Gotta say that the "cult" comment about put me off cool aide! I allowed both my Golf Digest and Golf World subscription to expire (my wife was jubilant.) I will buy a copy from the news stand when they feature Yoda, or another sincere Kelley disciple. What aggravates me is that although there is an obligatory nod to The Golfing Machine, they retool the lingo to suit the "my way" approach. I do not expect them to reference the book as expertly as Yoda and Ben Doyle do but doctors don't reinterpret what Gray's Anatomy standardized, right? There is no profit in it; and patients would probably die! There is too much transliteration for the purpose of marketing out there. Perhaps I am bitter but a great many so-called swing gurus appear like "occultists" to me, by the way they shroud their secrets in a mystical fog of semantics.
A Memorial Day anecdote. I passed the "burger flipper" to my 8 year old son over the weekend, making him my BBQ aide decamp. I discovered that flipping burgers is not as easy as one one would think! We lost some ground, and beef before I introduced him to the hands controlled pivot! I explained that if he focused on turning the burger over with the spatula that it would make the task tougher, but if he focused on turning his hand over, palm down that the spatula would comply. "Flip the spatula with the pressure points in your hands, young padawan!"
Back to my tirade...Ironically, and sadly the quick-fix tendency of homo sapiens, and the committment to study and incubation that TGM demands relegates Homer Kelley disciples to the "few in the know", making TGM seem like the Illuminati! Real thought, not merely rearranging your predjudices, is the hardest of all work someone once said.
I raise a flat left wrist and and a bent right to Yoda for making his teaching MESSAGE centered as opposed to MESSENGER centered. Beside my own (which I nurture) I find egoism repugnant!
Okie
PS I shed a tear when upon returning from a session on the range, my son asked "How those flying wedges, Dad?"
………..S & T golfer is in the last group at the US Open.
Do you really thing that the mass of the public would hear or understand what flying wedges are? That is for teachers to know. The average player just wants to hit it well. At the most they just want to know how to get rid of the worst miss on the course. Once you have the success of this than you can (spoon feed) them with small doses of information.
One of the best coaches in my area does not use video or gets into much other than ball flight. He works with some very good players on the tour. John Mallinger and Merrick are a few. He is very big into keeping the players cool and organized. Andy and Mike I know do just this, with the TGM background to fit.
So my big say in all this good and bad of stack and tilt. It is more of the growth and being organized with the situations that are being dealt. Many of the guys that have been with me for over two years or more are now products of the environment they are in. I am in hopes that it’s positive for winning events. That will also reflect the information that is being spoken weather its TGM or Morad. I also however don’t have the chapter and verse background of TGM.
………..S & T golfer is in the last group at the US Open.
Do you really thing that the mass of the public would hear or understand what flying wedges are? That is for teachers to know. The average player just wants to hit it well. At the most they just want to know how to get rid of the worst miss on the course. Once you have the success of this than you can (spoon feed) them with small doses of information............
This attitude is typical of the way I was treated when I first received instruction from local PGA instructors. Although I did not know what existed, I was still appalled at the paucity of information imparted during a lesson and it was the key reason I looked elsewhere for inspiration. Fortunately I stumbled across Yoda and “The Golfing Machine”.
This attitude is typical of the way I was treated when I first received instruction from local PGA instructors. Although I did not know what existed, I was still appalled at the paucity of information imparted during a lesson and it was the key reason I looked elsewhere for inspiration. Fortunately I stumbled across Yoda and “The Golfing Machine”.
So you really think that joe MOST average golfers really care? Thats off base and your speculating.
Heck I know very good players whom don't care. Im not saying I don't.
The GD write up was fine for the average player. It did not get to out of there grasp. That way when they do look for further information the TGM crew can spoon feed them.
I am going to add one thing. For me, I always have people come in for as much time as possible for there first lesson. If they are really looking for a swing (change if needed).
I will also give them as much video examples of great players, showing what they do. BTW the three TGM hot points are always hidden with this lesson.However the terms used are very basic. If I used my M**** terms with the player, such as windows of ball flight. It would be sloppy on my part.
The best thing we could do as teachers is develop a player develop there trust so that they can sit down with us in the future over lunch and golf swing talk.(bring your laptop)
The yellow book to many is a big fence to most. We as teachers have to show the golfing world how to climb to the top of it....
What you have said is spot-on.
As an accomplished TGM teacher (see http://justintanggolf.blogspot.com) who can quote the book chapter and verse with the best of them, that is something that I steer away from.
Though most TGM devotees on this site would beg to differ, most students really do not care what book you are teaching them from, whether its TGM or MGT. What they truly care about is whether you personally care about their games and whether you are able to get them results.
If you truly understood TGM, the delivery will not be very difficult.
Let's put things in perspective. If I were an oncologist, opening up a textbook on oncology would be mind-numbing at the first.
However with more time spent in the text, the terms and definitions will become more and more comfortable.
When a patient comes for a consultation, do I then give him the essence as simply as possible (translate) or do I tell him what's in the book verbatim?
If you truly knew something, you would be able to simplify it without making it simplistic. There is a difference and Dana Dahlquist knows it. Trust me.
Mr. Kelley put it this way...if he could do it all over again, he would just do three things.
1. Set his flying wedges.
2. Take it up and down the plane.
3. Add a hinge action.
Originally Posted by cpwindow4
I am going to add one thing. For me, I always have people come in for as much time as possible for there first lesson. If they are really looking for a swing (change if needed).
I will also give them as much video examples of great players, showing what they do. BTW the three TGM hot points are always hidden with this lesson.However the terms used are very basic. If I used my M**** terms with the player, such as windows of ball flight. It would be sloppy on my part.
The best thing we could do as teachers is develop a player develop there trust so that they can sit down with us in the future over lunch and golf swing talk.(bring your laptop)
The yellow book to many is a big fence to most. We as teachers have to show the golfing world how to climb to the top of it....
Just my Point of View- what what it is worth(less).
Instructors many of us are not. But this is and may be the only place where you can talk verse and chapter. I don’t have a golf instructor- this forum is my instructor. Many decided that they wanted to understand The Golfing Machine without the burden of earning a living as a golf instructor and I believe Yoda understood that many non- professionals wanted to understand what Homer Kelley wrote when he began this forum. If Kelley’s book were to be left only in the minds of golf instructors, it would again old day revert back into obscurity. Thousands knowing a little is better than hundreds knowing much.
You can learn verse and chapter here; you can learn a golf stroke on the lesson tee. It is a heck of a lot easier for an instructor to speak TGM to me than what passes as instruction elsewhere. But I’m lucky. Instructors like yourselves can’t cater only to machine heads and pay the bills. I chose not to go to an AI who said he doesn’t teach using TGM terminology; that wasn’t going to help me one bit in the long run. I know I am not the run of the mill golfer looking to grab a lesson package and I know how tough it is to be an independent contractor and earn a living.
The ‘Home Office’ never cared about forums like LBG or even their old one. They seem to be embarrassed by amateurs talking verse and chapter. They want to sell books but not teach it except through an AI who may or not want to teach through it.
off topic-
I’d like to know what the Home Office thinks about Lynn Blake and his Tour guys that are doing so well. What was their reaction to hearing Lynn’s name mentioned with The Golfing Machine- an ex-AI who they said never sold a copy of the book for them- on National TV?
Good post guys.
With all this being said, and I am but an outsider(darksider).
What is the future for TGM?
I have seen bashing come and go for many years. Still its the best system for teachers and students to learn.
It also is in the here and now of some of our latest tour winners. (John and Jay)
For me personal reasons aside, would it be best that the TGM arena reaches a bit more out to the new golfers.
-Juniors
-Local and National Golf expos
-PGA teaching events
Mabey its pie in the sky, however Ive not seen much in the PGA's meetings.
I may be off base, or it may be in the works.
I agree most golfers just want to hit better shots. All eyes glaze over when I start to answer questions about TGM in any depth.
I, on the other hand, am a seeker. I was the kid who de-constructed all of his toys to see how they worked, then re-assembled them. The only time I ever get angry on the golf course is when I don't know "why." Bad execution is part of the process, but not knowing gets under my skin.
While I have expressed my curiosity to my many PGA instructors, none has shown me what's "behind the curtain." Some were unwilling to do that work, some (most) were unable to effectively communicate those answers, and some just didn't know or weren't sure. Lynn was different.
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