Mind Blown -- The BEST DRILL EVER

[Tanner25]

I threw some clubs today and I liked it, lol. Seriously, I had some success with it. My question is. I tend to collapse my backswing to get that natural throwing feeling. Is this to be avoided and try to stay wide on the back swing and then throw it.

 

I am kicking myself as a former co-worker gave me this tip 10 years ago. But, he left out the throwing clubs as a drill.

[Deepfork]

Nobody out on the course today so I decided I'd try tossing a club down the fairway. I hung on too long and launched it over my left shoulder and into a lake! LOL. Good thing it hit a tree first and I was able to drag it out. My advice, don't be ANYWHERE near water!

[tinman143]

Lolz deepfork!!

[GMR]

I threw some clubs today and I liked it, lol. Seriously, I had some success with it. My question is. I tend to collapse my backswing to get that natural throwing feeling. Is this to be avoided and try to stay wide on the back swing and then throw it.

 

I am kicking myself as a former co-worker gave me this tip 10 years ago. But, he left out the throwing clubs as a drill.

Not sure what you mean by collapsing the backswing. Did you try hitting some balls afterwards to see the results?

[GMR]

Nobody out on the course today so I decided I'd try tossing a club down the fairway. I hung on too long and launched it over my left shoulder and into a lake! LOL. Good thing it hit a tree first and I was able to drag it out. My advice, don't be ANYWHERE near water!

Hahaha :)

 

Should stress that until you get good at this the clubs can literally go anywhere. In all seriousness don't try this (at least until proficient) near houses, other people, or indeed lakes!

[Hilts1969]

Nobody out on the course today so I decided I'd try tossing a club down the fairway. I hung on too long and launched it over my left shoulder and into a lake! LOL. Good thing it hit a tree first and I was able to drag it out. My advice, don't be ANYWHERE near water!

Hahaha :)

 

Should stress that until you get good at this the clubs can literally go anywhere. In all seriousness don't try this (at least until proficient) near houses, other people, or indeed lakes!

 

Wished you had told me this before my birthday party at the boat house last weekend

[Tanner25]

I threw some clubs today and I liked it, lol. Seriously, I had some success with it. My question is. I tend to collapse my backswing to get that natural throwing feeling. Is this to be avoided and try to stay wide on the back swing and then throw it.

 

I am kicking myself as a former co-worker gave me this tip 10 years ago. But, he left out the throwing clubs as a drill.

Not sure what you mean by collapsing the backswing. Did you try hitting some balls afterwards to see the results?

 

I did hit balls afterward with some success. There was not explosive distance. But, a very acceptable straight shot with little effort. By collapse on the backswing, I mean the elbows fold too much and it is an old problem for me. So, I am not sure, if I should go for the wide backswing and then throw or just throw it naturally without any thoughts in the backswing.

 

It was difficult to shift and throw. Maybe, that is something left for practice. But, not a thought for the course.

[GMR]

I threw some clubs today and I liked it, lol. Seriously, I had some success with it. My question is. I tend to collapse my backswing to get that natural throwing feeling. Is this to be avoided and try to stay wide on the back swing and then throw it.

 

I am kicking myself as a former co-worker gave me this tip 10 years ago. But, he left out the throwing clubs as a drill.

Not sure what you mean by collapsing the backswing. Did you try hitting some balls afterwards to see the results?

 

I did hit balls afterward with some success. There was not explosive distance. But, a very acceptable straight shot with little effort. By collapse on the backswing, I mean the elbows fold too much and it is an old problem for me. So, I am not sure, if I should go for the wide backswing and then throw or just throw it naturally without any thoughts in the backswing.

 

It was difficult to shift and throw. Maybe, that is something left for practice. But, not a thought for the course.

 

I am certainly not qualified to give instruction on the swing, but what I will say is that if you keep at the drill but work on throwing the clubs further, I would think it will start to naturally take care of the issue. Record your max distance on your throw and then the next time you are out try to beat it by 5 yards. I think that to get it out there a fair ways both of those issues of yours will have to take care of themselves (particularly the weight shift).

 

For reference I have about 110mph of driver swing speed and whike I haven't been super precise in measuring, my better iron throws are probably somewhere in the range of 75 yards.

[Cwing]

Good web site for the club throw drill....enjoy!

 

http://www.michaelwilsongolf.com/connections/

 

Interesting stuff.

[crkranz]

Good web site for the club throw drill....enjoy!

 

http://www.michaelwi...om/connections/

 

What does he mean by 60degrees behind the ball??

[robbohank]

I take it to mean 60 degrees left of the target line in a DTL view. 90 degrees being directly behind him. I could be wrong but it loooks like he just wants to move the intent from the target to later in the finish.......almost like your throwing it up the shaft angle at address from the DTL perspective.

 

Very interesting take on the whole club tossing phenomena by Wilson.

[vlclax10]

Congrats. Can you try it a few more times to see if the magic continues?

 

Of course, but the thing I am really excited about is my total lack of need for thinking about the swing at all. I feel like I could take a month off and come out firing on all cylinders with this intent, as I'm just doing something my body has been programmed to do from a young age.

 

What is really strange is I don't even have a desire to see the "new" swing on video... I love the thought of being able to play to a high level without any technical thoughts floating around in my head.

 

If I had a nickel for every time I've had these exact thoughts after an amazing round of golf, I'd have a lot of nickels - maybe enough to buy a new driver after breaking mine when I go out to the next round thinking "I'll just do the same thing as last time with no swing thoughts. And with a little more practice, I'll be on the tour in no time" and then proceed to lose every ball in my bag before the round is over...

[Tanner25]

I am fine tuning this approach. I am finding if I go with the feeling of throwing the club with my left hand (righty), it is a better swing.

[Deadaimz]

Thanks for posting. I would like to see video of the *60 throw he speaks of. Just ordered Shoemaker's book can't wait to read it.

[Silky]

I just want to add my viewpoint to keep this great thread going. This could turn out to be an advanced enhancement or a monkey wrench to the throw drill.

 

Rigid bodies like a Frisbee, a basketball, a football, an ax, a boomerang, when travel are endowed with linear momentum and angular momentum, that is they spin around their center of mass as they travel too.

 

It is a known fact that angular motion of the club through impact contributes significantly to the clubhead speed. Therefore, as an intent, shouldn't we throw with the objective of the club spinning fast in addition to travelling far and high?

[RyanJHazy]

I just want to add my viewpoint to keep this great thread going. This could turn out to be an advanced enhancement or a monkey wrench to the throw drill.

 

Rigid bodies like a Frisbee, a basketball, a football, an ax, a boomerang, when travel are endowed with linear momentum and angular momentum, that is they spin around their center of mass as they travel too.

 

It is a known fact that angular motion of the club through impact contributes significantly to the clubhead speed. Therefore, as an intent, shouldn't we throw with the objective of the club spinning fast in addition to travelling far and high?

 

 

this is an interesting thought; i will have to actually toss some clubs tomorrow, but IMO they may be one of the same?

[GMR]

I just want to add my viewpoint to keep this great thread going. This could turn out to be an advanced enhancement or a monkey wrench to the throw drill.

 

Rigid bodies like a Frisbee, a basketball, a football, an ax, a boomerang, when travel are endowed with linear momentum and angular momentum, that is they spin around their center of mass as they travel too.

 

It is a known fact that angular motion of the club through impact contributes significantly to the clubhead speed. Therefore, as an intent, shouldn't we throw with the objective of the club spinning fast in addition to travelling far and high?

 

If that intent works for you then sure. When you try this you will notice that you have to get the club "spinning" pretty fast when you throw it if you are going to throw it a long ways. A "knuckleball" release on a club throw probably goes about half the distance. Good observation.

[GMR]

Wanted to post an update on my progress here in case anyone is interested.

 

So after my "revelation" my first round out was a casual money match with some guys from the club. Disappointingly, as soon as I got into a somewhat pressure situation the feeling was just gone. I tried to picture it in my preshot routine but I just couldn't get that feel that I have had at the range to translate in my full swing. I didn't have a great ballstriking round, but as I have mentioned a couple times here the same intent is magical in the short game, and that helped me scramble all day long to a respectable (for a UK 10 anyway) 85, which actually somehow lost both the front and back but won the full 18 on a countback.

 

After that round I went home a little discouraged and tried to figure out how to get the feeling back and how to find it the next time under pressure. I went out that night and threw some clubs, and identified that my timing was likely rushed once I felt the pressure to perform. For me personally, the feel when I throw a club is that I take it back quickly and smoothly without much fuss, but then I transition to my "throwing stance" and kinda pause a little as as I get there before I load up on the effort to heave it. If you need a demonstration, Shawn Clement's swing kinda looks like this.

 

I also realise that with my intent fully on heaving the club on a shallow plane, my setup and backswing were getting a bit sloppy as I was getting too low and flat on the backswing, which was counterintuitively making it harder to get in the right position for the final heave.

 

So in my new preshot routine I still picture throwing the clubhead, but I take a slow full swing and make sure to feel or even exaggerate that timing. I then set up to the ball and check posture. I start the swing taking the club up vertically out and behind my right shoulder. Then from there it is a "pause" in throwing position followed by a heave of the clubhead to the target. When I type it out it sounds like a lot of thoughts but really the only swing thought is in the takeaway, and having taken a couple slow practice swings already basically takes care of the timing.

 

Well anyway results. Had a friend out to play yesterday who I always have a competitive betting match with, so perfect time to test things out. With the new swing approach the game felt somewhat effortless. Despite stupid careless mental errors on holes 1 and 2 leading to missed greens and bogies, I found myself even par through 12 holes. My partial wedge approaches were a huge strength, and with the throwing feel I felt (much like with pitching the ball) that I could just throw darts. On the 8th I landed a half-pw exactly on the spot I was aimed at 120 yards and watched it trickle down to the hole and dissappear for eagle. On the 10th I stuffed a 100yd half-gw to inside 3 ft.

 

Driving was good, irons even better. Still hit some thin but overall strikes were better and mishits much better and with better distance. Despite 4-putting 13 for double I had won the match by hole 14. Couple sloppy drives on 16 and 18 as I just ran out of steam, but walked away with a 76 with 12 GIRs. First time I have broken 80 on this course since joining in March. And the crazy thing is it could have easily been at least 3 or 4 strokes better.

 

Anyway I am pretty pumped up right now, and am just loving how easy this new approach is making the game feel!

[i*windows]

@GMR nice write up, although I haven't used the throw the club 'feeling' in some time, I use something similar which is just throwing a ball at target + step drill, its a similar concept and works well.

[Swisstrader98]

@GMR, Sean Clement on YouTube has loads of videos about tossing the club, throwing it down the line, too many to list, but I think this is the best

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxefAH4pREc

 

Thanks for posting and yes that's about it. I personally thought it was easier to start with a one-hand throwing action as that's a more natural motion for me, but that detail isn't super important. The important part is that you change your intent from trying to impart the power/speed of the club into the ball (like hitting a nail with a hammer) to instead trying to fling the club through the ball in a throwing motion, and just allowing the ball to get in the way.

 

Another thing I've discovered is it's somewhat helpful to think of the golf ball as super light and nearly nonexistant--like a ping-pong ball--so that your body doesn't naturally "brace for impact" and tighten up your arms, wrists, and grip pressure.

 

this one as well, explains the difference between focus on the ball and on the target.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvGbWcS1i4Y

 

So much YESSS!!

 

The operative words from Sean C and that almost get lost in the video are the following words:

 

Sean: “Did you feel that little TUG ON THE SHOULDER SOCKETS??!!!”

 

That’s one of my number one keys to my iron play. I never quite understood people who are looking to mimic body positions or have 10 swing thoughts each time they pick up a club.

 

I’m very big on comparisons between Stone Age man throwing stones or sticks at their prey and golf with aiming at a target and simply firing a ball at that target...that’s why it feels so darned good when you hit a decent shot because it fires the same neurons in your brain as it did with Neanderthal man.

 

Does anyone think these guys a zillion years ago thought about body positions??

 

 

[Petunia Sprinkle]

I am fine tuning this approach. I am finding if I go with the feeling of throwing the club with my left hand (righty), it is a better swing.

 

I don't mean to pick on you, Tanner, but this struck me oddly. If you haven't actually thrown a club, and you're going off imagining what it might be like, you might be stunned by what would happen if you actually threw an actual club (my guess is that it would go dead left). All that said, in my view, a throwing action is just one way to hit a ball.

[Deadaimz]

GMR Which throwing club motion are you using? Down the target or the *60 left and up? Thanks for the write up I can't wait to go home and try this.

[GMR]

GMR Which throwing club motion are you using? Down the target or the *60 left and up? Thanks for the write up I can't wait to go home and try this.

When I actually throw the club I'm trying to throw the club to a target. The trajectory depends on how far the target is of course--if I'm trying to throw the club 80 yards down the fairway it will be on a mid/high trajectory, whereas no need to throw it quite so high if i'm just tossing it 10-15 yards. Watch the first posted Clement video for a general demonstration...the only real difference in what I'm doing is I'm starting with a right arm only throw so that it doesn't feel so much like a golf swing.

[gvogel]

@GMR, Sean Clement on YouTube has loads of videos about tossing the club, throwing it down the line, too many to list, but I think this is the best

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxefAH4pREc

 

Thanks for posting and yes that's about it. I personally thought it was easier to start with a one-hand throwing action as that's a more natural motion for me, but that detail isn't super important. The important part is that you change your intent from trying to impart the power/speed of the club into the ball (like hitting a nail with a hammer) to instead trying to fling the club through the ball in a throwing motion, and just allowing the ball to get in the way.

 

Another thing I've discovered is it's somewhat helpful to think of the golf ball as super light and nearly nonexistant--like a ping-pong ball--so that your body doesn't naturally "brace for impact" and tighten up your arms, wrists, and grip pressure.

 

this one as well, explains the difference between focus on the ball and on the target.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvGbWcS1i4Y

 

So much YESSS!!

 

The operative words from Sean C and that almost get lost in the video are the following words:

 

Sean: “Did you feel that little TUG ON THE SHOULDER SOCKETS??!!!”

 

That’s one of my number one keys to my iron play. I never quite understood people who are looking to mimic body positions or have 10 swing thoughts each time they pick up a club.

 

I’m very big on comparisons between Stone Age man throwing stones or sticks at their prey and golf with aiming at a target and simply firing a ball at that target...that’s why it feels so darned good when you hit a decent shot because it fires the same neurons in your brain as it did with Neanderthal man.

 

Does anyone think these guys a zillion years ago thought about body positions??

 

NOW I have a swing thought!

 

Edit: I should feel the tug on the shoulder sockets.

[Swisstrader98]

GMR Which throwing club motion are you using? Down the target or the *60 left and up? Thanks for the write up I can't wait to go home and try this.

 

Uh oh. Now we’re going to start to get technical about throwing a club:)

[Petunia Sprinkle]

Can club throwing lessons and getting fit for throwing clubs be far off. Trackman sessions for throwing?

[Tanner25]

I am fine tuning this approach. I am finding if I go with the feeling of throwing the club with my left hand (righty), it is a better swing.

 

I don't mean to pick on you, Tanner, but this struck me oddly. If you haven't actually thrown a club, and you're going off imagining what it might be like, you might be stunned by what would happen if you actually threw an actual club (my guess is that it would go dead left). All that said, in my view, a throwing action is just one way to hit a ball.

 

I have thrown the club before both hands and with my right. Just not with my left hand. After further review, I like this as a practice swing to loosen things up.

[Apollo 13]

Minor update.

 

I worked on this again for 3 buckets at the range yesterday with much better success than my first outing. I had to focus on the feel of throwing underarm to 1 o clock (12 being target), whereas previously I was incorrectly picturing more of a side arm throw. Absolutely striping irons and woods! My miss was a slight pull or pull-draw.

 

Less successful with the driver, but I think maybe my setup needs work. To be fair, I've been struggling with my driver anyway recently.

 

Looking forward to taking this thought to the course!

[zebra2955]

Tried this out the other day. Took an old 7,8 and 9 iron out to a baseball field. Sttod behind first and threw the clubs toward second base. First 7-8 throws were high pulls. Then I stopped focusing on the throwing and focused on second base. WOW what a difference. Left the baseball field and went to the range. Hit the ball better and then today shot 9 holes. One of my better rounds.

 

Now for my question. for the OP. did you try to throw a certain distance, and then increase your distance throwing the club? If so how did that work/feel ?

 

I intend to keep going to the baseball field when I get chances. I like it there as I feel it is safer to be out there tossing golf clubs then anywhere else

[GMR]

Minor update.

 

I worked on this again for 3 buckets at the range yesterday with much better success than my first outing. I had to focus on the feel of throwing underarm to 1 o clock (12 being target), whereas previously I was incorrectly picturing more of a side arm throw. Absolutely striping irons and woods! My miss was a slight pull or pull-draw.

 

Less successful with the driver, but I think maybe my setup needs work. To be fair, I've been struggling with my driver anyway recently.

 

Looking forward to taking this thought to the course!

 

Glad to hear it helped. Keep us posted on progress!