St. Jude Classic / PGA TOUR / June 10-13, 2010
 

Here in Memphis, Tennessee, at TPC Southwind and the St. Jude Classic. Spent a beautiful, sun-drenched day with defending champion Brian Gay. I'll put up photos soon.

Also, stay tuned for a post and photos of the 'Coaches Corner' workshop I conducted yesterday at the University of Memphis.

:golfcart2:

:thumright :dance:

Wednesday's Child At Memphis
 

Sorry for the 'no photos so far', guys. Just a lot going on.

Worked yesterday with Garrett Willis, who I first met in 2007 in Atlanta at the AT&T at TPC Sugarloaf. Garrett won on the PGA TOUR in 2001 and last year on the Nationwide at the WNB Classic in Midland, Texas http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/h038/.

Said 'hello' to Jay Williamson -- no work -- who was very disappointed over his near-miss Monday in the U.S. Open Sectional qualifier after a 66 in the morning.

Today, time with Robin Freeman (age 51 and still hits it a mile) who last week finished T-8 in the Senior PGA Championship, finishing well ahead of such notables as Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Tom Kite, Fred Funk, and, well, you get the picture. Not much doing on the tee -- we covered that ground a couple of years ago -- but a bunch on the putting green.

"I've got to do something."

Looking at the stats . . .

I agree.

BG goes tomorrow at 7:28 AM.

Practice balls under the lights.

Gotta love it!

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Small world...

Garrett was the room-mate and team-mate of one of my students while attending East Tennessee State. If winning too fast could hurt a carreer, I think thats what happened to Garrett. I know he has worked in the past with my friend Jeff Evans, so he has a wonderful head start with TGM. I can't wait to see where you can take him. The sky's the limit!!! :salut: :salut: :salut:

Kevin

Wow!!!

Nice work with Garrett, 36-hole leader.

Maybe it can be a back to back win for LBG at the St Jude!

Whatch' you talkin' bout Willis?
 

36 Hole co-leader with the hottest player in the world...Impressive, very impressive :salut: . But then again, those that know you, know how good you really are.

On the Lesson Tee With Garrett Willis
 

Thanks, Drew. 'Preciate your comments!

The first thing Garrett and I worked on was an awareness of the Baseline of his Plane and the need to Trace it. After he hit a few warmup wedge shots, I handed him a six-iron and asked him to aim at the yellow flag in the distance. Almost every shot went left of that target. Not by much, but nevertheless, definitely left.

After some Q&A as to his basic concepts, I laid down two clubs on his Plane Line (one fore and one aft of the ball) and asked him to 'trace' them with his right forearm and forefinger pressure point. He had already told me he swung strictly with his left arm -- a point I disagreed with and told him so (he was confusing the 'feel' of Left Arm Power with its true origin). Anyway, I asked him to humor me and proceeded to demonstrate the simple move I wanted him to make through impact. His next three shots were dead on the money, as were most of the next dozen or so.

Then, I showed him how he could adjust his set-up to make this move even easier and more consistent. At Address, his left wrist was in a Cocked condition. This resulted in a 'low hands' position that would have to be corrected by the time his left wrist returned to its Level condition at impact. Also, it made it difficult for his Right Forearm to be properly aligned for its best work during Start Up. From the down-the-line view, I told him I wanted to see half his left forearm above his right. That would require his new 'higher hands' and a bend in his right elbow.

This new alignment and its totally different feel was somewhat of a struggle. But, despite his awkward feeling and my constant tweaks to his efforts, the ball continued to go straight. At the conclusion of our lesson -- it ended when Brian Gay arrived at the scene -- he was pounding drives dead on line, all from his new and improved set-up and always with the ball teed directly between the two clubs marking his Baseline.

Obviously, Garrett was pretty good at arriving in the correct impact alignment long before I came along. He's spent the better part of his life at this quest. But, I minced no words in telling him he could choose between his current Compensated Stroke and an Uncompensated one. I also told him that I didn't know if the end result of our work would be an extra fairway a round or an extra GIR every two rounds or even just improved proximity to the pin. But, I was convinced that if he stayed with it, then over some period of time -- a round, a tournament or a season -- it would make a difference.

I ran into him on my way to the practice tee after the morning round -- before I knew what he shot -- and asked him if he used the "new stuff".

"Yes," he said, "But I chunked a couple of short shots. I'm a feel player -- I don't really know what I do on these, I just hit it -- and I had a little trouble with the new feel." As he spoke, he demonstrated the higher hands we had worked on.

As usual for students, he had started with the trouble spots in the round, not the high spots. This habit wears on the Self Image and should be broken as soon as possible.

Undaunted, I continued on: "So, did you use it tee-to-green?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well," I asked, continuing to draw him out, "How did it go?"

"Oh," he said, "It worked worked great."

Then, with a grin, he added . . .

"I shot four-under".

:cool:

That's a great post Yoda, thanks for sharing it. You know, if you get the correct information into the HANDS of a good golfer, good things WILL happen. But if YOU get superlative information into the HANDS of a superlative golfer .........AMAZING things will happen.

Sorry to be a kiss a** YODA, but you are the best... just the way it is!

:salut: :salut: :salut:

:golf:

Kevin

Let's not lose track of our man Brian either...

After a tough start Thursday, he played his butt off to make the cut. What a Pit Bull!

Go LBG!

Kevin