Brian Gay v/s Me
 

Here is the deal, I have been trying to get TGM correct for me as a learning tool. I choose to model after Brian Gay and when I swing the club I feel as if I am doing everything he does. I had a tournament this weekend and choose to play with my old swing, but I had been working on the TGM model so much my old swing was rusty, so I switched to TGM after about 11 holes. Now here is my questions;

When the ball goes where I want it to go, I am usaly air mailing the green. I have not lost any distance with the driver, but gained in the irons?

My bad shots are mostly off the tee box, a slight pull, or a long hook?

The irons are usaly just a little left of target and I feel most off shots with the irons have to do with my set up?

I am doing every thing like Brian Gay except I have choose not to bend my irons to get the arms in line with the shaft at address. Right now my irons are flat of standard a few degrees?

When I practiced before the round today I tryied to memic Brian Gay on the video, as my swing. Here is what I am trying to do if I broke it down.

1.) Aim club at target, while half stepped into the setup.

2.)Forward press the butt of the shaft with right hand and take full stance. then putt left hand on.

3.) Right elbow slightly crimped and weight setup on left side.

4.) grip pressure is 70 in right 30 in left.

5.) Right hand takes the hands and club to top until hips want to turn from no more flexability.

6.) Down swing I try to bring the right hand back to the aiming point and feel as if I am pushing my butt back which is just both of the legs straiting. this helps me keep the right hip back as long as possible.

7.) After hands reach aiming point and ball is compressed the hands release the right shoulder so to continue left and up the plane.

I feel like I am excerting all my energy and not fluid. I am trying to hit the golf ball too hard and power it to were I want it to go. I also have no idea if it is going to fade or draw, I just hope it does what I want it too.

I have one more round left Sunday, so a response tonight would be nice, if anyone wants to chime in....? I will check back in 30mins or so its Saturday May 2nd, 2009 @ 7:43pm Texas time

Thanks,
BurleyGolf-

Burely, :hello2:

I wish I could help. So, put the :read: book away. Decide how to play the hole, play within yourself, be conscious of your setup, narrow your swing thoughts. Then when you're on the Green, do the same. Do it 18 times.

Now, go play Competitive Golf. :violent:

Daryl :occasion:

You picked a nice swing to model yours after, Burley.

The only comment Id make is that 70 percent right , 30 left in terms of grip pressure seems very light in the left hand to me. You being from Texas probably remember Hogan talking about shots going left not because the right hand is too strong but because the left is too weak, grip pressure wise. Id say to grip that sucker with the left hand and the right hand. Tight grip pressure but relaxed wrists. The Hands are just clamps.

Somewhere in the book, Mr Kelley says something like "if its going left check your pivot , if its going right check your right arm extension". Ive probably completely mashed this quote, cant find it right now.

A Model Is A Model
 

That's a big "except", Burley. Either you model . . . or you don't.

:)

For a lack of a better term, it was 'tons easier' to start tracing the right forearm for me when I got the right forearm on plane at address. And don't worry, work on it enough and it will feel downright odd when you don't have the right forearm on plane at address.

I'm still waiting for a golfer to insure their right forearm with Lloyds of London :)




3JACK

Richie3Jack,

You and Ted have done a wonderful job with your set up and swing...

I want to get set up with my right forearm on plane. I have always held my hands very low. I thought I was getting it until I took some video. I'm not even close!

Would you please share some ideas of how you got there? Mirror work, Ted putting you there??? Any special thoughts or "feels?"

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

Impact fix! That's how high your hands need to be for your right forearm to be on plane. If your right arm is straight or virtually straight at setup with low hands, you'll have to get some bend in there like Richie3Jack.

Thanks BamBam,

I have saved the pic of Richie at setup, and I'm going to look at it first thing EVERY morning, and work my tail off until I get there! :salut:

Kevin

Kevin,

Here's a pic of my old address position.



Ted & I worked on the right forearm on plane at address in our 2nd lesson together (we've only had 4 lessons so far). Ted originally put me in the position and then I had to feel it. The feel I sort of use is that I just bend the right elbow at address. In fact, it pretty much feels like I'm bending the right elbow 'into my right hip joint.'

I had some problems with setting my hands high and then getting the right forearm on plane at address. It was getting my left shoulder 'up high' at address, so Ted corrected that. So basically I 'leave the left arm hanging' at address and then 'bend the right elbow into my right hip' and I'm good to go.

Now, we're getting me more into right forearm tracing. Since getting the right forearm on plane is feeling natural to me now, I now try to feel like that #3 PP is holding a laser pointer or a flashlight and has to trace the plane line.

Lastly, I record my swing quite a bit. Probably every other practice session. I'm not expecting to hit it like Ben Hogan, but I'm just constantly checking that I'm doing what we went over with on our last lesson or I'm headed in the right direction.





3JACK

It'll feel a little strange at first, but it's really a very natural position of the arms. As Richie said, once you get it, anything else will feel odd.

Thanks guys. I'm just extremely lazy with my set up alignments. If I work at it, I get there. The difference in solidness of contact, and trajectory, direction is amazing. Finally I understand the feel of tracing with the right forearm, and with a solid set up, the pivot is taking care of itself. Setting up with the hands low, I thought I understood... Back to basics. Chapter 12 here I come! :salut:

Oops, just realized I'm in the swingers forum, hope I don't get a rash... :laughing9

Kevin

3Jack,

BTW, not that what I think matters, but since you started with Ted your swing has become majorly more solid and looks fantastic. I also really enjoy watching you learn all about TGM. I wouldn't miss a morning of your Blog... Keep up the great work, and thanks for sharing what you are learning with us!

Kevin

The Smart Stick really explains right forearm tracing quite well with the videos of Martin Hall. I'm thinking about getting one myself.




3JACK

Thanks for kind words. My swing is slowly coming along, which I'll take considering I came off an 8 year layoff from the game. I got back into the game in January and played to a 4.3 handicap. I got with Ted in February and I'm down to a 1.0.

When I played at Coastal Carolina I worked with a GSED that had me using a swinging pattern. I find hitting much more consistent. I actually tried to read TGM back in college, but only understood about 4 pages of it. Now I'd say I *understand* about 80% of it and while I'm using a hitting pattern, for me just being able to know the different components that other patterns can or may use has helped because it clears up the fog. No more of the 'well, so and so does this in his swing and it works but I do this instead...maybe I should try what he's doing.'

Talk about an exercise in futility.





3JACK

A focus on the 'level' right wrist can really help the rest fall right into place. If you right wrist is level, the right forearm tends to be in the proper position (assuming clubs that fit you properly)

Nice tip Ed. My right wrist is a little cocked, think Fuzzy Zoeller. Feeling a level right wrist is a big change in my feels, and doing mirror work it seems to get me into position.

Thank you,
Kevin

Training Aid We Already Have
 

Hoping this helps someone...

Like most of you, I have an old wedge that I have a hole in the grip for installing a dowel as an extension. I use this for basic motion to keep myself from flipping, and I use it for acquired and total motion to check my plane tracing...

My new additional use for this tool is at set up as an aid to get my right forearm parallel to the shaft plane. Seems to be of great help to me. Working on feels through proper set up mechanics!

I am also finding it much easier to maintain my flying wedges during basic motion while setting up with this aid. So much fun! ...

Kevin

Thanks guys for the comments, and thanks Yoda for laying it down to me like it is. I suspect your right not having the arms set to the club/shaft plane is defeating the purpose. My next step is to bent the clubs on the right angle of the arms and see what happens. This still does not explain the driver and 3 wood though going left, I am suspecting it must be from having open shoulders after looking at Brians photo. I will get some video up in a few weeks, I have an injury now that I have to let heel, its quiet a funny story but I will save it for another time.

Thanks,
BurleyGolf

Burley,

I wish you and I weren't on opposite ends of the country my friend. It sounds like we are fighting a lot of the same demons. I am finding if you want to swing like Mr. Gay, setting the right forearm on plane is MANDATORY. It works Bro!

Kevin

Dowels
 

You too can do-well with your dowells! It is easy to go for a "position" with your right arm in a tucked manner. I used to tuck a shaft under the left and over the right ala Hogan's Power Golf. The dowels helped me understand what the L in FLV & BLV was about. I think that high right arm position is one of the most misleading things we see good players doing...they certainly do not have it that high at impact...they seldom run out of right arm!

3Jack,

I am just a couple of weeks into working on what has been for me a magic move, i.e., getting the right forearm on plane at address and then keying on a relatively vertical right forearm at the top. When I do these two things, I hit the ball higher, more solidly, and more accurately than I ever dreamed possible. But after a round or two, I begin to backslide. Mainly, I start to lay the club off at the top [under the plane], then I flip at the ball, and it probably all begins with hands too low at address. As soon as I realize that a return to fundamentals is required and restore the above-mentioned right forearm positions, amazing ball-striking also is restored. Wow! I wish these positions became more habitual more quickly, but the night-and-day differences in my ball-striking make the journey worthwhile. -- JC

Understand right forearm takeaway and the 'fanning of the right forearm' that is part of the right forearm takeaway procedure. If that doesn't work as well as you would like, try to keep the right elbow 'nearby' the right rib cage, which is what helped me out quite a bit. For me, when I get laid off it's because I'm taking the hands/club too straight back. So by using a proper right forearm takeaway and then keeping the right elbow 'nearby' the right rib cage, that usually takes care of that.

Also, I've talked about using a camcorder almost every other practice session to make sure that I'm doing what Ted and I talked about in our last lesson (or I'm on the right path) and that I'm not developing any new, bad habits. But one of the things I love to do is go right to the range after the round.

I look at practice as like studying for a test. Then the round is an actual test (and a tournament round would be like a mid-term or final exam). In school, a good way to improve your knowledge is to take the test, then go over what you got right and what you got wrong and then work on what you got wrong. I think the same applies with golf. You've taken the test (the round of golf), now you should know what went right and what you got wrong and apply it to the range for some more 'studying.' And yes, do not be afraid to pull out the camcorder again. Clears up a lot of the fog.

Anyway, getting the right forearm on plane at address is only part of it for me. It's really the right forearm takeaway and right forearm tracing that gets me on track. Getting the right forearm on plane at address makes those things much easier to execute. So if you're only doing one and not the other, that may cause some difficulties.




3JACK