Average Joe

[hg]

I am 51, and really started playing golf at 46. I had the good fortune to run into an older gentleman who once upon a time was a Hogan Staff member and a local PGA pro. At 76, he took this struggling to make solid contact beginner under his wing. He taught me the value of a solid impact position, flat left wrist and bent right srist without so much as mentioning 12-1 or 12-2. Little did I know the journey he started me on. Within 3 months I was a 12 HC and found the yellow book courtesy of a friend. Lots of work later, periodic nurturing by the old guy, a discovery of the LBG site and the Yoda archives led to fairly rapid inprovement. Fast forward to now, +2 HC and a reasonable swing and a reasonable understanding of my swing. Certainly I still have issues (Yoda has a disk to review as we speak), but the TGM fundamentals were the way. I am forever grateful to Chuck Rey(the old guy) this site and the valuable archived posts.
G2M

Thanks for this story...gives all us mid-50 guys hope for improvement with good practice and TGM principles.

[SergioG]

YOu have to remember that you have to be in the right frame of mind (that is, you don't choke and your trust your swing) in order to get the best out of your swing. I think thats why peoples scores can be so high.

[bts]

How good can Average Joe be? Let's assume enough physical talent to play a high school sport. Decent eye hand coordination . . .

We Drinkers of the Koolaid are armed with the absolute BEST information in golf - G.O.L.F. What can we do with this information?

The average handicap is stagnant at best. Let's say that the LBG/TGM Revolution's momentum continues to swell. How good can Joe Average be let us assume 2 hours of practice time, 1 18 hole round, and 1 9 hole escape per week.

Hogan said that the "average" golfer should be a 70's shooter. What do we say?

Can we develop a "scoring" template?

Any ideas?

B

As long as they hack (hit the ball by thinking of hitting the ball), the average handicap will remain to be stagnant, regardless of LBG/TGM.

As soon as he/she swings (hit the ball without thinking of hitting the ball), the "average" golfer should be a 70's shooter in no time, regardless of LBG/TGM.

[12 piece bucket]

As long as they hack (hit the ball by thinking of hitting the ball), the average handicap will remain to be stagnant, regardless of LBG/TGM.

As soon as he/she swings (hit the ball without thinking of hitting the ball), the "average" golfer should be a 70's shooter in no time, regardless of LBG/TGM.

I'd like to hear you expand on this if possible . . . how do you do the above.

Good post . . . I think your're on to something.

[comdpa]

As long as they hack (hit the ball by thinking of hitting the ball), the average handicap will remain to be stagnant, regardless of LBG/TGM.

As soon as he/she swings (hit the ball without thinking of hitting the ball), the "average" golfer should be a 70's shooter in no time, regardless of LBG/TGM.

bts,

Like Bucket, I am interested.

I have many students who before coming to me "swing" through the ball to a Tigeresque finish, but do not shoot in the 70's as you have described.

The problem really is not so much not "swinging" through.
The problem is that golfers swing through and Steer per 3-F-7-A.

An oversimplification perhaps bts?

[bts]

Average Joe: "hacking the ball (conciously or subconciously)"-the intentions of moving the ball (high, far and straight) to the target through the club with the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, hips, knees, legs or........

Top 0.1% of Joe: "swing the club"-the intentions of moving the club with the hands or other body parts, regardless of impact, ball flight, target, ......

Top 0.0001% of Joe, including Iron Byron: "sustain the lag"-the intention of sustaining through shoulder rotation only, regardless of the hands, wrists, arms, hips, knees, legs, club, impact, ball flight, target, ......

With Iron Byron, the game is boring!!!
With swinging, the game is less boring!!!
With hacking, the game is interesting!!!

Who wants to be bored?

[psheehan]

bts,


The problem really is not so much not "swinging" through.
The problem is that golfers swing through and Steer per 3-F-7-A.

bts?

Ah... maybe we are in my territory....but I'm not sure. Is it possible to 'swing through' AND steer? If so, I'd think there might be more hope for me, because if I'm swinging through I ought to be able to overcome the mental issue of steering... but if steering is a physical swing issue it is more of a problem. I hope I'm making sense to you??? I can play pretty well occasionally ... sub par on rare occasions but I'm not consistent enough nor really as good as my best scores might indicate, my ballstriking is never that crisp (btw..my short game isn't too hot either..lol).

[comdpa]

Average Joe: "hacking the ball (conciously or subconciously)"-the intentions of moving the ball (high, far and straight) to the target through the club with the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, hips, knees, legs or........

Top 0.1% of Joe: "swing the club"-the intentions of moving the club with the hands or other body parts, regardless of impact, ball flight, target, ......

Top 0.0001% of Joe, including Iron Byron: "sustain the lag"-the intention of sustaining through shoulder rotation only, regardless of the hands, wrists, arms, hips, knees, legs, club, impact, ball flight, target, ......

With Iron Byron, the game is boring!!!
With swinging, the game is less boring!!!
With hacking, the game is interesting!!!

Who wants to be boring?

Are you saying that shoulder rotation is the end-all?
I guess poor Homer wrote too much about the Imperatives, Hand Monitoring etc then?

[comdpa]

Ah... maybe we are in my territory....but I'm not sure. Is it possible to 'swing through' AND steer? If so, I'd think there might be more hope for me, because if I'm swinging through I ought to be able to overcome the mental issue of steering... but if steering is a physical swing issue it is more of a problem. I hope I'm making sense to you??? I can play pretty well occasionally ... sub par on rare occasions but I'm not consistent enough nor really as good as my best scores might indicate, my ballstriking is never that crisp (btw..my short game isn't too hot either..lol).

psheehan

The swing that bts is referring to here is not the swinger's swing referenced in TGM.

He was referencing a 'swing through' rather than Quitting per 3-F-7-B.

The issue at hand here is the 3rd Imperative - A Straight Plane Line.

If you have a bent plane line which is caused by steering then you have an off line swing. The imperatives will not be maintained, but the golf club will still be 'swung' through - which is the point of my earlier post - 'swinging through' is an oversimplification to lower scores.

Steering is a mental problem for most because of the concept "hit the ball with a square face". That no doubt is a very sexy concept and will work IF and only IF the ball separates from the clubface INSTANTLY.

What we believe shows up in what we do...

[bts]

Are you saying that shoulder rotation is the end-all?
I guess poor Homer wrote too much about the Imperatives, Hand Monitoring etc then?

It's actually "Sustain the resistance ("lag") encountered during shoulder rotation".

That's pretty much right!! Imperatives and essentials are the "effect" "caused" by "sustain the lag through shoulder rotation".

One last shot: you do the "cause" and the "effect" shows.