Anyone tried AJ Bonar's swing method?

[Big D McGee]

Started using it again...works for me!

Anyone try AJ Bonar's method for generating more power? You can see the video here:
http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/video...1532816,00.html

When I first returned to the game, I tried this to get more distance and consistency. It really worked for me, especially with my driver. I was hitting long, straight shots.

I dunno why I stopped using this swing; probably the long winter break made me forget all about it. But lately my driver has been killing me. Can't hit it a lick, and it affects every club off the tee. Tonight, I was trying out the TaylorMade R5 Dual I just got. Didn't think the R5 would cure my slice; I just wanted to try a lower loft and regular flex. Anyway, I was still slicing the hell out of the driver.

Then I remembered that the last time I was slicing the Bonar method turned my slice into a super-long, straight shot. I set up, tried it (expecting to hook the hell out of it), and I bombed it loooong and straight. The agressive wrist turn at impact seemed very natural and very easy to do. No thought, no worry about doing it properly, I just did it. I proceeded to hit my 52* wedge like this, and hit it 120! Holy Schnikes!

The video doesn't do a great job of explaining it. Basically, at address you open the clubface. Take your normal backswing, then just before impact, you aggressively rotate your wrists to square the clubface. Not only was my clubface perfectly square, but I would say I hit the ball about 15 yards further than a flushed hit with my MacTec. Could be the club, though.

I know this method is NOT for everyone. But it sure works for me. Once you've hit 5-10 shots like this, rotating the clubface at impact is a cinch. Hey, if you're slicing, and tried everything else, give it a try!

EDIT: Here's the magazine article, which is a better reference: http://www.golf.com/golf/instruction/artic...1565175,00.html

[leekgolf]

This thing has been hashed and rehashed ad nauseum. Bottom line AJ Bonar is a marketing genius. As a teacher- not so good. Don't waste your precious time.

[tbowles411]

For some people it does work. The guy is a marketing guru, but I've tried it and it does do what it claims. I don't know how consistent it remains, but as long as you follow what he says, it does it. Maybe I'm too stubborn to stick with it, but it works for some, just like Natural Golf. It works for some.

 

The way I see it, try anything to gain consistency...just look at Furyk's swing...hey, whatever works....

[hoganfan924]

Ah yes, another guy teaching hand manipulation/forearm rolling. Almost forgot about this guy. The antithesis of what I believe about the golf swing. But good luck with it. However, when you find yourself going from hitting a big slice one day to a snap hook the next, look up the thread on "body release" and do a search on Slicefixer's posts and read all of them.

[iCollector]

.... Wait a minute... If this works for someone, why tell them to stop? While I have read the Bonar article when it came out, I never felt it was for me. It seemed to depend a lot on timing it just right, so I never really pursued it. But if it helps someone, I say go for it. The golf swing has had many "methods" to get it right, and after centuries, the majority of golfers are still never going to get on the tour.

 

Big D, I say if it works for you, stick with it. (until it stops working...) Everyone's swing is unique for them, and if the AJ move helps yours I'm happy for you! I'm still searching, getting closer, but still searching....

[Big D McGee]

Ah yes, another guy teaching hand manipulation/forearm rolling. Almost forgot about this guy. The antithesis of what I believe about the golf swing. But good luck with it. However, when you find yourself going from hitting a big slice one day to a snap hook the next, look up the thread on "body release" and do a search on Slicefixer's posts and read all of them.

 

I'm sure YOUR method will work for me. LOL

 

I used Bonar's method for over a year, and the only thing I developed was really strong forearms and wrists. Never hooked the ball at all.

[leekgolf]

Ah yes, another guy teaching hand manipulation/forearm rolling. Almost forgot about this guy. The antithesis of what I believe about the golf swing. But good luck with it. However, when you find yourself going from hitting a big slice one day to a snap hook the next, look up the thread on "body release" and do a search on Slicefixer's posts and read all of them.

 

I'm sure YOUR method will work for me. LOL

 

I used Bonar's method for over a year, and the only thing I developed was really strong forearms and wrists. Never hooked the ball at all.

 

 

To each his own. That said, here are Jim MacLean's comments to Golf Magazine

By Jim McLean

Magic Methods

 

A recent Golf Magazine illustrates what's wrong with teaching!

 

Another, New Magical; Method.

 

This time a goofball teacher with excellent marketing skills and just a little knowledge on the golf swing makes a huge declaration that golf has been taught wrong, and he has the answer. Something nobody else has ever taught or known!

 

It happens at least every two years. Every magazine wants a blockbuster cover piece every month…if they can get one! “A New Secret ” because it sells. I hate to even bring up this latest guy's name. But since A.J Bonar brought up mine in his recent article, I'd like to point out a few things to show how so many golfers get totally bamboozled. He said Leadbetter, Flick, and McLean teach square to square golf. That is a flat out lie! Jim Flick actually co-authored the “Square to Square” golf book. Later, I believe he said it was the worst mistake he ever made. David Leadbetter and I do not teach “square to square” golf.

 

AJ Bonar has never read The Eight Step Swing or watched the DVD, or if he has he is the dumbest person on the planet. I lay out my entire teaching system in The Eight Step Swing book. For some reason I have the most successful golf school's in the world. My entire staff (at all golf school locations) are highly trained and they improve golfers at every level.

 

In the latest Golf Magazine article a West Virginia Health Care Administrator named Paul Nausbaun is the key proponent (the standout student) of the Bonar hand flip method. He says he went to my school and many others, but by going to AJ's school he lowered his handicap from 27 to 20 and won his club championship. Now, I have no doubt that many high handicappers benefit from working initially on a hands release. I teach this myself, along with almost every other instructor in the world. But, can you imagine a club where a 20 handicapper wins the club championship? This has to be the worst playing membership in the world.

 

Part of the recent Golf Magazine article talks about a “snappy” card trick done at Bonar's golf school. He says his secret is magic! A magic show, that's what he is selling. And golfers buy it!

 

100 years ago people like Bonar came into town on a covered wagon selling a “cure all” elixir. They were called snake oil salesman. That's what Golf Magazine is promoting this month which probably leads thousands of golfers to a goofball “one hit wonder.” Bonar has successfully marketed his “Magic Move”, and even a national magazine bought in.

 

I spent decades studying golf swings, doing research, and visiting all the great teachers. I've watched Harmon, Burke, Leadbetter, Toski, Doyle, Flick, plus many others and taken hundreds of lessons from the best in my life. Not many teachers actually travel to watch others teach. That's one reason they can get on a “magical method.” They travel in a very small universe. For sure, Bonar has never watched me teach, but I am in his article. He makes statements he has no knowledge about, and they are printed. Some people will believe him. They just don't know any better.

 

Golf Magazine uses Tiger Woods on their cover for the AJ Bonar cover piece. The clear impression is Tiger Wood's endorses this article. Bonar even says in his article that Tiger uses his hands as his method advocates. Now, if you asked Tiger Woods, he probably wouldn't even answer. It is just too stupid for Tiger to respond. I'm pretty sure Tiger would not endorse AJ Bonar's method. What do you think? Hogan, Nicklaus, Trevino and other greats say the exact opposite of what AJ teaches.

 

Interestingly, Bonar slams one of the great golf books ever written, “The Search for the Perfect Swing.” He misquotes the book and says the book is wrong! All you need to do is look at hand action on page 56 of “The Search for the Prefect Swing.” (Cochran and Stobbs the authors) write about “rotating the clubface as if using a screw driver.” They discuss in detail pronation and supination. Unbelievably Bonar then plagiarizes the very book he criticizes. It is right in the Golf Magazine article where AJ Bonar says, “Imagine you are gripping a screw driver and turning it counter clockwise.” That is Blatant Plagiary!! The golf writer at Golf Magazine is probably so ill informed he doesn't even know what he's writing or that he is plagiarizing a famous book. 10,000 teachers could help a 27 handicap chopper. I did a Golf Channel TV show where I started with almost a beginner golf shooting over 120. Within two years he got down to a single digit handicap.

 

This sort of thing has happened in the past, using others work..or using a famous golfer to “look like” he is endorsing your product or ideas. It happened with my “X-Factor” work. This year, once again, Golf Magazine ran Tiger Woods on a cover piece article entitled “The New X-Factor” by Peter Kostis (when Tiger had nothing to do with the article at all). The new X-Factor information in the Peter Kostis article was not new, and certainly not revolutionary. Some of the article even contradicted my research. Worst of all he was using my own ideas as “his new ideas.”

 

It would be hard to find any golf professional on this planet that does not teach “Bonar's secret move…hand action and hands release.” As I stated I teach it myself, but I certainly do not teach this to everyone, it's mostly for beginners. Teaching lots of hand action is, in my opinion, early stage learning. It is a major piece of my learning system and has been in publication for over 15 years. Remember this kind of hand action has been taught for centuries.

 

To put things into perspective a great teacher and friend of mine Jimmy Ballard said, in golf “the dog wags the tail, the tail doesn't wag the dog,” and “bad golf is played from the elbows down.” Those lines have been ripped off too, but it was Ballard who brought those concepts to teaching golf in America . He did not invent the basic idea of using an athletic motion, he brought a very new method to teaching the game using ideas from Ben Hogan and other great ball strikers. Jimmy has taught covering the ball with the toe of the club, but not with hand rotation alone. Ballard advocated releasing the clubhead with the whole right side, not just the hands. Ballard was and is still a great teacher. He worked with the top players in the world and they all would come to see him at his facility. He wasn't chasing down pros on tour driving ranges.

 

AJ Bonar is a snake oil salesman, a plagiarizer, a con artist, but also “a world class marketing expert!” After all a million suckers have apparently purchased his video tape. A great infomercial is obviously just too tantalizing for many viewers to pass up. We would all love a “Secret!” something quick and easy to save our golf. That is what Bonar and others like him sell.

 

Golfers will often try just about anything, but there is no magic move that will cure your terrible golf in 7 minutes. That's a magic trick. It's at best a short term fix for a minority of people. Golfers will be on to a new magic cure next year and AJ Bonar will have had his 15 minutes of fame.

 

Great teaching ideas last. Good golf takes time, and attention to the essentials of the game. Everyone is different and a good teacher must adjust to the student in front of them.

 

After studying so many different teachers and methods, I came to the conclusion that golf should be taught in stages. Perhaps most important there are acceptable ranges. No two swings are identical and there are many ways to be successful.

[slicefixer]

Ah yes, another guy teaching hand manipulation/forearm rolling. Almost forgot about this guy. The antithesis of what I believe about the golf swing. But good luck with it. However, when you find yourself going from hitting a big slice one day to a snap hook the next, look up the thread on "body release" and do a search on Slicefixer's posts and read all of them.

 

I'm sure YOUR method will work for me. LOL

 

I used Bonar's method for over a year, and the only thing I developed was really strong forearms and wrists. Never hooked the ball at all.

 

 

To each his own, if it helped you then great.........but there IS a reason that just about NOBODY in the highest levels of our game swings this way.......it's VERY outdated and NOT the most technically effecient way to swing a golf club for MOST people.........but, will it work, I'm sure it will for anyone who worked at it.......is it the best way for most to swing a golf club, NOT by a long shot and that's why nobody of any real consequence in golf uses it nor will they IMOP.......just another stop, sling, and slap marketing guru like ole' Dalton.......however, if it works for you then fantastic as I truly feel whatever brings the individual more enjoyment with their golf game is a positive......

[Big D McGee]

Ah yes, another guy teaching hand manipulation/forearm rolling. Almost forgot about this guy. The antithesis of what I believe about the golf swing. But good luck with it. However, when you find yourself going from hitting a big slice one day to a snap hook the next, look up the thread on "body release" and do a search on Slicefixer's posts and read all of them.

 

I'm sure YOUR method will work for me. LOL

 

I used Bonar's method for over a year, and the only thing I developed was really strong forearms and wrists. Never hooked the ball at all.

 

 

To each his own. That said, here are Jim MacLean's comments to Golf Magazine

By Jim McLean

Magic Methods

 

A recent Golf Magazine illustrates what's wrong with teaching!

 

Another, New Magical; Method.

 

This time a goofball teacher with excellent marketing skills and just a little knowledge on the golf swing makes a huge declaration that golf has been taught wrong, and he has the answer. Something nobody else has ever taught or known!

 

It happens at least every two years. Every magazine wants a blockbuster cover piece every month…if they can get one! “A New Secret ” because it sells. I hate to even bring up this latest guy's name. But since A.J Bonar brought up mine in his recent article, I'd like to point out a few things to show how so many golfers get totally bamboozled. He said Leadbetter, Flick, and McLean teach square to square golf. That is a flat out lie! Jim Flick actually co-authored the “Square to Square” golf book. Later, I believe he said it was the worst mistake he ever made. David Leadbetter and I do not teach “square to square” golf.

 

AJ Bonar has never read The Eight Step Swing or watched the DVD, or if he has he is the dumbest person on the planet. I lay out my entire teaching system in The Eight Step Swing book. For some reason I have the most successful golf school's in the world. My entire staff (at all golf school locations) are highly trained and they improve golfers at every level.

 

In the latest Golf Magazine article a West Virginia Health Care Administrator named Paul Nausbaun is the key proponent (the standout student) of the Bonar hand flip method. He says he went to my school and many others, but by going to AJ's school he lowered his handicap from 27 to 20 and won his club championship. Now, I have no doubt that many high handicappers benefit from working initially on a hands release. I teach this myself, along with almost every other instructor in the world. But, can you imagine a club where a 20 handicapper wins the club championship? This has to be the worst playing membership in the world.

 

Part of the recent Golf Magazine article talks about a “snappy” card trick done at Bonar's golf school. He says his secret is magic! A magic show, that's what he is selling. And golfers buy it!

 

100 years ago people like Bonar came into town on a covered wagon selling a “cure all” elixir. They were called snake oil salesman. That's what Golf Magazine is promoting this month which probably leads thousands of golfers to a goofball “one hit wonder.” Bonar has successfully marketed his “Magic Move”, and even a national magazine bought in.

 

I spent decades studying golf swings, doing research, and visiting all the great teachers. I've watched Harmon, Burke, Leadbetter, Toski, Doyle, Flick, plus many others and taken hundreds of lessons from the best in my life. Not many teachers actually travel to watch others teach. That's one reason they can get on a “magical method.” They travel in a very small universe. For sure, Bonar has never watched me teach, but I am in his article. He makes statements he has no knowledge about, and they are printed. Some people will believe him. They just don't know any better.

 

Golf Magazine uses Tiger Woods on their cover for the AJ Bonar cover piece. The clear impression is Tiger Wood's endorses this article. Bonar even says in his article that Tiger uses his hands as his method advocates. Now, if you asked Tiger Woods, he probably wouldn't even answer. It is just too stupid for Tiger to respond. I'm pretty sure Tiger would not endorse AJ Bonar's method. What do you think? Hogan, Nicklaus, Trevino and other greats say the exact opposite of what AJ teaches.

 

Interestingly, Bonar slams one of the great golf books ever written, “The Search for the Perfect Swing.” He misquotes the book and says the book is wrong! All you need to do is look at hand action on page 56 of “The Search for the Prefect Swing.” (Cochran and Stobbs the authors) write about “rotating the clubface as if using a screw driver.” They discuss in detail pronation and supination. Unbelievably Bonar then plagiarizes the very book he criticizes. It is right in the Golf Magazine article where AJ Bonar says, “Imagine you are gripping a screw driver and turning it counter clockwise.” That is Blatant Plagiary!! The golf writer at Golf Magazine is probably so ill informed he doesn't even know what he's writing or that he is plagiarizing a famous book. 10,000 teachers could help a 27 handicap chopper. I did a Golf Channel TV show where I started with almost a beginner golf shooting over 120. Within two years he got down to a single digit handicap.

 

This sort of thing has happened in the past, using others work..or using a famous golfer to “look like” he is endorsing your product or ideas. It happened with my “X-Factor” work. This year, once again, Golf Magazine ran Tiger Woods on a cover piece article entitled “The New X-Factor” by Peter Kostis (when Tiger had nothing to do with the article at all). The new X-Factor information in the Peter Kostis article was not new, and certainly not revolutionary. Some of the article even contradicted my research. Worst of all he was using my own ideas as “his new ideas.”

 

It would be hard to find any golf professional on this planet that does not teach “Bonar's secret move…hand action and hands release.” As I stated I teach it myself, but I certainly do not teach this to everyone, it's mostly for beginners. Teaching lots of hand action is, in my opinion, early stage learning. It is a major piece of my learning system and has been in publication for over 15 years. Remember this kind of hand action has been taught for centuries.

 

To put things into perspective a great teacher and friend of mine Jimmy Ballard said, in golf “the dog wags the tail, the tail doesn't wag the dog,” and “bad golf is played from the elbows down.” Those lines have been ripped off too, but it was Ballard who brought those concepts to teaching golf in America . He did not invent the basic idea of using an athletic motion, he brought a very new method to teaching the game using ideas from Ben Hogan and other great ball strikers. Jimmy has taught covering the ball with the toe of the club, but not with hand rotation alone. Ballard advocated releasing the clubhead with the whole right side, not just the hands. Ballard was and is still a great teacher. He worked with the top players in the world and they all would come to see him at his facility. He wasn't chasing down pros on tour driving ranges.

 

AJ Bonar is a snake oil salesman, a plagiarizer, a con artist, but also “a world class marketing expert!” After all a million suckers have apparently purchased his video tape. A great infomercial is obviously just too tantalizing for many viewers to pass up. We would all love a “Secret!” something quick and easy to save our golf. That is what Bonar and others like him sell.

 

Golfers will often try just about anything, but there is no magic move that will cure your terrible golf in 7 minutes. That's a magic trick. It's at best a short term fix for a minority of people. Golfers will be on to a new magic cure next year and AJ Bonar will have had his 15 minutes of fame.

 

Great teaching ideas last. Good golf takes time, and attention to the essentials of the game. Everyone is different and a good teacher must adjust to the student in front of them.

 

After studying so many different teachers and methods, I came to the conclusion that golf should be taught in stages. Perhaps most important there are acceptable ranges. No two swings are identical and there are many ways to be successful.

 

Riiight. 'Cause it's not like Jim Mclean is trying to sell anything. :beruo:

[frozyn]

You guys are all forgetting about the best golf instruction in the world:

 

 

:beruo:

[tbowles411]

I played a round with an older gentleman, in fact it was on his birthday. He just turned 75. Him and his son were out on a Saturday morning. This dude hit driver on EVERY hole. His swing was the most awkward abbreviated swing I had ever seen. But he piped it, 200 yards down the middle. We came to a 121 yard par 3 and my man takes out his driver. I said to him, "Sir, it's only a pitch or a soft 9." He said, "Son, just watch." He dropped that ball to 12 freaking inches. I laughed so hard, when we got to the green and I hit his ball back to him. I told him, no way I was going to make him hit that putt after a shot like that with a driver. He told me something I'll never forget. He said, you can hit almost any shot with almost any swing you have. At my age, I have to use what I have and this works for me. If what you have works for you, don't change no matter what know-it-all says looks funny or it's wrong.

 

After that, I stopped worrying about what my swing looked like and took that pressure off my game. If AJ's system works for you, by all means use it. If McLean, or Hardy, or Harmon or whoever works for anyone else, use it. Groove your swing and keep with it. Don't let anyone else tell you different.