Colin Montgomerie

This analysis is a bit of talking in circles, but it is so controlled by the arm swing and not much turn, I just found myself repeating it.

Here is proof that you don’t need a “golf swing” to be a great player and shoot low. It also proves how hitting a fade is an easier shot to perfect because it doesn’t require the timing a draw requires.

If this was some random amateur’s golf swing, I would tell him he had a long way to go. The one thing he has going for him is great rhythm and that is what allows him to completely control his swing with his arms and that is why his swing has to be so long.

What is important here is he lifts it outside, doesn’t turn and keeps his hands in front of his chest.

He has bad posture, but that is not relevant because posture is only important if you make a turn and Colin doesn’t really. This is basically an arm lift followed by an arm throw. Any turn he makes with the hips or shoulders is just residue from a massive arm lift and centrifugal force pulling his body around after the ball is gone.

There is no shoulder turn or hip turn going away. All he does is lift his arms which gets the club away shut. The shoulders look like they make a large turn, but that is only because his swing is so long. Even though he goes way past parallel, there is barely any hip turn and the shoulders are pulled around by the arms lifting the club past parallel.

Even though he has a huge arm swing, he doesn’t go across the line because the arm swing starts with a lift and basically stays on plane the whole back swing and as the hands set, the club goes from shut to square.

Because he makes so little a hip turn going back, they don’t need to rotate much on the down swing…and they don’t. Even tough he drops his hands to the inside, he doesn’t get underneath because there is so little hip turn…and because he is not underneath, he is in perfect position to hit a fade.

This would be a terrible swing to copy if you were starting off, however, it is the perfect swing to copy if you have lower back problems as there is so little rotation and it is almost entirely an arm swing.

If Colin tried to hit a consistent draw with this swing, he would immediately become a 25 handicap and I am not kidding. He can flick a draw if he needs to because he is a great golfer, but if he went to it for his baseline shot, he would be in serious trouble.

This all happened the same day…on the same 9 actually.

I played golf one day with a few friends and had a run in with the group behind me, the group in front of me and a marshal.

On the first tee my friends all hit and I obviously had to wait longer till the group in front of us got out of range. The first hole was about 400 yards and down wind. I was just about getting ready to hit when the group behind us rolled up and one of the guys said loud enough for us to hear.

“What the F*** is this guy waiting for?”

One of my friends laughed at him and said, “now he is going to make you wait longer.”

I waited till the group in front got off the green and this guy was steaming, came out on the tee and started talking smack.

“$100 says you don’t even get it to the 150 rock. Better wear a hard hat fellas, cuz we aren’t going to wait on this S*** all day.”

I ignored him. When the group in front got off the green, I hit one in the green side bunker, turned to the guy and said, “hit into us any time you feel the need, but just so you know, I can hit a low screaming 1-iron with great accuracy.”

A few holes later there was a short par 4 in the 330 range. I was waiting for the group in front to get off the green. After they finished, 2 of them started practice putting with the flag in. I whistled at them and waved my hand. They looked up and went back to putting. I whistled and waved again. They looked up and waved back at me and went back to their putting.

I said, “no problem, but let’s all yell fore as soon as my ball gets airborne.”

I lasered one right at the flag, we all yelled fore, it landed on the front of the green and rolled up to about 10 feet…not 3 feet from where one of these guys was putting. These two jokers get in their cart and drove back down the fairway, got out of the cart and start yelling and cursing at me.

I said in a very calm voice, “first of all, that ball landed 20 or 30 yards from you and rolled up to where you were. Second of all did you think I was whistling at you because you looked cute in your scratch outfit? Third, I may not look like much, but do you really want to provoke someone who can hit a golf ball that far? I am obviously not muscular nor do I fancy my self as a badass, but I just flew a ball on the green of a 330 yard hole into the wind because my hands are strong enough to rip your balls off and feed them to you.”

Now I am on the ninth tee, par 5. Elevated tee and a lake in the middle and left parts of the fairway that is about 350 out. If I want to hit driver, I must hit it up the right side. One of my buddies from the short par 4 is fishing a ball out of the water that he hit into the edge on his third shot.

My friends have all hit and the marshal comes up on the tee and says, “sir, we have had complaints that you are holding up play by waiting too long to hit your tee shots.”

I informed him I was a world long drive champion I was was trying to show courtesy to the group in front as I had already hit into them once. He noticeably scoffed at me like I was feeding him a line and asked me again to hit. I again told him I could reach the group in the fairway. He told me I must hit now, or be asked to leave the course.

I said no problem. I stepped up, aimed for my buddy fishing balls out of the lake and tagged one right at him.
As soon as the ball left the club I told the marshal…”that ball is going to land in the lake right next to that guy’s head, so you can go apologize to him.” Just as I finished my comment, the ball splashed in the lake about 5 feet from the guy who got in my grill on the short par 4.

The entire back nine I heard nothing from the marshal, the group in front of me or the group behind me, but I did get called into the pro shop to be chastised by the head pro for all three of those incidents in context that they were all completely my fault.

How about a story of a 4-some of women playing in front of me who provoked me at Shady Canyon (a ritzy private club in Irvine, CA) and how the end resulted in me threatening to knock out the teeth of the head pro.

Interested?

PS-I am sure you are reading this and noticing some latent hostility on my part. Let me put it this way. I told you one story and hinted at the details of another. Ask yourself this. If incidents like those above happened dozens of times, don’t you admire me for not being on death row?

Evidence that a good golf swing is natural.

This post may not be the epiphany you were all expecting, but it should be.

How can you debate that good golf swings aren’t natural after watching this series of videos?

Do you think any of these golfers know about holding the lag, leading with the lower body, swinging inside/out, restricting the hip turn, keeping the left wrist pointed at the target through impact, staying connected, completing their back swing…shall I go on?

I think not, just watch, enjoy and let’s all create an environment in the future where these young stars won’t be inundated with all this technogarbage.

It’s really sad…

…what over analysis has done to the game of golf and swing improvement.

I am obviously campaigning against it and trying to simplify things a little at a time.

What I am getting in rebuttal is how 3D video proves me wrong on the “lower body turning in sync” video I did yesterday and articles on lag, that it does in fact increase distance.

Let me be clear and restate a few of my positions for all of the techno crowd.

My video yesterday clearly states that the lower body does in fact lead, but if you consciously do it, you take yourself out of sync. Period. End of story. The transition is a split second body movement and your brain cannot transfer the information fast enough to fire all of you lower body muscles in sync with the rest of your body.

YOU MUST create an environment in your swing where this transition to the lower body leading to happen automatically. I will repeat…you CANNOT create the proper movements by starting the lower body first because your brain will not be able to consciously tell the muscles to fire without your lower body getting ahead and out of sync.

If you make a proper shoulder turn and don’t restrict the hip turn, when you transition, the lower body will lead.

Now we are back to lag again. With Jamie Sladowski winning another world title last week and his massive lag, I have gotten lots of hate email about increasing lag does create more distance and all sorts of links to articles proving this. I have never disputed that increased lag creates more power. I am the proof, because that is how I won the world long drive title.

What I have been promoting is that you cannot add false lag to your swing that you don’t create naturally and adding more on the down swing consciously is a recipe for disaster because you are doing something unnatural. You narrow the width of your swing, which will create more spin which more than cancels out the increased speed and energy “you might” gain and also kill your accuracy. Plus, you can’t control distance on a wedge with all that lag…and you certainly don’t want two completely different golf swings to hit a driver and wedge.

I have said this before, I did well in physics and I am not out to disprove any of Newtons Laws. My whole theory on the golf swing is to try and eliminate actively doing anything. You don’t do the right things on purpose, you avoid the bad things and the right things will eventually happen automatically.

If you setup with good posture, turn your shoulders properly and have good tempo, your lower body will lead automatically. If you are coming over the top, leading with the lower body on purpose to combat that makes things worse. Over the top is usually caused by taking it too far inside and being forced to come over the top. If you take it too far inside and purposely initiate the downswing with the lower body…you end up with something that rhymes with the place where you keep your money.

You don’t try and add lag on purpose. Just like trying to lead with the lower body will get you out of sync, adding lag, or delaying the release will get you out of sync, steep, underneath the plane, or all of the above.

If you have constant grip pressure, don’t cast the club and swing everything in sync, you will create the maximum lag you personally are capable of without any loss of accuracy.

I am not trying to disprove anything. Knowing how much torque your engine produces at 4500 rpm, what the ignition timing is and whether you car goes 0-60 in 4.2 or 4.3 seconds are fun facts, but they don’t mean anything when your are driving on the freeway with a car 100 feet in front of you and 30 feet behind you…all that matters is you keep it in between the lines.

Now have some fun, scroll down a few inches on the page and watch Angel Cabrera’s swing.

Angel Cabrera

Two majors and nowhere near a “golf media” swing. What does that tell you? It tells me that golf swings are individual and we only need to work on what helps us individually, not what physics, 3D video or the feel of Ben Hogan tells us.

This swing is very similar to Jack Nicklaus’. Not quite as rounded a spine as Jack, but gets it a little inside with his arms…again, not quite as much as Jack.

The right elbow flies, but the arm swing never really takes over the shoulder turn. Again, just like Jack, he is across the line and releases the snot out of the club right down the line without dropping his hands too far inside. Releasing the club properly again shows to be more efficient than “perfect mechanics” and holding the lag. I am finding more and more that a good release will make up for a laundry list of supposed swing faults.

His lower body stalls for a split second because he generates so much speed and came from across the line, but the ball is long gone.

All in all, the things I said were totally irrelevant nit picks. This is a very efficient and powerful swing. If I were working with Angel, I would only address posture, then monitor his alignment and ball position to make sure it didn’t get out of whack when he was struggling…although I would venture a guess that his swing, being based on feel, his ball position and alignment may vary to suit his needs on a day to day basis.

It would not surprise me to find out Angel learned from watching Nicklaus as they have similar builds and swings. I would take Jack and Angel’s swings (very natural, powerful and efficient) over the Charles Howell’s of the world every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

A video on why the hips/lower body don’t lead…or do they?

Look what happens if you turn and release everything in sync.

You will see that if you turn away properly, the hips will automatically lead on the downswing if everything turns together. You will also see the merits of a level shoulder turn and how to see if you do it by putting a shaft in front of your chest.

Make sure you tune into the blog on Friday.

Friday’s post may be the greatest testament to what I have been preaching on this blog…that natural movements will happen all by themselves if you don’t introduce cliches, fads, swing systems, copying famous players, etc.

The evidence I will introduce Friday will be irrefutable.

Steve Stricker

Many people will say that Steve Stricker doesn’t set his hands. I disagree. He has a 90* angle between his left arm and the club shaft and that is an ideal position. However in this era of “complete your turn” and over lagging the club, Steve’s back swing looks short and his handset looks light. That constant hand set and release form the top is why he is so straight and among the best players in the world. It also doesn’t hurt that his arm swing doesn’t continue the back swing when the shoulder turn is done…which again, is ideal.

I wanted to post two videos here, one from each angle for one reason. This is a golf swing folks. I could nitpick and say his posture is a little rounded at address and he exits a little high with his hands…the second thing is minor and the first thing could relieve the stress on his back and might create even more consistency.

He turns it away well, he sets it well, he transitions well, he releases it well and everything is in sync. What more could you ask for? It shows you the state of madness in the golf instruction industry that his swing is criticized for the lack of hand action and power…or even worse not making a full turn. If you hear anyone say the following (and I have heard them all and more) about Steve Stricker:

1. He doesn’t finish his back swing or make a full turn.
2. He doesn’t set his hands right or lag the club.
3. He throws/casts the club.

If the person saying these things is just a random range know it all, everything he says should immediately be discounted and an 8 year old boy should kick him in the shin.

If the person saying these things is an instructor licensed by the PGA, he should be fired, have his credentials revoked and have his groin teed up and hit by the nearest living world class long driver…please let it be me.

Plane and release by feel.

Tomorrow is Steve Stricker’s swing and Wednesday is a video about how to make a proper shoulder turn and how there is no need to restrict hip turn if you do the shoulders properly. Wednesday’s video might even be more helpful than today’s.

Remember when watching this video. It is an attempt to explain things in a different light and get you to use feel to improve your swing, rather than attempting hit positions, implement fixes and most especially fads.

I am trying to simplify your understanding of plane and release…and why some of the more popular cliches and catch phrases are obviously bad.

I also suggest seeing how some of your swing issues get you off plane and out of position. You don’t need to tee up the ball like I did. Just take your normal swing and stop at all different times, then stand straight up and down like I did in the video and see where you are.

One especially I forgot to display is the “completing of the back swing or turn.” Any of you who actively work on this will get a real eye opener on how out of position this gets you by extending your arm swing well past your shoulder turn.

It is very important you understand that I am not suggesting that you try and swing perfectly on plane and get the club face and arm movements as perfectly as I show in the video. The object of this video is for you to understand what a proper release and being on plane feels like, so if you are too far off by implementing something funky…stop doing it and get down to simple swing basics of feeling the club in natural positions.

I may do another one of these and display several fads and where they get you. Leave a comment if you want me to do that and what fad you’d like to see.

My training program that made me the #1 long driver in the world.

I posted this for two reasons. It’s kind of funny and it shows you something very important.

The important thing is hitting the ball a huge distance is not something you can learn by putting the club in a funky, made up position (adding lag, cough…restricting hip turn cough…completing the back swing cough…widening the arc in the back swing…cough cough cough). You can do it or you can’t and there is no training method or “swing system” that will make you hit it that far if you don’t have the natural ability.

What you can do it achieve your own maximum distance you can hit the ball through proper fundamentals that will also lead to better golf. In other words, hit the ball 250 and shoot 78 with proper fundamentals…or hitting an occasional 280 while most often hitting it 230 into someone’s swimming pool and shooting 88 by adding false lag…or some other fad.

Here is the best part. The proper fundamentals will help you hit the ball longer than any “hit it farther” fad, because you will hit the ball more solid…more often and with more club head speed by not having any tension or restrictions holding you up by doing something that is forced and/or unnatural.

I am often asked how I trained for the long drive contests. A friend of mine once interjected to both make fun of me and also illustrate that freak distances are just that…freak.

“Schein wakes up at 11 or 12, eats a one pound bag of Skittles, drinks a gallon of Gatorade, goes out to the range, hits one wedge, two 7 irons and then hits driver as hard as he can for the next 5 hours. The best part is when both ends of the range were open, he couldn’t wait for when the tees were about 350 or 360 apart. He would aim for people he didn’t like then wave his fist at them after he rolled one up into their ball pile…and they were too afraid to mouth off to a guy who could it it that far, was angry and was crazy.”

Truth be told, this is probably the least hyperbolic statement ever made about me.

Let me know if you want to hear funny stories about me hitting into people and people and course marshals getting mad at me for waiting too long to hit. Actually, I will just start telling those…there are dozens.

PS-I do not endorse Skittles or Gatorade as part of a routine that will help you hit the ball long. I don’t drink or smoke, but I could eat raw processed sugar out of a bag from the baking section of the grocery store. As a matter of fact, I have to make another trip to Costco, as I just ate most of our Halloween candy.

I also don’t endorse hitting into people on the range or the course…unless their pre-shot routine takes longer than it did for you to read this article.