The Arm Swing Illusion / Jim Waldron's Swing Philosophy

[Michael C.]

Great question, Eagle and another fine post, Jim.

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='FatReed' timestamp='1421281547' post='10748097']
Holy cow Jim . . . You never seize to amaze!!
[/quote]

If you are experiencing seizures from reading this thread, you are doing something wrong....

Maybe Depakote or Dilantin?

[Michael C.]

[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421283478' post='10748297']
[quote name='FatReed' timestamp='1421281547' post='10748097']
Holy cow Jim . . . You never seize to amaze!!
[/quote]

If you are experiencing seizures from reading this thread, you are doing something wrong....

Maybe Depakote or Dilantin?
[/quote]

Now, that's funny!! LOL

[FatReed]

[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421283478' post='10748297']
[quote name='FatReed' timestamp='1421281547' post='10748097']
Holy cow Jim . . . You never seize to amaze!!
[/quote]

If you are experiencing seizures from reading this thread, you are doing something wrong....

Maybe Depakote or Dilantin?
[/quote]
Really interesting. . . Finishing up in clinic and last patient had post-traumatic seizures - Keppra the drug of choice these days. Anyway, slip of words, but you 'seized'' the moment ;-))

[PJ1120]

Jim....what are your thoughts on the real high bounce wedges that Renegar and Edel put out?

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='PJ1120' timestamp='1421342962' post='10751677']
Jim....what are your thoughts on the real high bounce wedges that Renegar and Edel put out?
[/quote]

I tend to be skeptical of ANY extreme instructional or equipment ideas. In general, the track record is pretty poor. But I do know that some folks swear by those high bounce wedges, so you have to give them some credibility. You would have to have the technique to support the high bounce - many golfers do not. Bounce is for a lot reasons and forgiveness or a greater margin of error is one of them, but I am not sure that translates into much "more" margin of error by radically increasing the bounce, might have the opposite effect?

[notsohard]

great last posts Jim.

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.

[cmbdrx]

[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421518465' post='10764607']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.
[/quote]


Jim, stop posting on Golfwrx and finish those darn videos and e-books!!! Just kidding, love your teaching and can't wait for your new video series and e-book to be completed and available to the hacker masses. Keep up the great work and enjoy Hawaii for the rest of us schmucks this winter :-).

[MMB1500]

[quote name='cmbdrx' timestamp='1421693635' post='10777315']
[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421518465' post='10764607']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.
[/quote]


Jim, stop posting on Golfwrx and finish those darn videos and e-books!!! Just kidding, love your teaching and can't wait for your new video series and e-book to be completed and available to the hacker masses. Keep up the great work and enjoy Hawaii for the rest of us schmucks this winter :-).
[/quote]

+1. I'm eagerly anticipating the video series.

[Kiwi2]

[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421707418' post='10778811']
[quote name='cmbdrx' timestamp='1421693635' post='10777315']
[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421518465' post='10764607']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.
[/quote]


Jim, stop posting on Golfwrx and finish those darn videos and e-books!!! Just kidding, love your teaching and can't wait for your new video series and e-book to be completed and available to the hacker masses. Keep up the great work and enjoy Hawaii for the rest of us schmucks this winter :-).
[/quote]

+1. I'm eagerly anticipating the video series.
[/quote]

The videos are coming.

There has been a set back in that three of the segments have to be reshot, one in module one and two in Module 2, The Arm Swing Illusion. Fertilizer spreading on the property behind the range where they were filmed resulted in excessive background noise. Whilst the content was good, and the editing complete, Jim was not happy to release the videos as they were. Weather conditions in Oregon prevented this being attended to earlier. Had there been no problem the first two modules would have been available before Christmas.

[MMB1500]

[quote name='Kiwi2' timestamp='1421708461' post='10778913']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421707418' post='10778811']
[quote name='cmbdrx' timestamp='1421693635' post='10777315']
[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421518465' post='10764607']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.
[/quote]


Jim, stop posting on Golfwrx and finish those darn videos and e-books!!! Just kidding, love your teaching and can't wait for your new video series and e-book to be completed and available to the hacker masses. Keep up the great work and enjoy Hawaii for the rest of us schmucks this winter :-).
[/quote]

+1. I'm eagerly anticipating the video series.
[/quote]

The videos are coming.

There has been a set back in that three of the segments have to be reshot, one in module one and two in Module 2, The Arm Swing Illusion. Fertilizer spreading on the property behind the range where they were filmed resulted in excessive background noise. Whilst the content was good, and the editing complete, Jim was not happy to release the videos as they were. Weather conditions in Oregon prevented this being attended to earlier. Had there been no problem the first two modules would have been available before Christmas.
[/quote]

Thanks for the update. I'm sure you're both working hard on them. No point in releasing a product you're not happy with and I'm sure those interested in this video will be prepared to wait. Good luck with your efforts. I'm sure it'll be worth it!

[bladestriker]

I may have posted, some time ago, I felt this is flavor of the month stuff (snake oil), as I am normally skeptical about this stuff. I've been down to a scratch and attribute it to range time and digging it out of the dirt. After today I attribute my fine play to perfecting my imperfections and needing to hit hundreds of balls to stay sharp. When I didn't practice I struggled and could shoot anywhere from 68 to 88


long story short , I took about 3 1/2 months off due to work, went out and struggled a bit(actually a lot)getting handsy and flippy. I have no idea why, but I watched Jims video again and a light bulb went off, did some mirror work, then hit the range today. It clicked, arms in front, up and turn....missed one shot from a large bucket. Didn't hit one good drive on the course, didn't miss one while working on this.
Just wanted to say thanks and look forward to any other material you have coming out

[Reasonability]

Blade,

I'm a bit of a skeptic myself so I relate to what you posted. Who knows why neither of us, in this case, were less anxious to discount this whole thing. Maybe it resonates a little due to our own tendencies? Maybe its the fact that there's just enough "inner golfer" and cerebral stuff to help us with that side of things versus it being all mechanical? Like you I think I may have turned away until I pulled down my normal "shield" and tried to be a little objective. Maybe there's a difference in being skeptical and being cynical? Somehow this one keeps holding my attention, too.

[bladestriker]

[quote name='Reasonability' timestamp='1421726307' post='10781165']
Blade,

I'm a bit of a skeptic myself so I relate to what you posted. Who knows why neither of us, in this case, were less anxious to discount this whole thing. Maybe it resonates a little due to our own tendencies? Maybe its the fact that there's just enough "inner golfer" and cerebral stuff to help us with that side of things versus it being all mechanical? Like you I think I may have turned away until I pulled down my normal "shield" and tried to be a little objective. Maybe there's a difference in being skeptical and being cynical? Somehow this one keeps holding my attention, too.
[/quote]
It was really blind luck that I watched that video again and I was able to see it with clear eyes and open mind.

I only had one round under my belt(after layoff) when I went searching. One guy I was playing with said I had a lot of wrist c0ck and I knew I was pinning my arm acrossed my chest and making a fake turn, then struggling to make contact with any speed in my swing. I ended up having to slow my tempo down and stall my body just to get around the course.
After working on this I felt like the club and arms were slotted and gravity was my friend, not foe.

[Mitchell]

Jim,
Had an interesting experience helping a co-worker with his game on the range last week. As you may remember, I have an extensive background in a few disciplines of martial arts. Point being, the co-worker is an unarmed self-defense instructor with exceptional balance, yet was struggling mightily with his irons. After his frustration grew, he asked for a bit of help. Even though I maintain a solid + handicap, I am normally hesitant to tell others how to play the game. I simply asked him the following question, "Why are you limiting your force by hitting at a point that is not your target instead of using projection to go towards it and make it easy?" His connection and tempo suddenly became very fluid and several high,straight shots took the place of low blocks. Don't know if you can better state the idea or communicate it to those without similar background, just thought might be a helpful concept to incorporate. Thanks for your patient contributions to the forum and efforts to grow the game.

Mahalo and much aloha to you and your ohana!

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='cmbdrx' timestamp='1421693635' post='10777315']
[quote name='Jim Waldron' timestamp='1421518465' post='10764607']
[quote name='Eagle006' timestamp='1421276853' post='10747655']
Jim. As others have said, this is an amazing thread, which has been nothing short of revelatory.

Apologies of this has been covered, but could you talk a bit about your approach to the short game, particularly pitching and chipping. How does what you teach fit with the broader illusions present in the swing - are there illusions present in the short game that golfers need to be aware of? Also what's your take on using the bounce as a general approach for increasing margin of error around the greens?
[/quote]

The many Illusions certainly do apply to the Short Game shots, especially the Big Ones like the Arm Swing Illusion, Wrist Illusion, Tilt Illusion and Shaft Lean Illusion. There is a set of Universal Fundamentals common to both Long and Short Game, and then there is a separate set of fundamentals unique to the Short Game. Mostly they are all about adjustments to the Universal Fundamentals to fit the shot at hand: stance width, right tilt, degree of wrist c0ck, wrist c0ck release point, length of backswing and finish, Tempo changes, etc. One of the really important ones is adjusting your Pivot length to make the ball go a shorter distance, especially with your wedges.
[/quote]


Jim, stop posting on Golfwrx and finish those darn videos and e-books!!! Just kidding, love your teaching and can't wait for your new video series and e-book to be completed and available to the hacker masses. Keep up the great work and enjoy Hawaii for the rest of us schmucks this winter :-).
[/quote]

The video project is coming along nicely, except for the one hiccup that Kiwi mentioned, so module one and two will be ready hopefully by sometime this Spring, likely mid-March. There will be five modules total in the project, with an estimated total viewing time of around 22-24 hours. It is designed so that you can self-direct your own ballstriking mastery plan, from beginner to advanced player. We are using a really good 2014 Panasonic HD digital camera with a good audio system so the quality is very high.

E-Pub version of the golf swing school manual is almost finished, should be up on our site within next 10 days. And I am working right now on the the updates to the putting, short game and mental game manuals, turning those into e-books as well. Problem is it is usually 80 degrees and sunny here in Hawaii, and tough to make myself stay inside and write on the computer. A lot more fun to play in the ocean or be out on the golf course!

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='bladestriker' timestamp='1421717762' post='10779957']
I may have posted, some time ago, I felt this is flavor of the month stuff (snake oil), as I am normally skeptical about this stuff. I've been down to a scratch and attribute it to range time and digging it out of the dirt. After today I attribute my fine play to perfecting my imperfections and needing to hit hundreds of balls to stay sharp. When I didn't practice I struggled and could shoot anywhere from 68 to 88


long story short , I took about 3 1/2 months off due to work, went out and struggled a bit(actually a lot)getting handsy and flippy. I have no idea why, but I watched Jims video again and a light bulb went off, did some mirror work, then hit the range today. It clicked, arms in front, up and turn....missed one shot from a large bucket. Didn't hit one good drive on the course, didn't miss one while working on this.
Just wanted to say thanks and look forward to any other material you have coming out
[/quote]

Cool!

I can understand why some folks are skeptical - when you really look at it closely, probably 90% of the common traditional golf swing theory is at least partially based on 2D Illusions, which are completely unknown to the golfer whose mind is influenced by those Illusions.

But like I said in my very first post in this mega-thread, I am not an "armchair swing theorist" who hangs out on the Internet promoting some whacky new swing theory. I do this for a living, and have done so full-time since 1995. The ASI and related concepts have stood the test of time and real world golf improvement with thousands of my golf school graduates and private lesson students. The two Golf Magazine Top 25 Golf School awards we received are based almost entirely from feedback from students to the magazine about their golf school experience. The instruction editor at the magazine wrote in 1999 that the blend of mechanics and mental focus training that we use here at Balance Point was the "most significant advancement in golf instruction in over 25 years".

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1421731539' post='10781587']
Jim,
Had an interesting experience helping a co-worker with his game on the range last week. As you may remember, I have an extensive background in a few disciplines of martial arts. Point being, the co-worker is an unarmed self-defense instructor with exceptional balance, yet was struggling mightily with his irons. After his frustration grew, he asked for a bit of help. Even though I maintain a solid + handicap, I am normally hesitant to tell others how to play the game. I simply asked him the following question, "Why are you limiting your force by hitting at a point that is not your target instead of using projection to go towards it and make it easy?" His connection and tempo suddenly became very fluid and several high,straight shots took the place of low blocks. Don't know if you can better state the idea or communicate it to those without similar background, just thought might be a helpful concept to incorporate. Thanks for your patient contributions to the forum and efforts to grow the game.

Mahalo and much aloha to you and your ohana!
[/quote]

Thanks, much appreciated!

So you were able to shift his attention away from the ball and impact and on to the Target, so his tempo and release timing improved immediately.

That is great coaching!

[Jim Waldron]

More on the "how to learn it" side of learning golf swing fundamentals. Some of my basic concepts.

1. you use Three Primary Sensory Channels in learning and training (practice) golf skills - Visual, Auditory (Voice) and Kinesthetic (Feel). You are "thinking" at the conscious mind level when you are "seeing" internal visual images or "hearing" your own voice in your head talk to yourself or hearing music in your head. Training in body motion uses the thinking part of the conscious mind only in the very early stages and only when moving in slow motion, preferably in front of a mirror for real-time visual feedback. The reason for this is that the non-thinking or feel-oriented athletic part of the brain is what is creating your body motion at normal swing speeds. This is almost entirely involuntary motion, except for a bit of voluntary motion at the very start of the takeaway.

Learning to switch off the thinking mind and to switch on the feeling athletic mind is an essential golf skill, for learning, practice and play.

2. once you have indeed achieved semi-mastery over a swing change, which means you can do it on command by recalling a distinct feel sensation that happens when you are in fact doing the change, you can start to deliberately "forgot" about the change piece, and work on blending that piece with neighboring pieces of the golf swing 3D puzzle. That means having a lot of "reps" under your belt with the change piece.

[Kiwi2]

Here is one of the corrective drills from the Arm Swing Illusion DVD

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4-u_Xilx-I&feature=youtu.be[/media]

[Kiwi2]

For those who are interested, here is a link to Jim's latest Podcast, "Three Critical Elements for a Great Golf Swing."

[url="http://golfsmarter.libsyn.com/podcast/473-three-critical-elements-for-a-great-golf-swing"]http://golfsmarter.l...reat-golf-swing[/url]

This is a free, edited, 15 minute version from a pay for podcast site. Listen past the podcast promo material, towards the end, to hear Jim's free tip.

[4pillars]

I have finally found a Youtube with Johhny Millers waggle.

I must admit I had no idea what it looked like, but a magnificent shot at the 10,00 minute mark

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSsl4qeauDU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSsl4qeauDU[/url]

[Kiwi2]

Jim talks about good golf being mostly a "right brained, intuitive, athletic , feel base, artistic endeavor." Whilst agreeing that the only thing that matters scientifically in creating ball flight is impact , he argues that a lot of things must happen well before impact with the body and club motion for it to be correct.

So, although the basic premise of traditional teaching may be to to use negative ball flight as the focus of a lesson is that logical? Is concentrating on it too many steps advanced in learning a sound swing motion?

Should instruction, for those seeking lasting long term improvement, be fundamental rather than corrective focussed?

Maybe understanding the Arm Swing Illusion is a necessary key part of that.

[Reasonability]

[quote name='Kiwi2' timestamp='1423696550' post='10934261']
Jim talks about good golf being mostly a "right brained, intuitive, athletic , feel base, artistic endeavor." Whilst agreeing that the only thing that matters scientifically in creating ball flight is impact , he argues that a lot of things must happen well before impact with the body and club motion for it to be correct.

So, although the basic premise of traditional teaching may be to to use negative ball flight as the focus of a lesson is that logical? Is concentrating on it too many steps advanced in learning a sound swing motion?

Should instruction, for those seeking lasting long term improvement, be fundamental rather than corrective focussed?

Maybe understanding the Arm Swing Illusion is a necessary key part of that.
[/quote]

Introspection seems like it can be as illusive as the arm swing (IMO) my good friend. Are we golfers 'fixing' our slices? Do we want a the quickest "fix"? We humans tend to seek instant gratification.

So. a garden variety slice can be "fixed" to some extent with a grip change. In 30 minutes an instructor can have a golfer convinced he is "cured". And for a little while - he is.

Do we golfers simply accept our tendencies and prefer to "fix" our issues with new/better/adjustable clubs? Many do. And for a while - that seems to make things a little better.

OR....

Are we willing to be efficient. Are we willing to find the connective tissues from our grip, setup, physical motions, mental, and emotional preparedness?. Are we willing to take that longer path and move concepts into action? Can we accept that ironically doing so makes things more simple?

ASI (to me) is part of ALL of the above. BY ITSELF is affords a bit of a quick fix. Although I believe what has been written here - at first its probably not grasped by many initially. Also from what I understand - ASI is far from representing ALL of these connective tissues? Am I in the ballpark with that?

If so then the answer to your question becomes YES - We are talking about a pathway to lasting improvement. ASI seems to be a doorway and a roadmap to an otherwise very confusing maze.

If I've over or understated it - please feel free to tune up my perceptions. I can be wrong on the way to being a little more right - LOL.

[Silky]

Lately I have come to compare golf teaching to medicine. The similarity is that golf teaching to a very large extent involves fixing or curing swing faults. In this aspect, the current golf teaching is at a similar stage to medieval medicine - misses more than hits, lots of patients get worse instead of better, desperate patients hopelessly wander around various guru's for miracle cure based on faith. This happens at beginners, amateur and professional level.

On my personal experience, I used to hang around a golf driving range with friends after work for unwinding - driving and drinking. We make friends with all teaching professionals at the range and once a while one would come by our group to have a drink or to chat and sometime to give advices with fees or without. My observation was that, each teaching professional had his own small sets of typical prescribed fixes and five professionals give five different fixes for the same malady.

Granted that golf is not as complex as medicine. A comparison of a golf teacher to that of a mechanic may be more appropriate. My ideal golf teacher is a mechanical engineer with minor in psychology especially in theory of learning. With his mechanic eye, he can see improper alignment, leverage, timing sequence, etc. to the root cause of the problem with awareness of the impact of the cure to other parts of the golf swing. With his psychologist eye, he knows how best to perform the change management of the software of the client. You must realize that the software that controls your car or an F-22 must go through rigorous test scheme after any change before deployment.

As I have yet to find my ideal golf teacher, I am my own mechanic. I enjoy learning through books and the internet, and through trials and errors in my backyard net. There are many opinions expressed here already, but I want to shout out that "knowledge and understandings improve my golf swing".

[4pillars]

[quote name='Silky' timestamp='1423715655' post='10936551']
Lately I have come to compare golf teaching to medicine. The similarity is that golf teaching to a very large extent involves fixing or curing swing faults. In this aspect, the current golf teaching is at a similar stage to medieval medicine - misses more than hits, lots of patients get worse instead of better, desperate patients hopelessly wander around various guru's for miracle cure based on faith. This happens at beginners, amateur and professional level.

On my personal experience, I used to hang around a golf driving range with friends after work for unwinding - driving and drinking. We make friends with all teaching professionals at the range and once a while one would come by our group to have a drink or to chat and sometime to give advices with fees or without. My observation was that, each teaching professional had his own small sets of typical prescribed fixes and five professionals give five different fixes for the same malady.

Granted that golf is not as complex as medicine. A comparison of a golf teacher to that of a mechanic may be more appropriate. My ideal golf teacher is a mechanical engineer with minor in psychology especially in theory of learning. With his mechanic eye, he can see improper alignment, leverage, timing sequence, etc. to the root cause of the problem with awareness of the impact of the cure to other parts of the golf swing. With his psychologist eye, he knows how best to perform the change management of the software of the client. You must realize that the software that controls your car or an F-22 must go through rigorous test scheme after any change before deployment.

As I have yet to find my ideal golf teacher, I am my own mechanic. I enjoy learning through books and the internet, and through trials and errors in my backyard net. There are many opinions expressed here already, but I want to shout out that "knowledge and understandings improve my golf swing".
[/quote]

Actually a comparison between ancient Chinese medicine and western would be good. Ancient Chinese Doctors were paid when the client was in good health, and not when he was ill. The opposite to fix it Western medicine.

But here now you have to take care of your health, and there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there - is dairy good for you.etc

I actually know some coaches (in the UK) who are as you describe, good technically with sports psychology and learning extra degrees.

One is a national level coaches, and cost a fortune. I'm just a weekend warrior. Fair enough though he invested a lot of time and money in getting his additional education

The other gave up and become a college lecturer. More and safer money in it.

[4pillars]

Where's the Ebook?

I listened to the Golfsmarter pod cast and it said it should be out in a week. Actaully it was supposed to be out last year.

If the Golfsmarter guy did everything that he was told by his guests he would be scratch by know.

[cyr67]

Awesome thread! Quick question to JIm or anyone who swings correctly: On the take-away, what should the club head 'appear' to be doing visually going back away from the ball. I have a (bad) habit of looking at the club head as a reference point in the takeaway. I know this is probably part of the illusion, but I was wondering. (Apologies if this has been addressed on the forum already, but it is 86 pages long!)

[Jim Waldron]

[quote name='4pillars' timestamp='1423730717' post='10937101']
Where's the Ebook?

I listened to the Golfsmarter pod cast and it said it should be out in a week. Actaully it was supposed to be out last year.

If the Golfsmarter guy did everything that he was told by his guests he would be scratch by know.
[/quote]

E-book has been available in PDF format since mid-December. We are finishing up the formating for the E-Pub version, should be up as a download on our site in about a week.