The EdZ Drills

[EdZ]

Many of you may be familiar with these, as posted previously on other boards. Take the time to experiment with them, you will find much of the discussion of TGM will become quite clear using them as a reference.

Enjoy - Ed Zilavy

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Here are a couple drills that may help some of you get the 'feel' of coming from the inside.


First, the feel of the back of the left hand. Feeling that back of the left hand, as if it IS the clubface, is an essential step. Focus on your hands “ swing your hands with your shoulders, as if you had ropes for arms “ the rock on a string.

* Stand at address without a club.
* Put your right hand behind your back
* Put your left hand on your right shoulder
* Make your backswing turn, until your left elbow is behind the ball, over the right knee (this is very important, and a key postion to check)
* Let your left hand 'fall', and feel like you are going to slap the ball with the back of the left hand.

It can help to just let the arm fall, and feel like your body doesn't unwind until the hand pulls it around. Once you get the feel, allow everything to 'flow' together. In a swing, the motion is from the body, but you have to get this feel first.

Important: as you do this, be aware of your left forearm rotating. When you get just past impact, your left palm should be facing 'up', and towards you, on the arc.

Do this same drill, but with a club, just in the left hand.

Then do it with 2 or 3 clubs (or a heavy club) just in your left hand.



The second drill (The EdZ drill).

This one sums up a lot of the swing feels in one drill.


* Stand at address, no club, arms hanging, in balance
* make a fist with your left hand, and point your thumb to your right (away from the the target)
* make a 'V' with your right hand, split your middle and ring fingers, ala 'spock' (live long and prosper) and put that 'V' over the base of your left thumb

Your hands will look like this: -|

(your left and right respectively)


Now just practice 'swinging' back and through, 'let' your hands rotate and feel everything staying in synch with your chest. Keep your hands in the -| relationship going back, and let them rotate through.

Feel your left arm 'line' and plane (like a tailor was measuring you for a jacket)

Feel the right hand/palm staying on plane (basically faces the ball until hip high).

Feel the right wrist bending back to the forearm - the 'tray' feel

Feel the 'throw' of the right hand down the line.

Feel your elbows staying close together.

Feel the 'post' of the right leg - Important: keep the same flex in the right knee!!!

that one thought will really help you. putting a ball under the right foot is a great way to practice and get that 'solid' right leg - very important!

This drill does many things, one if which is give the "swinger's" feel of the left hand, and the "hitter's" feel of the right hand

And for the last drill, for body motion:


'EdZ'drill #2

Get into posture, hands hanging down in front of you, palms facing each other, flat.

Bend both wrists inward (basically 90 degrees), and touch the tips of your middle fingers together, or better, link your fingers together (like you are going to lift someone who would step into your hands)

At this point, your palms are facing up, fingers interlocked, arms hanging down.

Point both thumbs away from you.

Now just slowly swing back and forth, at first, feeling the 'line' on the ground your hands swing on.

As you start to increase the motion, let your forearms roll 90 degrees back, 180 degrees through.

Your elbows will naturally tuck in on your sides as they should.

They will stay the same distance apart, as they should.

They will point down, as they should.

Try this with something heavy in your hands, let it move your body, keeping your palms facing your chest (basically), as you feel the swing motion. Do it again, feeling your body move the arms as a unit.

Swing two clubs, one in each hand, ˜allow' the rotation, and keep them the same distance apart - get the same feel as this drill.


"The Plane" any true swinging force, will swing on plane, so when you really "trust" the swinging force, you don't need to "think" about it much. The best way to understand it, is to use the EdZ drill #1, and 'feel that thumb', and 'see the line' that is the base of the plane. A laser or flashlight on each end of a club should always point at the target line. Imagine a beam of light coming out of the hosel, and grip. The 'wall' of light it produces, is the plane. It goes over the right shoulder on the backswing, over the left shoulder on the throughswing.

Spin the wheel drills:

The best way I can summarize the swing in general is this.....

Use the base of your right hand to extend your left during the entire motion. Width is efficient force. Your right palm should feel as if it is tracing the inside rim of a wheel, the hub is the top of your spine/base of your neck, and your wrists are the other end of the spoke. The hub turns the wheel, as you feel like you are using the palm/base of the right hand to swing/drag the knuckles of your left hand along the inside rim of the wheel. The wheel, and you, should remain in perfect balance. Spin the wheel with your belly. Post impact, allow the forearms to rotate and feel the back of the left hand ride the inside of the rim. Always in balance, always feeling the 'swinging' of the clubhead, always focused on 'target'.

If you are not in balance, you are not swinging well.

Understand this, and understand pressure points.

Think of your entire body as a whip - the downswing starts with the left foot, and the whip action moves up the left leg, through the hips and mid section, down the left arm, to the clubhead - the last piece of the puzzle to 'crack' that whip.

This is LAG. The sequence must be in order, or you have no 'whip'. The shoulders never get ahead of the hips.

Pressure points, are a way of 'feeling' that sequence. On the right forefinger (PP#3), being the easiest to 'get' and monitor for most people.

To understand PP3, think of 'grabbing' the edges of the rim with the thumb and forefinger... pp3 is where the forefinger stays 'on the edge' of the rim and after impact, it switches to the other rim edge - it rotate around the 'point' of rotation

Perhaps it would be more clear to say the 'rotation point' is the 'tip' of "THE" magic triangle.


Try hitting pitch shots, with your right forefinger extended down the side of the shaft. As you swing back, and change direction, notice the 'pressure' on your finger? Great, now 'keep that pressure'. That is lag pressure, one of the foundations of a great swing. Lag and Balance are critical.

If you were to get your shoulders ahead of your hips, you wouldn't have that whip action moving down the rope/body - you would not have any stored energy.

99% of golfers don't move that whip action from the ground up, because they start from the top, and once ANY part is out of order, you don't have lag, you don't have a 'whip'.

The feeling of lag is that the club is 'very heavy'. It is a feeling of 'dragging the back of the left hand. It is the feeling of the ˜stretch' that moves up the left side, through the body, and down to the club.

If you don't feel the 'heavy', 'drag', you are rushing your move from the top, you aren't 'spinning the wheel with the belley'

The best way to start to get this is to hit your 170 club, 100 yards with a full motion. Feel like you 'swing in slow motion', and that the hands 'fall', that the club is 'heavy.

Let gravity help you get the sequence right. You won't believe how smooth, and flowing, and 'heavy' this feels.

Have someone pull the shaft at halfway back, and ˜feel the stretch' on the left side.

A few words on TGM -

To understand the "flying wedges" concept in TGM, read my "EdZ" drills again, and how that relates to the 'riding the rim' image. The drill with the split right hand fingers over the left thumb (hands like this -|). The second one, with fingers interlocked, thumbs pointing away from you as well.

Basically, it is PP#1 that rides the rim, the point where the two lines meet. That is the 'wedge'.

In the second version (fingers interlocked as if you were going to boost someone up - ride the 'outside' of the wheel. The point at the base of the fingers is the 'wedge' that rides the rim (note - THIS is why Moe Norman's swing worked so well, look at his grip, and imagine this 'wedge')

The first gives you more of a 'hitting' feel, the second more of a 'swinging' feel (more rotation).

Watch good players, you'll see it.

Imagine that rim is about as wide as your hand, and 'grab the edges' of the inside of the rim so that your palm is riding the inside of it and your thumb and fingers are on its edge.

The left thumb rides the rim, the right palm rides the rim.

Right wrist straight back on the plane of the rim, and spin that wheel with the body. Forget about the hands once you've set them, just spin the wheel, think TARGET and BALANCE.


You may wish to experiment a bit with your grip when using this image.

The best way to 'get' the image is to grip like this:

Clap your hands in front of you. Your right palm stays facing the target.

Turn your left hand at a 45 degree angle (where a 90 degree turn would put your thumb pointing directly away from the target). This grip is a good variation, more of a 'hitting' action, and less rotation.

With this variation of grip, doing nothing else at address but bending your right wrist straight back on the plane of your right forearm, should then make your left wrist flat, and left thumb facing straight away from the target. From there, keep the spoke straight, and spin the wheel with the belly. You can think of the right forearm as a spoke in the wheel.

In the second version, fingers interlocked - the 'wedge' that rides the rim is where the hands meet each other at the base of the fingers.

The 'thumbs' follow the outside of the rim edges. The 'wedge' follows the middle of the rim.

Just 'past' impact - the entire structure rotates around the 'center' of that 'wedge'.

The 'thumb' side of your wedding ring is the center point of that rotation (where it meets the the middle finger of the right hand).

That 'center point' - MUST ALWAYS FACE THE SAME POINT ON YOUR CHEST

This is what 'being in synch' is all about.

You will then understand how the 'body' moves the arms and hands, and how the 'hands and arms' must provide enough support to stay 'centered'.

This is a 'body release' of the club.

It is 'both' a hands swing feel, AND a body swing feel. Both 'feels' are valid, as long as you keep that point 'centered'.

To further understand this, you can put a shaft in that 'center point' of your fingers, and have the grip end touch your chest./belly.

In terms of efficient force, the 'body' is the main factor.

Feel it in your feet. Feel the ground.

The 'spoke' runs from the spine at the base of the neck, to this 'wedge' point, basically, where your wrists would intersect, or in TGM terms, PP#1 - the point where the base of your right hand, meets the base of the left thumb.

It is the 'tip' of 'the' magic triangle that rides the rim. The left arm is one side of the triangle, the chest another - that angle does not change, or at worst only decreases, never increases, until after inpact.

This image is all about keeping the distance from that 'wedge' point to your chest/base of neck the same - that is the 'spoke'

Arm and body swing work together - to keep the hands and chest in synch. It is 'both' and arm swing, AND a body swing, but if one is to 'win' the argument, it is the body. Getting 'lag' and efficient force - physics is physics.

The best way I find to 'feel' this is to focus on the shoulders and their turn, while holding the butt of the club against your chest/belly and griping down near the clubhead.

Your arms prove 'support', and your body, force.

Practice from both extremes (see some of the EdZ drills)

Feel the hand and arm swing move the body, feel the body move the hands and arms. When you find the mid point, you will be in 'synch'.

Another great way to feel this is to swing a broom. Grip the broom down near the head, and let the handle rest on your left side. Keep the handle on your left side and use the body to swing it back and through.

A broom can be a very good training aid. It can show you the plane line, and that the right wrist bend is on plane with the forearm - and really helps you understand how to turn the body 'through' a shot. In fact I'd bet I can teach someone to swing well using only a broom and a mop!

The mop shows you 'lag' keep the strings of the mop dragging

Once you have 'set' that right wrist back/flat left, the hands and arms are passive. The body moves the triangle through. Your feet provide much of the 'feel' and the power moves up through them - up your left side, through the 'belly', down the left arm, to the club.

Crack that whip. Practice the sequence in slow motion until you can 'feel' the unwinding from the ground up. That 'stretch' that moves all the way up the body and down to the club.

You want to think more about the right wrist back, and the left thumb. When the right wrist is back, and the right hand is used to keep the left arm 'gently' straight, the left hand takes care of itself. (palms facing each other, square clubface 'weak' on both hands grip - trust it - as long as you get that left flat, and keep the right back - ride the rim, allow rotation)

If you are still going right, chances are you aren't getting that left shoulder over the right knee you aren't 'behind the ball'. The 'lever' is the left shoulder, and the arm and club the shoulder must get behind the ball. Thinking of this 'lever' can really help you. Feeling like you hit the ball with the back of the left shoulder is a great feel for you to have. The arms are 'along for the ride', while the hands feel the clubface.

While I don't advocate using it for shots - experiment with the 'feel' of the 'long' left thumb in combination with the flat left wrist.

You will 'feel' the 'karate chop' motion of the left hand (from 45 degrees to the target line) and the 'upper cut' or 'punch' of the right hand and arm (keeping that right wrist back)


Get that right wrist back, left flat - and spin the wheel, punch the target.


Note, in the second drill, fingers interlocked, you want to feel as if the palms ride the 'outside' of the tire, and the two thumbs 'ride the edges of the rim'


Stay balanced - always.

"See" the shot, and then make it happen - a lot like shooting a basketball - you don't 'think' you 'do'.

I think this will help a lot of people. I hope this explanation makes sense, try it.

Let me know what you think, or if you have seen this variation before. I'd like to know if this helps you, and if so, just remember, you saw it here first! - Ed Z.

As a wise being once said....... LET THE FORCE BE 'WITH' YOU - trust it

balance, ALWAYS in balance