plugged

Swinging slower is a great way to improve your game; however, swinging slow is not. Swinging slow is simply a bandaid and not a fix. What level of effort do most pros swing their driver at? I think I have read somewhere that number is around 80-90%. They have managed to swing at a level of effort that is barely within their control. 5% more effort and they would be hitting 30-50% of fairways. Swinging at the maximum effort that is barely within our control should be our goal.

Looks like fun. I'm not sure I have enough personaility to be on a show like that...even if I did have the game (which I do not).

There are very few PGA players that were not prodigies when they were your age. A handful took golf up past the age of 12, but even in this group, when they did, they accelerated very quickly. College golf is realistic, but only if you start now by making it the No. 1 priority in your life, including shelling out a lot of money for private lessons. You need to ask yourself if you are willing to give up a lot of your social life and other committments and devote yourself entirely to golf.

Honestly, with his wild swing I am surprised he comes as close to winning as often as he does. I'll tell you one thing, he won't be able to keep that swing in the long term. In a few years, his body is going to catch up with him and he will have a hard time re-tooling.

OK, this has been bugging me, so I did a little graphics exercise to compare the "ideal pro" in my previous post to setup pics of several pros to see if, indeed, their level of back leg flex is the same. The figure below shows the leg flex superimposed on a random sampling of pros. Out of all these guys, I think only Woods (can't really tell because his trousers hang too loose near his calf) and Els come close to the "ideal pro", but even their leg flex is not as exaggerated. The rest don't even come close. My conclusion? The figure of the "ideal pro" and the advice in the book are misleading. I have no idea how they could digitally analyze so many pro swings and come to the conclusion that "most" pros emphasize a back leg flex to the degree they show.

Quote: The stance you're describing sounds more like an impact positon. Not impact position; it's a setup position. Refering to the figure below, note the exaggerated back leg flex causing the knee to turn in slightly, which in turn causes the hips to turn towards the target. This seems contradictory to standard advice that the feet, hips and shoulders should all remain parallel to the target line. BTW, the text in this book specifically says to do this, so it's not just an error in the figure.

The answer to the OP's question is an unqualified "yes". But not because the Euro Tour lacks depth (because it doesn't), or because it is easier (it's not), but simply because I would like to see the best players in the world play together on a more consistent basis (not just the majors). IOW, it would enhance my golf viewing pleasure, which I am sure is right at the top of priorities for Rory and Graeme. :-) On a more serious note, one of the best advantages to having The Golf Channel is that I get to see Euro Tour events every week. The announcing is much less colorful than the PGA events (i.e., boring), but the play is very entertaining.

Anyone? (*crickets chirping)

I have been reading the book Swing Like a Pro , which is supposed to show the idealized swing based on computer modeling of dozens of tour professionals, including a lot of big names (Nicklaus, Palmer). The author discusses in detail where each part of your body should be placed for the "perfect" swing. For the setup, he states that the knee of the back leg should be flexed inwards and the front leg relatively straight. This, along with the lowered back shoulder, results in a body position resembling a "Reverse K". This is all very well known to most accomplished golfers. However, I have always used almost an equal amount of flex in both knees during setup and as I watch most pros, it appears to me that they are doing the same. When I provide very little flex in my front leg and quite a bit more in my back leg during setup, this seems to force my back hip forward, thus opening my hips to the target line. Did I miss something here, or is the author overemphasizing this stance?

Quote: While I'm not going to disagree with the great. I do tend to find it to be the opposite of what he's saying. IE when you warm up you don't start out smacking a driver, you hit chips, wedges, irons, woods, driver (usually) Tom Watson on the Golf Channel said he always starts his practice with a 3 Iron. On another note, I expect that the real goal of this guy is to write a book about his experience. It seems everyone wants to write a "Paper Lion"-type book these days.

Quote: You're accelerating a clubhead from 0 to 100 MPH (nominal driver swing) and back to 0 again in about a second. A Bugatti Veryon does this in about 10 seconds. Yes, but a clubhead weighs slightly less than a Bugatti.

What do you think of the Golftek Pro 7 system? I have been reading some reviews on other golf websites and, while it requires a lot of work on the user's part to build a cage, hitting surface, screen, projector, computer, etc., it seems like a very good swing analyzer with course playing also available (but not the primary purpose). Any thoughts?

Wow! That's great that so much time and efort is spent by the touring pros to help the next generation. Its so hyper-competitive in the US that I think its more of the sink-or-swim attitude here. Of course, that is only my perception. I know that lots of the pros here help the kids get started, but you don't really hear about them encouraging future stars. BTW, congrats on your Zambia win. Hope to see you on the golf channel playing a European tour event.

I agree with this. The tendency for a HHC is to try to compensate for one bad shot by trying even harder on the next, which inevitably leads to an even worse shot, which means you REALLY have to try hard on the next one and so on.........

Since I posted last year, I have been looking at Golftek's products for a future installation. I like this one: http://www.golftek.com/pro7a.html The key question you have answer is, are you looking for a system to primarily have fun or to improve your game? If the latter, then you need to look at a swing analyzer, not a simulator.