Best wishes twomasters.
Appreciate your recent swing vids and posts.
Good day Bradley,
I’ve joined the class a couple days ago and been trying to digest the knowledge in the private area. It’s nice to read some story about you and some of your hindsight too. A little about me. Currently residing in Melbourne. It really is a good city to play golf. Many cheap courses and good courses too. Introduced to golf around 5 years ago if not mistaken, but never take it so seriously until the last one year. Current handicap…mmmm… still trying to break 100. 
Hopefully will do this soon if I could take off my ego and play positively. My big regret in golf is spending thousands on cavity back irons two months ago 
. Well, every time I went to a shop, the guy always said that blade is only for the better player. After reading some of the stuff here, I can conclude that blade is not only for the better player but also for someone who is willing to learn how to swing properly. Anyway, without my new irons I would not end up here. So that’s the big turn on for me. Now, I can’t wait to hit the bag but still waiting for the 2 iron “blade” to be ready, hopefully tomorrow. That’s it from me. Look forward to learning more about golf. Cheers mate…
Yep…it doesn’t really get much better than Melbourne for high quality golf courses that could host any big event the day after tomorrow if need be. There really is nothing that compares to the sand belt.
Glad you made it to Lag’s Advanced Ball Striking…great place for information and the best tuition you will ever find. Good luck with it all… whack that bag as often as you can and let the fun begin…
Is this typical of the modern game…? I am seeing 7 irons from 190, 3 irons from 240… might things look like this for the longer hitters?
Or are they spacing them out at 15 yard differences with the longer clubs? I know longer, lighter and stronger lofts… the ball… but how is this affecting the gaps? I know most don’t even carry long irons anymore.
Where are the big gaps happening?
3 iron 240
4 iron 225
5 iron 210
6 iron 195
7 iron 180
8 iron 170
9 iron 160
W #1 150
W #2 140
W #3 130
W #4 120
W #5 110
LW= 105 yards-------- most players probably use a 58 loft as a lob wedge now
Gap= 120 yards------- most players use a 54 loft as a gap/sand wedge now because pitching wedge lofts have been bumped so much stronger
PW= 140 yards
9i = 152 yards
8i = 165 yards
7i = 177 yards
6i = 192 yards
5i = 205 yards
4i = 220 yards
3i = 235 yards
hybrid = 250 yards
3 wood = 275 yards
driver =300 yards
That would be a pretty good tour estimate for length of clubs- give or take a bit here or there-
Lofts have been bumped down so much and the forgiveness of the cavity allows the lower lofts to be hit in the air great distances with even less than perfect swings and strikes. A 7 iron is now close to an old 5 iron loft…it’s all just a false sense of security to make everyone feel better about themselves and how FAR they can hit a club.
I watched a bit of the PGA today and out of the entire day I saw TWO good shots with an iron that wasn’t a wedge or a hybrid- Tiger and Glover hit good shots into the par 3 13th (I think it was) and that was it. Every other shot from over 150 yards or more were very lame and not pinseekers at all for accuracy or distance control.
And yet with all these distance oriented clubs and balls that go forever and don’t curve and clubs that are forgiving for the mishit and perfect greens and square grooves there were again only a few people that finished the event under par
Thanks Bradley for the insightful post. It helps me understand what is going on out there. It sure is a different game.
It interesting that if Tiger or Phil putt like the rest of us do… their scores are not all that impressive.
Mickleson apparently had 34 33 30 30 putts, so that puts him at 12 over par for the week… Sam Snead said in his book that the reason he was the best player in his era is because he “proudly” boasted his amazing stat of 33 putts per round! With Phil’s putting numbers I would guess Snead would have shot something like 73 72 68 69 not 12 over.
Tiger had 33 putts on Sunday… and shoots 75. Sounds typical of something I would do! If you take the putter away from these guys this is what happens… I’ve been saying it for a long time that the ball striking is really pathetic considering the so called technology that is available, mental trainers, perfect conditions, fitness training, and so forth.
Tiger hit two horrible tee shots on the back nine and was not penalized at all for doing so.
The public is blinded by the poor ball striking issue because they’re not going to notice when they see 68 on the board, that the player only hit 11 greens.
I know I’m in the minority here, but I think golf is much more interesting when ball striking is at a premium, and poor shots are properly penalized.
It makes me feel like I am getting old before my time but is the current state and type of golf attracting the current type of fan that has affected the US game so heavily. All the stuff that’s shouted now seems related to the “whack it as hard as you can” golf that is being played. Whereas previously people would go to watch, appreciate, applaud and cheer a particularly impressive piece of shotmaking or putt. All you need to do is watch some of the Re-Max long driving stuff on You tube to see where this attitude comes from.
The games governing body won’t roll it back as it would end up with them being sued for billions. They just need to create a tour/competition with golf being played as it should and when it’s popular enough people will embrace it at grass roots.
I was given a massive bag of practice balls on the weekend from a friend moving house. I don’t want to go to the club today and hit drives 320 into the trees of a 100 year old golf course and hack it out onto the green. What I do want to do is go there with my persimmons 1980 blades and try out some Tour Balatas, Penfolds and real old Top Flites from the late 70’s to see if I have control
Hey Brad, my name is David Griffiths.
i had my card in europe the last 4 years and just signed up to start working thru the modules with lag. its great stuff and really makes so much sense to me.
i’ve been working with todd anderson down at sea island for the last 5 years. we really got stuck on trying to sort out my leg action and impact alignments this last year. way too much static stuff and checking lines.
this seems like a breath of fresh air! i’m on module 1 but have seen parts of the next 2. really great stuff!! what a great way to train changes.
anyways just wanted to say hello as a fellow pro.
i’m on the challenge tour this year as things went south last year, but after 2 weeks at home working really hard at it hopefully i can get things going back in the right direction.
i’m sure we must of crossed paths at some point over the last 5 years. i played in the oz masters at ur record setting venue 2 years ago. what a course huntingdale is! and i hear i was better before they ripped out all the scrub.
hope ur doing well pal and the golf is good
griff
Welcome aboard Griffo,
Nice to see another pro sidestep the madhouse of teaching out there and get into the real nitty gritty of the actual functioning of the golf swing as one motion.
I hear you loud and clear about the static positions- it is not the way to try to swing a club…been there and done that- amazing how when i was my own coach I worked it out on my own, by trial error and ballflight and feel. Then someone tried to get me into positions and the ball hated it 49-50 weeks of the year…
You will do great if you follow Lag’s protocol…put in the work…do the drills and forget the ball for a while and pretty soon down the road in the not too distant future you will get back to where you once were and beyond and never look back
PSSSSTTTTTT…don’t tell any other pros you play or practice with what you are up to !!!..Hogan had his secret… I have mine…you will have yours… let them all try to work out the golden pot of treasure themselves because they sure as heck won’t become the player we all can and will become by following the modules and then making the ball talk to us as if we had it on a string
I hear ya! 
these feelings travel well too! i had the usual early tues morn flight to an event ( in poland this week ). got here and did a few bag drills hit 10 shots and went flag hunting for 9 holes. i’m usually all over the place on a travel day but my mind seems to be clear about what it wants the club to do. AT LAST!
exciting times!
how far are you from sea island? next time i’m over we’ll have to get together and have a knock?
griffo
Not too sure…I have a feeling it is about 5 hours to Jacksonville…so maybe a bit short of that… I will give you a shout if I ever come through that way. Hit them well in Poland … I am sure you will start to see some better results and feelings sooner rather than later
I would have to agree… 65 today!
dg
Re Greg Norman and coincidences:
Great story on page 2 Hugo, am I right in saying that is Stevie on Greg’s bag?
Regarding the coincidences, have you decided which former ladies tennis number 1 you will marry in your fifties?
For your sake I hope it is Anna Ivanovic and not one of the Williams sisters!
Yes Styles- Stevie in the acid wash jeans
yeah, I think I’m going to aim for Steffi Graf- about time someone supported me instead of the other way around…she has plenty of $$$ to support my module/golfing habit
Post by Addington Arnie » Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:16 pm
“I’d like to thank Tabaret for having me at 50-1 on Tuesday”
(Not very) anonymous winner on the Australian tour in the 90’s
Addington Arnie
just to show what Arnie was talking about with this quote from the ‘great golf quote’ section of the forum- here is a photograph I found
In the 1993 Australian Masters I backed myself to win at 50/1… I put $100 on myself to win and as luck would have it I pulled it out in a playoff
that was the first time I had ever bet myself in a golf tournament…and I have bet myself two other times since:
In 1998 I bet myself to win The Australian Masters-again- at 25/1…$200 bet—and a nice result again as I won by 5 strokes
In 2004 I bet myself again to win the Australian masters at 50/1 and looked like I had kicked another winner home as I held a one stroke lead on the 72nd hole- bad drive- unplayable and a double and that was that !! but made a few $$ on the place
But 2 winning bets out of 3 attempts is pretty good going !! The 1993 win made headlines as I mentioned it in my acceptance speech at the presentation- so they presented me with a cheque the next day and made a spectacle of it for advertising purposes
I had been striking the ball quite nicely in the lead up events. The Coca Cola Classic at Royal Melbourne saw me in good position after 3 rounds even with atrocious putting- NO putts would drop in. I went to New Zealand and played decent in the Open there but again didn’t fill the hole up with my putts. It had been frustrating to be striking the ball well yet not being able to shoot the scores I felt my ball striking provided me. So right before The Australian Masters I started fooling around with a long putter a friend of mine had. It was an old Wilson model used by Sam Torrance and Peter Senior. It felt light in my hands and I managed to contact the PING people who sent me a B90 model of their long putter. It was much heavier in the head and it arrived to the course for me on wednesday- the day before the tournament started.
I had played well at Huntingdale the year before in 1992. I actually stormed into the lead after 8 holes of the final round, but experience cost me a bit that day with the likes of Norman, Parry, Senior, Roger Mackay and even David Feherty breathing down my neck and I dropped some shots on the back nine and eventually finished in a tie for 4th place. So with confidence from that previous year and some excellent ball striking coming into the event, and a new long putter to try out, I couldn’t see why i couldn’t contend again- I went to the betting tent and quietly placed $100 on myself to win-- more out of fun than brimming confidence.
I teed off late in the 1st round with Mike Harwood and John Morse. The scoring was good. i think Senior had shot 67 in the morning and Parry had done well also. The afternoon was hot and a little tougher but I managed a 3 under par 70 and looked forward to an early start the next day to build on that.
Round 2- what can I say !! One of the most brutal days for golf you could imagine. The winds were whipping the course with a hot north westerly wind at a constant rate with gusts up to 50 miles per hour. The Huntingdale layout of holes don’t run in a good direction for this direction of wind and every hole bar one- was a crosswind with a little against or a little down- add the fact that the fairways were narrow and treelined it was not a fun day. Greg Norman went for 74, Peter Senior went for 78 and Craig Parry went for a 79 as did Elkington. I somehow fought my way around with irons from the tee and holding shots low against the winds and combined that with some great and unexpected up and downs towards the end of the round to hold it together with a 1 under 72 and actually take the 36 hole lead.
The 3rd round was beautiful. Overcast. A little rain overnight had softened up the course. Not too hot- perfect conditions… But I struggled early and then when my hitting was good my putter cooled off. I had a bit of an up and down day and shot a par 73 to still be 4 under par for the tournament. I now however had dropped to equal 3rd place with Norman and Parry. Terry Price who I played with in round 3 was at 5 under par and the little dynamo Peter Senior had come back from his 2nd round score of 78 to shoot an eight under par 65 and take the lead- four strokes ahead of myself.
So round four would see me playing in the 3rd to last group with Mark Allen. Norman and Parry were right behind me and then the final group of Senior and Terry Price. I still felt good about things. I hadn’t had a great 3rd round as I think the wind of round 2 had beaten my swing up a little. However I was near the lead and playing with a friend of mine, Allen, who I had played junior golf with. So that was in my favor instead of having to deal with the crowds following Norman, Parry and Senior. They were the favorites and rightfully so. I had to make some noise of my own and see what eventuated.
On the driving range I felt very relaxed. Something in my head just told me to open my stance up a little at address ( a voice in Johnny Miller’s head told him to do the same thing at Oakmont in the final round of the 1973 US Open and he went out and shot 63 and won the event)… I had no thoughts of that at the time, but my swing suddenly felt better and the ball came off solidly again. My putting had been solid all week and I had confidence with my putting from inside 6 feet with my new long putter that week, so I walked to the first tee very relaxed and almost in the ‘zone’ as they call it. I was unfazed, undaunted, and confident of a good day.
I stuck to my game plan of irons from many of the tees. Amazingly that week I only carried 13 clubs in my bag !! I had a Bridgestone J driver 8.5 degree loft that had a XXX shaft in it and went straight as an arrow and long. I didn’t have a 3 wood I was particularly fond of, and never carried one that week so I wasn’t tempted to try use it. I had 1 iron through sand wedge and my long putter I had just received the day before the event- NO lob wedge…I may be the only person to ever win a big event by using less than the legal limit of clubs- on purpose !!
1st tee- one iron up the fairway- six iron second shot to about 6 feet- BIRDIE
2nd hole- 3 iron tee shot up the fairway- wedge to about 20 feet short- holed the putt- BIRDIE
So after 2 holes I was now only 2 behind Senior who had just hit off and had leap frogged Price, Parry and Norman- the crowd were excited and were making some noise. I was calm and ground out par after par. I had some good opportunities on 5 and 6 and 8 but couldn’t convert and after the hot start could only turn at 2 under par- but was keeping up with the pack and Norman and Parry weren’t doing anything so the commotion of playing the group ahead of them was nothing and I wasn’t being bothered by their gallery.
10th hole- Par 5…Driver-3 iron to the heart of the green and a 2 putt BIRDIE
11th hole-Par 4… 1 iron and a 6 iron to 15 feet below the hole- made the putt- BIRDIE
I was now creeping up. I had got to 8 under. Senior was at 10 under and the others were at the 6 under mark. I wasn’t nervous because I still had some chasing to do and knew if I could put some more pressure on Senior anything could happen over the tight closing holes.
12th hole Par 3…7 iron to about 12 feet and grazed the hole- PAR
13th hole Par 4… 2 iron off the tee and a punch wedge to 7 feet- BIRDIE
Now the gap was back to 1 stroke. Alas Senior birdied 10 to jump 2 clear again
I parred the long 14th hole and ripped an 8 iron on the par 3 15th straight at the hole. It came up about 10 feet short and I rolled that one in for another BIRDIE to be 10 under and 6 under for the day.
I played 16 and 17 both par 4’s in solid fashion. Having putts for birdie from inside 20 feet on each hole but couldn’t get the putt to drop.
Senior had bogied the long Par 5 14th to be 11 under and I was 10 under standing on the 72nd tee. The roars came from 16 as Senior had birdied again to go two strokes clear again. The 18th hole was make or break.
I hit a nice cutting drive over to the right side of the fairway to give myself a good angle to the back left pin location. The only problem was it was against the wind and I had over 200 yards to the hole. I selected my 3 iron and took dead aim.
I rifled my 3 iron up into the air, drawing it slightly against the left to right wind. It was looking good in flight right down the stick. It had tremendous height on it also…now where would it land? Had I judged the distance correctly? All of a sudden the crowd erupted. My shot had dropped from the sky and stopped on a dime- two feet from the hole- I would convert the putt to reach 11 under.
I had hit every green in regulation in the final round of a pressure packed event. I had not wilted under the pressure like I had done the previous year. No matter what the result, I was more than satisfied with what I had achieved that day.
Senior came to the 72nd hole, one stroke ahead at 12 under. The gritty Senior didn’t give tournaments away. He striped his drive down the fairway and then peeled a 5 iron into the fat part of the green about 30 feet from the hole. I was in the media center viewing the television and watched him roll his putt up to about 3 feet short of the hole. Oh well…at least I gave him a run for his money. Then- he inexplicably missed the putt for the win and we were tied- and a playoff would be upcoming.
I had been doing interviews. I had not warmed up again on the range. i needed to pee. I even had to go get more golf balls from my locker because I had thrown all mine away to the crowd. I didn’t really have time to think. The playoff hole would be 17 and then 18 if we needed to continue
We shook hands- Senior won the toss and hit his drive into the right rough from where he would have a blind second shot to the green. I stood up. Took a practice swing- and another- wiped my sweaty hands on my pants and ripped a 2 iron down the left side and long with a great view at the long par 4 green. Senior hit a great shot but came up short in the front right bunker. I had a 4 iron left and hit it slightly right but it shouldered off the bank and ran up and onto the green about 30 feet from the hole.
The crowd had every foot of the green ringed as Senior exploded a great shot out to approx 5 feet left of the hole. It then dawned on me that I had a putt to win. I never really tried to make the putt however. I for some reason knew Senior had a very tricky putt from his angle. I had a similar line putt (mine was longer) on the 71st hole to Senior’s and it did not break right like it should have. I seemed very calm about myself 2 putting to make a par and leaving it up to him if we were to go any more extra holes.
I rolled my 30 foot putt up about 2 feet from the hole. I marked it. Told Senior I was going to putt out and stroked it into the hole and then I squatted near the back of the green and watched…
Senior missed left- just like I somehow knew would happen and I was the Australian Masters Champion. I had won a tournament that I had gone to watch my golfing idols play as I was growing up and yet I was about to put on the gold jacket that came with victory.
I won $130,000 for the win. I won an invitation to the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio and an invitation to the Johnnie Walker World Championship in Jamaica in December… My life had changed in an instant.
And I had won $5100 extra for my little sidebet !!! That was almost sweeter than the prizemoney, to go stand in line and collect the winnings from my bet.
I have added a photo of myself putting on the first playoff hole & also receiving the cheque for winning
There was a little bit of uproar over the end result of this Masters event. Myself, Peter Senior and terry Price who finished in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the tournament ALL used long putters. However the long putter didn’t make me hit ALL 18 greens in regulation in the final round. The long putter didn’t make Senior have 7 birdies in a row during the 3rd round and it didn’t make him hole in one for $100,000 on the 15th hole during the first round. It just so happened that the 3 players who played the best that week all wielded the long stick.
I have to agree with some of the backlash though. I think the long putter is not a pure golf stroke. You should NOT be allowed to anchor the club to your body and make a one handed push with the other hand. I cannot believe that the governing bodies have allowed the long putter to stay legal for all these years. It is obviously too late now for it to be changed.
I heard all the rumors that a change would come and the long putter would be banned- so I stopped using it towards the middle of 1993. I only used it for about 4 months, yet on TV in Australia they STILL always mention about me going back and forth between a long putter and a short putter !!! They obviously have short memories.
I used it for about 10 events (4 in Australia and 6 in Japan) …16 years ago !!!
Some people have made a career of using the long putter- or even the belly putter. Both in my opinion are wrong and shouldn’t be allowed. It has certainly allowed some players to stay in the game longer than they should have as their nerves were frayed with regular putting…another case of the governing bodies dropping the ball with regards to the interests of the game- in my opinion.
Two,
Great recap! Thanks for sharing that.
robbo
I’m sure all the guys here are appreciative of these great insights from behind the ropes, what was going on in your mind, and how you were able to keep focus going up against the top players in the world, and then being able to finish out if front. Wonderful stuff.
When did you first have the realization that you could beat the top players in the world?
I think for me it would somehow start as a process of association. I might see a guy that I knew I could beat, go out and beat a guy I didn’t think I could.
There is also the “any one day” thing you learn.
I played a lot against Jim Benepe for instance in college golf. As you know Jim is a great player, but not a guy who is going to make you shiver on the first tee like Greg Norman would, or say Tiger would today. Jim was playing well in Canada, winning there, then he won the Victoria Open in Oz, so that gave me a feeling of hope I think. When Jim won his very first PGA Tour eventKirk Triplet was another guy who’s not very impressive at first glace, and I never felt like I couldn’t beat him.
But then there were the guys that were really hard to beat, and also very impressive strikers… long and straight. Before his injury, Billy Ray Brown had that aura of intimidation, as did Sam Randolph. These guys were just hard to beat. They seemed to always have a 64 in their bag at anytime, and you could sense that they knew this. Corey Pavin too. Corey simply did not miss hit many golf shots. He would just beat you with precision golf.
I think at some point as you get better, you realize that on a good week, you can beat anyone at any given time… assuming for instance a guy like Norman was a bit off for that week. It’s a nice lightbulb! Of course a 5 handicap is never going to beat Greg in his prime even on his worst week.
There is a point of realization that happens…
What are your thoughts on that Bradley?
Lag, I think you hit the nail on the head with most of that…Confidence breeds confidence…You play with a good player and realize that they aren’t really any better than you…that breeds confidence. And then there are some who seem to flush it day in and day out and get up and down from ballwashers and the putts drop in like they are going into a thimble and you wonder how you will get by them- but every dog has his day- no matter the opponent. the law of averages and determination prove the so called under dog can pull through
I was lucky that I played with most of the Aussie greats of professional golf when I was still young and an amateur…so i wasn’t intimidated so much when I turned pro as I already knew these older guys who had been around and seen it all and had stacked my game up against theirs and saw where I stood. then it was just a matter of trusting my abilities, not thinking too far ahead and not making stupid mistakes that could end up costly.
I think that’s why some great amateurs in the USA don’t stack up when they turn pro because they have only experienced the amateur side of things and not competed as much with the pros of the day and had practice rounds with them or sponged information off them. That’s all I did growing up. I was lucky enough to meet these great players and get up close and personal to them and soak it all up. Even the way they talked or displayed themselves with dress and manners.
Obviously I was fortunate to get the opportunity to do all this. Golf has grown larger now. The players jet off everywhere. they don’t hang out as much or grab a beer and shoot the breeze. It has become a big boring business out there in many regards. the players have gag orders on them by the Tours to be nice to sponsors and all and sundry in everything they say and do. there are a lot less characters and a lot less opportunities to get into these inner circles like I was lucky enough to do and learn from. The players today would rather do a 5 mile run than have a beer and a chat. The discussions in the clubhouse changed from dirty jokes to multi vitamins and how many twitter friends you have- YAWN
Sometimes it’s a very thin line between success and failure. Some want it ,some don’t. Some have the game to succeed, some don’t. Some can concentrate for 5 hours, some can’t. Some are frightened to succeed. Some think they are good, some believe they are below par. Some can travel, some hate the travel- there is a lot of circumstances that can hold talent back and I guess that is why there are success stories and failures. I think in the era I started playing pro we had fun,It was never GOLF, GOLF, GOLF, but we worked at it also. It wasn’t a huge business money wise but you also had to play well to cover costs. The older players were hungrier. They didn’t let anyone else’s abilities dictate their game. They wanted it bad. They were their own coach, psychologist, travel agent, and had no-one else to blame and no one else to pat on the back. It was all on your shoulders. I loved all that and thrived on the fact that I had no sponsors. It was me against the world and that made me do all the things I felt necessary to have success. i didn’t care who I was playing with or who was ahead or behind me…It was me, my clubs and my ball. I felt if I took care of my business in the way best suited to me- then the other guys no matter what their talent level had their work cut out to get by me many weeks and especially the weeks where my entire game was in sync- So I guess that is a quiet confidence in my abilities and a not too much of a put the other guys up on a pedestal.
It is very easy to say, but we have no control over anyone else’s game. It is us against them on many levels and if I can have my levels somewhat firing on most of their cylinders then I felt I could beat most of the players out there. So my goal was to bring the best I could and not get caught up in what anyone else is doing… becoming a spectator to the other guy is not helping your game and concentration and not giving your game and thoughts the full 100%.
Obviously Hogan was great at tuning out the world. Nicklaus had the ability to focus on himself and no-one else. Tiger is sensationally good at it with all the stuff he has to deal with on a daily basis which all goes to show how the mental side is ultra important to golfing success