PGA Tour Recap

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

How can you not like Bill Haas.  Last year he won The Tour Championship and the $10,000,000.00 Fedex Cup after making an incredible shot out of the water.  Yesterday he won in a playoff making a 40-something foot putt.  I am starting to see a pattern.  This is the sort of thing that happens to certain people, it gets into your psyche, you start believing that these kind of things are supposed to happen to you, and poof, they do.

Congrats to Phil on another great tournament.  He looks good, refreshed, focused.  He could have a great year, I am calling him to win at Augusta.

Keegan Bradley is also showing that he may be  a force.  I want to see a little more but he also may be the ‘real deal’.

Sergio looked really good – his confidence is growing.  How much longer do with give Ricky Fowler and Jason Day before we label them show ponies?

Interested to see how Tiger makes out this week.

www.lagandload.com

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‘Understanding’ the Golf Swing – It Can be Done!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more weird.

Those of you that have been following my blog or my teaching ideas have recognized that I do not do too many things that are along the lines of  so-called ‘normal’.   I guarantee I have something for you today that you have never heard before….

With the correct information and some smart time spent, it is very possible to develop a good golf game.

However, and I need you to think about this, if there is no such thing as muscle memory (which there is not), how do you convince a golfer of what they did right when they do it right?

I frequently have students hit great shots and then tell me, they ‘don’t know how they did it.  It just felt great’.

I tell them they hit it straight because they swung their arms on plane, (anyone that works with me knows what plane is and that it makes a ball go straight).  I tell them it went far because they swung their hands and arms correctly (anyone that works with me knows how to swing their hands and arms correctly and that is where the majority of speed comes from) However, even knowing this they still ask.  Why?

REASON.  The human body likes the motion needed to hit a ball long and straight, the only feel to it is ‘GREAT’.  When we swing the club poorly there are many feels associated with it and it is easy to describe them with great clarity.

To become the best player you can, it takes confidence.  I would suggest the fastest way to great confidence is to know you know what you’re doing.

The golf swing is totally understandable.  Those who just hit balls and wait for their muscles to remember the good ones and forget the bad ones are in for a long wait.

Go to my site, learn one color-coded section at a time.

www.lagandload.com

NEVER be afraid of to much correctly organized information.

BE TERRIFIED of poorly organized random opinions.

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Tiger and Balance in the Golf Swing

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

Tigers new swing.   You are going to start hearing the commentators talking a ‘better Tiger finishing more in balance’, or how ‘Tiger’s balance is better’.   As a result, the majority of listeners will assume that Tiger has been working out on balance boards or stability balls.  While you are probably correct, these drills have very little to do with the improvement in the balance in his golf swing.

Being strong, flexible and fast are very good attributes for any athlete.  However, what allows a golfer to have good to great golf swing balance, is a combination of swing plane, correct hand hinging, and ball position.   See my video below and check out our LagnLoad YouTube channel for more details.

Once the club gets into motion it can weight up to 40 pounds.  If it is swung in the wrong direction, the player will not be able to retain their balance.  A 3 year old is strong enough to retain good form if the club is swung on plane and the hands are hinged correctly through and after impact.

Put another way, if the club is swung on the correct line (plane), proper balance will result.  This is opposed to the incorrect idea that a golfer must get so strong in order to have good balance.

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PGA recap…Pebble Beach, Mickelson, Tiger and Sean Foley

Posted on February 13, 2012 by

source: www.whatisthetrend.net

First things first.  Congrats  Phil Mickelson.  There has been a whole lot of speculation around Phil… is he to old?, is his arthritis going to end his career?  His bad play so far this year has added to the whispers.  Well I guess the whispers will be silenced for a month or two now.  I do not think that the general golf public realizes how much Phil enjoys beating Tiger Woods (especially when playing in the same group on a Sunday).  You can bet that when the cameras are off, Phil is just having a big old ‘YES!!!’ to himself.

DID YOU SEE THAT?   How about that incredibly long pause after the short missed putt for Tiger on 15?  I have never seen him do that.  I can’t imagine there were too many positives going threw his mind.   People may one day look back at that moment and say that was the moment Tiger really started to see himself as human. It is moments like that, that eat away at your confidence and give the other players the belief that they can beat you.

Yes,Tiger will win again, but, the question of how many and how often is up in the air.

I have said from the first day he got together with  Sean Foley that Sean will get Tiger swinging great.  However, I highly question if he will ever get the magic back.

It is going to be a great golf year, stay tuned.

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PGA Merchandise Show Wrap Up

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

Way to go Kyle Stanley!   It takes some real fortitude to loose as he did last week and come right back and win this week.  That is a sign of a guy with staying power.

I just got back from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.  Here is my take – I find it so frustrating to see all of the amazing technical gadgetry that is marketed to help golfers get better, and only witness golfers NOT getting better.

I truly believe we are getting way too caught up in flashing lights and not enough effort is being dedicated to learning how to teach the golfer to use the gadget to read the appropriate readings that will make the ball go long and straight.

Seems to me like teaching is becoming a lost art.

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So Many Golfing Opinions Out There…..Pick Just One

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

Like so many, I am in the habit of opening my lap top as soon as I wake up every morning.  As my life is about teaching golf you can imagine that my email gets filled with golfers sending me opinions of other instructors.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to just go with the flow, tell golfers to take the club back low and away, shift their weight onto their back foot, extend their arms down the line, and stay behind the ball… that will be $100.00 please.

If that is working for you, I suggest you keep doing it.  This morning I woke up to 2 emails telling me that the instructor at Revolution Golf said Hogan stacked his right side after I just put a clip out saying he stacked his left side.  I suggest that you listen to both clips and make up your own mind, go with your gut.  One suggestion I will make is, do not get caught up trying to mix and match.  Find someone who teaches a set style of motion and who has writings and videos to back it up.

Sincerely,
Mark
www.lagandload.com

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Tiger Now has a History of Not Winning After Being in a Final Round Lead

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Fascinating watching Tiger. His loss to Rock cannot be a good thing for many reasons:
#1 He never had a history of not winning when in the lead, now with this loss to Rock he has done it twice.  The other players now have hope going into the final round when close to Tiger.
#2 Even as mentally tough as Tiger is this has to allow a little doubt to creep in.  Now with that said…He will win, and when he does I do believe he can regain that intimidation factor.

Posted in A Bucket of Balls | Tagged | 1 Comment