|
TomTuckerGolf.com |
|
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 248 - June 5th, 2013
|
Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now! To comment or respond to this newsletter, please click here ttucker@rochester.rr.com In This Issue - Tom's Featured Tip: Basic Wrist Movements and Positions - Equipment Review: The Orange Peel Training Aid - Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say - Sponsors: Batavia Country Club Chestnut Hill Country Club Plum Creek Driving Range and PGA AboutGolf.com Golf Simulator GCC Golf Management Program Provoto Putting Systems PLUM CREEK DRIVING RANGE IN BATAVIA, NY, IS OPEN ALL YEAR Outdoors in season; Indoors - simulator available for play or practice. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve your simulator time! Great money saving monthly specials, check them out here: http://www.plumcreekdrivingrange.com Buy Gift Certificates for Lessons Sample Gift Certificate Golf lessons - Outdoor and Indoor - are available at Plum Creek, please call me at 716 474 3005, email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com, or visit my website at http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html for details. Indoor or Outdoor Driver Fitting Get the most bang for your buck when you buy a new driver by getting professionally fitted first. Click for details: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html Subscribe - http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/signup.html If you like this newsletter, please do me a favor and forward it to your friends so that they may subscribe, thanks! The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. Tom's Featured Tip: Basic Wrist Movements and Positions For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do! I decided to write about wrist movements and positions this week, and to set up a page to show the positions I refer to in this article. This article is a bit long, but it's absolutely one of the most important technical aspects of the swing, so read it carefully. Before you read this article, please look over the images and terminology here: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html so that you'll understand what I'm talking about. In the swing, there are numerous variations of swing styles involving different methods for the takeaway, backswing, downswing, etc. but there's only absolute fundamentgal in golf, that's the moment of truth - impact. IMPACT WRIST POSITIONS At impact, the wrists need to be positioned specifically - you'll see that there is a little room for some variation, but there are some positions that should absolutely be avoided. The correct wrist positions at impact are as follows: Your left (leading) wrist should be flat or in palmar flexion to a very small degree. Palmar flexion is a bending of the palm towards the forearm or inside of the wrist. http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html#ANCHOR2 I'm going to call your left hand wrist position either flat or bent. A flat left wrist can be observed by extending your left arm out in front of your chest, palm at a 90 degree angle to the ground, fingers pointing straight ahead. You probably think that your wrist is now flat, but you probably need to palmar flex it a bit so that the back of your hand is now flat your forearm. That's a flat wrist Your right (trailing) wrist should be in dorsiflexion. Dorsiflexion is the bending of the back of the hand towards the forearm away from the inside of the wrist. http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html#ANCHOR1 I'm going to call your right hand wrist position either cupped, or in the "flying wedge" position, as Homer Kelly refers to this position in his book "The Golfing Machine" Your arms should transport the wrists in this position through impact, and when that happens correctly you will have some forward shaft lean at impact. This presents a stressed shaft to the ball, which is a source of accumulated power for the strike. The mistake poor ball strikers make is that at and through through impact, the left wrist gets dorsi-flexed, the right wrist gets palmar-flexed, and either a fat hit or a very high weak strike results. This is called "flipping" the club or "scooping" your shot, and these positions are the ones that need to be absolutely avoided. Impact Wrist Position Summary: at impact, present a forward leaning shaft to the ball with a flat or very slightly bent left wrist and a cupped right wrist. I developed a drill to feel this position, the Inverted Praying Hands Drill: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillprayhands.html WRIST POSITIONS DURING LOADING, LAGGING, AND UNLOADING In your backswing, you should be gradually loading the shaft, then in your downswing you should be lagging that load down to the ball in order to maximize your speed and power. Loading The Shaft A loaded shaft has a 90 degree or less angle between the shaft and your straight left arm at the top of the swing. The best laggers not only transport that angle deep into the downswing before centrifugal force releases it naturally, but they also increase lag even more in the initial phase of the downswing (decreasing the angle between the shaft and the left arm) before the lagged shaft starts to release. There's one point of confusion often arises in the minds of players that study the swing, and it's in the area of nomenclature - namely the word "hinging". Homer Kelly's "The Golfing Machine" identifies wrist hinging as certain movements that apply to some of the rotational movement that occurs when you try to influence the trajectory of your ball flight: horizontal, angled, and vertical hinging. I encourage all of my students to utilize an angled hinge, which stays pretty square to your swingpath all the way through your swing. It's easy to learn once you understand it, and it helps in consistency and in self-diagnosing problems. The other hinges require leading wrist supination (horizontal hinge) or pronation (vertical hinge) which brings more variables into play and makes self- analyzing mistakes a little more difficult. Supination and Pronation http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html#ANCHOR5 Other books and articles tell you to hinge your wrists in a certain way to load the club in your backswing. They refer to an altogether different hinging motion than "The Golfing Machine" hinging motions for trajectory influence. Instances like these different meanings and intentions for the same word are a source of confusion, and I can definitely emphathize with the confused masses. Here's how the wrists move while the club gets loaded, lagged, and released. To load the shaft on your takeaway and backswing, radial deviation occurs. Think of radial deviation in your swing as wrist cocking. http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html#ANCHOR3 Your left and right wrist each move the shaft into the cocked position with radial deviation, and with no elbow breakdown of your left arm - it stays straight. At the top of your swing, your right wrist may also go into more dorsiflexion as the left wrist moves to get flat for the downward swing towards impact. At that point, it feels like the right wrist is getting more cocked as your left wrist flattens or palmar flexes. To feel wrist cocking, grip your driver, hold it chest high with straight arms and point it at an object on the horizon. Your arms and clubshaft should both be pretty straight at this point. Now, with your arms still locked straight, bend your wrists so that the shaft now forms a 90 degree angle with your arms. That's the angle that should occur at the top of your backswing, and the smaller that you can get that angle (the more that you can bend your wrists) the higher your swing speed will be, provided that you transport the accumulated power deep into your downswing before releasing it. The timing for when you start to load your wrists in your backswing depends on your swing style/method/pattern. Sergio Garcia is a late loader, Ernie Els is an early loader, but they both transport (lag) their loaded shafts deep into their downswing before they unload. On the other hand, there's a correlation between a premature unloading of the shaft in the downswing, and the shortest hitters and poorest ball strikers. Unloading During the downswing, at some point ulnar deviation takes place as the loaded shaft is released through impact. Think of ulnar deviation in your swing as uncocking your wrists. http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/drillwristpositions.html#ANCHOR4 The challenge is in training your wrists to stay in their impact angle positions during this ulnar deviation through impact. Practice will help you get there. Your arms need to be transporting your hands and wrists past the ball with some degree of forward shaft lean, which automatically places your wrists in good position for impact. If you can train yourself to do that, your wrist positions will be fine through impact and you'll execute a solid strike. Some players like to set up with a strong grip to feel their wrists cocking more on their backswing. I prefer a more neutral grip at setup, with my wrists set at address just about where I want them to be at impact. This is another swing style choice, but if you employ a strong grip - it's imperitive that you have an understanding of the adjustments that need to happen in your transition and downswing in order to have a flat left wrist position at impact. The flat (or very slightly palmar flexed) left wrist position at impact is not discretionary, it's an absolute fundamental position. When your left wrist is in this position at impact, your right wrist will also be in the correct (dorsiflexed or cupped) position. Practice these positions with very slow motion swings, then speed things up as you perfect the movements. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Product Review: The Orange Peel Training Aid My friend who invented The Orange Whip Trainer, Jim Hackenberg, sent me another training aid he is offering on his website the Orange Peel Training Aid Here's a .pdf file with photos and suggestions for use. Jim shows some ways to use the Orange Peel with a traditional swing style, but I use it a bit differently. In my ball striking lesson I often have students that have trouble getting enough weight forward in their downswing. I have these students stand on the Orange Peel with their left foot very near the circular cutout, and their right foot positioned more to the rear. In the .pdf it's the downhill lie position. First I have them just stand there and feel the weight distribution, and I tell them to memorize the feeling, because that's how it should feel at impact. Then I have them hit short swing shots, turning back and through with their weight staying on the forward side during their takeaway and backswing - a forward sided pivot. Their website actually states that it's awkward to hit balls while standing on the Orange Peel, but if you are using it for short swings like I do, it's not the least bit awkward. Then I have them step off the Orange Peel and have them replicate the feeling while hitting balls off the ground. I have had great success doing this, with students transforming themselves into good ball strikers using this method - and they got there faster with the Orange Peel than other students did without it. I give the Orange Peel two thumbs up as a training aid that gives great feedback during it's use, which is exactly what great training aids do. My recommendation stands for anyone with a more traditional weight shifting swing style as well. This product is well made, can be used indoors or outdoors, and it's easy to transport. I think it would be a great tool to use anytime, anywhere - on the range, or in your home simply practicing whatever weight shift movement your particular swing style employs. Retail cost for the Orange Peel is $179, and Jim gave me a promo code that anyone can use to get a $20 discount for any products you order from his website. If you decide to buy, go to here to order https://www.orangewhiptrainer.com/order/order.php and when you place the order use the Promo Code: Thomas. All the details will work out at the website. If you are that player that's always hitting it fat bacause your weight distribution is wrong at impact, training with the Orange Peel will definitely help solve the problem. It has other uses also, but I feel it's vastly superior to any other training aid that I've used with students to have them learn the feeling of proper weight distribution at impact while executing a swinging motion. For the record, I make no sales commission on anything purchased as a result of this recommendation. Love your practice, enjoy your golf, Tom Golf Lessons I conduct lessons at The Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility there's a link for Plum Creek info here: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/ Lessons are available for all ages and skill levels, please contact me - Tom Tucker - at (716) 474 3005 or email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com for more information. Outdoor Lessons Details and Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html Indoor Lessons Details and Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html Driver Fitting Rates: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html Testimonials: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/testimonials.html Sponsors Plum Creek Driving Range and Simulator Outdoor range and play indoor golf on any of our 40 Simulator Courses. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve time for simulator play or practice! Provoto Putting Systems readers get a 30% discount on putting greens. Click on their catalog link, and select the green you want to purchase. After you decide on features, add it to your cart. You'll find the field for "Discount Coupon" near the bottom of the page. Enter PGApro in that field and your product cost will be discounted 30%. Batavia Country Club Best greens in WNY, great rates. Back by popular demand: Friday Night Golf and Dinner at BCC 18 holes of golf, cart, dinner, tax and gratuity - $35. 9 hole package - $27. Choose from 4 entrees' with side and salad bar. Dinner served from 4:30 pm - 9:15 pm. Dinner available for non-golfers also. Menu and band schedule posted at www.bataviacc.com Huge PUMA Apparel Sale at the BCC Pro Shop. Mens, womens, kids clothing, mostly smaller sizes. Stop by our Pro Shop and take advantage of some great deals! Chestnut Hill CC Great rates, 20 minutes East of Buffalo, NY . GCC Golf Management Program click for information on GCC's degree program for anyone interested in a career in the golf industry or teaching golf. All the best, Tom Tucker Teaching Pro, Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher" USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional Cell: (716) 474-3005 Email: ttucker@rochester.rr.com http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com http://www.usgtf.com/top_100_wgtf.html "There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection!" ~ Ben Hogan |
|