Another Amazing Experience!!!!
 

It was awesome to finally get to meet Mr. Doyle. He's a great man with a wealth of knowledge. We also had many, very talented students of the game in the school. The truth found in TGM was taught and demonstrated in different ways as each person has his own perspective and method for teaching. As Yoda talks about often, we suffer depression when everyone leaves because we feel like the newly born G.O.L.F.ers have been taken away. I was excited to see the amount of improvement in three days, and to see the absorption in action. The journey for those that were able to attend has just begun.

To each that attended:
It was a pleasure to meet, work, and play with each of you. I'm certain that the things that you've learned will continue to change you in ways that you might not realize for a month or even a year. Some things have to incubate and others have to wait for a necessary component to be mastered before moving ahead. In any event, the veil of mystery has been lifted. I hope to hear about the success that is soon to come.

The school was worth every penny. 3 days and close to 12 hours per day - absolutely "spent" at the end of every day.

The sound of a compressed golf ball coming off my club is burned into my brain – It felt so “powerful” yet so effortless – the holy grail in the game of golf. I know I have allot work ahead but knowing the work I am doing is going to produce desired long term results is priceless. I have spent years working on all the wrong things getting absolutely nothing in return other than more frustration.

The guy in the video getting a lesson from Ben has got nothing on me. Ben drilled me like a Marine drill instructor. It was painful and close to tearful. At the end of the day though it hit home (my coconut isn’t what it used to be) and I finally “got it” even though I could not demonstrate it to him.

Many thanks to Ben, Brian, Lynn, Ted, and Mike; it was truly a life learning unforgettable experience. Many new friendships were formed.

Here’s a summary of my learning experience.

My major flaws
Not clearing the right hip – could not come into the inside corner of the ball because of it
Correction was to slide the hips prior to start down and the correct way to “twist” away
Maintain the bent right wrist through impact insuring hands stay in front of the clubhead
Flail the club through the ball
Use the dowels to practice the “baton” flail (grip with a fist not golf grip)
Swingers pull the end of the club shaft at the inside corner of the ball
Endless pulley creates the power and speed
Put the right forearm on plane and take it to the top with right forarm
Feel the feet into the ground – load the right side – straighten the right leg - push off with the right foot
Straighten the right leg – sit – straighten the left leg while maintaining the center of gravity and stay behind the ball

Slight grip change – keep pressure points 2 and 3 behind the shaft – I was on top of the shaft
Right forearm need to stay lower than left at address
Club face was somewhat open at adjusted address resulting in pushes to the right

Setup
Eyes looking down at the ball – should be able to sit a can of soda on the back of the neck
Driver – address it with the toe if you are going to sole it.
Aiming point – do it with pivot and not via the hands – direct the thrust to the aiming point. The endless belt pulley will start here.

Chip/pitch/punch/full
Should never be able to look “down” the shaft at and after impact and at both arms straight position – look across the shaft at finish

Putting
Paw stroke – both elbows on plane
Distance illusions – uphill the put is actually longer than it looks since it travels up a longer side of the triangle
Downhill the opposite is true – shorter distance on the triangle
After aligning the putt pick a blade of grass 2 inches in front of the ball for alignment
Push chip – right forearm becomes a piston for real short shot to take everything off the ball

Drills
Dowels – tracing a light with the bent right wrist – cock and uncock flat left wrist with a straight left arm
Use the shadows to demonstrate alignment square and forward leaning shaft
Take out the cut edge of the green or sand (wall of china)
Pivot drills – Tee in the ground, paper coke cup, parallel dowels (flying angels)
Pieces of grass on PP3 to determine half roll, full roll, no roll
Soda bottle drill to get the sand out – bottle stays inside the hands not outside
Impact bag with the pivot – bag should not tip over – feel the pressure

TGM things that became much clearer
Plane line
Angled Plane
Arc of Approach
Rotating the hosel around the sweet spot
Sit down and axel tilt
Impact Fix
Leg Action
Illusion of forward leaning club shaft
Release the accumulators not the club
Swivel
Flail
Hinging
Extensor action
Lag- stressing of the club shaft – must be maintained
Wobbly point – Tripod (head and 2 anchors)
Swinging and hitting – I am a swinger – it feels good to know instead of wondering
The book actually makes sense now :>) I can read it with authority and not wonderment

Ben Doyle – words of wisdom
Release the accumulators not the club
Move the club with your pivot not your hands or arms
Let the big dog run through your legs and then grab him by his tail with your legs
What is wrong looks right and what is right feels wrong
Left alone – centrifcal force will line up the club shaft and club face
Keep your left arm straight by trying to keep you right arm straight (extensor action)
Load, store, release – throw out with the hips
Chip, Pitch, Punch
You should never be able to stare down the shaft at or after impact – stare “across” the shaft
Straighten the right leg on back stroke – straighten the left leg on down stroke
Never let the clubhead pass the hands until after follow through
Sharp shoulder turn
Hand plane,, elbow plane, shoulder plane demo
Drag a wet mop – slow and heavy
Elbows always point to the ground
You should never be able to see your right palm during the swing
Club is aligned with the left arm not the right arm
Stay behind the ball
Many many more……………

Golf is fun again………………….

Ray

Plenty to incubate
 

That's plenty of information to put into the old think tank...
You may not sleep for a month, but it will be exciting.

Ted, How as your back 9 experience - did you break the course record?

no course record
 

Unfortunately, no. I started with a couple of bogeys on the back that put it out of reach, so I started working with my playing partner who is a student of mine. He's been playing in some mini-tour events and because of the travel has been away from instruction too long. So I went back to teacher mode.
The 32 was a lot of fun though. After telling BEN DOYLE! that I was the best putter he'd ever seen (with great humility), I thought I'd better back up the trash talk. When I returned and told Ben that I'd shot 4 under with 11 putts for the nine, he said in the volumes of words that he typicallly uses, "That's impressive." He gave me a grin and a wink, as if to say, I guess you are...
At dinner last night we were talking about the events over the last three days. I told Ben that I'd never felt such pressure in having to make a putt in all my life. I had Ben Doyle, Yoda, and the whole crew, including our videographer, waiting on me to make a 9 ft, uphill putt that broke a foot to the right. Tournaments should be easy, from here on out.

Its hard to express my feelings as a result of my attending the 3 guys forums. Brieflly I will just share my highlights.

1. I have had a number of golf lessons in the past and I have not had one teach to the quality that all the instructors provided. I left feeling they in such a short period of time wanted us to know every precious jewel that they knew that took them a number of years of hard work to acquire. They all taught with different techniques but once you digested it they were all talking the same same thing. Most important they were all true gentleman and I am now proud to be a friend of theirs and they all deserve the greatest of respect.

2. There were a number of people in the background who made this work. I can not mention them all but truly without them it would not have happened. I must mention mathew who just did a great job helping everyone and made sure because of my special needs that I got the care that I needed. You need a special deserved rest. Good luck on your quest to learn swinging but keep hitting.

3. To my fellow golfers. Thank you for being a better golfer than me from the start to inspire me to loftier goals. I learned something from everyone and everyone was first class as individuals. All those that helped me and there were many, thanks.


4. Some people might want to know my results or goals.

a. Understand my current golf stroke - passed
b. Understand what changes were required - passed
c. suceed in eliminating as many identifieable wobbles as possible - passed my expectations
d. have a acceptible by golf stroke by my standards - exceeded expetations

e. Know what I was doing in my golf stroke and why - great

f. A planned program and drills to implement the changes and keep me in a guided path for the next year. I have in place

In summary I know I can now with a little more practice can have have a better golf swing than I had before I lost my rear leg. Better yet My new Golf stoke is one I trulu understand. I did it the final day at the forum and as they say the proof is in the pudding.

To Ted

Hit! Hit! Hit!

Dave

family
 

Dave,
You know there are few in the hitting family, but now you are one. It's a badge of honor that some will never wear. :twisted:
Aren't we the lucky ones? No need for start-up swivel, release swivel, horizontal hinging. 8) Welcome to the family. :wink:

Yodasluke:

Thanks for the great time in Atlanta. I had high expectations for the class but it greatly exceeded them. The knowledge, patience and understanding everyone showed was fantastic. Even though you had not taught as a group before, everyone was on message and the advice and suggestions complemented one another.

I have work to do, but the path is clearly marked.

I too had the great honor of attending the Three G.O.L.F. guys and you school in Atlanta and let me tell everyone on the forum what an awesome experience it was. There needs to be many more of these gatherings of the greatest minds in G.O.L.F.
Not only were the instructors great but the attendees where great guys all looking to better understand Mr. Kelley's great work.
The ability to hear TGM from Mr. Doyle, Mr. Blake, Mr. Manzella, Mr. Finney, and Mr. Fort was not only enlightening, but as Yoda mentioned, brought the golfing machine to life. It is not just a book, it is a living breathing system and that was never more apparent than at this event.
We spent nearly 12 hours a day with these legends and still didn't seem like enough, and believe me it did not seem like 12 hours, it flew by.
I have attended quite a few TGM seminars, classes, seen AI's teach and lecture and none of it could hold a candle to this gathering.
I want to thank Brian, Lynn, and Ben for putting this together, as was stated TGM is one big family and we should all strive to get along for the betterment of G.O.L.F.
Now, I am back to the bunker and the great wall of china!!!


Todd

PS: When Ray mentions the word spent, he means it! At one point Ray was resting on the practice tee fully prone, hat pulled down over his eyes, but his right wrist was still bent!!!
Load, store, fire, hold, rest!!!!

Restful Ray (And His Bent Right Wrist!)
 

I've got a lot more to say on this very special happening -- and will! -- but for now, there's only one response to Todd's quote above...

Priceless!

Shoeless Joe, move over...Restful Ray is on the tee!

Ted's Putt
 

This was a pressure putt. You putt in front of Ben/Lynn/Brian and a whole class of students on a green that has been trampled by footsteps over the last half hour. We needed closure and Ted delivered.



lets try this:
ill be back .... again

Re: Ted's Putt
 

Lynn told me you had a great shot of the gopher running in the hole...

Keee-rect!


But the Yahoo dump will not open it up. I have a few things to share from the 3 G.O.L.F Guys workshop. I wanted the putt to be the first. Now verison tells me a now need to buy file space. Gas just hit three bucks down the street. Ouch !!!!!!!!!


I'll get it on - school starts soon- I will be a t peace at home. lol.

gas prices
 

We've got people waiting at the pump, thinking that there won't be any gas for Labor Day weekend.

Even when raking a practice ball on the range, the great Ben Doyle wants it to be done with a Bent Right Wrist and Lag Pressure!

"Everything thing you do, every move you make -- is a test."

It doesn't matter if you're Yoda or Brian, jpvegas1 or MBCpro, if Ben sees something he doesn't like, he'll tell you without hesitation.

To Ben, Lynn, Brian, Ted, and Mike it was truly an awesome experience. I came to the school thinking I was a hitter, but I can actually perform both swinging and hitting. Ted told me "When I see you swing, ehh, but when I see you hit I get really excited." I can tell you it was a great experience and I came away so much more knowledgeable than I was before. I have never pretended to be a Golfing Machine guru and may never be, I have a very cursory understanding of the subject, which increased dramatically over last weekend.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your efforts in making the school a great success...

hitter
 

If there was anyone that needed to stick to hitting in the school, you're the one. My personal opinion (both cents) is that angled hinging is your friend. Stay away from a start-up swivel, stay away from horizontal hinging, but keep a finish swivel. There's nothing wrong with learning both as it will make you a better player. In order to succeed as a player, hit, hit, hit.

Thanks for the input Ted, I couldn't agree with you more. I haven't been able to play much the past two weeks as I've been traveling. Looking forward to hitting my club a couple of times this weekend and doing a whole lot of "hitting". I'll keep you updated with the progress and may make the occasional trip to Marietta to get a Jedi's perspective...

I have just returned to England and did not have much access to a computer in the States hence my delayed post.

The Canton experience was fantastic. I learned things that I could NEVER have found out left to my own devices and left the boot camp with a crystal clear blueprint of what I had to work on. I can not tell you how valuable that is. Instead of practicing some good things and junk. I will be practicing the right things. I have got clarity of mind instead of questions and doubt . All my golf energies from now on are being directed along the right path. No more wasted man hours and energy on the working on a mix of good and bad things. A friend of mine Emailed me on at the end of the first day to find out if I felt I was getting value out of the $1500 investment in the course. I wrote back that I would have paid $1500 for what I learned in the first day alone and as far as I was concerned days two and three were a bonus. Each teacher had a different style of teaching and I soaked up information from all of them. The instructors hit my personal swing issues from different directions which was not confusing and I found the combined teaching more helpful than if I was getting the information from one source. Brian wanted me to shift my downstroke plane line left and demonstrated some novel ways of doing it , Lynn taught me the swinger's swivel, Ben's bunker session had delayed reaction where I was doing the right things he taught me a couple of hours without even realising it, Ted worked on my major wobble ( Bad initial hip movement at start down) Most of my faults were a PRODUCT of this fault where I developed a steering action shifting my plane line right to counter destructive hard pulled left shots. Mikestloc provided me with a visual image of the swingers stroke pattern . His swing has to be seen to be believed. I watch it all the time. They all taught me much more than this but these are the main points that I got from them. I have much work to do but so far my swing looks much better. Strangers on practice grounds are commenting on it. I am MUCH longer and MUCH straighter and seem to knocked off about 3 strokes from my HC already. I have a lot of work to still do but inside I know I am on the right track and will get better and better and I am excited about it. This TGM stuff WORKS.Those 3 days in Canton have changed my life . . Also the students on the course were a great bunch of guys. The whole thing was first rate. Mathew did a fantastic job as the host at his golfclub. He put a lot of effort in getting the event running smoothly and this was much appreciated. He also gave me a lesson on my backstroke hip action. ( I was not turning my hips enough) I would like the thank all those that helped me

always a swinger
 

You are as much a swinger as tball is a hitter. You were very quick to make the adjustments that were given to you, in the school. We pontificate, and you assimilate. There was plenty of both at this school. ;) Enjoy your new found knowledge. It will serve you well for the rest of your life, instead of being the tip of the week.

Camelot In Canton
 

Hue,

You came 4,200 miles to put yourself at the epicenter of a peak TGM experience. Once there, you made the most of it, soaking up the information like a sponge and applying it with gusto.

Great job!

*******************************

"Don't let it be forgot,
That once there was a spot,
For one brief shining moment that was known as...
Camelot."