Jim Hardy - The Release: Golf's Moment of Truth

[scopek]

I laugh at people who take shots at him for making it sound black and white. The concepts he is talking about are black and white and are the extreme. If people would take time to read the book they would understand he is explaining the differences, not preaching them. Big difference. If your swing favors one or the other, than there are certain checkpoints that may help you get back on track faster, or help you understand why you are getting certain results. There is no doubt in my mind that if you have certain tendencies in your swing you must do things a certain way or you will be fighting your swing your entire life. Jim explains this brilliantly!

 

Completely agree. The recent thread about whether the swing is predominately lead or trail arm dominated showed this exactly. The problem is we tend to think either/or and in extremes but your analysis sums it up perfectly.

 

 

Yes. You're both absolutely correct that JH does not advocate black and white thinking or an exact way to swing the club. I've never had a lesson with JH, but I've had lessons with two different authorized instructors, one of which was integral in helping with the new book. The books that JH write are given general guide lines for a swing. In reality, he is ALL ABOUT SOLID CONTACT, plain and simple.

[capelan]

I would say KMs drive hold and Hardys RIT are not anywhere near similar. As mentioned above, KM likes the right wrist to hold extension and Hardy literally wants you to throw the extension away as early as possible and wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact. Very very different and I would argue polar opposites.

 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying that, the insight I was looking for.

 

I'm not sure about the comment that Hardy wants 'you to throw the extension away as early as possible' but would agree that he 'wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact.

 

He says 'The right wrist started in an extension position in the backswing, and the throwing motion as you reached impact has it flexed approximately halfway to where it is now fairly flat, in line with the right forearm'.

 

I interpret this as being a gradual, progressive move whereas throwing the extension away as early as possibly would lead to dragging the club through impact.

 

Apologies if I misinterpret you.

 

The RIT release is from behind the back arm, and you want to throw the head out in front of you (not your arms, the club head) with flexion, not right forearm rotation. You throw with your right hand right away from the top as the head has a long way to go and you want to keep it above the set up shaft plane. If the head drops below the shaft plane you are toast. Your positional goal is to line up your right forearm at the ball as you throw the head, square to the arc of your throw, into the back of the ball. You will FEEL as though you've thrown into flexion before impact as you pivot but that won't happen. (Don't worry about "flipping." You are throwing the head in a circle. The face will maintain it's loft. It's flipping in a straight line that adds loft.)

 

What you are doing from the top in an RIT release is beginning a circle of the club head from behind you on your right side to behind you to your left side which has the head returning from the shoulder plane back down and around on the set up shaft plane. You are producing speed in the club head and accelerating the head around yourself. Think in terms of centripetal force and what it's like when you swing a weight on the end of a string in a circle. Centripetal force is the tension on the string that keeps the weight accelerating in a circle. In the RIT it's the inward throwing after you throw the head out that speeds the head through impact and around you. There's obviously a lot more to learn and understand about both the RIT and LOP releases. Buy the book.

 

If you'd like to see a good demonstration of the RIT, watch the replay this evening (January 11) on the Golf Channel of David Duval discussing and demonstrating how he's recovered his ability to hit solid, consistent drivers. I think it's on at 7:30 EST but you should check that. DD lost his angles due to injuries and became too shallow and in to out which caused him to miss both right and left. It's great to see that he's recovered abilities that once made him one of the best drivers in golf. You'll see Duval talking about how he begins the throw right from the top and throws with his right forearm "sunny side up" (no rotation), completely throwing into flexion as he throws the head right back around him to his left with the face square. For those who dismiss the notion that the club face can be released with no shaft rotation yielding a completely stable face that's square to its arc through the impact area, DD will demonstrate how it's done.

[scopek]

I would say KMs drive hold and Hardys RIT are not anywhere near similar. As mentioned above, KM likes the right wrist to hold extension and Hardy literally wants you to throw the extension away as early as possible and wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact. Very very different and I would argue polar opposites.

 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying that, the insight I was looking for.

 

I'm not sure about the comment that Hardy wants 'you to throw the extension away as early as possible' but would agree that he 'wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact.

 

He says 'The right wrist started in an extension position in the backswing, and the throwing motion as you reached impact has it flexed approximately halfway to where it is now fairly flat, in line with the right forearm'.

 

I interpret this as being a gradual, progressive move whereas throwing the extension away as early as possibly would lead to dragging the club through impact.

 

Apologies if I misinterpret you.

 

The RIT release is from behind the back arm, and you want to throw the head out in front of you (not your arms, the club head) with flexion, not right forearm rotation. You throw with your right hand right away from the top as the head has a long way to go and you want to keep it above the set up shaft plane. If the head drops below the shaft plane you are toast. Your positional goal is to line up your right forearm at the ball as you throw the head, square to the arc of your throw, into the back of the ball. You will FEEL as though you've thrown into flexion before impact as you pivot but that won't happen. (Don't worry about "flipping." You are throwing the head in a circle. The face will maintain it's loft. It's flipping in a straight line that adds loft.)

 

What you are doing from the top in an RIT release is beginning a circle of the club head from behind you on your right side to behind you to your left side which has the head returning from the shoulder plane back down and around on the set up shaft plane. You are producing speed in the club head and accelerating the head around yourself. Think in terms of centripetal force and what it's like when you swing a weight on the end of a string in a circle. Centripetal force is the tension on the string that keeps the weight accelerating in a circle. In the RIT it's the inward throwing after you throw the head out that speeds the head through impact and around you. There's obviously a lot more to learn and understand about both the RIT and LOP releases. Buy the book.

 

If you'd like to see a good demonstration of the RIT, watch the replay this evening (January 11) on the Golf Channel of David Duval discussing and demonstrating how he's recovered his ability to hit solid, consistent drivers. I think it's on at 7:30 EST but you should check that. DD lost his angles due to injuries and became too shallow and in to out which caused him to miss both right and left. It's great to see that he's recovered abilities that once made him one of the best drivers in golf. You'll see Duval talking about how he begins the throw right from the top and throws with his right forearm "sunny side up" (no rotation), completely throwing into flexion as he throws the head right back around him to his left with the face square. For those who dismiss the notion that the club face can be released with no shaft rotation yielding a completely stable face that's square to its arc through the impact area, DD will demonstrate how it's done.

 

That's a nice explanation. I'm curious, when you use the RIT, do you feel like you're ever loosing control of the club face when you're coming into impact as if your hands are too loose? The reason I ask is because my problem using the RIT in the past is that it felt too loose and I just couldn't seem to get good compression in my strikes. It worked fine on a driving range mat, but when I tried transferring it to grass, it was as if my hands and rotation would break down on impact. Maybe my hands and forearms didn't have the strength at the time.

 

It's funny to hear DD say "sunny side up" because that was one of the terms my instructor used to use a few years ago.

[bph7]

I laugh at people who take shots at him for making it sound black and white. The concepts he is talking about are black and white and are the extreme. If people would take time to read the book they would understand he is explaining the differences, not preaching them. Big difference. If your swing favors one or the other, than there are certain checkpoints that may help you get back on track faster, or help you understand why you are getting certain results. There is no doubt in my mind that if you have certain tendencies in your swing you must do things a certain way or you will be fighting your swing your entire life. Jim explains this brilliantly!

 

Completely agree. The recent thread about whether the swing is predominately lead or trail arm dominated showed this exactly. The problem is we tend to think either/or and in extremes but your analysis sums it up perfectly.

 

 

Yes. You're both absolutely correct that JH does not advocate black and white thinking or an exact way to swing the club. I've never had a lesson with JH, but I've had lessons with two different authorized instructors, one of which was integral in helping with the new book. The books that JH write are given general guide lines for a swing. In reality, he is ALL ABOUT SOLID CONTACT, plain and simple.

 

Can I ask in general why so much parsing of Hardy's material seems to be necessary if it's so clear? We've had people saying to read all the books, ignore the old books, disagree on when the throw happens etc. It sounds like he just isn't that good at communicating his ideas if the content can't speak for itself. Like you just said he's all about general guidelines but others are saying it's a specific swing pattern. IMO every thread about him brings about massive confusion and people trying to speak for him and I just don't know what's going on. Finally, is any teacher not about "solid contact"?

[capelan]

I would say KMs drive hold and Hardys RIT are not anywhere near similar. As mentioned above, KM likes the right wrist to hold extension and Hardy literally wants you to throw the extension away as early as possible and wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact. Very very different and I would argue polar opposites.

 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying that, the insight I was looking for.

 

I'm not sure about the comment that Hardy wants 'you to throw the extension away as early as possible' but would agree that he 'wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact.

 

He says 'The right wrist started in an extension position in the backswing, and the throwing motion as you reached impact has it flexed approximately halfway to where it is now fairly flat, in line with the right forearm'.

 

I interpret this as being a gradual, progressive move whereas throwing the extension away as early as possibly would lead to dragging the club through impact.

 

Apologies if I misinterpret you.

 

The RIT release is from behind the back arm, and you want to throw the head out in front of you (not your arms, the club head) with flexion, not right forearm rotation. You throw with your right hand right away from the top as the head has a long way to go and you want to keep it above the set up shaft plane. If the head drops below the shaft plane you are toast. Your positional goal is to line up your right forearm at the ball as you throw the head, square to the arc of your throw, into the back of the ball. You will FEEL as though you've thrown into flexion before impact as you pivot but that won't happen. (Don't worry about "flipping." You are throwing the head in a circle. The face will maintain it's loft. It's flipping in a straight line that adds loft.)

 

What you are doing from the top in an RIT release is beginning a circle of the club head from behind you on your right side to behind you to your left side which has the head returning from the shoulder plane back down and around on the set up shaft plane. You are producing speed in the club head and accelerating the head around yourself. Think in terms of centripetal force and what it's like when you swing a weight on the end of a string in a circle. Centripetal force is the tension on the string that keeps the weight accelerating in a circle. In the RIT it's the inward throwing after you throw the head out that speeds the head through impact and around you. There's obviously a lot more to learn and understand about both the RIT and LOP releases. Buy the book.

 

If you'd like to see a good demonstration of the RIT, watch the replay this evening (January 11) on the Golf Channel of David Duval discussing and demonstrating how he's recovered his ability to hit solid, consistent drivers. I think it's on at 7:30 EST but you should check that. DD lost his angles due to injuries and became too shallow and in to out which caused him to miss both right and left. It's great to see that he's recovered abilities that once made him one of the best drivers in golf. You'll see Duval talking about how he begins the throw right from the top and throws with his right forearm "sunny side up" (no rotation), completely throwing into flexion as he throws the head right back around him to his left with the face square. For those who dismiss the notion that the club face can be released with no shaft rotation yielding a completely stable face that's square to its arc through the impact area, DD will demonstrate how it's done.

 

That's a nice explanation. I'm curious, when you use the RIT, do you feel like you're ever loosing control of the club face when you're coming into impact as if your hands are too loose? The reason I ask is because my problem using the RIT in the past is that it felt too loose and I just couldn't seem to get good compression in my strikes. It worked fine on a driving range mat, but when I tried transferring it to grass, it was as if my hands and rotation would break down on impact. Maybe my hands and forearms didn't have the strength at the time.

 

It's funny to hear DD say "sunny side up" because that was one of the terms my instructor used to use a few years ago.

 

Keep the right hand grip in your fingers and not in the palm, as you would when holding a baseball. This is all right hand throw and the hands may come apart a little (like Vijay). Don't rotate your left arm, just let it drop vertically into you, knuckles up. You are throwing around your left wrist with the right hand throwing more horizontally. Feel very relaxed and loose in your right hand as you do when you throw a ball. You want speed in the hand. See the drill in THE RELEASE where Jim Hardy demonstrates a throwing drill with the right hand only and the handle held only in three fingers. Find some flat stones and skip them on water -- very similar action. You are unlikely to let go of the club as you throw it though fear of that might occur. This is all about throwing. No leverage, no power. Throw. Watch Duval tonight throw some clubs behind him. Sunny side up is important. If you rotate your right arm counter- clockwise you put the wrist in extension and stop the throw.

[scopek]

I laugh at people who take shots at him for making it sound black and white. The concepts he is talking about are black and white and are the extreme. If people would take time to read the book they would understand he is explaining the differences, not preaching them. Big difference. If your swing favors one or the other, than there are certain checkpoints that may help you get back on track faster, or help you understand why you are getting certain results. There is no doubt in my mind that if you have certain tendencies in your swing you must do things a certain way or you will be fighting your swing your entire life. Jim explains this brilliantly!

 

Completely agree. The recent thread about whether the swing is predominately lead or trail arm dominated showed this exactly. The problem is we tend to think either/or and in extremes but your analysis sums it up perfectly.

 

 

Yes. You're both absolutely correct that JH does not advocate black and white thinking or an exact way to swing the club. I've never had a lesson with JH, but I've had lessons with two different authorized instructors, one of which was integral in helping with the new book. The books that JH write are given general guide lines for a swing. In reality, he is ALL ABOUT SOLID CONTACT, plain and simple.

 

Can I ask in general why so much parsing of Hardy's material seems to be necessary if it's so clear? We've had people saying to read all the books, ignore the old books, disagree on when the throw happens etc. It sounds like he just isn't that good at communicating his ideas if the content can't speak for itself. Like you just said he's all about general guidelines but others are saying it's a specific swing pattern. IMO every thread about him brings about massive confusion and people trying to speak for him and I just don't know what's going on. Finally, is any teacher not about "solid contact"?

 

That's a good question and a fair point. My opinion is that he sets himself up for confusion in his books by the way the material is presented. I also think that a lot of his ideas go against what is typically taught so it's only natural for us to second guess things he's saying and to clarify because it's different. I guess my perspective changed after having lessons with some of his instructors. I will say, however, that I didn't continue with the one plane swing, so go figure...

[scopek]

I would say KMs drive hold and Hardys RIT are not anywhere near similar. As mentioned above, KM likes the right wrist to hold extension and Hardy literally wants you to throw the extension away as early as possible and wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact. Very very different and I would argue polar opposites.

 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying that, the insight I was looking for.

 

I'm not sure about the comment that Hardy wants 'you to throw the extension away as early as possible' but would agree that he 'wants to see flexion in the right wrist fairly soon after impact.

 

He says 'The right wrist started in an extension position in the backswing, and the throwing motion as you reached impact has it flexed approximately halfway to where it is now fairly flat, in line with the right forearm'.

 

I interpret this as being a gradual, progressive move whereas throwing the extension away as early as possibly would lead to dragging the club through impact.

 

Apologies if I misinterpret you.

 

The RIT release is from behind the back arm, and you want to throw the head out in front of you (not your arms, the club head) with flexion, not right forearm rotation. You throw with your right hand right away from the top as the head has a long way to go and you want to keep it above the set up shaft plane. If the head drops below the shaft plane you are toast. Your positional goal is to line up your right forearm at the ball as you throw the head, square to the arc of your throw, into the back of the ball. You will FEEL as though you've thrown into flexion before impact as you pivot but that won't happen. (Don't worry about "flipping." You are throwing the head in a circle. The face will maintain it's loft. It's flipping in a straight line that adds loft.)

 

What you are doing from the top in an RIT release is beginning a circle of the club head from behind you on your right side to behind you to your left side which has the head returning from the shoulder plane back down and around on the set up shaft plane. You are producing speed in the club head and accelerating the head around yourself. Think in terms of centripetal force and what it's like when you swing a weight on the end of a string in a circle. Centripetal force is the tension on the string that keeps the weight accelerating in a circle. In the RIT it's the inward throwing after you throw the head out that speeds the head through impact and around you. There's obviously a lot more to learn and understand about both the RIT and LOP releases. Buy the book.

 

If you'd like to see a good demonstration of the RIT, watch the replay this evening (January 11) on the Golf Channel of David Duval discussing and demonstrating how he's recovered his ability to hit solid, consistent drivers. I think it's on at 7:30 EST but you should check that. DD lost his angles due to injuries and became too shallow and in to out which caused him to miss both right and left. It's great to see that he's recovered abilities that once made him one of the best drivers in golf. You'll see Duval talking about how he begins the throw right from the top and throws with his right forearm "sunny side up" (no rotation), completely throwing into flexion as he throws the head right back around him to his left with the face square. For those who dismiss the notion that the club face can be released with no shaft rotation yielding a completely stable face that's square to its arc through the impact area, DD will demonstrate how it's done.

 

That's a nice explanation. I'm curious, when you use the RIT, do you feel like you're ever loosing control of the club face when you're coming into impact as if your hands are too loose? The reason I ask is because my problem using the RIT in the past is that it felt too loose and I just couldn't seem to get good compression in my strikes. It worked fine on a driving range mat, but when I tried transferring it to grass, it was as if my hands and rotation would break down on impact. Maybe my hands and forearms didn't have the strength at the time.

 

It's funny to hear DD say "sunny side up" because that was one of the terms my instructor used to use a few years ago.

 

Keep the right hand grip in your fingers and not in the palm, as you would when holding a baseball. This is all right hand throw and the hands may come apart a little (like Vijay). Don't rotate your left arm, just let it drop vertically into you, knuckles up. You are throwing around your left wrist with the right hand throwing more horizontally. Feel very relaxed and loose in your right hand as you do when you throw a ball. You want speed in the hand. See the drill in THE RELEASE where Jim Hardy demonstrates a throwing drill with the right hand only and the handle held only in three fingers. Find some flat stones and skip them on water -- very similar action. You are unlikely to let go of the club as you throw it though fear of that might occur. This is all about throwing. No leverage, no power. Throw. Watch Duval tonight throw some clubs behind him. Sunny side up is important. If you rotate your right arm counter- clockwise you put the wrist in extension and stop the throw.

 

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I understand the release pattern. What I'm saying is that when I do what you say above, the club seems too loose and the compression isn't great when was hitting on the course. It worked great on mats, but didn't translate to real surfaces.

 

I wonder if practicing the RIT on an impact bag would help?

[capelan]

scopek --

 

Compression comes with getting the divot in front of the ball not in leveraging the handle. You need to be moving through the shot over on to your left side.

 

The impact bag is an LOP aid. You are trying to generate head speed not cut down a tree.

[capelan]

I laugh at people who take shots at him for making it sound black and white. The concepts he is talking about are black and white and are the extreme. If people would take time to read the book they would understand he is explaining the differences, not preaching them. Big difference. If your swing favors one or the other, than there are certain checkpoints that may help you get back on track faster, or help you understand why you are getting certain results. There is no doubt in my mind that if you have certain tendencies in your swing you must do things a certain way or you will be fighting your swing your entire life. Jim explains this brilliantly!

 

Completely agree. The recent thread about whether the swing is predominately lead or trail arm dominated showed this exactly. The problem is we tend to think either/or and in extremes but your analysis sums it up perfectly.

 

 

Yes. You're both absolutely correct that JH does not advocate black and white thinking or an exact way to swing the club. I've never had a lesson with JH, but I've had lessons with two different authorized instructors, one of which was integral in helping with the new book. The books that JH write are given general guide lines for a swing. In reality, he is ALL ABOUT SOLID CONTACT, plain and simple.

 

Can I ask in general why so much parsing of Hardy's material seems to be necessary if it's so clear? We've had people saying to read all the books, ignore the old books, disagree on when the throw happens etc. It sounds like he just isn't that good at communicating his ideas if the content can't speak for itself. Like you just said he's all about general guidelines but others are saying it's a specific swing pattern. IMO every thread about him brings about massive confusion and people trying to speak for him and I just don't know what's going on. Finally, is any teacher not about "solid contact"?

 

That's a good question and a fair point. My opinion is that he sets himself up for confusion in his books by the way the material is presented. I also think that a lot of his ideas go against what is typically taught so it's only natural for us to second guess things he's saying and to clarify because it's different. I guess my perspective changed after having lessons with some of his instructors. I will say, however, that I didn't continue with the one plane swing, so go figure...

 

We can't learn something new or different if we don't know what we are doing now. Understanding the differences between two opposing ways of releasing a club helps us learn the one we want to use.

[bph7]

 

Completely agree. The recent thread about whether the swing is predominately lead or trail arm dominated showed this exactly. The problem is we tend to think either/or and in extremes but your analysis sums it up perfectly.

 

 

Yes. You're both absolutely correct that JH does not advocate black and white thinking or an exact way to swing the club. I've never had a lesson with JH, but I've had lessons with two different authorized instructors, one of which was integral in helping with the new book. The books that JH write are given general guide lines for a swing. In reality, he is ALL ABOUT SOLID CONTACT, plain and simple.

 

Can I ask in general why so much parsing of Hardy's material seems to be necessary if it's so clear? We've had people saying to read all the books, ignore the old books, disagree on when the throw happens etc. It sounds like he just isn't that good at communicating his ideas if the content can't speak for itself. Like you just said he's all about general guidelines but others are saying it's a specific swing pattern. IMO every thread about him brings about massive confusion and people trying to speak for him and I just don't know what's going on. Finally, is any teacher not about "solid contact"?

 

That's a good question and a fair point. My opinion is that he sets himself up for confusion in his books by the way the material is presented. I also think that a lot of his ideas go against what is typically taught so it's only natural for us to second guess things he's saying and to clarify because it's different. I guess my perspective changed after having lessons with some of his instructors. I will say, however, that I didn't continue with the one plane swing, so go figure...

 

We can't learn something new or different if we don't know what we are doing now. Understanding the differences between two opposing ways of releasing a club helps us learn the one we want to use.

 

IMO I think THE biggest issue with Hardy is his position that there are two (and exactly two) ways of releasing the club and that they are necessarily opposing. I just think there are more than two ways and even among the other ways it's a continuum.

[scopek]

IMO I think THE biggest issue with Hardy is his position that there are two (and exactly two) ways of releasing the club and that they are necessarily opposing. I just think there are more than two ways and even among the other ways it's a continuum.

 

I think you're correct. For example, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Geoff Jones or Dan W would advocate an active throwing of the angles as JH teaches. And yet both GJ/DW and JH claim to be teaching what Ben Hogan did in his swing. I'd say that based on watching videos of GJ and JH students, that GJ's students look closer to Hogan's swing then JH's students. And, based on what I've read at least, GJ would probably agree with lining up the club shaft on the right forearm plane as JH teaches, but I don't think he's say to throw the same way. Another example would be Bradley Hughes. He also teaches to line the club on the right forearm plane, but he teaches to hold the angles and to use the forearm rotation to generate power and speed. And Hughes also claims to be teaching a Hogan type of swing. But Hughes definitely is not teaching a LOP and I'd guess that JH would say he's RIT if the watched the swing.

 

BTW, I'm not trying to discount that using JH's method is not a good way to swing the club. I like a lot of what JH teaches and really respect him. I just agree that he oversimplifies things to make a point and that can end up being confusing.

[JetPilot]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

[bph7]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

 

So he released a bunch of books before he had put it all together? Shouldn't he take those off the market if the new one supersedes them? I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that every time he has a book come out, I hear stuff like this and I don't know what to conclude. If the earlier stuff is now obsolete, shouldn't he at least say so? Does praise of his earlier stuff need to be retracted?

[Golfbeat]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

 

So he released a bunch of books before he had put it all together? Shouldn't he take those off the market if the new one supersedes them? I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that every time he has a book come out, I hear stuff like this and I don't know what to conclude. If the earlier stuff is now obsolete, shouldn't he at least say so? Does praise of his earlier stuff need to be retracted?

 

Why do you not read the books yourself and try them out. All your assumptions are second guesses. Please also tell Jim Hardy himself that you find fault with his books (which you did not read). Would that not be more constructive?

[bph7]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

 

So he released a bunch of books before he had put it all together? Shouldn't he take those off the market if the new one supersedes them? I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that every time he has a book come out, I hear stuff like this and I don't know what to conclude. If the earlier stuff is now obsolete, shouldn't he at least say so? Does praise of his earlier stuff need to be retracted?

 

Why do you not read the books yourself and try them out. All your assumptions are second guesses. Please also tell Jim Hardy himself that you find fault with his books (which you did not read). Would that not be more constructive?

 

Pretty much everything you just said there is wrong. I have read plane truth and the one with the pointless plus/minus system. I've taken lessons with Chris oconnnell. I would love to have a conversation with Jim to ask if he feels the old books are obsolete or not. I asked legitimate questions and you come back with completely incorrect assumptions.

[JetPilot]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

 

So he released a bunch of books before he had put it all together? Shouldn't he take those off the market if the new one supersedes them? I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that every time he has a book come out, I hear stuff like this and I don't know what to conclude. If the earlier stuff is now obsolete, shouldn't he at least say so? Does praise of his earlier stuff need to be retracted?

 

I did not say he is old stuff is obsolete. IMO he drills down on his previous work. And IMO his work is fantastic.

[Golfbeat]

On Golf Channel Tonight 7.30pm ET David Duval, Driver Swing, at 8.00pm ET David Duval, Full Swing. First hand demonstration of the RIT release by former No. 1 of the world.

[bph7]

On Golf Channel Tonight 7.30pm ET David Duval, Driver Swing, at 8.00pm ET David Duval, Full Swing. First hand demonstration of the RIT release by former No. 1 of the world.

 

Cool maybe I'll check it out. Also in the future when you make personal attacks on me and I refute them, can you at least respond?

[Golfbeat]

On Golf Channel Tonight 7.30pm ET David Duval, Driver Swing, at 8.00pm ET David Duval, Full Swing. First hand demonstration of the RIT release by former No. 1 of the world.

 

Cool maybe I'll check it out. Also in the future when you make personal attacks on me and I refute them, can you at least respond?

 

It would be interesting to get some feedback from your lessons with Chris O'Connell.

[scopek]

I got out and played for the first time after reading the book (been at the range a few times tho). My best ball striking in a year. Hall of Fame material as far as I'm concerned. Shot a 76 and I haven't broke 80 much in the last 6 months. I found my ballflight to be straight line lasers at the target. Slightly lower ballflight, but balls were holding greens tight. Different strokes for different folks...but the material in this book was a gold mine for me. IMO he has really drilled down some critical aspects that he hadn't fully put together yet.

 

So he released a bunch of books before he had put it all together? Shouldn't he take those off the market if the new one supersedes them? I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that every time he has a book come out, I hear stuff like this and I don't know what to conclude. If the earlier stuff is now obsolete, shouldn't he at least say so? Does praise of his earlier stuff need to be retracted?

 

Not sure why the earlier books would be obsolete based on my reading and lessons I've had in the past. JH has always talked about the one plane swing being a throwing motion. I can't recall where I read this, but someone mentioned that the new book is a refinement and focus of the release, not that it changed anything from his previous work.

 

I take it O'Connell never talked about the throw in your lessons? When was that? I had online lessons with JH's son about three years ago and he introduced me to the "sunny side up" and throwing from the top. That was way before the book. I found it a bit confusing, to be honest, at the time. It makes more sense now, but not sure I'd go back to it. I will say that prior to the online lessons with Hardy's son, I had in person lessons with an authorized JH instructor and he talked about throwing the club, but never in the way that it was explained by JH's son.

[bph7]

O'Connell was about 5 years ago. I had 4 lessons with him I think. Really nice guy. No talk about the throw. Basically watched me hit a few balls, and said I needed to "swing left". He demonstrated what he meant about going left post impact, then every lesson he'd just say "swing left" whenever I hit a bad shot. I went back a few times because there were times when I'd hit some incredible shots. At the time, I was too inside out, so the thought of swinging left was a perfect band aid. Like any band aid, I ended up overdoing it and got super steep and hardly had any hip rotation. I saw a swing on video a few weeks after my fourth and final lesson with him and thought the swing looked terrible so i moved on. For the record, I'm not saying he couldn't have fixed it (in fact during the fourth lesson I was hitting it great), I just didn't like the overall direction things were going (between lessons I'd be really inconsistent) and didn't like the singular message so I moved on. Again, he was a really nice guy, I probably overdid things to a certain extent, but ultimately thought the whole "swing left" thing wasn't what I wanted as the sole tip I got.

[Strike Force]

O'Connell was about 5 years ago. I had 4 lessons with him I think. Really nice guy. No talk about the throw. Basically watched me hit a few balls, and said I needed to "swing left". He demonstrated what he meant about going left post impact, then every lesson he'd just say "swing left" whenever I hit a bad shot. I went back a few times because there were times when I'd hit some incredible shots. At the time, I was too inside out, so the thought of swinging left was a perfect band aid. Like any band aid, I ended up overdoing it and got super steep and hardly had any hip rotation. I saw a swing on video a few weeks after my fourth and final lesson with him and thought the swing looked terrible so i moved on. For the record, I'm not saying he couldn't have fixed it (in fact during the fourth lesson I was hitting it great), I just didn't like the overall direction things were going (between lessons I'd be really inconsistent) and didn't like the singular message so I moved on. Again, he was a really nice guy, I probably overdid things to a certain extent, but ultimately thought the whole "swing left" thing wasn't what I wanted as the sole tip I got.

 

I can picture Chris O'Connell now demonstrating what he wanted you to do (swing left) with an upside down green range basket in his hands. I have seen Chris give many, many lessons and he almost always wants his students to 'swing left'...and he usually uses a range bucket as a prop to demonstrate what he means. He even does the same with Matt Kuchar. Chris is indeed a nice guy, but very few people (handicap or elite) like his swing method...nor do they stick with it.

[bph7]

O'Connell was about 5 years ago. I had 4 lessons with him I think. Really nice guy. No talk about the throw. Basically watched me hit a few balls, and said I needed to "swing left". He demonstrated what he meant about going left post impact, then every lesson he'd just say "swing left" whenever I hit a bad shot. I went back a few times because there were times when I'd hit some incredible shots. At the time, I was too inside out, so the thought of swinging left was a perfect band aid. Like any band aid, I ended up overdoing it and got super steep and hardly had any hip rotation. I saw a swing on video a few weeks after my fourth and final lesson with him and thought the swing looked terrible so i moved on. For the record, I'm not saying he couldn't have fixed it (in fact during the fourth lesson I was hitting it great), I just didn't like the overall direction things were going (between lessons I'd be really inconsistent) and didn't like the singular message so I moved on. Again, he was a really nice guy, I probably overdid things to a certain extent, but ultimately thought the whole "swing left" thing wasn't what I wanted as the sole tip I got.

 

I can picture Chris O'Connell now demonstrating what he wanted you to do (swing left) with an upside down green range basket in his hands. I have seen Chris give many, many lessons and he almost always wants his students to 'swing left'...and he usually uses a range bucket as a prop to demonstrate what he means. He even does the same with Matt Kuchar. Chris is indeed a nice guy, but very few people (handicap or elite) like his swing method...nor do they stick with it.

 

Yes he did use the range bucket.

[MK7Golf21]

O'Connell was about 5 years ago. I had 4 lessons with him I think. Really nice guy. No talk about the throw. Basically watched me hit a few balls, and said I needed to "swing left". He demonstrated what he meant about going left post impact, then every lesson he'd just say "swing left" whenever I hit a bad shot. I went back a few times because there were times when I'd hit some incredible shots. At the time, I was too inside out, so the thought of swinging left was a perfect band aid. Like any band aid, I ended up overdoing it and got super steep and hardly had any hip rotation. I saw a swing on video a few weeks after my fourth and final lesson with him and thought the swing looked terrible so i moved on. For the record, I'm not saying he couldn't have fixed it (in fact during the fourth lesson I was hitting it great), I just didn't like the overall direction things were going (between lessons I'd be really inconsistent) and didn't like the singular message so I moved on. Again, he was a really nice guy, I probably overdid things to a certain extent, but ultimately thought the whole "swing left" thing wasn't what I wanted as the sole tip I got.

 

My experience was pretty much the same with the guy I was going to, Rick sellers

[Golfbeat]

O'Connell was about 5 years ago. I had 4 lessons with him I think. Really nice guy. No talk about the throw. Basically watched me hit a few balls, and said I needed to "swing left". He demonstrated what he meant about going left post impact, then every lesson he'd just say "swing left" whenever I hit a bad shot. I went back a few times because there were times when I'd hit some incredible shots. At the time, I was too inside out, so the thought of swinging left was a perfect band aid. Like any band aid, I ended up overdoing it and got super steep and hardly had any hip rotation. I saw a swing on video a few weeks after my fourth and final lesson with him and thought the swing looked terrible so i moved on. For the record, I'm not saying he couldn't have fixed it (in fact during the fourth lesson I was hitting it great), I just didn't like the overall direction things were going (between lessons I'd be really inconsistent) and didn't like the singular message so I moved on. Again, he was a really nice guy, I probably overdid things to a certain extent, but ultimately thought the whole "swing left" thing wasn't what I wanted as the sole tip I got.

 

Which instructor helped you the most?

[Golfbeat]

My success story with implementing the RIT continues with a 74 and 76 subsequently. A lightbulb moment was the realization that the down swing is actually not directed at the ball but about 6 inches above and 6 inches away from the ball (for shorter clubs less). The forces on the swinging arms and club bring the club head automatically down and inwards into the ball! I had no idea that I could hit the ball so flush, long and straight with the intent of swinging over the ball instead of at it.

[robbohank]

Received the book a couple of days ago and have read thru a good portion of it. I find his LOP/RIT theory very interesting and had a great range session today using his RIT philosophies. I'm afraid I've been a LIP (left arm INSIDE puller) for a long long time now to my detriment....much of it a result of trying to "swing left".

 

Definite ball-striking upgrade after realizing some of the basic differences between the 2 releases!! Letting the RIT inside of me come out was pretty simple to do and quite instinctive. As Monte referenced with his DD convo..... it's like I just needed someone to say "it's ok"!! :)

 

FYI - I now have 3 of his books and took a couple of lessons from O'Connell (pre-Kuchar). I doubt the revelations regarding "the release" presented in Hardy's latest book existed then or they'd have been brought up during the lessons. I don't find anything wrong with Hardy publishing books and building upon them with subsequent releases. I'll have to go back and review the other 2 to see if there are any glaring contradictions. I just don't recall him ever really touching on the actual "release" action in his prior books.

 

In my opinion Hardy identified a couple of very different swing "models" and tends to write his books around those 2 by contrasting and comparing. No one can cover every conceivable golf swing theory/variable and I think he provides enough compelling (and pretty straight-forward) information to allow the reader to understand some key differences and perhaps apply cause/corrective actions to their motion.

 

Writing a golf instruction book is surely no easy task. Writing a "perfect" one is IMPOSSIBLE. I give Hardy credit for putting his information out there even if not totally complete cause it never really will be.

[Larry111]

Recently purchased the book based on some of the replies. I'm hitting the ball just as far using the RIT with a whole lot less effort and without an elaborate pivot.

[Jasonic]

Recently purchased the book based on some of the replies. I'm hitting the ball just as far using the RIT with a whole lot less effort and without an elaborate pivot.

 

Does it feel like a flip?

[Larry111]

If a flip is a throw then it's a flip.The throw is similar to Monte's "No Turn Cast Drill" but it's done from a punch elbow. The key is to have very loose wrists.