Pete Cowen : "Worlds BEST golf coach TRANSFORMS my game in 25 MINUTES!!"

[Showtime9]

1 hour ago, dave458 said:

click bait titles in youtube is like confetti in a ticker tape parade, everyone trying to grab a piece of the pie, but hard to get away from that almost everyone does so,  but getting past the litter there's some great info especially Cowen showing us in these videos.  

Agreed. I tried some of it last night but was having trouble getting the feel for the loaded shoulder

[hammersia]

On 7/17/2022 at 2:24 PM, dave458 said:

Cowan is on my bucket list after this one he's one of the best at this, this will help my game a lot, and seeing it alot at the Open.  Thanks to Danny Muade too.  

 

 

 

I initially read that as it helping you at the Open.

[Hawkeye77]

On 7/17/2022 at 8:24 AM, dave458 said:

Cowan is on my bucket list after this one he's one of the best at this, this will help my game a lot, and seeing it alot at the Open.  Thanks to Danny Muade too.  

 

 

 

 

That's a good one, quite a bit going on there if you watch and listen, but seems so simple.  Not many YouTube vids I ever watch for golf "tips" or instruction, but that one is worth the look, IMO - to me was better than 30-45 minutes of Cowen on video trying to explain it in some other vids.  Not necessarily the way I play those shots, but some of the intents resonate and I had some positive experiences trying it.

 

[CasualLie]

The Danny Maude / Cown video is good one.  I don't know the title screen has to superimpose them on a totally different location, but whatever...

 

But one thing that has to be very frustrating to golfers trying to learn is how Danny Maude already had chipping/pitching videos, and they were not bad given his intended audience.  Then he sees Pete, learns something, and makes another video on how to do the right setup/move/feel.  So we have three videos of the same shots: Maude before, Maude with Pete, Maude after.  And it is not that the new info Maude got from Pete is contradictory, but there is enough nuance that a lot of golfers must be wondering "well, which is it!?!"

 

 

[Chunkitgood]

On 3/30/2022 at 8:19 AM, Hawkeye77 said:

Most certainly does, just explained, and in detail, without simply saying "loading the shoulders".  Different ways of saying the same thing, but it's in there.

 

 

I would appreciate it if you, or anybody else, would explain what loading the shoulders means.

[David C]

On 7/28/2022 at 6:24 AM, Chunkitgood said:

I would appreciate it if you, or anybody else, would explain what loading the shoulders means.

Visualise I don’t know, someone with a fairly neutral swing like Nick Faldo at the top of their swing, same spine angle to the ground at address.
 

Well, without raising the spine up as you do this, the shoulders slightly shrug vertically up for a fade shot and for a draw the left shoulder is more ‘out’. 
 

For a fade this is basically loading the shoulders more steep vertically and for a draw, more flat and horizontally.

 

This sets up the opposite movement on the downswing causing the arms to influence the club out to in for a fade and in to out for a draw. As he has said in many interviews, the shoulders in his car analogy are the transmission. He wants them to transmit direction and force to the arms and club by moving in the correct direction for the shot that is intended.

 

Although when he shows by swishing the tour stick the exercises to do away from hitting balls, moving the left shoulder actually is achieved by the moving the left arm and the arm motivating it and not just only the shoulder itself, which is relatively too small and weak to be able to move a massive arm and club by itself.

 

An alternative is to focus on using the arms or swinging the club in those directions.  He just likes to give the shoulders something to do, rather than have them move round haphazardly, or worse, unintentionally in the opposite way to the shot shape you want.

 

So the shoulders control the path very subtly. The opposing forces in the grip and a neutral ‘release’ vertically *down*, rather than wrists rolling or re-cupping to release it, is an attempt to reduce the clubhead rotating round the shaft dimension except that which naturally occurs. Passively. Or reduce, as he calls it. ‘manipulation’, and that should enable you to control the face subtly. So predominantly the player visualises the hands only working up and down, and whilst they do flex and extend side to side, and rotate a bit, it’s passive and non-conscious. It feels and looks like they operate the club on a 45 degree angle when you are cocking your wrists. It’s all very square feeling. Imagine how it would feel if you had a flat topped putter grip on your club and you kept that vertical and square feeling throughout the swing. Very minimal rotational feeling.
 

All of which should result in tighter curvature and less big misses the opposite way to what you intend. In the hands of a tour pro that can already control their start lines to a superior level, it is very effective.

 

Especially in order to hit what he calls a ‘pressure fade’. This is a full face fade, a pull fade, ‘front-side of the circle’, caused by loading the shoulders more ‘up’, unloading them down from the top and with a slightly closed delivery position ie clubface nearer to matching your spine angle at p6, then releasing the clubhead and pressure (force) down and forwards and using the arms and pivot and weight transference (pressure) to arc the club left post-impact. See the clip of him with Thomas Pieters.

 

With the equal and opposite grip providing more clubface stability, the start line is going to be neutral, and the amount of curvature will depend on how effectively you direct the shoulders and arms down and left. But done correctly it is never going to get too far away from you unless you really exaggerate it.  And as

long as the shoulders and arms unload vertically, you are never hitting it left. Or double-crossing.
 

The club pro basically turned up hitting and hoping, no idea and no intention of his ballflight. So his badly executed shots are badly execute *hit and hopes*. Whereas Mr Cowen wants your badly executed shots to be badly executed versions of shots you intend. As he says, the number one common denominator in good players is a delivery position that matches the shot that is intended. The pro started out with no intended shot, a delivery position that was variable, and reliance on hand-eye co-ordination and experience to put club on ball.

Edited September 30, 2022 by David C

[nitram]

@David CVery Well Said Sir! 🍻

[anthonyp123]

i can definitely see how pete cowen could be confusing but for some reason everything he says makes sense to me. He has a video with danny maude about how the right arm works and it's been a light bulb moment. Wish there was more of him on youtube 

[parforme]

I know this is an old thread but I just went thru it and it had me smiling.  A few years ago, I had a lesson with a highly respected instructor who has a number of prospective PGA and LPGA players as students.  He kept asking me these ridiculously nebulous questions of which I didn't understand the question let alone know the answer.  It was painful.  I kept thinking "I came to you for answers, not questions."   I played the next day and was hitting high hooks into left field all day off the tee.  More pain.  Obviously I never went back.  

 

Most decent golf instructors can see what is wrong with your swing.  The trick is for the instructor to be able to communicate to the student how to correct those swing flaws, and since feel and real are never the same, that's the real challenge.  

 

Maybe it is me.  I have heard a number of instructors reference letting gravity do it's work and to me is makes absolutely no sense at all.  Relatively speaking, the club is pretty light and gravity can only do it's work if I let go of the club.  As long as I am holding the club, it's me doing the work.  There has been way, way too much black magic added to golf instruction.

 

[Divot License]

On 8/25/2023 at 4:17 AM, parforme said:

The trick is for the instructor to be able to communicate to the student how to correct those swing flaws, and since feel and real are never the same, that's the real challenge.

I think this is the key factor. In a lesson I had several weeks ago I was drifting off the ball to much and not rotating enough. My pro (been working with him for years) kept telling me to not drift and turn more on the back swing. No matter what I tried I couldn't perform the action he wanted. Eventually, he got hands on and physically moved my body how he wanted. I told him it felt like all I did was push my right butt check straight back and that I felt no turn. He showed me a video and I had turned nicely. 

 

Feels and reels don't match but also intention doesn't always match requirement. 

Edited January 3 by Divot License

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Divot License said:

I think this is the key factor. In a lesson I had several weeks ago I was drifting off the ball to much and not rotating enough. My pro (been working with him for years) kept telling me to not drift and turn more on the back swing. No matter what I tried I couldn't perform the action he wanted. Eventually, he got hands on and physically moved my body how he wanted. I told him it felt like all I did was push my right butt check straight back and that I felt no turn. He showed me a video and I had turned nicely. 

 

Feels and reels don't match but also intention doesn't always match requirement. 

 

I wasn't there, of course, but this illustrates why I'm a big fan of going to the "other side" of the problem immediately, whether by over-exaggerating it or what.

 

Had a guy that was 3° up and 12° right, so I showed him a swing that was literally 15° down and 25° left, and said "swing like that for a few and let's see the numbers." His first swing "like that" was 3° down and 1° left. 😛