Tire Practice Without Fear
 

The tire drill -- learning to "sting" it with Left Wrist Throw-out Action (Swinging) or Right Elbow Drive-out Action (Hitting) while keeping your Left Wrist Flat -- can be a great training aid. However, if abused, it can cause injury. You can achieve its benefits and avoid injury if you:

1. Use a small tire;

2. Make sure it can move;

3. Practice using short strokes with...

4. Light Lag pressure.

5. Limit your repetitions.

Another interesting aspect of hitting a tyre that Ben does not talk about (and did not talk about when I was there) is that it seems anyone hitting even a lighter blow on a tyre will automatically straighten his left leg. It is visible on the video as well. Every time the guy is hitting the tyre he is straightening his left leg. He is straightening much less (or not at all) when he hits balls.

Maybe someone can explain or go deeper into this. I have not made that many observations, but so far they have been consistently as just described.

Kinetic linking?
 

Thank you Yoda. It was great to see the master at work. It is something I will always treasure. It certainly changed my conception of what "sustaining the lag" is all about.

My understanding was more like the student's. He/I equated "sustaining the lag" with "adding" some mechanical advantage in the form of a lateral push or rotational lever coming solely from the hands and/or arms.

I see Ben simply gathering, and transfering energy dynamically to the ball. Maybe I am wrong but, I see "kinetic linking" at play here. Would not this explain why the club stops moving when the tire is struck? All the energy is expelled into the heavy tire.

SOS

From the tapes I have rented from Ben last year- Ben is adamant about the club always going forward. As Ben says to his students- the hands never rebound or back track. The hands always drive forward. Ben just hates seeing the clubhead pulled back after a chip or pitch.

Btw- I don’t know the date of the video Lynn is posting but I never saw the tire but only the Yellow Impact Bag in any of his lessons. He loves water bottles, towels and milk creates. He has a cart full of training aids but it is the simple bottles and towels that teach impact and lag the best.

thanks for getting this up Yoda. It has made me realise that I'm still doing something very basic, very wrong. I can't get the club to stick to the tyre :(

Many years ago tires were rubber balloons not the steel belt rubber we use today- get a bag, buy one or make one from a duffel bag. Save your wrists- LOL

Ben teaches a swing stroke and everything on the tapes is pure Swing applications. It took a while to learn to slap the clubhead deep into the impact bag like Ben does. But the danger of all impact bags is STOPPAGE. In some drills, Ben has you hitting the edges of the ball past impact position to avoid this.

To stick the clubhead hard and deep- you will need to PIVOT into impact and not stop or rebound back the hands. Always drive forward with lag pressure.

See Yoda’s IMPACT BAG clip. Its slammin’

Sting And Hold The Blow
 

I'm not familiar with the term 'kinetic linking,' SOS, but I think I understand what you mean.

My personal sensation is one of 'sting and hold the blow.' I take each repetition to the Both Arms Straight position and attempt to minimize any rebound of the Clubhead off the tire (by resolutely holding my Impact Wrist Alignments). Finally, even with light Lag Pressure (slower Pace), the 'sting' is still present.

From Drive to Putt, this sensation is an invaluable aid to correct Timing, i.e., achieving Maximum Compression for the given Thrust just prior to Full Extension.

Couple things i noticed:

1) that looked like an EZ-Go tire or a golf cart tire. So it probably isn't that "hard"

2) if you want to do the tire drill at home and REALLY make it tuff on yourself....use a SHOE

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I was showing my g/f the other day about the tire thing and she didn't get it. So i used a shoe. It was very hard to not get the shoe to flip (due to how narrow the sole is) and you had to use really light lag pressure, BUT i still got it to slide on our hardwood floors :)

When Ben aligns the clubhead with the crate and has the student check the shadow does the shadow of the clubshaft align with the shadow of the side of the crate? If not, where is the clubshaft shadow?

Did anyone catch the Treetops par 3 shootout last night on ESPN?
Mickelson has tremendous lag. More than Couples and way more than McCord or North. His hands look like they are way past the ball at impact. The back nine should be on tonight. Fun to watch.