What a great weekend John Riegger had at the Sony Open last week! He shot 68 and 66, muscled his way up 30 spots and finished 21st at 277, 3-under par. Not a bad way to start the year: A week in Hawaii and a check for $40,363!
You may recall that just three weeks ago, John posted here (under his own name) and told us that in preparation for the tournament, he had received a great lesson from his teacher, Rob Noel (aka Hunter on this site). Lots of TGM and dowel stuff filled the Vegas air during that lesson, and when applied by a talent such as John, the rewards came quick.
Rob -- John, too, if you'd like! -- can you fill us in on some of the details? It's as close as most of us will ever get to being 'inside the ropes.'
Thanks!
BTW, John 'private messaged' me recently that he's told several of his PGA TOUR buddies about LBG and now they were 'hooked' on the site, too. That's always great to hear, but I believe I would have used another word!
It was a nice week for John in Hawaii. It was really nice because he hasn't played a competetive round since early last year due to injury.
Three weeks ago I spent a couple of days in Las Vegas with John. We worked on some very basic concepts like, Address Routine (we changed what he had been using all of his career), Flying Wedges, Hinge Action, and Tracing a Straight Plane Line (using dowels of course). John is a great student: he absorbed while I was there and applied in Hawaii.
An interesting note: John called me Sunday morning before the forth round. He said "I'm hitting it on the button but I can't make a putt. I'm leaving everything short, any suggestions". I said "use your Horizontal Hinge just like you do in your swing for maximum compression". He when out and shot 66. He called back Monday morning and said "it worked".
I love The Golfing Machine.
I look forward to John having a very successful year.
An interesting note: John called me Sunday morning before the forth round. He said "I'm hitting it on the button but I can't make a putt. I'm leaving everything short, any suggestions". I said "use your Horizontal Hinge just like you do in your swing for maximum compression". He when out and shot 66. He called back Monday morning and said "it worked".
In a relative world, this fact is relevant:
John Riegger's final round 66 tied for third low of the day.
Teacher / Student combination must have been perfect, to absorb and apply with that level of success.
Congrats to John and looking forward to hearing more about it.
Congrats to Rob. I think that is the first time I have heard of a putting tip of that nature, usually the tips or suggestions are long winded and have a number of qualifiers of maybe or try. Excellent..
An interesting note: John called me Sunday morning before the forth round. He said "I'm hitting it on the button but I can't make a putt. I'm leaving everything short, any suggestions". I said "use your Horizontal Hinge just like you do in your swing for maximum compression". He when out and shot 66. He called back Monday morning and said "it worked".
I love The Golfing Machine.
I look forward to John having a very successful year.
Hunter
TGM gets a bad rap for it's terminology. But for students who have taken time to learn the definitions, and appreciate their precision, it makes communications so much easier.
Imagine the above telephone conversation with a teacher not versed in TGM.
"Well John, you just need to think past the hole. Hit it a little harder. Try to "release" the putter a bit more"
But instead, this was precise communication using well defined terminology. Rob didn't want to throw off the precision already present in Johns motion. John didn't have to change the effort in his stroke, he simply changed the hinge action from angled to horizontal. A slight turn and roll of the left wrist and boom, the putts start dropping.
This is the precision of The Golfing Machine and why it works so well. The teacher knew how to give the right information, and the student immediately translated without ambiguity.
Nicely done! You guys should be pumped for the next Tournament!
TGM gets a bad rap for it's terminology. But for students who have taken time to learn the definitions, and appreciate their precision, it makes communications so much easier.
Nicely done! You guys should be pumped for the next Tournament!
Great post, Bagger. What other system could have produced the precision and instant communication of this long distance telephone lesson?
And that 'next tournament' is already here. John Riegger tees it up today in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Desert, California. Good luck, John!
BTW, John 'private messaged' me recently that he's told several of his PGA TOUR buddies about LBG and now they were 'hooked' on the site, too. That's always great to hear, but I believe I would have used another word!
just wanted to thank everyone for the support.rob noel gave me a great lesson,that made that little light go off in my head.like i stated before i have been using tgm for years.rob showed me the drills with the dowel rod and this simple but very visual drill made evrything so simple.along with 3-f-5,i adjusted my setup.you cannot beleive such a quick turnaround.my line of compression is as good if not better than ever.i played with charlie howell on sat, and sun,i will tell you guys a little secrect if this guy learned what i just learned he would be alot better player.he has alot of leakage,right forearm to high at impact.tgm is by far the only way to learn.i also overheard tom pernice in the locker room talking about one plane and who swung this way,these guys have no clue,right forearm tracing is as one plane as you can get,correct me if i am wrong.i played a practice round with vijay,pretty impressive but i like my chances now that i have complete understanding of tgm.guys let me know if you would like me to start a thread on tour talk whats going on and what i am working on.thanks go out to rob noel for giving me great informsation and clarifying alot of my thoughts.thank you lynn for such a great web site and also for sharing information with my teacher rob noel.just remember everyone sustain the lag and down and out for in line compression
-- can you fill us in on some of the details? It's as close as most of us will ever get to being 'inside the ropes.' 
and good luck in the next tournament
Linear Mode
