Thanks for the encouraging words. It feels good too when I'm playing well. Good and easy. I'm a 6 handicaper by the way. Or five point something. A lot of rounds around 80 when I play regularly and don't have issues. Have been dangerously close to par only on three occations. Last time this summer with 73 on a 6700+ yard par 72 course in Marbella. Possible the best 18 hole ball striking I've ever done. That round came out of nowhere and two days later bad habits crept back in.
I'm as lefty as they come. I even have the heart on the right side! (Just kidding) There's, plenty of room for left/right confusion when enter TGM discussions. I usually translate to a righty when I discuss here, but this time I think it's better to keep the mirror image intact.
Kevin,
For some reason I have never been successful with a level left wrist at impact fix. The TGM wedges make all the sense in the world to me, the low hands at address is just an involuntar variation. Because I don't know how to do it right and get a proper stroke with it. Maybe it's time to have another go at that one.
I like to think that the wrist is level at impact when I'm striking the ball properly and not as I did yesterday. More video will tell whether that is true or not.
Many years have passed since the last time I watched my stroke on video and I am preparing myself for a few surprises her...
I found my way to TGM while researching a revelation I had about the bent right hand when chipping. I didnt expect there to be any other magic alignments, I thought that was it. If you chip with just your right hand (left for you) on the club you will soon feel and see the critical importance of the bent right hand, the on plane right forearm (the RFFW) and Lag Pressure in the #3 pp. Without those things present, especially the #3, the ball will complain and compression will be lost.
There is a real cause and effect relationship apparent when doing that one armed drill. When you see it with your own eyes and feel it in your hand you will want those alignments and a level left wrist in all your shots. The alignments have a mechanical advantage that is revealed at slow speed. Prove it to yourself and make it habit, you'll never go back after you do.
Oh and make sure you get to both arms straight in Acquired that's another doozer that you'll never want to give up.
New video. This time without ball. So much easier to avoid the dreaded compensation then
Seriously - something often goes wrong when there's a ball lying there. I can often do a good swing without a ball but still fail to repeat it with the ball. The "ball syndrome" is present in the first video.
I tried to level the left wrist as much as I could. And compared it with my usual low hands.
If you flip through the frames, you'll see that the left forearm seems to be where it should with both strokes. The low hands feel slightly more sequenced and more body rotation at impact.
All of these strokes would produce pretty good shouts (Edit: "shouts" ha-ha. shots is the word I tried to use). At least by my standard.
Just something I fought but really helped. At least KNOW where you want to be!
One Of The Many Great Posts By Yoda Impact Fix
The Fix as a studied, distinct Stroke Section (8-2) does not exist in today's Golf World. It does, however, exist to one degree or another in almost every good player and is brought to an art form with the great players.
For example, the #1 and #2 Impact Alignments are the Flat, Level and Vertical Left Wrist and its complement, the Bent, Level and Vertical Right Wrist. Rounding out the Big Three is the On Plane Right Forearm and Clubshaft. Do the great players assume these alignments in an Impact Fix? Maybe not. But, they know exactly what these alignments are and how they feel, and they often assume them at times you might least expect. The next time you see the Bobby Jones videos, look carefully as you see him standing around talking to the gang with his Hands and Club waist high. You will see his Left Wrist Flat, Level and Vertical; his Right Wrist Bent, Level and Vertical; and his Right Forearm and Clubshaft On Plane.
Now, to be sure, it's on a horizontal plane -- not an inclined plane -- but the Impact Alignments are clearly in place and their Feel established. This is the sole purpose of Impact Fix, and when you've got it...you've got it. All that remains to be done is replicate that Feel on the Inclined Plane of Motion.
Watch Sam Snead as he lectures to the camera, and you will see the identical Impact Alignments in place. Chi Chi sets his Grip and Impact Alignments while behind the Ball and looking down the Target Line. Except for an over-the-Top-of-the Ball Waggle, they never change until the Club leaves the Back of the Ball. Watch any group of Tour players as they wait on a Tee. You'll see Flat Left Wrists and #3 Accumulator Rolls, Right Forearm Tracings and even Downstroke Waggles.
Lee Trevino's Address Routine is pure artistry. Away from the Ball, he rehearses the Total Motion with a Practice Swing. He then walks into the Ball with the Clubshaft in the Cup of the Right Hand and with the Shaft running up his On Plane Right Forearm. As his Feet settle in to their accustomed positions, he soles the Club with the Ball just off its toe. His Left Wrist joins the fun in its Flat, Level and Vertical Position (10-2-B Grip). His Flying Wedges align to the Ball and Line in a choreographed sequence worthy of a Fred Astaire dance routine.
He lasers in on the Plane Line. He Waggles. His lower body moves into its Impact Alignment as his Left Foot tap, tap, taps. At the last instant, he Turns his Left Hand on the Grip -- he just made it a 10-2-D -- Forward Presses and with his Right Forearm takes the Club immediately Up, In and Back on an Open-Open Plane Line. And then, almost always, he stripes it. This may not be the 'academic' version of Impact Fix, but it's Lee Trevino's, and a glance at the Record Book proves that it works. Big time.
No, the Tour players don't fit neatly into Section 8-2, Impact Fix. But you can bet your boots its function has been met:
They know Impact.
They Feel Impact.
They live for Impact. It's what they do.
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FEEL FROM MECHANICS
The biggest lesson I ever learned was, not, whether it works or not, but, if it makes mechanical sense, do it ‘till it does work. The day of smoke and mirrors is gone. Gimmicks are gone. Fundamentals have nothing to do with trial and error. PAUL HART
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I could be wrong. I have been before, and will be again.
I think the impact alignments are basically sound when I am not striking the ball as in the first video. But even in the first video, the left forearm seems to be where it should be at impact:
I can certainly become more consistent if I can have the left forearm more level at address. And I will try that out some more.
But it doesn't address the biggest stroke waster in my game. The picture above was from the first stroke I posted. And also the worst. I think my computer had a hard time getting that left forearm where it needed to be at impact. But the really big issue for me is: What is the key difference between first and second take? When I have sorted that one out I can start worrying about how to get from 75 strokes to 73 or thereabout.
In response to my own post above, it seems clear to me that the shoulders aren't open enough at impact. if there is some drag forces working from the right shoulder I would be blocking the shot. And that's probably what happens to. Even though it is geometrically reasonably straight with reference to target line and the inclined plane.
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