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Everything posted by apgolf
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Ditto man, twilight, solo golf is great. Hit an extra ball when needed, quite, peaceful. Magnifico!
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Golfing by yourself is great, the golf course late afternoon, early evening is an experience. It is my kinda church!
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Hey Lost My Balls Learn to use your hands and arms correctly which will control the club-face; do this with 7 iron and hit just 40-80 yards (goal is to start using the club-face, arms and hands properly which will give you a straight divot and ball flight) 1. Make sure your grip is correct, V's pointing to your trailing shoulder (see two-three knuckles on top hand) 2. Takeaway: do not roll hands away, keep left palm looking at target longer before letting wrists hinge up not rolled horizontally. 3. Use a narrow stance with not much effort. 4. Once you have got this going start aiming a little right with feet and shoulders and re-grip the club so the face is hooked (but aiming back at your target). Increase the distance of the shots. Now your hitting hooks!! PS Keep your stance narrow and let your lower body follow your arms (keep the legs quite).
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Great videos but Peter Kostis say they are wide then narrow? Very poor analysis. Their width on the back-swing is correct - not wide. Getting too wide would be extending left arm too far and this causes all sorts of problems (poor hinging of wrists, head and center moving off ball too much). Their heads do not move of the ball much if any - meaning they are not getting too wide, wrists are hinging and not over extending.
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Perfection
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Get the back-swing correct and the downswing will take care of it self. Thinking about manipulating the downswing with your hands or arms will not lead to good, consistent striking. The correct movement of the hands up and arms laterally will get you into the slot and if you get into the slot, it is all over...the ball is going to the target. Had it to 5 under through 16 the other day (three putted 18) with some of the best long-iron play of my career. The insight I had was of the right hand up the top felt like it was a little laid off and the shaft floating up the top (as Erik said left wrist watch facing up). Also felt like my tempo was pure; legs following the arms turning the body on back-swing then starting the back-swing with torso then arms lagging coming down (note this are or feelings I had; I'm not doing this consciously . This felt fantastic but I got to this position by getting less wide on the back-swing , (felt like I was trying to put my right hand on my right shoulder) this gets me cocking earlier and fully with hands on back-swing. Geoff Ogilvy is a good one to watch for excellent wrist hinging and soft arms - not to wide. To get this correct I have been working on making just one-arm swings with the left arm (not hitting the ball). This action is perfect, the hands and arms work perfectly, try and mimic these positions (for me it is not pushing my arms to far away; I must follow the width and the precise hinging as the one arm swing).
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My go to club is quite often the driver with a few adjustments. Coming from a tight course with plenty of OB and bush riddled with black snakes, straight drives are very important. Up short par 4's I hit a 2 or 3 iron but sometimes when the wind is in to one's face, an iron just wont do. I go to a "gripped-down piercer" - as I call it. I grip down the grip, the stance narrows naturally and the swing is a little more three quarters. I imagine a low, piercing flight that doesn't get to high ( this vision feeds one's body to make the set-up changes). The shot comes out low, straight and running (the club-face remains nice and straight, right down the line). I love playing it. Just a note on the path of the club... I want it coming straight down the line, not inside, not outside with not much rolling of hands; straight ball flight; 3/4 swing and rip'n it.
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Great Avatar!
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Hinging Wrists and Putting? What is This Madness??
apgolf replied to The4HourGolfPro's topic in Instruction and Playing Tips
Yeah keeping your putter-face pointing square relative to your belly button is a good idea; this way the wrist hinge naturally with the putter-face opening and shutting as it should, not to much, not too little. If we all get focused on the line and feeling the speed then reacting without delay to that vision and feel, the stroke becomes fluid and pure without thinking about it - and when this happens, putts start going in from everywhere. It's a beautiful thing! -
Yep Sounds like an interesting project. Definitely agree on the importance of a steady head, my golf has got better over the years as I have stopped moving off the ball. Having send that, not extending my arms too much helps with my head staying still. Where does the grip and set up come into the the system? Key number 6 and 7 perhaps.I still like Ben Hogans fundamentals when it comes to the basics.
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"Shall I hold it with My arse?" Love it . Proper hand action is very important. They need to do the right things at the right time starting from the first move away. They need to not roll open on the way back or excessively stay shut (all they this is probably better than rolling open). Yes definitely arms and hands should govern and lead your body, not in any flippy way; hands hinging on plane; arms bending and straightening at the appropriate time; the body follows. Cheers AW
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1. Yeah it is like when you throw a ball or serve in tennis, the right arm supplies a lot of power but ONLY at the right time - not early and not late. So if you take a swing with just your right hand and a ball over your ear, the right arm will fold and bend and then on the way down in your downswing you want to throw the ball at where your normal ball position is. If your right arm releases early you throw the ball behind your back foot and if you release late the ball would be released in front of your front foot. You want to throw the ball straight between your feet or a little forwards towards left instep. 2. Basically the right arm folds on the way back, retains that fold for first half of downswing then starts to straighten as the club is horizontal on the downswing and then it straights and delivers the force to the ball. The left arms then folds on way through and rights stays straight.
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All I would say is you want to have a feel for what shots you are going to play before you play it. Have a sense for what type of release the shot will need and hence what shape you will hit. I think a reasonably straight ball flight is best, the pros do not move the ball much. When you are neutral you can easily produce a little fade or draw. If you are struggling with the driver, grip down a little, start getting used to "firing-it-up-the-guts of the fairway"; visualize a three quarter, punchy drive with club-head staying square longer (not rolling much). This works great. Want a fade, keep same swing but open up a little, a draw: visualize it, set up reasonably square or a little shot then swing. But make sure you have a feel for what you are going to play before you play it.
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Will the Tiger beat the Bear in the long run? I don't think you would have found too many doubters on this question three years ago, but then...when Tiger was down in my neck of the woods (no pun intended) back in December 2009 on route to a superb victory in our "Australia Masters," his World got turned upside down. All from his doing of course. I'm the same age as Tiger and was doing a Professional Trainee-ship when he won the US Masters in 1997 by 18 shots (you played well Tom Kite - Masters Runner up)! I have enjoyed watching, learning and being inspired by him over the years. When he won by 15 at Pebble in 2000, then at St Andrews by half a dozen or so then the British Open at Royal Liverpool where he won by 5 (won two years in a row by that number). Nowadays I admire his skills, but I realize he is not "the Messiah" he wants was, but a just a genius when it comes to playing golf. Things have changed and I don't think he will dominate like he used to, and will he win 5 more majors to break Jack's record? Yeah I think he might just get there over the next 10 years. 19 or 20 I think he can do it. It will be close. What do you guys think? PS US Open 2008 was the last year he won a major.
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Yeah, Right on there, Tiger, Luuuuuke and The Kooch should all be there or there about's. Should be a great week. And go the Ozzies!!!
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Yeah Right on Erik, the closer you get to the tour standard the more you can appreciate how very good the tour players are (took me a long time to work this out). I'm playing off scratch and I know that I would be around 4 shots away from the Tour Standard (4 shots over four rounds is 16 shots!). I think the vast majority of people growing up in the US, Australia, UK and Canada have had a chance to play any ball sport as much as they want. If you are good enough it is something one pursues - because we all like doing things that we are good at.
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65/20/15 Practice Ratios: Where to Devote Your Practice Time
apgolf replied to iacas's topic in Swing Thoughts
Hmmm, interesting post. I think the Driver is very important and should be well practiced. Short game - yeah maybe about 20%, although I think putting should be higher - as long as it is quality practice (lining up putts, going through routines, practicing like you play). I would put putting up a around 20% and at least one x 30-40 min + a round week if you want to improve. As Erik says the putting action is a very simple action to perform, the real practice should be focused on the mental things like, visualization, reading greens, and routine (you practice that stuff and you can be as good as the average tour player - or better). Set your sights high! Long game: be sure to hit all your clubs, don't just hit one club, they should all be practiced. They all require a different distance from the ball for set up and a wider or narrower stance which matches the steeper or flatter plane. Maybe it is not practice but a good review of how your "departments" were after a round should feed what needs to be looked at for the coming week (sometimes you don't have to practice if you know your weaknesses; it maybe just be a question of you telling yourself to commit to the shot, or visualize the shot better or commit to your swing-key). Also I think you should have weeks off after practicing sometimes. Then go play and don't think about what you were working on. I did this on Saturday and had one of the best ball-striking rounds of my life (16 greens in reg). No real swing thoughts just an amazing feel for the club and the slot up the top of the swing (better than sex it was!...or maybe I'm not doing IT right!) Plus if you are practicing consistently go and play 9 holes by yourself after every couple of sessions. Don't be too technical out there on your practice 9, get back to visualizing and hitting the appropriate shot for the situation. Test out the changes out on the course, it builds confidence. If I had to choose between hitting balls and a practice 9 holes leading up to a comp I would choose 9 holes for sure. But a combo of the two also works well. Cheers, Anthony -
Putting grip .... develop feel for Lag Putts ?
apgolf replied to Gerald's topic in Instruction and Playing Tips
Hi Gerald, Mate, if you want to knock those long putts close and sometimes in the hole, you must take your mind off your putting stroke, the putter, grip pressure, your hands and all that physical stuff. When a reporter asked Michael Jordon what he thought about when he was at the free throw line (free throws are a closed-skill like golf is..or pitching...or darts ...or archery..or kicking for goal from a penalty) he said "I concentrate on chewing gum" - much to the reporters annoyance. He didn't think about his hand release or his arms, he was on auto pilot and that is the purist way to be. Act like the athlete you are Gerald, get orientated towards the target. what do you do when you have to throw a ball to someone? ...You aim and throw. Okay...1. read the putt, imagine the speed of the putt (helps looking back to the ball from the hole on fast putts), follow the balls path along over the pitch mark, past the ball marker, past the brown patch before the balls slows and bends into the hole, imagine the speed as it goes along all those markers. Now take that feel and apply it immediately. This takes effort but if you go through the process you will put the ball next to the hole all the time and sometimes...you will make a lot of putts. You need to re-work what you think about when you are on the greens. This will be different for you - but liberating. Trust me on that one. I have just written some free blog posts over at The Truth About Putting Blog (click on my profile for the URL) that go into the process even further. If I had just done what I just explained to you just one more time on the 18th on Saturday (here in Sydney, Aus), I would have shot 4-under. I three putted! Read my posts and let me know how you go. Cheers Anthony -
On Enjoy pressure.... Hi guys. I think it is more about controlling tension - which is really energy. You can do amazing things when your energy and awareness is high but you can also tip over the edge. Saying to someone "relax or stay calm" doesn't help much . I see amateurs frequently crack under the pressure after shooting a good 9 holes (everyone does now and then). We all need coping strategies for controlling the adrenalin which comes with these situations. Routines and swing thoughts that can keep that energy in check. You must learn what thoughts keep you calm and use them when the heat is on (no thy self). Okay here is an actual coping strategy for keeping your swing in tempo whilst under pressure. I got in from one of Jim Flecks books years ago when I was breaking new ground in my early twenties. I am one who gets pretty "jazzed up" so I definitely need strategies for keeping that energy in check so I can and harness it for good! Okay under pressure and generally I used this swing thought/feeling for many years... I try and see the club head throughout the swing . I actually make sure I'm conscious of the shaft and where it is on my transition. Pretty hard to follow it after this point but if you can be smooth on the transition that energy can be harnessed (you could say it is just proper sequencing). What it does is it joins the club, brain and body together. If your inner eye can see that shaft on the transition everything will be working in sequence. It is like a "control rod". My actual words were or are - " see the club shaft coming down, see the club head coming down". Use this mantra whilst you swing back, Over and Over. Before you know it you have eased your mind off the pressure as you are occupied with seeing and feeling the club shaft coming down at transition. This has pulled me through many high pressure situations. Try it out. Takes a little practice, but stick with it. Many of the greats have used similar swing thoughts to create this relaxed feeling from the top (Watson wants soft arms at the top and Bobby Jones tried to let his arms drop from the top). If you have Any questions, let me know. Cheers, AP