Hogan Project

Thanks westpenn. I know exactly what you're talking about regarding the squat, or lowering move. I'll surely add that. Just not yet though. This take49 video was just me wanting to try what I've been analyzing for the past week. I've been super-micro analyzing Hogan iron swings; My brain understands what the movements are, so I wanted to see what my brain would tell my body. I'll play around with the advanced stuff a little more, but then it's back to my foundational drills. Where's your swing vid? I like picking Hogan traits out of golf swings.

Take 49 - Advanced Experiments - 1-7-13 I shouldn't even be thinking about any of this advanced stuff, but the BCS game got boring so i had to find something to help pass the time away. Figured i'd do a few early experiments. Oh well, advanced experiment was fun.......back to the elementary drills tomorrow.

I don't have a performance goal. Don't care about ball flight, distance, trajectory, scoring, etc. I just want to see if it is possible to teach one's self how to do something different. Same as learning a new dance by watching someone else. Or learning a new language by listening to someone else. When you were 3 years old, you were learning things through observation and you didn't even realize it. So, in this case, I'm just a 5' 7" 3-year old with a set of persimmons and blades. When/if I get bored with the aesthetics, I'll most likely move on to the performance stuff.

Take 48 - Custom Swing Drill - 1-5-13 00:00 to 00:30 is reg speed. 00:34 to 4:20 is slow mo. Working with the SW on one of my new custom swing drills. My favorite drill so far. Can't give any details about it yet cause I haven't finalized the whole thing. Still tweaking it.

Take 47 - Introducing irons...SW and 2iron - 12-31-12 00:00 to 3:04 is reg speed. 4:33 to end is slow mo. This iron stuff is veeeeeeewy stwaaaaaaaange compared to a 5-wood. The SW weight is way different. I'm real close and bent over the ball. The 2iron head feels too light. I must have shanked 30 balls into that black bag sitting in front of the monitor. Couldn't figure out why it was happening, then I remembered that I have to address the irons with the toe on the ball and not the face, cause my club moves in toward the ball. Don't know if that's a bad thing or not. I learned some lessons from Byron Nelson and Hogan video this weekend......appears they were pushers of the club through impact. On the Coleman vid where Hogan says "very little pressure of the index finger of the right hand and the thumb. You get the pressure of your right hand with this butt pad of your index finger, going thru. There isn't any pressure going down or around....It just follows." What the heck does 'it just follows' mean????? All while he demonstrates a pushing motion. Not sure he was actually referring to a pushing with the arm, or hand, or something else. Will put together a Pushing Compilation vid. I really see this push-impact in Nelson, Trevino, Furyk, Calvin Peete . I sorta see it in Hogan too.

Lol, sorry bout that. But that was the best part of the vid. Swing is bad. Getting dressed is good. And thank you sir or ma'am for taking the time to do that math for us.

Understood. No offense taken. This project is a basic test of observational learning. Is it possible to teach the body to do an entirely unknown movement using video analysis and repetitive training? How close can I come to Hogan’s golf swing? This has nothing to do with a handicap.

Jason, Please provide your definition of a good golfer.

Thanksgiving day practice. Going through the motions. [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrbjY2MTMQ[/VIDEO]

I'm skipping transition study for now and will put all efforts and brainpower into impact and what my right elbow does. I need an impact bag. I'm liking what I see here with pre impact, at impact, and post impact! Feels like I'm hitting rather than swinging here. Will drill it all week then take it to the range this weekend.

Hunh?? More hip slide?? Man, I'm sliding all over the place lol! I gotta find a way to slow the crashing hips. They're leaving my arms behind.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've made a few changes to my equipment and I've been working on a few homemade drills. I've officially tossed the metal clubs. Not in the trash, but in the corner. Now working with only wooden clubs. Bought a couple of stiff steel shafted 3 and 5 woods. The 3W has an old jumbo rubber wrap grip on it. I reeeeeealy like the feeling of the jumbo grip. Never thought I would like it. Thought it would be too big. Played a round last week at Alfred Tup Holmes with Dad, Terrell, and Bruce. They all play with all new-school modern stuff. They ragged me alllllll day about my clubs lol. They all got up to the tee and made the "cling" sound, while I made the "knock" sound. Plus most times I was always shorter than everybody else. The most fun part about the day was on hole #17 which is an over-the-cliff shot. it's about a 260 yard hole. I "luckily" drove the green (actually the right side fringe) and Bruce was all pissed cause I used a 1969 club with screws vs his nice shiny TaylorMade Burner driver. I must have hit it on the screw or something with that 3Wood cause it went much farther than usual. So of course the friendly argument started with him saying I got lucky with my wooden sh!t. So, I graciously handed my heavy a$$ed club over to him and said, "You can try it out........This old sh!t is a little harder to hit man...doesn't have the same kind of sweet spot as your 460cc driver. I'm just lettin you know!!" Bruce's ego said "a club is a damn club....." There was a group waiting behind us so he couldn't back down in front of an audience. My Dad is telling us to move on cause we're holding people up. He doesn't like making scenes in public. Bruce teed it up and did his usual chicken swing. Swung as hard as he possibly could and hit it super fat with lots of dust and dirt everywhere. The ball rolled down the hill and everybodys laughing real good. Perfect moment for a video camera!!!!!!!!!! Next time one of those challenges goes down, he camera will be rolling. He tossed the club to me and laughed along with all of us and said "Man that club is stupid. That's why they stopped makin them!" And to top it all off, I won by 1 stroke with a 99. I don't even think Bruce gave me a handshake lolol! I'm thinking I could have shot in the low 90's or high 80's if I used irons. I don't plan to pick those up till I'm satisfied with the woods. I do use a PW from 40 yds and in. In the Take 34 vid, I'm doing 3/4 swings, experimenting with some left side stuff. The major issues I see are....errr....ummm.... everything. My wrists are c0cking waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay early during the upswing, I still haven't worked on the transition, head/upper body doesn't stay back, and my hips are still moving too fast towards the target, or either my arms aren't moving fast enough to catch up with the hips. Plus there's probably some OTT and I can't seem to remember to bring the left cup down. Overall, just feels like my timing is off. Feels like I'm c0cking the wrists real late, but video shows differently. And I'm having a hard time convincing my subconcious that c0cking later is a good thing. Most of these swings carried about 180-200yds either straight, fade, or pushed right. My major misses were topped shots that turned into real low line drives. Majority of the topped ones were without a tee. Still don't know where to put the ball in the stance. Top priority in these range sessions is the mechanical aesthetic stuff. I'm also doing some new stuff regarding my chipping and pitching. Feels like a body swing instead of arms and hands. Will get some video of it this weekend. I'm curious as to how it looks. Lol, probably doesn't look anything like it feels. Will also get a video up of Bruce's "unorthodox" swing. He hits it veeeery long even with a reverse pivot. His impact is what I am after. Right elbow bent and everything, but the visual intrepretation he provides isn't for the weak stomached folks lol! Getting ready to order some of those jumbo grips!! (Or maybe it is a mid sized with lots of tape or something??? May have to take it to a golf shop to find out.)

Tex, I wouldn't call what you see "improvements." I'd rather call them changes to what I was doing last year this time. Scores have changed. When I started all this I was averaging 104ish-107ish. I am now averaging 95 over my past 6 rounds. This could probably be a lot lower, but I don't use irons yet. I don't have any in my bag except my SW that I use to chip and pitch. I use a 4-hybrid for all iron-related shots, so from 190yds to about 70ds only the 4-hybrid. Yes, I know this is absolutely ridiculous, but with the full swing, I only want to focus on the wood clubs first. I may be ready for irons in winter 2012, but I don't know yet. There are lots of illusions happening in Hogan's vids. Regarding the "pelvis up at impact," when you get a chance, take a video camera to the range and pull your pants up with the belt around the navel. Take a few swings and you will be amazed that your pelvis will be magically "up" at impact. Then lower your belt to normal level, and you will be once again amazed that your pelvis suddenly stopped going up at impact. I'll do this in a future vid so you can see what I'm talking about.

I can see a lot clearer when comparing animated gifs. And I have mucho issues. - Hips turning to quickly during takeaway - Right leg not becoming enough of a kickstand - I have no transition - Lag not being maintained on downswing - Head/shoulders not staying back during downswing - HIPS SLAMMING ON BRAKES!!! - RIGHT ARM/ELBOW STRAIGHTENING BEFORE IMPACT!!! - No reverse C

FO vid is of full swing. DTL vid is of 3/4 swings. Been focusing on getting my clubshaft more vertical during takeaway/upswing. In my mind, I tried to exagerate the feeling; based on the DTL swings in this vid, I am still doing the same stinkin thing.

Another weird thing about this session: When I addressed the ball, everything felt and looked normal. Felt like I was a natural/normal distance from the ball. But as I took the club away, felt like the ball was way too far away from me, and as I swung thru, felt like I had to reach for the ball. But when I got back to addrs again, ball dist felt normal, so no adjstmnts.. Take a swing and feel reaching again....repeat cycle 24 times. Why didn't I get closer? Cause address "FELT" close enough. Next time I'm gonna grit my teeth and force myself to get closer at address and hope I don't crush one off the hozel. And looking at the slow mo, my takeaway is waaaaaaaaaay inside. Man, when did that start happening?? Grrrrr....the joy of the golf swing. Edit: Now that I look at the video a few times, it even looks like I'm standing too far away and reaching for the ball!!!! What the heck! Edit Edit: I didn't complete ANY backswings. What the heck was I rushing for? The ball wasn't gonna jump off the tee and run away. For the next 10 seconds, I hate golf. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. Ok.....back to the game I love.

Alllllrighty! I finally got out on a driving range and hit actual balls. My usual routine is to go to the range once a week, get a bucket of balls, then head to the chipping area and spend about 2 hours working on only chipping and pitching. I scatter the range balls all around the practice green; some in the rough areas, some on the edge of the fringe, some up hill, some down hill, some 10 yds away, and some 30 yds away. They're in as many random places as possible. Once I've gotten at least 20 balls within a club distance to the pin, I leave the balls there and head to the range to swing at the air. Yep, I said air.....I place a tee in the ground and go through the same motions as if there was a ball there. Purpose for this is to practice swing feelings. There's no ball involved cause I tend to focus too much on what the ball does instead of what I should be doing before the ball is contacted. Of course it doesn't make sense to most people, but by now you know that I'm not the predictable type, and don't follow the same route as most others. Well, today I decided to cut the pitching session short and take the balls to the range. Man, it felt good to finally hit a ball into something other than my 15 feet basement swing wall! Ball flight, contact, and trajectory weren't as bad as I predicted. Most of them were fades. And there were also some tops, mis-hits, pulls, pushes, etc. As I look at the video, the thing that stands out the most is my alignment. It is waaaaaaa off. I think my right foot is much too far away from the target line. Maybe my whole body is too far from the ball. I've never noticed this in the basement. I also don't really know how to line up or where to put the ball in my stance. Still don't care much about that right now. Main thing I am concerned about right now is my lack of making a full turn and the over-the-top. Will be getting to the range once a week to get this same footage to see how things change over next few months as I study the OTT issue.

That makes more sense than my initial thoughts of looking at the blade behind ball. Will experiment.

Regarding the head: I've been losing sleep about this phenomenon for weeks now. I've come to the conclusion that I'm watching the ball at address (seems common sense that one should be watching the ball, but after talking to Kim about it, I've come to a different theory now). I told Kim about my "moving head" issue. She listened unwillingly, as usual, but gave some enlightening feedback from the perspective of a non-golfer.....or make that.....a golf-hater. I told her that I am intently focused on the ball at address (took me a few aggravating minutes to explain what address is ). And that I take the club away with my eyes still focused on the ball, and I get to the top of the swing with my eyes focused on the ball, and I swing down with my eyes focused on the ball, and I make impact still lookin at the ball, and as the ball flies away, I am still trying my best to focus on the ball....to make sure it is going where I wanted it to in the beginning. She said "who cares what your head does?? Aren't you just hitting a stupid ball??" I said "yes, but because I'm trying to get as close to Hogan's movements as possible, I want my head to do the same type movement." She said "ugggggh. whatever." I asked her how I could make my head/eyes NOT follow the ball as it took off. She says, "Why don't you just keep looking at the same spot where the ball was." I said "hmmmmm, don't know about that. Then I would have to focus on the ball from address to impact, then refocus it on the same spot where it was. Just seems like to much focus effort." She says, "well then just look at a spot right next to the ball...like maybe behind it or in front of it or something........ok, are we done talking about this now??? (of course that last part was with an attitude lol, but she set a light bulb off!!!) Now this is all theory right now, but I'm now thinking that if I focus my eyes on a spot right behind the ball, maybe a blade of grass or something on the ground, I won't follow the ball thru impact, cause I'll be looking at the grass, which, in my mind, doesn't move, unlike the ball flying away. Now, as I'm coming up with this brilliant theory, I'm thinking that I've just invented/uncovered some new extraordinary thing, but all you pro instructors out there probably teach this trick all the time, so please don't laugh too hard at my lack of golfing knowledge.

Take 27.

Focus is on takeaway to the top. But I did a few full swings just to see where the mechanics are right now. From takeaway to the top, things are progressing ok. Major thing that need work is my lower body; specifically the left side. It appears to get set too early. I think its outracing the upper body when going to the top. Also, you can't see from this angle, but I'm getting too upright at the top (will do a DTL analysis too). Now I haven't gotten into the transition and after, but wanted to compare what I see anyway. For that portion of the swing, I'm just doing in my mind what I think is happening, although I'll get into the details of it in next few months...........or years. Things I notice right now: - I don't fall towards the target during transition. (I'm intentionally just doing the HCD to the top and holding it for a second or two, then I swing around, so there is no type of falling forward momentum). - My left arm bends from transition and thru rest of dwnswing. (No idea right now). - My head (eyes) follows the ball. (Because I'm still want to immediately watch where the ball goes) - My right leg/knee seems to collapse towards the target on the downswing. (No idea right now)

Pushing extra hard off the right foot....but probably need to push harder. I notice that my lower body and feet are always late in coming through, so I figured that one way to speed it up and get more in sync is to push with the right. I have no idea if I should be intentionally doing this or if it should just happen. Will investigate that more after I learn more about the takeaway.