flow" trace or "COM" trace. It's exaggerated in scale, but I think it's fairly representative of what a good player's "feel" is mixed with a bit of the common reality.
    When I was done, it looked to me like the Vineyard Vines whale, so I drew a little tail on it. Here it is:

    1, 2, 3, and 4 are A1 through A4 (or Ps if you still prefer those).
    At A1, the pressure is pretty centered. At A2, the pressure has reached the farthest back position after a slight shift toward the trail ankle. That shift is basically done by 2. From A2 to A3, the ribs and torso "wind up" and the feeling is of a rising COM (even though nothing really goes "up" much except the arms). The early part is where you're "flinging" the club and arms and hands the most, but it's already slowing down by the end. From A3 to A4, the body starts to re-center by "backing into" the target. It may have only shifted an inch or so back (the scale of the whale is greatly exaggerated). The lead knee stays soft so the player can "compress" a bit before they "jump". This is pretty passive - let gravity help you do this part. It's not a manual "shove" or a "push." As the downswing begins and continues, the pressure shifts down and forward until it spikes back up just before impact. The tail is somewhere around impact - slightly before or after depending on the player. Everything, of course, from the "4" to the "tail" happens very quickly. Of course, it's not quite like the VV whale as I drew it, because he has a relatively flat back, and I was trying to emphasize for this player the "soft left knee" so I drew the trace a bit more "down" from A3 to A4. I've used the Leaning Tower of Pisa before for the 3-4 stage, or the feeling you have of pushing water back and forth in a bathtub when you're a kid, but this is the first time I'd drawn it out this way. For some players, the flatter (more horizontal) back of the VV whale may be a better feel, but overall, maybe thinking of this logo will improve your "flow" a bit.

    Further thoughts here: 
     
  10. iacas

    The Wall Drill for a Proper Pivot

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    Here's a student many will tell you "lacks flexibility." He thinks it (sometimes, when I haven't seen him in awhile ), other instructors have told him he lacks flexibility, etc.
    His hips sway right, his torso turns about 75°, and he lifts his arms up to "finish his backswing."

    It's a bit better in the left photo here because he's been working on this for quite some time now, but even still you can see those trademark things: hips sway back, no secondary tilt, head rises, arms lift, turn isn't great.
    On the right you can see him doing the wall drill. You set up near a wall. You note how much space you have between your trail hip and the wall, and then you put your arms across your chest and make a backswing while you strive to increase that distance. Make the gap between your trail hip and the wall get bigger. Voilà! Secondary Axis Tilt, hips going forward during the backswing (yes, a bit too much, but this is a drill, exercise, or "feel"), head not going up, more torso turn.
    The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

    It's important to note that you don't necessarily actually want all of these to occur during your backswing. This drill reverses a lot of what you do (hips swaying instead of turning, moving too far right instead of staying "centered", reverse axis tilt). It's a great drill for an 18 handicapper who sways and wants to get better now.
    As always, these are actual swings, not posed shots.
    2017-09-15: Edited the title. Originally it was "Lack of Flexibility and the Wall Drill". We teach this to people who DON'T think they lack flexibility, too. Even kids.
    2021-11-25: There are some updated thoughts here that I encourage everyone to read.
  11. iacas
    A video I recorded on a whim today for the two or three kids who missed their session this week in the Junior Elite Program.
    P.S. I know your hands/arms don't truly stay in front of your chest, but compared to how far to the side many/most people get their hands/arms, they stay a lot more toward the front than they're keeping them now.
  12. iacas

    Unique Tour Player Swings

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    Yes, Matt Wolff has a weird swing.
    Jim Furyk too.
    Keegan Bradley sets up pretty funny.
    Dustin Johnson has a bowed left wrist at the top (as does Jon Rahm, and Graeme McDowell).
    Jordan Spieth and Lee Westwood chicken wing it.
    Lee Trevino had an odd swing.
    Thing is…
    You're not any of those people. They're supremely talented. They spend HOURS a DAY working on what they do. There's nothing that says they wouldn't have been better (or worse) if they switched it up to a more conventional thing. These guys tend to be in the minority. I use Matt Wolff's swing as an exaggerated feel quite often.
    That doesn't mean I actually want golfers to swing that way.
    If you've got a "unique" thing in your swing, think long and hard about whether it's something that's holding you back, given the above bullet points.
  13. iacas
    I find myself saying in lessons quite often^ lately "Do Less."
    For example, on the backswing, people will often move their hands around, bend elbows in every direction, move the clubhead everywhere, the knees are doing a bunch of stuff, etc. Their backswings are too long, and really, if they just make a little turn and "fling" (I use that word a lot too) their arms up and back, they end up in a good spot.
    I think that in students of the game can get caught up in trying to do "too much" and instead if they let themselves just tap into some natural athleticism they can reap some benefits. I've been doing a lot of the drill where you add weight to the club with the Torc (at various heights) to really feel the clubhead "throw" back and up. To do this, the wrists and arms have to be soft, the shoulders have to be soft.
    I am considering filming a video with the Torc showing a few of the ways I like to use it, specifically for the backswing stuff. I also use it for pitching work. Maybe I'll make another post specifically talking about it.
    I hope I don't sound like that to students. 😄
    ^ I think there's some of Baader-Meinhof phenomena going on here as I just saw the video clip and was reminded of it again, so now every time I say "do less" I quietly chuckle to myself at recalling the scene.
  14. iacas
    My men's golf team won the AMCC Championship this past weekend with a two-day score of 637 (keeping the best four out of five scores). That works out to 79.625 on a fairly difficult layout at Avalon Lakes Golf & Country Club.
    ALGCC is a Pete Dye course that, like many Pete Dye courses, is very target-golf oriented. Dye seems to love to use visual trickery to goad players into going for more than they can handle. Sure, it rewards the long drive into the very narrow alley way between water and bunkers, but it punishes a slight miss more heavily than the reward of being 20 yards closer to the green for the approach shot.
    So, my guys worked their butts off during the practice round(s) to learn a few things:
    How far was it to the various hazards and things. What lines should they take off the tee that kept them short of those kinds of things. Which side of the hole do you favor with your second shot, even if you're going for the green. How did the greens react to shots: From around the greens. From the fairway. From the rough. That's all we did. We didn't keep a score. We didn't talk about which pins to attack, or which holes to attack. In our minds, every hole presented the same opportunity: a chance to get a Green in Regulation (GIR is King, after all) and a chance to make a two-putt par. Occasionally they'd hit one close (even if aiming for the center of the green), and occasionally they'd reach a par five in two, and sometimes they'd make a longer putt for a birdie.
    When they were out of position, I stressed getting an nGIR and playing to give themselves a reasonable par putt. Sometimes reasonable was 30 feet. Other times it was four or five.
    I don't think that my team necessarily hit the ball too much better than the other players on the other top two or three teams. I got to see a fair amount of their players, and they hit a lot of good shots, too. They certainly weren't 21 strokes worse (nearly three shots per player per round), or worse - the winning margin the men created for themselves.
    I think it came down to the GamePlan, and that is the only credit I'll take in helping them win their fifth straight AMCC Championship, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA finals in May (in Rochester, NY).

  15. iacas

    Posture is Almost the Same for All Clubs

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    Lots of people seem to think that you stand "taller" for longer clubs, like the driver.
    The only thing that really changes much is the angle at which your arms hang - a bit farther out for driver.

    Note: it's not true for all, but it's true for most. Rory tends to be a bit more upright with his driver.
  16. iacas
    The point of the backswing is to turn your body and to slightly bend your trail elbow, to elevate your trail elbow (to varying degrees), and to hinge your wrists (to varying degrees).
    The first bit — what's commonly called "turning your shoulders" — is the most important.
    Getting the club to parallel is not even on the list.

  17. iacas
    There are several things which take almost no talent to do correctly, and if you can do them, you can become a better golfer and stay a better golfer. These things should be touchstones of a sort, things you check on constantly, but again which take no (or at least not much) actual skill to achieve. These are things even beginners can do.
    These lists are off the top of my head.
    Tier 1: No Real Talent
    Grip the club properly - in the base of the fingers, with the right number of knuckles showing for your swing. Set up properly - weight over the right part of your feet, arms hanging almost vertically, ball position forward of center. Learn the ball flight laws. You only have to learn them once. Learn that bad shots happen, and don't require a change to what you're doing or attempting to do. Change your grips when they get worn, slick, hard. Get a video camera, alignment sticks, and a few other training aids. You don't have to spend a lot of money here. Use decent clubs. Your muscle back 2-iron is probably not helping you much. Wear sunscreen and sunglasses. Your skin and your eyes are important. Tier 2: Minimal Talent
    Grip the club firmly while remaining athletically "loose" with the rest of your body. Tension in the wrong places can be a killer. Loose muscles are fast muscles. Learn what "start line" and curve your ball has on any given shot. You'll be miles ahead of the game when it comes to solving problems with your swing for the rest of your life. Practice effectively. It doesn't matter if you practice for 10 minutes or 10 hours a week, if you can practice effectively, you'll squeeze as much out of that time as you can. Nobody practices perfectly, but 90% effective is better than 30% effective. Nobody hits perfect shots when practicing, either, but you can make changes when practicing properly. Learn the Shades of Grey and your Shot Zones. Play quickly. Play without fear - golf is just a game we play. Tier 3: Some Talent
    Learn to putt with a backswing and downswing that are about the same size. If your ball goes too short and you feel you have to make a huge stroke, just swing it faster, but keep the through and backswing lengths the same. Learn to hit a chip shot with some forward shaft lean and without throwing the trail wrist. I'm amazed at how few people can do this, even if they're just hitting a shot onto a range with no real target, solely trying to "do" this motion. Learn how to make partial swings, particularly with wedges. Learn how to have a "B" swing for days when things are not going well. Develop a ball flight — it's okay if it changes as you continue to improve — and apply the bullet point in the section above to play it. I allotted myself 15 minutes to write this post and come up with what I could come up with, and that's it. Please add your own in the comments below.
  18. iacas

    Tempo vs. Rhythm

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    People often confuse tempo and rhythm, or they'll use them interchangeably. I've almost surely done it many times to this point, but here is how I intend to try to use them starting now.
    Rhythm is the ratio and tempo is the speed.
    Rhythm
    Good putting strokes often have a ratio of 2:1. Again, it's the ratio of the putting stroke. You can have a 300ms backswing or a 600ms backswing, each with a 150 or a 300ms downswing, and that's 2:1. Both strokes have the same rhythm.
    Tempo
    The tempo is the speed of the putter head. Short putts and long putts should have close to the same time (which is why, for example, I like to have a 78 BPM putting stroke), but will have very different tempos. The shorter putt will have a slower tempo than the longer putt.
  19. iacas
    I like this game.
    Essentially:
    You start with six balls. You start from three feet. You putt from three feet until you make a putt. If you make the putt, you take that ball and all remaining balls back three feet. If you miss, that ball or "life" is lost. Your "score" is the farthest distance at which you make a putt. So for example:
    Make from 3'. Six balls remain. Make from 6'. Six balls remain. Miss, miss, make from 9'. Four balls remain. Two lives lost. Miss, make from 12'. Three balls remain, one life lost. Miss, miss, miss from 15'. Your score is 12'.
  20. iacas
    Distance control is an "athletic" thing for most golfers. Unless you're Bryson DeChambeau, who knows that a 12" backstroke makes the ball go 15.739 feet (or whatever), players tend to putt best when they tap into their athleticism. That's why studies will point out how golfers putting from 25+ feet with their eyes looking at the hole often have better distance control (even though they slightly mishit some putts) than golfers looking down at the ball.
    Combine both: do what Tiger Woods learned to do from his dad.
    When taking his last look at the hole, he'd take a mental "snapshot" - a picture - of the hole, the green between him and the hole, his putt. Then, when he looks down at the ball, he sees the ball but he also sees the "photo" and then, per his dad's instructions, he "putts into the picture."
    I do this, and almost always have, even though when I started playing golf it didn't have a "title."
  21. iacas

    Notes for Juniors on Mental Game

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I'm having a mental game expert address some of my juniors next Saturday, and I had some additional notes for him. Stuff I wanted him to include that may be particular to my program, the way I teach, my LSW information, etc.
    And I thought some of you might benefit.
    So here's that part of the email:
    1. Practice is not playing. I'd like them to know that when they're working on their swing, they care what the mechanics are, they care what things "look" like somewhat, they care about making the best MECHANICS or something, to change or improve. But when they're playing, it's all about the results, not what it looks like. Better mechanics eventually lead to better scores, but sometimes you have to find a swing that works THAT DAY.
    2. One or two bad shots is not a pattern. If you duck hook it off the first three tees, then yes, you might want to do something different the next time you get a driver out, but don't rush into changing your entire swing thought or game plan after one or two or even three slightly funny shots, or you'll be changing something after EVERY bad swing, which happens more often than people realize.
    3. Have realistic expectations. PGA Tour players:
    make 50% of their 8-footers and only 15% of their 20-footers. On better greens. Average 2.8 shots from 100 yards out in the fairway. They hit it to about 18' on average. Hit about 60% of their fairways, but almost always keep it "between the ropes." Hit three to four "great shots" per round on a great day. Their standard is higher, but still… they don't love every shot they ever hit. They also hit shanks, chunk chips, etc. You only see the leaders on TV. Get up and down only 2/3 times. Scrambling is tough. But they almost never take two chips or two bunker shots. Then of course, talk about how having proper expectations for yourself will be very personal. Expectations can be for one shot or for the score for 18 holes.
    4. Have proper expectations and goals for entering tournaments, but enter them BEFORE you're "ready" for them. You might have a better way of saying this, but basically, we entered Natalie in HJGT events before she was anywhere near competitive for them… so that by the time she was competitive in them (now), she'd know what they were like. It's NEVER a bad thing to play as many events where you have to put your name and a number up on a scoreboard for all to see - it can only be BAD if you have unrealistic expectations about your abilities. Go into competitive golf with the proper mindset - that you're LEARNING how to compete, LEARNING how to deal with it all, how to handle the slow pace of play, playing under the rules, playing with strangers, everything… go in with the proper mindset and it's all about growth, regardless of the outcome.
  22. iacas

    I Gave a Bad Lesson Today

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I am constantly critiquing myself. I give a lot of good lessons. Lessons about which I feel I did really well. Lessons I'd give myself an "A" for giving; not an A+, mind you, which almost never happens. But As and A-s. And I'm a pretty harsh grader.
    But today I gave a C+ lesson that I may have recovered and turned into a B+ lesson, if only by recognizing it early enough.
    The details are unimportant, but basically, I found myself talking about something that was probably priority #3 or #4 for the guy. It had to do with hand speed, when really his focus is on his turn and hip drive/slide. He asked a question, and rather than my usual vocal "That's not something we need to worry about now" (or some variant of that), I answered it. Then when I was done I recognized that I'd said too much, that it was unrelated, and I backtracked a bit by saying something like this:
    "Look, I just made a mistake, so I'm hoping you can overcome that by forgetting all of what I just said, because it's not related to what I'm trying to get you to do today." Then I spent extra time really simplifying even further and re-iterating the two things I wanted him to focus on quite a bit. More than I might usually do (and I repeat things a lot in a lesson).
    I think that being very critical of myself is important, and today I slipped into one of the things I'm most likely to slip into: giving away too much information. It's not about the "giving away" - it's about how if the student is only going to remember three things from a lesson, I don't want one of those three things to be the irrelevant stuff where I just talk about swing theory or something that's not super-specific and super-fitting for them right then.
    I'll probably follow up with the guy later on, too, to re-iterate the two thoughts I want him to focus on even more. 🙂
    So, a bad lesson in my mind. The student was happy, but I was beating myself up in my head.
  23. iacas

    Science

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    Dr. Sasho Mackenzie had a quote in the March issue of Golf magazine that I liked.
    Listen, there'll always be science-deniers and the belief that none of what I or other researchers do is necessary. They're going to be eroded away. There'll be fewer and fewer of these people once the community realizes that science and technology are simply about learning and understanding better ways to swing a golf club. I no longer feel bad for the instructors who fight it, because the information's out there. If they've got a theory that's different from mine, fine. I'm open-minded. I'll listen. Maybe I've made a mistake, but if they don't have an argument other than, "I believe in my method," then okay. I can't do anything else. We can't have a logical debate. I just feel bad for the golfers they're teaching.
    Emphasis mine.
    Unfortunately, another quote applies: You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
  24. iacas

    Finger Down the Shaft Putting

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    I was tempted to post "I doubt it," but I have this blog to use, so I'll use it for a quick discussion of this.
    I've taught a few thousand people to putt. I've never seen someone with their finger down the shaft who I would consider a "good" putter. More often - far, far more often - those with their finger down the shaft have distance control issues. The pressure they apply with that finger leads to added loft and wrist flipping, while many good putting strokes have de-lofted putters (4° turned down to 1°) and lead wrists that are slightly more in flexion than they were at setup.
    I understand what people think they're feeling - the pressure of the shaft/grip being applied to that finger - but again I've got SAM data and visual data (recorded) that leads me to these types of statements.
    I'm not super picky about putting grips. I putt with a pretty standard/classic reverse double overlap. My daughter is a single overlap kinda gal. I've taught claw grippers, crosshanders, etc. I could put the finger down the shaft (at least for awhile), and remain a good putter… but part of the reason I might be a good putter is that I don't put the finger down the shaft, and I've learned to control the putter swing by having a better wrist action than the one that the finger down the shaft encourages.
    Again, I've never seen a good putter who can actually control distance well with the finger down the shaft.
    Take it for what it's worth.
    P.S. If you try to putt without the finger down the shaft for awhile, don't judge the results immediately. Give it some time. And read this:
    P.P.S. Just because I've never seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It only means I've never seen it…
  25. iacas

    Give or Take 2-3 Degrees

    By iacas,


    Droplets
    There's a reason @david_wedzik and I trademarked the phrase "Golf is Hard"®.
    https://thesandtrap.com/b/the_numbers_game/angles_of_error
    Here's a par three that is often a 7- or 8-iron (but can be a 6-iron). A driver on a par five. And another par three that plays from 190-220 yards.

    In all three cases, you have about +/- 2 or 3° in which to hit your shot, or else we deem the shot "a failure."
    Set your expectations properly, and give yourselves the credit you deserve when you DO hit a fairway or a green. It's phenomenally difficult!
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