dowel magic
 

after incubating the yellow book for the last two nights i went downstairs to my workout station and checked my alignments with the dowels and a club..lo and behold i was off and had a major wobble in transition from startup to top once that was fixed held the positions for a while i took a swing and all is right with the world thanks YODA and HK:) and just think i thought i was having problems with my pivot but my hands knew what the problem was...my hands are getting smarter each day

Dowel Alchemy
 

Jay is right: Like the magic in Frosty the Snowman's 'old silk hat,' there is magic in 'them there dowels.' They're cheap and they don't look like much, but with literally just a couple of minutes a day, you can transform your golf stroke. I know...I did it myself and have seen many students do it, too.

A few common sense guidelines:

First, strictly limit yourself to very short sessions, no more than two or three minutes at a time. More than that will require a time commitment and just that thought will probably be enough to stop you. And if you only get one session in during the day, fine. That's enough.

Second, keep plenty of dowels around the house (and office, too, if you can get away with it). If they are out and visible, you'll take advantage of an idle moment (or perhaps even choose to multitask while, say, on the phone). If they're not immediately accessible, you probably won't get it done. I also keep a couple in my golf bag for use on the Practice Tee. If nothing else, they make for great Plane Line Tracing when placed on the Target Line both in front of and behind the Ball.

Third, focus on the fundamentals, especially from Release to the end of the Follow-Through and also at the Top. I almost always have one in each hand. Or one that I alternate between hands as I work on one arm at a time. And there is almost always one on the floor (or ground if I'm outside) to represent the Plane Line. It doesn't make a lot of difference what you choose to work on in a given session. You know what's important:

-- Left Arm Flying Wedge;

-- Right Forearm Flying Wedge;

-- Plane Line Tracing;

-- Flat Left Wrist and Bent Right Wrist;

-- On Line Uncocking and Rolling;

-- The Three Hinge Actions;

-- Swivel Action;

-- Impact Fix alignments (especially the On Plane Right Forearm).

After awhile all these alignments will become as familiar and comfortable as your best friends. And it's fun to say 'hello' to a best friend every day. Remember, it only takes a minute!

Fourth, use a mirror whenever possible and look, look, look to make sure you are getting it right.

Fifth, use an Impact Bag. Don't 'smash' it. Just use authoritative Strokes from Release to Follow-Through. First with one Arm, then with the other, then together. Left Arm Throwout Action. Right Arm Drive-Out Action. Swing. Hit. And always, bury that dowel in the bag with a forward-leaning shaft and, keeping the pressure on, leave it there.

These are simple ideas. But they are also powerful ideas. Use them every day this winter and emerge a different golfer in the spring.

dowels
 

i ave played the pga tour for 20 years now.i just had the best lesson of my life from rob noel.i have been into the machine for 7 years now.wow you talk about a light bulb going off.he showed me the drills with the dowels and everything was simplified. the whole book makes sense to me now.not that i didnt understand but the picture is very clear now.personally i dont think anyone could practice these drills too much.i just hope tiger never learns this stuff because nobody would ever beat him.
i saw another post about faxon having to much lag b.s.if he just worked on this then he might get his right forearm on plane at impact and we all know what that means.

John,

Welcome to the forum. Nice to have you here.
Hope you are all healed up and ready to bring a little G.O.L.F. to your game.

Best Wishes for 06 and beyond!

Bagger

Welcome John Riegger!
 

Welcome aboard, John. And thanks for this first post. Keep'em comin'!

You can see how responsive we are around here: Bagger was responding to your post while I was responding to your Private Message. I'll hold you to your promise that you're going to be on our site a lot, "now that I've found it."

BTW...I'm looking forward to spending three days with your teacher, Rob Noel, January 8-10 at Cuscowilla Golf Club on Lake Oconee (Georgia). We will be teaching together at what promises to be a very dynamic Henry-Griffitts Regional Conference. Approximately thirty PGA professionals will be attending, and as Homer Kelley would say, we're going to have "a ball of fun."

yes he told me he was going i hope to make it to one sometime you can never know too much

John can you describe how you got into the machine and how it is perceived by other tour players ? I know many on the forum would be very interested in this subject.

The Whole Elephant
 

John, we will ALL be rooting for you. You can never know too much machine. As Yoda says, first the trunk, then the tail and one day the whole elephant- LOL. The big picture and your ability will produce some great Tour golf. Good Luck John.

Where can I find the info as to the dowel drills?
Thanks,
Florida Lefty

Yoda,

Maybe this question has been asked before....but I'll ask it again...Where did the use of dowels come from?

DG

The Dowel Story
 

I got the idea of using dowels from Homer Kelley. In his work, he used dowels as a proxy for the Golf Club until very late in the training. I use them for this purpose as well, but I also use them in my own way to demonstrate the various Principles, Procedures and Alignments of The Golfing Machine®.

Homer provided Authorized Instructors with two Curriculums of study. The first was a six-session Short Course Curriculum for use with students. The second was a twelve session Normal Course to be used in the training of Authorized Instructors. Actually, the Normal Course involved 24 sessions: the 12 sessions were done first using the Hitting Basic Stroke Pattern (12-1-0) as Section A and then repeated using the Swinging Basic Stroke Pattern (12-2-0) as Section B.

The Short Course Curriculum featured the use of a Clubshaft only for demonstration purposes for the first four sessions. Session Five introduced the Putter and Ball and finally short Strokes with a Club. Only in the final Session Six was the student required to demonstrate accuracy, consistency and alignment execution with the longer Strokes.

The Normal Course featured both short and long doweling. Short dowels were used for the first six sessions and then long dowels through Session Nine. An actual Club was introduced in Session Ten and a Ball in Session Eleven. The final Session Twelve involved demonstrating long shots on the range.

Beyond these two Curriculums provided separately, Homer also offered two Curriculums in the book itself. First, the original Stroke Pattern concept of Chapter 12, including an abbreviated version using Components 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 18 and 19 from either the Hitting or Swinging Basic Patterns (12-0). Second, he introduced the Three-Stage Basic Motion Curriculum that could be used as a stand alone course but that was mandated for use in all other G.O.L.F. Curriculums. As with the Stroke Patterns, he asterisked items for use in a short course (12-5-1/2/3). No doubt Homer would have endorsed the idea of Clubshafts and Dowels in this training as well. The reason is quite simple...

Without a Clubhead to flip past the Hands or a Ball to hit 'at,' alignments and motions can be quickly learned and integrated into the student's Basic Pattern.

Yes, I'm a newbie also and having trouble understanding the plane lines and how to get on plane at impact. I too would be interested in learning some dowel drills and how to use them.

First the Elk post and now this . . . you are on FIRE my litte green friend!!! Cool stuff! You must have a resolution for '06 huh? Was Mr. K a pioneer in learning alignments without a clubhead to focus on or lose focus?

Yoda,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question with such detail....looking forward to coming down to the swamp and getting first hand dowel instruction from the little green man. Maybe late this summer....

DG

Short Dowels
 

Hey Collards,

How short were the "short dowels" that Mr. K used in the courses?

Were the exercises with the short dowels any different than the long ones?

Thanks!

B

snowed in
 

where can I get info on the dowel drills--??

vital-
 

Archive thru search should have plenty. And they is ay least one video that shows the drill in action. The drill is simply- too simply from some to take seriously- but it is vital. Your right wrist and forearm will never know what hit them. :p

dowel video
 

Where is video on dowel drills,and how do I access it.Can I buy a VIDEO that has all the d/drills.It is in Galleries ,BUT IMA NO FINDA,IMA NEEDA HELPA .I got onto flying wedges ,Took 2hrs to load,when it completed ,it disappeared,is there a tool on pc that I need to veiw vids..TERRY

Hi Terry,

Click on this LINK
and at the bottom right hand side there is a video for Dowel and Wedges. Just click on the word video and it should ask you if you want to save the file or view the file. Choose Save the file and then save it onto your computer. You would need to use Windows Media player to view it.
Alex

re dowil drills
 

Thank you very much alex,more than helpful. TERRY

More dowel drills
 

Anybody have drills that distinguish hitting and swinging using the dowels.
I just got three today, and I'm pumped.