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Jimmy Ballard


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In the past month I've been polishing my Ballardesque swing and coming from decades of turning shoulders, lagging, holding head, straight left wrist, etc. it's been the best I've been hitting all year and I even consider I'm just coming back to the Ballard swing after several years of chasing the dodgy "10 extra yards".

 

In fact I got fed up with all the synch micromotions, the perfect still head and all the things I've always been struggling with in like 35 years of golf.

 

For the past weeks I started working on a solid Ballard set-up, wide stance and strong enough to brace my right leg in the backswing. So I'd like to comment on what you find hard when you come from a rotary swing with lots of cogs and wheels to maintain.

 

First for me it was very very difficult to just load my right leg and move my right shoulder up during the backswing. To the point that last Sat. in a tournament my old motion simply sneaked in out of instinct mid-round. I played 8 holes wonderfully and then I couldn't hit a shot for the rest of the round. I simply went back to my classic flat shoulder turning and hunched stance to be able to use my hands to hit the ball. I saved the day with solid sidegreen game (using JB swing) and the fact that I missed a lot of shots but they were always playable. This is one of JB swing's best assets, the ball is most of the times still in play.

 

There's another aspect I find critical to achieve a good outcome: you have to follow JB's set up fully plus you need to feel comfortable in your stance to just load your braced right leg, swing back and go at the ball naturally and without any hindrance with your right side to finish with all your weight on your left foot. There's a lot of footwork to focus on but it's very simple footwork, almost instinctive.

 

I believe that Jimmy Ballard's swing is sound from a to z because of its simplicity and a ball that gets off real solid with hardly no side effect, most likely if the ball goes right or left you're missing something which you can revise quickly and come back to hitting well. I think this simplicity makes this swing unattractive at first until you discover how solid and straight you hit.

 

And there's another important caveat: it's not easy to find an instructor teaching this so if you are going to be your own teacher you need to have a decent knowledge of the golf swing to be able to understand JB mechanics. Plus you won't find loads of data on the web or youtube.

 

Now most important for lots of amateurs, there's no way you can flip through the ball with this motion executed properly. It'd be great if the seasoned Ballard students can explain this, but I can tell you that you have to cross out the word FLIP on your list of swing flaws. This is all from a natural born flipper LOL.

 

Thanks for the contribution from the seasoned Ballardites to this thread.

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In one Ballard video he claims Hogan, within Five Lessons, describes the left arm feeling through the ball as "thumbing a ride", while in another video Ballard claims Hogan said, again in Five Lessons, to "hold a handkerchief under the left arm pit all the way through." I no longer have the book, are Ballard's comments accurate?

 

Well, I don’t know what Hogan said, or didn’t. But it is pretty clear what he did, and in his last three swings in the video below he thumbs three rides.

 

And Ballard players, just look at the position of his left elbow as it approaches impact, at impact, after impact ( the way that it folds). This is *exactly* the way that Ballard talks about it. This is about as perfect an example as we could ever hope to see. It almost looks like he is double jointed... If the elbow folds like that I would argue that the ball has little chance but to go far and straight.

 

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In one Ballard video he claims Hogan, within Five Lessons, describes the left arm feeling through the ball as "thumbing a ride", while in another video Ballard claims Hogan said, again in Five Lessons, to "hold a handkerchief under the left arm pit all the way through." I no longer have the book, are Ballard's comments accurate?

 

Yes. both of these are correct.... you thumb a ride while being able to hold a handkerchief under your left arm pit and the left elbow just rolls and folds against the left rib cage.

 

Googled the book and site searched, also borrowed a friend's copy of Five Lessons for a more direct look, and I found no written reference, or illustration, to either a "handkerchief" or "thumbing a ride". Unless it was missed in that search, and direct look, it appears Ballard may have been embellishing content for his students. Did I miss it?

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Wow, where did you stumble on that article. JB was getting interviewed that day and asked me if the golf writer could sit in while he gave me a lesson. I didn't even know any swings were being video taped.

 

Was looking around the web for Ballard stuff. Saw the article & your name.....figured I would post it :)

 

Any extra stuff the article didn't cover?

 

Hope all is well my friend!

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Nice find Don. Good looking student, too!

 

We all get old and need to think about being closer to decent medical services, unfortunately. I hope that JB has gotten his medical problem squared away and has many more years to do what he loves.

 

97, Ballard had an assistant on the old videos, named Artie. Huge coil, and what a great move through the ball. Do you know whatever happened with him?

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When loading up the backswing on the right side, do you guys get the feeling that your hands/arms go back on a "straight line"?

 

I feel a lateral move to the right. It feels like I am creating a flat spot at the bottom of my swing instead of a perfect circle. Going back and in the downswing it feels like the club is square longer and impossible to go over the top. I've even deliberately tried and its almost like that move to the left makes it impossible.

Walter: Tell me Bobby, why do you play this game?
Bobby: I play because I love it.
Walter: Well I play for the money. I have to win. That is why every time we face each other I will always beat you.

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When I first read the book, I believed the hands moved around due to the Hogan pics and the left side connection. I have always fought a too flat swing and let the club get behind me on both the backswing and the downswing. Once my hands go around my body instead of up, my coil completely stops. I put a water bottle during practice just inside the ball line and to the right of my rear foot. Trying to avoid it on back and downswing has helped a lot. One thing to watch, it is easy to take the club and hands straight back and at halfway, wrap it around your body. If you are hitting thin shots, shanks or chunks, this could be the issue. I try to take it straight back and when parallel to the ground, take it straight up rather than around. I need to pay attention to it the entire backswing. I have a natural shallowing action, so my good swings still result in a slight draw. Best thing is the snap hooks and chunks are gone and I can hit a 3 wood off the ground now.

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One thing to watch, it is easy to take the club and hands straight back and at halfway, wrap it around your body. If you are hitting thin shots, shanks or chunks, this could be the issue. I try to take it straight back and when parallel to the ground, take it straight up rather than around.

 

Best drill for you then would be to take your set-up with a 6 or 7 iron and put your butt up against a wall then take practice backswings making sure you completely miss the wall on the way back. NOTE: This is only a drill for the backswing!

Thanks Speedster, this is a great drill. Jimmy's thought of the right shoulder only moving up in the backswing also helps a lot. I have always struggled with sand shots, mainly because if you are too flat on those you cannot get under the ball close enough to it. I had a suggestion this summer to never let the club go around during a sand lesson and have been applying that in the full swing as well. It has made a huge difference. Now the coil as Jimmy describes it is easier. Trying to swing around the body with the back toe angled in is impossible. The systematic approach Jimmy developed is completely complementary, each part of the swing is connected. Leave one thing out, the rest does not work as well. Love the Hoch video. A couple other ball strikers with swings that never went around were Tim Simpson and Chris DeMarco.
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It’s true you struggle not to go too flat when working on JB swing. It’s a killer. I find it the hardest when playing, I unconsciously start setting up to turn my left shoulder flat in the backswing and I try to move my right shoulder up but it’s not possible from that setup. The butt against the wall is a great drill to get the club in the right plane. Even though I’ve hit the club head into the wall several times when trying to repeat the motion naturally LOL.

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When loading up the backswing on the right side, do you guys get the feeling that your hands/arms go back on a "straight line"?

 

Yes, and I have had this discussion with JB before.... we were at a range that had a divider between each stall that angled upward and JB had me stand so the divider was between my clubhead at address and my stance then showed me how the hands worked straight back up the rail of the divider and not around my body. Just imagine a PVC Pipe that started at hand height off the ground and ran at a 45* angle or so to about shoulder height off the ground, your hands would work up that PVC in a straight line.

 

You never want the hands to get behind the body (stuck), and this is a good feel to prevent that, even though the lower body movement when the weight shifts left towards the target in the start of the downswing (right handed golfers) will help shallow the club some, you still want to "feel" like your hands are retracing their steps on the downswing. When done correctly you will hit nothing but straight golf shots.

 

One of the guys who did this really well and was one of the best iron players of all time was Scott Hoch in his prime.... he never worked with JB, but he still was one of the best iron players of all time and part of it was because of how well his hands and club traveled back up and down the same plane line and proof of how you want the club to work up and not around your body:

 

Visualizing the stall divider is gold.

I asked about going straight up because that feels more comfortable AND yields way better shots.

 

I notice if I dont let me hands start the swing its good. Stay connected and "feel" the club go up and out (it'll be straight going back).

 

One thing to watch, it is easy to take the club and hands straight back and at halfway, wrap it around your body. If you are hitting thin shots, shanks or chunks, this could be the issue. I try to take it straight back and when parallel to the ground, take it straight up rather than around.

 

Best drill for you then would be to take your set-up with a 6 or 7 iron and put your butt up against a wall then take practice backswings making sure you completely miss the wall on the way back. NOTE: This is only a drill for the backswing!

 

 

HA!!!! I didnt hit the wall.

Went outside and didnt hit the wall.

 

If only my on-course results would be better lol

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Nice find Don. Good looking student, too!

 

We all get old and need to think about being closer to decent medical services, unfortunately. I hope that JB has gotten his medical problem squared away and has many more years to do what he loves.

 

97, Ballard had an assistant on the old videos, named Artie. Huge coil, and what a great move through the ball. Do you know whatever happened with him?

 

Artie McNickle, he lives in Northern California... I just talked to Ballard about Artie last week and he said he is doing well and living in California, they keep in touch. This article is 10 years old, but still gives an overview of his career. Artie was also a big part of JB's video he did in 1989: https://www.youtube....h?v=CnEqXuiHLVE

 

https://www.tmcnet.c.../11/3850858.htm

 

Thanks. Interesting.

 

His swing seems to have more hip rotation in comparison with other Ballard players. Would you say that this is true? If so, how would you characterize it vis a vis what Ballard teaches? I like it a lot, and I get more power when I let my hips participate more in the coiling. I think that this comes from two sources - more complete weight shift and perhaps a bit better “timing” for lack of a better word, in that the body has more time to unwind and let the joints and muscles work in unison.

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Would it be fair to say Jimmy Ballard's technique is somewhat similar to Don Trahan's golf method (for those of you familiar with Don's Swing)?

 

Here are the main areas of dissimilarity that I see: Trahan does not teach connection, and his swing causes disconnection. Trahan does not teach weight shift, and his swing is centered. Trahan teaches bumping the left hip to start the downswing, which causes hips to slide and head to stay behind the ball (intentionally, per his video comments). These are not differences of emphasis. These are incompatibilities. Not to say that his swing is wrong, it is just inherently dissimiliar.

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Nice find Don. Good looking student, too!

 

We all get old and need to think about being closer to decent medical services, unfortunately. I hope that JB has gotten his medical problem squared away and has many more years to do what he loves.

 

97, Ballard had an assistant on the old videos, named Artie. Huge coil, and what a great move through the ball. Do you know whatever happened with him?

 

Artie McNickle, he lives in Northern California... I just talked to Ballard about Artie last week and he said he is doing well and living in California, they keep in touch. This article is 10 years old, but still gives an overview of his career. Artie was also a big part of JB's video he did in 1989: https://www.youtube....h?v=CnEqXuiHLVE

 

https://www.tmcnet.c.../11/3850858.htm

 

Thanks. Interesting.

 

His swing seems to have more hip rotation in comparison with other Ballard players. Would you say that this is true? If so, how would you characterize it vis a vis what Ballard teaches? I like it a lot, and I get more power when I let my hips participate more in the coiling. I think that this comes from two sources - more complete weight shift and perhaps a bit better “timing” for lack of a better word, in that the body has more time to unwind and let the joints and muscles work in unison.

 

I think you are referring to the first guy in the video with the orange shirt on, that’s not Artie.... Artie is later in he video.

 

Actually I was referring to the curly haired guy in the white shirt and dark pants.

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