Owning one’s Swing

 

I always thought that when people talked about “owning one’s swing”, they meant something like this:
To know the what, the how and the why of your swing inside out, and being able to perform accordingly. When it comes to your swing, there can be no unanswered questions. Nothing can stand in the way of you and the most efficient motion possible given your physical and mental capabilities.

I found this interesting quote in an old article about George Knudson:

“What is it that allows a golfer to own his golf swing? When you consider there might have been only three or four in the history of the game, the answer isn’t as complicated as you might think. 
It means repetition of the highest level.
It means a swing plane that is not rerouted and does not change regardless of the club.
It means impeccable posture and perfect balance.
But most importantly, in the cases of Hogan, Moe and George, it means a perfectly square clubface approaching impact that remains square through the shallow, long and low action after impact. One need just look at pictures of the three of them in action.”
~ Irv Lightstone, 2006 (source)

So Irv looked at what (he thought) were the similarities between the golfers who supposedly owned their swings.

So in the end it comes down to this:
Perfect execution of perfect technique with perfect consistency.

In my opinion, achieving this can only be helped by really knowing the what, the how and the why of your swing.

Or else just beat a lot of balls.

Effects of grip pressure on off center strikes

The below high speed (1000 fps) video is fascinating because it shows us what happens when a ball is struck off the toe with a blade.

The first part of the clip shows a ball being hit with passive hands with very light grip pressure.

The second half of the clip shows us a similar ‘toe hit’, this time with a very firm grip pressure. The nice thing about the shot hit with a firmer grip pressure is that it will still travel in roughly the same direction as a center strike, only slightly less far.

To me this footage suggests that a firm grip is the better option. A good firm grip can also keep twisting of the club face to a minimum when you’re in the rough.

DISCLAIMER: Proceed with caution…
A firm grip has to be compatible with your type of swing! And even if that’s the case you’ll still need to train your wrists to stay ‘loose’ while maintaining a good firm grip with the fingers.

I won’t go into the details of the different swing types; I just wanted to show you this video.

For more information please visit lagpressure’s website here.

Too rough for the PGA Tour

<rant>

The trimming of the rough at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club after the second round of the RBC Canadian Open has led to some interesting discussions about the state of the game.

On most of the courses on the tour the rough is cut to 3 inches or less. This works in favor of the players that like to bomb it because a missed fairway is not that big of a deal. From the lighter rough the players can hold shots on the green even with the new (slightly less square) grooves.

As most of the courses on tour are both long, wide and open the players almost always have a clear shot to the green, even from the rough.

The anti accuracy age

Luke Donald about the rough at Shaughnessy: “I enjoy these classic courses, but I’m not a huge fan of long rough everywhere because it takes some of the skill away because you’re hitting the same shot from everywhere,” He said.  “The rough adds pressure when you are on the tee because you know you have to hit it in the fairway to have a chance to get on the green.”
So the fact that you have to hack your way out of it seems to be the common argument against having rough. It takes some of the skill away of rescue shots he says.
I’d say you need more skills with the driver to keep it out of the rough. Don’t try to hit it a mile if you can’t keep it straight…
What he says about the rough adding pressure on the tee …

You poor thing… Wake up dude!! You’re playing on the ‘These guys are good’  PGA Tour. Suck it up,' stop whining and just play :)

How math in golf has changed:

NOW:  Length & Short Game = Winning
PAST: (Accuracy && Length) & Short Game = Winning

Old school golf

These days it seems that only long hitters with great short game skills can dominate the field. It wasn’t that long ago when a relative short hitter like Corey Pavin could compete against big hitting players. He beat Greg Norman to win the 1995 US Open with smart and accurate play. There was more of a risk and reward element to golf back then, simply because of the fact that in those days missing a fairway often meant a one stroke penalty.
I much prefer this risk reward version of golf. The fact that there are more ways to get a good result makes the game more interesting to watch for me.

<sigh/></rant>

Vintage Tiger Swinging a long iron

Caddy View:

Down the line:

Dutch Threats: Joost Luiten

 

This is the first part in a series of swing vids of talented Dutch golfers.

Joost Luiten is a very good, aggressive type of player who I think we’ll be hearing from a lot these next couple of years on the European circuit.

Click on the links to find out more about him or just let his swing speak for itself. Enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_Luiten

Joost on European tour website

Open champion 2011 Darren Clarke

 

What a great tournament! What a winner! Congrats Darren!

Solid swing, simple too.

Darren and Lee giving a clinic during the Dubai Desert Classic 2009

Mackenzie: The Golf Bag

For those who like to walk the course, a good bag is a great investment.  The MacKenzie company specializes in high quality golf bags. 

Their premium ‘Walker’ model (shown left) was originally designed by PGA tour player Peter Jacobsen, who also founded the company in the eighties.

This all leather bag costs a little over $700 and, while the build quality certainly justifies the hefty price tag, I opted to go for the less expensive Llama model. The Llama retails for $250 and is hand-made in Portland, Oregon from water resistant ballistic nylon.

Premium leather details on various places give the bag a very classy look and the leather strap is very comfortable on the shoulders.

The bag weighs only 1.5 kilograms (3lbs) and has enough pockets to fit everything you need during a round.

 

I was most impressed with their customer service and willingness to accommodate specific requests.

If you are interested in buying a MacKenzie, please don’t hesitate to contact Thom! 

European Senior Tour

In my opinion one of the most interesting tours is the European Senior Tour. Great players on classic golf courses, what’s not to like?

As you probably know there are lots of beautiful courses around that are deemed too short for regular tour events. European Senior Tour events are also played on these kinds of courses. As fairways get narrower shot making, placement and trajectory control becomes more important than length. The senior players grew up playing these kinds of courses and you can learn a lot just by watching them dissect a course. Guys like Ian Woosnam, Sam Torrance, Sandy Lyle and Peter Fowler have been competing at the top for decades and it’s just great to to see that they still have some great golf in them.

Schedule

Here is a list of this year’s upcoming events; I can highly recommend attending at least one of them.

Jul 21-Jul 24    The Senior Open Championship 2011 Walton Heath G.C., Surrey,Surrey,England
Jul 28-Jul 31    US Senior Open 2011 Inverness Club, Toledo,Ohio,USA   
Aug 19-Aug 21 Cleveland Golf / Srixon Scottish Senior Open Fairmont St. Andrews,St. Andrews, Fife,Scotland   
Sep 02-Sep 04    Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters Duke's Course, Woburn GC,Woburn,England    
Sep 16-Sep 18    Casa Serena Open Casa Serena Golf,Prague,Czech Republic        
Sep 22-Sep 24    Cannes Mougins Masters Cannes Mougins,Cannes,France
Sep 29-Oct 01    Senior Open de Portugal Belas Clube de Campo,Lisbon,Portugal
Oct 14-Oct 16    Benahavis Senior Masters La Quinta Golf & Country Club,Marbella,Spain      
Nov 04-Nov 06    ISPS Handa Australian Senior Open TBC,TBA,Australia
Nov 18-Nov 20    Fubon Senior Open Miramar Golf & Country Club,Taipei,Taiwan
Dec 09-Dec 11    MCB Tour Championship Constance Belle Mare Plage,Poste de Flacq,Mauritius

Taken from: http://www.europeantour.com/seniortour/index.html

Van Lanschot Senior Open at The Royal Hague G&CC 

Last month the senior tour came to The Netherlands and they played The Royal Hague G&CC (aka ‘De Haagsche’ in Dutch). The course is regarded as one of the finest examples of a links course on Europe’s mainland. During the first few days of the tournament the heavily sloped course showed its teeth as the rain and wind prevented players from going low. On Saturday, the lowest score was three under by Peter Fowler. On Sunday, Des Smyth played some incredible golf. Coming from 4 strokes down behind Fowler, he put together a string of birdies and two eagles to finish at 6 under.

Here are some swing clips that were taken at this particular event:

Sam Torrance short iron approach at the first hole.

Kevin Spurgeon in slow mo….

Bunker shot by Mike Harwood

Bill Longmuir long iron approach shot.