Jim Venetos golf swing?

[tm3]

21 hours ago, Feelingofgreatness said:

I'm curious, has anyone at wrx actually seen Jim play golf or hit balls?

 

I experimented with his setup the other day in the simulator and I was hitting very solid shots right from ball 1.  My struggle has always been getting to my lead side at impact. 

 

I know he was run off wrx but I googled him and it seems he won some A flight championships so he must shoot around scratch. I would love to see someone play golf with his method or even hit balls on YouTube with a trackman. 

Not me, but someone on another forum reported having played with him and that he is an excellent player and long off the tee.

 

Of course it is the www and anyone can say anything about a swing, holding lag, flat spots, keeping the head down, and all that.  Just reporting what I read.

[NoTalentLefty]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:30 PM, LowAndLeft32 said:

Does Jim work with any tour pros? 

No I don’t but in reality should most golfers use a pro like swing to emulate ? That’s the real question isn’t it? I don’t have the time to work on my swing like a pro so I had to go out and find me a swing that needs less practice to maintain. The Venetos golf swing is very easy to learn but more practice would actually help improve I’m sure.

[scopek]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:04 AM, Feelingofgreatness said:

I'm curious, has anyone at wrx actually seen Jim play golf or hit balls?

 

I experimented with his setup the other day in the simulator and I was hitting very solid shots right from ball 1.  My struggle has always been getting to my lead side at impact. 

 

I know he was run off wrx but I googled him and it seems he won some A flight championships so he must shoot around scratch. I would love to see someone play golf with his method or even hit balls on YouTube with a trackman. 

There are tons of videos on YouTube and, of course, his website that demonstrates him hitting just about every club in the bag. I’ve never seen him in person but he seems to be an excellent ball striker and I can’t imagine he’s not a very solid player with his simple swing. Not a lot can go wrong with his action. He’s said that he plays “consistently under par” but not sure he’s said much else. I don’t see any reason to doubt him with the swing he demonstrates . Just my two cents 

Edited December 29, 2022 by scopek

[David69]

The thing about his swing is that you can just go out and try it for yourself for free - because it is bonehead simple. Plus he's posted enough free videos on YT for anyone to figure it out and go play around with it. His website has more detailed vids and step by step instruction of every little detail and set up - which you pay for - obviously. So selling snake oil is a bit much. The swing works great when you do it as he suggests. Especially for anyone fighting a slice - or who does not have hours and hours to dedicate to learning a more formal or traditional modern tour swing set up. It is when you add speed to Jim's swing is where it gets 'off'. I can hit fairways all day with his swing if I stay still and swing comfortably. But I lose about 1/4 of my distances. So I play a modified version which works for me and keeps me hitting distances I want. But if I ever have one of those days - I can go right back to some basics from Jim's swing and I can get it back on track. I will admit that the stillness part is pretty difficult. 

[TomScht]

On 12/28/2022 at 6:25 PM, David69 said:

The thing about his swing is that you can just go out and try it for yourself for free - because it is bonehead simple. Plus he's posted enough free videos on YT for anyone to figure it out and go play around with it. His website has more detailed vids and step by step instruction of every little detail and set up - which you pay for - obviously. So selling snake oil is a bit much. The swing works great when you do it as he suggests. Especially for anyone fighting a slice - or who does not have hours and hours to dedicate to learning a more formal or traditional modern tour swing set up. It is when you add speed to Jim's swing is where it gets 'off'. I can hit fairways all day with his swing if I stay still and swing comfortably. But I lose about 1/4 of my distances. So I play a modified version which works for me and keeps me hitting distances I want. But if I ever have one of those days - I can go right back to some basics from Jim's swing and I can get it back on track. I will admit that the stillness part is pretty difficult. 

I agree completely. Though I will say, at my age I don't have much yardage to lose by using his swing. That might be a young man's issue.

Let me ask about the re-gripping he wants after turning to close your body.  What is supposed to happen there? I see him doing that but why?  And how do you know if you're regripping the right way?

[David69]

The grip setup- club down - weight shift left - and then hands on club grip procedure is to simplify it for people with alignment issues IMHO. If you have a problem keeping the club face pointed where it needs to be - at your target - when you set up closed - you should follow his instruction. Basically if you are using his method you should be producing a very consistent and predictable draw ball flight. If not - you are either misaligned at set up or your grip is off. His swing when done properly makes a slice nearly impossible. If you overdo it - it hooks. If you don't do it enough it is a straight push right. Just play around with it on the range and you'll figure it out. Start with half shots. Do exaggeration drills. Try and over curve the ball flight - hit it way out right and see how much you can draw it back. Then bring it in to tighten it up. Like I mentioned - I think his swing is pretty great for the average player - and he give it all away for free. Look, it is not a swing for bombers in my opinion. If you're a lanky 17 year old and playing scratch golf from the tips on your way to college - it's probably not the swing for you. But if you are a normal person and have a 60+ hour a week job and want to keep it on the fairway and not lose balls every week - give it a go. Pretty low maintenance once you get it. 

[NeilEv]

I was searching for reviews on the Venetos swing and came across this thread. (Was surprised at the vitriol heaped on the guy by some members). Anyway, was desperate to try something new as my traditional swing had deserted me, had no idea where it was going, loads of effort expended for terrible results. Tried his method at the practice ground yesterday (based on some YouTube videos) and was pleasantly surprised. Sure it wasn’t perfect, but I hit 100 8-irons with maybe 10 bad shots, and even these flew more or less at target, albeit low. They would have been playable on the course. My normal bad shot is a big pull draw or a fat shot, and I didn’t hit a single fattie or top, and didn’t have any terrible misses left, nothing to compare to my previous bad pull-hooks. Oh, had one shank. No hip, leg or back pain, didn’t feel like anything was getting stressed.

 

The strike I was getting is better than anything I’ve had in weeks, felt incredibly solid, and no loss in distance; my normal 8 iron goes about 140 yds, I was getting about 150 from very soggy ground conditions. I found that just concentrating on keeping my weight on the lead foot with slightly closed stance did the trick, but need to experiment with alignment and grip. Am seriously considering trying the academy, but want to have some more practice first to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Didn’t try woods or hybrids

 

 So, speaking as someone who draws the ball anyway, this method isn’t just for chronic slicers, it didn’t cause bad hooks, which I was worried about. I’ve no idea whether it is fundamentally-limiting for very good golfers, but most of us are not single digit, and if this method could give me better consistency and get me regularly breaking 90, then it would achieve something that traditional golf instruction has failed to do.

 

I can understand why some people say that the method is likely to reduce distance, but I think the fact that it facilitates consistent strike with the low point almost guaranteed after the ball will make up for a drop in club head speed; would be interested to see numbers for the consistency of smash factor compared with swings with big weight shifts.

 

 By the way I’m a bad golfer, very inconsistent, for last 10 rounds scores varied between 86 and 103. After years of lessons I know I cannot consistently execute a traditional swing for any prolonged period, I just can’t reliably time the weight shift and release, and at age 62 it’s unlikely I’ll suddenly crack it after 40 odd years of trying. So why not try something a bit different?

 

 

 

 

[scopek]

On 12/31/2022 at 2:12 PM, David69 said:

The grip setup- club down - weight shift left - and then hands on club grip procedure is to simplify it for people with alignment issues IMHO. If you have a problem keeping the club face pointed where it needs to be - at your target - when you set up closed - you should follow his instruction. Basically if you are using his method you should be producing a very consistent and predictable draw ball flight. If not - you are either misaligned at set up or your grip is off. His swing when done properly makes a slice nearly impossible. If you overdo it - it hooks. If you don't do it enough it is a straight push right. Just play around with it on the range and you'll figure it out. Start with half shots. Do exaggeration drills. Try and over curve the ball flight - hit it way out right and see how much you can draw it back. Then bring it in to tighten it up. Like I mentioned - I think his swing is pretty great for the average player - and he give it all away for free. Look, it is not a swing for bombers in my opinion. If you're a lanky 17 year old and playing scratch golf from the tips on your way to college - it's probably not the swing for you. But if you are a normal person and have a 60+ hour a week job and want to keep it on the fairway and not lose balls every week - give it a go. Pretty low maintenance once you get it. 

I was playing around with this at the range over the weekend. I found myself hitting a lot of right pushes--basically it was going along the line of my closed set up position. I drew a bit but not enough. I just read your post above about the right push. I'll have to go back and play around with my alignment and/or grip. I'll say, however, if this swing can work with not having to worry about rotation/pivoting/club head position, I can see the real power in this swing. It basically could take away as many variables as possible, which for us average golfers would be God send. I started the academy in the past, but didn't follow through. At the time, I had a really hard time turning off my hit instinct. I might give it another go. 

[ChaosTheory]

22 hours ago, scopek said:

I was playing around with this at the range over the weekend. I found myself hitting a lot of right pushes--basically it was going along the line of my closed set up position. I drew a bit but not enough. I just read your post above about the right push. I'll have to go back and play around with my alignment and/or grip. I'll say, however, if this swing can work with not having to worry about rotation/pivoting/club head position, I can see the real power in this swing. It basically could take away as many variables as possible, which for us average golfers would be God send. I started the academy in the past, but didn't follow through. At the time, I had a really hard time turning off my hit instinct. I might give it another go. 

 

I have dabbled with the JV swing and like it.  Anyway, just to make sure of the basics....

 

If the target is at 9 o'clock and you are lined up and trying to swing to, say, 9:40, then to get a draw you need the clubface at impact to point to somewhere between 9 and 9:40.  Say 9:20.   If you are lining up your swing and your clubface to 9:40, you will just push the ball in that direction.

[scopek]

36 minutes ago, Snowman9000 said:

 

I have dabbled with the JV swing and like it.  Anyway, just to make sure of the basics....

 

If the target is at 9 o'clock and you are lined up and trying to swing to, say, 9:40, then to get a draw you need the clubface at impact to point to somewhere between 9 and 9:40.  Say 9:20.   If you are lining up your swing and your clubface to 9:40, you will just push the ball in that direction.

Thanks, I'll work on that.

 

I actually signed back up for his academy. I've decided to give this a real solid commitment, not just play around with it like I have been. If what Venetos and his students are saying are true--that once you get the swing, it's very easy to maintain and is very accurate--then it will be fully worth it. I'll report back. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by scopek

[David69]

Another way to think of it is like this: JV swing locks down the PATH - so it is pretty hard to screw that part up. If you follow his set up  - the path will always be from the inside. That leaves 2 things - GRIP and STILLNESS. If you are blocking shots - strengthen your grip until it draws. If you are hooking -  weaken it. I would start there. 

Edited January 18, 2023 by David69

[scopek]

2 minutes ago, David69 said:

Another way to think of it is like this: JV swing locks down the PATH - so it is pretty hard to screw that part up. IF you follow hi set up  - the path will always be from the inside. That leaves 2 things - GRIP and STILLNESS. If you are blocking shots - strengthen your grip until it draws. If you are hooking -  weaken it. I would start there. 

Thanks. I'll work on strengthening my grip. However, when I watch my JV swing on video, I do a decent job with the set up and keeping my weight on my left. BUT despite feeling like I'm closed through impact, I'm opening up and not keeping closed enough like Jim does all the way through impact. Feel is not real. BUT, part of what sold me was seeing on video, that without any conscious thought, I'm shallowing the club. That's huge for me. I've never been fully over the top, but getting a full shallowing move without trying to manipulate anything, is pretty cool. 

[ChaosTheory]

18 minutes ago, scopek said:

Thanks. I'll work on strengthening my grip. However, when I watch my JV swing on video, I do a decent job with the set up and keeping my weight on my left. BUT despite feeling like I'm closed through impact, I'm opening up and not keeping closed enough like Jim does all the way through impact. Feel is not real. BUT, part of what sold me was seeing on video, that without any conscious thought, I'm shallowing the club. That's huge for me. I've never been fully over the top, but getting a full shallowing move without trying to manipulate anything, is pretty cool. 

 

Take this knowing that I'm just a guy on a forum and I don't even play the JV swing, I've just messed around with it.  🙂

Get as much weight as you can on the front leg and see if that doesn't cure the opening up.   What I love about his swing is that if you get enough weight forward, the swing just powers itself.

 

Others feel free to contradict my advice!

[scopek]

2 minutes ago, Snowman9000 said:

 

Take this knowing that I'm just a guy on a forum and I don't even play the JV swing, I've just messed around with it.  🙂

Get as much weight as you can on the front leg and see if that doesn't cure the opening up.   What I love about his swing is that if you get enough weight forward, the swing just powers itself.

 

Others feel free to contradict my advice!

Thanks. The idea of this swing powering itself is what I'm going to work toward. For myself, I'm pretty good about keeping the weight forward. However, I have a really ingrained right sided approach, so that type of pivot starts takes over. This is definitely a left sided dominate swing. 

[tm3]

23 hours ago, scopek said:

I'll report back. 

Good luck with the program.  I'd be interested in hearing how the coaching goes, your impressions, etc. 

[scopek]

5 minutes ago, tm3 said:

Good luck with the program.  I'd be interested in hearing how the coaching goes, your impressions, etc. 

Sure. I've been in the academy before. But if I'm fully honest with myself, I never completely committed. For some, I understand they pick this swing up pretty fast. However, with my years of right sided dominant swing patterns, this is going to take more of a leap of faith to make my left (lead) side be my dominant pattern. I don't expect to have immediate results but I'll report back. 

[BigEx44]

On 1/18/2023 at 11:05 AM, David69 said:

Another way to think of it is like this: JV swing locks down the PATH - so it is pretty hard to screw that part up. If you follow his set up  - the path will always be from the inside. That leaves 2 things - GRIP and STILLNESS. If you are blocking shots - strengthen your grip until it draws. If you are hooking -  weaken it. I would start there. 

As someone who tried the JV swing - I don't know that the path is "locked down".

It's certainly from the inside, but there needs to be some experimentation/work as to how far inside.

Also, an inside path on the backswing doesn't ensure an inside to out swing on the downswing as OTT is still a very real possibility and is why JV keeps hammering on keeping the right (or trail) shoulder back.

[tm3]

3 hours ago, BigEx44 said:

As someone who tried the JV swing - I don't know that the path is "locked down".

It's certainly from the inside, but there needs to be some experimentation/work as to how far inside.

 

I concur.  From the JV setup it is still possible to push the club out on the backswing, or suck it inside, and then overcorrect the reroute on the downswing.  My impression is the JV goal is to swing basically along the shoulder plane, just like the conventional swing ..... but sometimes that is easier said than done.

[ChaosTheory]

I think that for slicers, swinging towards the slice side is hard to accept.  The JV swing is designed to make it as easy as possible, but you still have that mental block to overcome.

[BurntOrange]

So, I have been messing around with the JV swing for a little over a week on my sim. My current handicap is a 9. It has been as low as 6. My problems have always been short game related—not getting the pitches/chips close enough or missing the putt when I needed to make it. However, over the last year or so, my swing has started to leave me. I found JV by accident. 

 

I took it to the course today, not to try and produce a number, but more to see how the ball striking was and to hit driver with it to see. 

 

First, what I saw on the sim:

reduced side spin

increased distance on irons 10-15 yards.

I seemed to produce better shots when I was at a true 45 degree turn.

I think the distance came from hitting it solid each time—center of the sweet spot. So much so, I did not want to quit hitting it.

 

What I saw today at course (and before you ask, I did not keep score—It was a ball striking experiment):

Missed 2 fairways today due to movement in swing—but were in bounds and definitely playable.

3 drives at 300 plus (no wind, however in Texas grass is dead so probably got some extra roll)

Hit one drive in hazard due to hit it through the fairway—fairly new course, bad club selection.

Used his system out of sand in one bunker in—solid shot from fairway bunker—botched the putt.

Chipping I have to watch some more videos.

 

 In short, I was very impressed with the striking and ease of the swing.

I am looking into his academy now.

Going to try it some more on the sim. 

 

So hate on it, like it, doubt it—whatever, to each his own.

For me, I was actually excited about a game again that I have played for the last 39 years.

 

I will try and give an honest update down the road on where I am at with the swing or if I abandoned it.

[N4865G]

I have been playing inconsistent golf for over 10 years now. I had number of lessons at the local golf club, but going to the course has always ended up in frustration and losing balls, as they were going all over the place. Then I came across Jim Venetos YT videos and started experimenting with it. Once I got a grip on the basics I started playing the best golf of my life instantly. From hovering around a 100 on a course I manage to score 80-85 now (my putting needs some work though, so there is room for significant improvement there).

I have gone through 3 months of JV subscription and must admit it was frustrating. I was sending my V1 footage to Jim and he managed to cure some of the mistakes I was making, but then he would not comment on several videos I sent at all.

So, I decided to stop the subscription and keep on improving myself with all the basics in place.

My key persistent problem is hitting the ball slightly fat on most of the shots despite having my weight almost entirely on my left side (at least it feels that way). I believe it has to do with staying still vertically throughout the swing phase, so this is something I need more work on.

Otherwise, for me it was a complete revolution. The most important part was that I started enjoying the game all over again.

 

Thanks

Dom

[tm3]

7 hours ago, N4865G said:

I was sending my V1 footage to Jim and he managed to cure some of the mistakes I was making, but then he would not comment on several videos I sent at all.
 

That's really odd, and not a great endorsement for a $50/month subscription.

[BigEx44]

22 hours ago, tm3 said:

That's really odd, and not a great endorsement for a $50/month subscription.

Back when I worked with Jim (2018) - he was pretty good about getting to me with responses within a few days.

I'm betting that his website and following have grown so big - it's now hard to keep up.

Afterall, He's a one man show.

He might need to qualify and add some instructors to lighten his load.

[tm3]

1 hour ago, BigEx44 said:

 

I'm betting that his website and following have grown so big - it's now hard to keep up.

 

If that is it, I guess it's a good problem to have.

 

He might consider limiting to one video per week or similar if that would allow him to keep up.

[scopek]

7 hours ago, BigEx44 said:

Back when I worked with Jim (2018) - he was pretty good about getting to me with responses within a few days.

I'm betting that his website and following have grown so big - it's now hard to keep up.

Afterall, He's a one man show.

He might need to qualify and add some instructors to lighten his load.

I haven’t had any issues. Sometimes he takes a couple days. But I submitted a video yesterday and he responded in less than 24 hours, so it depends. Also, he was having issues with V1 and recently changed the video platform to OnForm, which is a lot better 

[scopek]

An update: I’ve been working on his swing path drill. He’s very picky so it’s taking me longer, but that’s a good thing. I’ve noticed that when I’m going to a 7 iron I’m starting to make some nice contact. Hardest thing for me is being more lead side dominant as my tail side wants to hit at the ball, probably from years of being trail side dominant. BUT I really believe that if I can get this, it’s going to be a game changer and way easier to maintain. Negatives is that you really need to turn off a lot of instincts that’s I’ve always considered more “athletic” movements. We’ll see….

[redhead]

I tried this method a few moments ago just for an experiment.

 

As most commented, it works for short irons with a slight draw. My problems is that it's difficult for me to control the trajectory (high, low, etc) compared to traditional textbook swing. It's also a struggle for me to hit partial shots (e.g., 70% or half swing) with consistent results. Indeed, driver and fairway woods remains challenging, if not impossible, for me.

[BurntOrange]

On 2/10/2023 at 12:35 AM, N4865G said:

I have been playing inconsistent golf for over 10 years now. I had number of lessons at the local golf club, but going to the course has always ended up in frustration and losing balls, as they were going all over the place. Then I came across Jim Venetos YT videos and started experimenting with it. Once I got a grip on the basics I started playing the best golf of my life instantly. From hovering around a 100 on a course I manage to score 80-85 now (my putting needs some work though, so there is room for significant improvement there).

I have gone through 3 months of JV subscription and must admit it was frustrating. I was sending my V1 footage to Jim and he managed to cure some of the mistakes I was making, but then he would not comment on several videos I sent at all.

So, I decided to stop the subscription and keep on improving myself with all the basics in place.

My key persistent problem is hitting the ball slightly fat on most of the shots despite having my weight almost entirely on my left side (at least it feels that way). I believe it has to do with staying still vertically throughout the swing phase, so this is something I need more work on.

Otherwise, for me it was a complete revolution. The most important part was that I started enjoying the game all over again.

 

Thanks

Dom

 

On 2/11/2023 at 2:10 PM, scopek said:

I haven’t had any issues. Sometimes he takes a couple days. But I submitted a video yesterday and he responded in less than 24 hours, so it depends. Also, he was having issues with V1 and recently changed the video platform to OnForm, which is a lot better 

I shot him a quick email to see what the difference is between his $600 and $1200 packages. No reply for about a week. Do you guys know?  I didn’t see it on his site, but I could have missed it. 

[tm3]

Wow!  Not long ago $30/month, then $50/month, now $69/month and with an optional $1200 annual package.

[scopek]

14 hours ago, BurntOrange said:

 

I shot him a quick email to see what the difference is between his $600 and $1200 packages. No reply for about a week. Do you guys know?  I didn’t see it on his site, but I could have missed it. 

The $600 is for 12 zoom lessons for the year. That's a steal at $50 for a 1 hour zoom lesson. I believe the $1200 includes both the 12 zoom lessons as well as the membership for a year.