Two words…shock collar. 
Capt. Chaos
You guys don’t want me shooting 66 everyday! lol
Bad greens keep that from happening too often… but I actually prefer bad greens… motivates me to hit the ball closer to the hole… and I can always blame the greens if I putt bad! which is usually the case… 
Shoot 66 all you like. The rest of us will worry about getting down to 86 first. Then hopefully 76. 66, I’m not holding my breath on that one. I’m in a giving mood this Xmas however, so I’d like to see many ABSers hitting 66’s, including you and Bradley.
I’m a hacker so I should post in this thread at least once hehe.
I have been carrying a bit of an injury over the last few days so I have not been able to drill…and forget about playing too, actually I haven’t played for at least 3 weeks due to work and family commitments and even then it was a super quick 9 holes.
Anyway the point of this post is that due to my injury all I have been able to do is stand in front of a mirror with club in my hand and think about my mod 1 technique as well as the golf swing in general. Whilst mucking around I realised that the position of my left wrist during the full swing at the point where I start to dump into impact was not the same as in mod 1 - I’m probably using all of the wrong words here but bear with me. In mod 1 your left wrist is over the ball (impact zone) so it is for lack of a better word pulled across your body and resting on your left thigh. From this position there is no lateral movement of the arms. I noticed that in my full swings that my left wrist never got to this position and at best it was somewhere between my right thigh and crotch. I’m not sure if any of that makes any sense to anyone. I hit a few plastic balls in the lounge room (don’t tell my wife) with this new found theory of mine but what can you really tell from that?
Makes perfect sense, Anthgolf. Pivot stall and a flip of the hands through the ball. It effects 99% of golfers out there. Keep doing the mod 1 drills (when you are healthy again) as this will strengthen your ability to use your hands when you need to. The pivot part is addressed in later modules. See the before and after pics of Prot. That is the perfect demonstration of where most of us start as hackers and how Lag’s ABS program changes are swing DNA. Those pictures tell me 1000% that the program works!
Get healthy again…start hitting the bag and get to module 2, 3, etc… And yes, you want your hands to “fire” when they are even with the ball…not flip and lose all speed and power.
Cheers,
Captain Chaos
Thanks Capt. I’m not up on the terminology such as “Pivot stall and a flip of the hands through the ball” so I had hoped that by explaining it in my laymans terms it would still make sense.
Xmas update. Too much drinking, eating and family, but not a bad thing of course. Golf was unremarkable. I’ve spent the last two weeks side tracking with module 2 not quite understanding it. Trips to the course have still been fun, but haven’t made a lot of progress. The only real highlight was seeing some good results after trying some of Al’s tips. It was amazing seeing 20 footers drop like flies for a while, and even though it wasn’t like that next time I went to the putting green, I still think it’s only a matter of working at it to see a lot more of that.
The most interesting development began last night in my back yard. I usually drop down 30-40 balls, set a target to chip at, and pretty much walk up to the next ball, drop to my stance and hit usually. I can get a few sets of these in before light falls off, therefore getting a nice quantity of chips in, and have been seeing great results. However, now that I’m getting a reasonable percentage of good chips from that, I’m leveling out pretty quick. I know I have improvements to make, but I’m not really seeing them. So last night, I decided to slow it all down and try a pre-shot routine.
The routine was something simple and repeatable. It went, breathe in, start practice swing, breathe out with swing going forward. Breathe in again, step up to ball, take aim, keep body still, keep waggling club, breathe out. During that breath, I’ve adjusted aim if I needed, adjusted stance slightly if needed, made sure my hips are pushed forward for weight on front foot, shaft angled, face slightly open. Finally, I take another breath, breathing into my stomach, focus on the back of the ball and take the real swing, without breathing out at all. The breathing in felt like I was filling my stomach to add weight to anchor my feet. So overall, it feels like I’m getting my body into a very stable position early then setting it and finally anchoring that with the final breath, while keeping movements in my arms and hands, which is where it’s going to count with a chip shot.
The results were a big jump forward from previous sessions, and I saw many times straighter shots (aim is probably bad when just stepping up and hitting obviously) and also quite a few more clean hits. I figure, I probably know enough about what a good chip feels like now, so I’m going to go this approach from now on with chipping sessions, quality over quantity now. This won’t work yet for the full swing or putting, because I don’t know what a good shot feels like for those yet. The only other step I can think of is probably visualisation, which I might also try to integrate into my practice soon too come to think of it. I guess that goes to the front of every shot, so visualise, then practice swing, etc.
I’m also going to look towards getting my handicap in the next month. I still don’t have enough going for me to get around too cheaply, but I’d be happy to see high teens, or low 20’s. I guess high 20’s is still OK, as I can only imagine that will drop pretty dramatically after getting more Lag and practice with other things, which is always fun to see.
Good stuff SB.
I took my 76 Wilson Staff’s to the range today to test out my right wrist injury. I took the 4i, 7i & PW with me on only my second time out with them (both times at the range), boy oh boy am I happy man. Happy & Excited. I only hit 50 balls because my theory is that in a round of golf you don’t hit more than 50 irons shots (well you’re not supposed to) and I was smashing them. Believe it or not my favourite club to hit was the 4i, I was just sending it out there and more often than not drawing at will. If the 4i was such a pleasure to hit you can imagine what the 7i felt like…butter. My distances are still short compared to my TM 09 Burners but you would expect this given the jacked up lofts and regular flex shafts on the Burners. I would just stand back away from the mat and think about all the swing mechanics, before picking a target, deciding on the kind of shot I would hit, taking a practice swing then stepping up & BAM…no doubt in my mind about not hitting the shot that I wanted to hit. I wasn’t even looking at the ball, well I was but I wasn’t if you know what I mean…the ball just felt like it was in the way and got collected. In fact all my best shots came when I don’t even remember seeing the ball during my swing at all, it was of little consequence to me & literally it was just in the way of my action. I hit 75% great, 15% acceptable (the aim was there but not the distance) & 10% terrible. You know what? I have the exact same ratios with the Burners so go figure…the difference is that with the Burners a good shot or bad shot pretty much feels the same & all I can do is hit it straight. With the Wilsons the good shots felt really, really, really good (an addictive feeling) & I was peppering the flags (not as good as how some of the Guru’s on here would pepper the flags but awesome enough for me). All of this with no bag drills for the last couple of weeks - which reminds me I’m going to start back on them tonight. Exciting stuff.
I’m going to clean up the rust & leding edges on the Wilsons and play a couple of 9 hole (iron only - no woods) rounds with them. I have already decided to use these irons exclusively when practicing but if I can bring this kind of range form to the course then bye bye Burners, especially more so if I pick up another set of 70’s blades I currently have my eye on.
So a good session then??? 
I mean, the most exciting thing is that you haven’t finished module 1 yet, and yet you are really starting to enjoy stepping up to the golf ball. Imagine by the end of module 10!!!
I’m also glad the Wilson’s worked out well for you, I really should go down to a range and give mine a thorough workout against the Pings to see what the real difference is for 50 years of technology, but in my opinion it’s not really anything meaningful.
Yeah real good SB…I wasn’t thinking about module 1, I just went out and hit the ball the way my body was telling me to if that makes any sense.
That is exactly what you should be doing…
do your drills, then when you are on the course, play golf…
have fun designing shots
execute them with a sense of complete commitment,
live with the results…
savor the good ones however few and far between they may be…
enjoy the feeling of pure strikes with quality equipment.
inspiring post…
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAG!!! JANUARY 5!!
thanks…
we had a nice day today…
one step closer to not being able to remember how old I am!
Played my customary 1 winter round every 3 weeks today in water-logged conditions. Not enough really, but thanks to the drilling, I hit the ball fine. Not brilliant, but good for somebody that never hits a ball. Scored 32 stableford points for my 16.8 handicap. Most shots were a fade, and sometimes almost a slice. I realized towards the end of the round that if I flattened my swing, I hit the ball better. It has always seemed that way for me - I hit the ball better the less upright my swing is. On the last hole I hit a nice 3 iron to 6 feet from the pin and got the birdie. Whenever I was stood in waterlogged ground I hit it bad, as if somehow it was stopping my pivot. My swing now feels like very little arm movement and all pivot + hands. I need to improve distance through the clubs, and that will come with a faster pivot and more use of the hands, I think. My module 5 work also helped today. My grip on the club is now stronger without any loss in wrist movement.
My chipping is probably the big revelation. The drills encourage no arm movement and packing in the arms tight. When I chip like this I feel in total control of the distance, and the chances of hitting fat or topping seem much reduced. I now have a chipping motion that involves no arm movement - just pivot and a little bit of hand/wrist to get the angle. It has got to the point where even on short chips just off the green, I prefer a chip to a putt - I can always get it down in 2. I had practiced chipping through the summer following Lynn Blake’s TGM ideas. I found I was good in practice but nothing special out on the course. Now I never practice and yet I have this feel around the greens I never had before. It’s basically a hinge and hold method, but with arms packed in tight so that there are no unnecessary moving parts. I love it. I no longer fear being off the green in regulation.
Quick note before I get into main story. Using a pre shot routine and visualisation, I managed my best chipping session yet. Very accurate length and direction, feeling very good about this now.
This morning hit the course. To recall, even though I’m doing Lag’s course, I haven’t actually played a proper 18 holes of golf in probably 15 years, played a 2 player best ball 10 years ago, played a round of 9 almost 6 years ago before my wedding, and a couple of 9 holes and a near 18 practice round late last year after joining my club. I’ve spent a lot of time since October 09 working on chipping, and now my swing with Lag. So I’m looking more at the long term gains rather than trying to nudge 1-2 shots a year off a starting handicap by playing a lot.
That said, it’s now time to get something onto paper. So I plan to mix in a few holes each week, and will start getting my handicap in a couple of weeks. It will likely go, 9 holes before work each Thursday, still practise chipping and putting on Saturday morning one week, then play a full round the next week. Heaps of Lag and backyard chipping in the mean time too. So I’ll get my handicap by mid February I’d say. After that I’ll re-assess.
So hit the course this morning. It was very up and down, but there were some nice shots!!! The persimmon didn’t show any signs of being unforgiving. Apart from a couple of wild slices, driving was a pleasure, and I got some really beautiful contact drives, with a few boring down the middle. The highlight was a long par 5 where I hit one drive 230m down the middle, and the other 225m on the left edge. I tried for another 1 wood off the deck, and hit it sweet, but after seeing it start dead straight it took a nice slice and ended up short and left of the 470m par 5. The longest par 4 was made to look easy with 2 195m 4 woods, one dead straight but just short, the other dead centre of the green. Irons were the biggest disappointment, but I still hit a few nice full shots. I’m very glad I’ve got old blades, because now I know for sure when I haven’t caught it sweet. It’s amazing how short some shots pulled up after hitting it off centre. I found myself with a lot of 5-7 iron shots, so once these modules really kick in, I can imagine a lot of good scores from that range. I probably got about 4-5 pars from 2 balls, but also had plenty of +2 +3 holes. Not really a lot of losing balls and disasters, more just having to chip out, then still missing the green in the bunker and two putting, +2. At a guess I’d be around 100 for 18. It’s pretty unimpressive for ABS, but it’s a start, we’ll see what really happens Saturday week too, could be better or worse.
But the overall aim is to be hitting a lot more nice shots and some respectable scores by the end of this year, and I don’t think anything I saw this morning could stop me thinking that goal isn’t entirely possible.
I hit the practice areas again today. I had a dilemna. Lag posted above saying don’t think about modules, but at some point I ignored the advice. I was on the range pretty much alone, feeling loose, feeling happy about things, but results were not going well. When on a range I have to think about things, so I decided to think about modules. First thought was about module 2 work, this helped quite a bit. 2nd was about flatter swings, and this helped sweeten the contact. Finally I got to part of module 1, my left hand.
Now I’m a left handed swinger, but am right hand dominant, a strange combination. I even talked to a golf shop tutor this week when I was looking for a cheap 2nd hand right hand putter this week about the combination, and he said he’d changed some players to right handed that had been like that. Like I need fuel to add to my fire. Surely enough, when on the range I questioned why, and came up with weak bottom hand must be bad. Fortunately I’ve done module 1 so left hand is not weak, but I’m thinking of other ABSers hitting the course with their massively dominant right hand as their bottom hand, and realised I probably lead a lot with my dominant top hand. While they probably struggle introducting the top hand, I struggle introducing the bottom. So I tried to introduce more bottom left hand and sure enough pure, straight shots were mine. My swing thoughts for every swing were module 2 feet, module 1 left hand and flat swing. Highlight was several pin seekers in a row, almost like it had all suddenly clicked and golf was easy. This didn’t last, but it’s a fun feeling picking up a bunch of balls off the range less than 2m from the flag. The other highlight was going to the matted nets for the longer irons and woods (range is only 7-8 iron in length) and entertaining some youth by crushing my persimmon driver off the deck (like I could use those 5" tees).
I’m obviously a long way from being a good golfer, but when I get sessions like this, I know I’m still riding the fast track to a great swing by being here.
I figure I’d put this here because I’ve got nothin now anyway. Holy jumpin johosafats Batman! I went out to the Callaway Golf Center down south of the strip today and what a trip… I’m only hitting off of mats until I can get myself limber enough to get about halfway back. If I tried to practice off of grass right now I might hurt myself or someone else. I made some good progress today. I felt like my address got pretty organic and comfortable for the first time in forever and I had some good poses at the finish with about half a dozen 4 irons. Also had a nice goup of tight half shots with a PW too but the move is still a mess. Real short and shut and skanky but at least I feel like it’s trying to evolve to create a little space and rotate flatter and more open and around. I need to feel a lot of space going back so I don’t spin out the hips first thing down and ruin everything. Lots of quick spinouts going on but Rome wasn’t built in a day I guess. I was really feeling the burn in my legs so I know I’m on the right track. The best feeling of all is that I’m not consciously pulling the trigger any more, it just happens automatically and it’s a great load off of everything.
I was seeing all the other players’ ball flights as the place was absolutely packed. They were all the same with every club. Up a mile high and every direction with every club. I swear I don’t know how all these guys ever find a tee shot. Most of them were hitting all drivers and little wedges of course as those are the only shots in golf to them. I hit 256 balls and 4 were drivers and 4 more 3 woods, I ain’t good enough or strong enough to work on the big sticks yet and even if I was I would never spend more than 25% of a session on woods. If these guys had real clubs in their hands and hit that many drivers their arms would be so spent they couldn’t drive home.
After I got done I had to go take a look at the new toys. There was a Demo Van and an ‘alleged’ fitter and rep. I walked over was amazed. OMAGAWD I had no idea it’s gotten THIS FRIGGING BAD. The driver heads are like square black plastic volleyballs. I was standing there agast and in shock when Mr clubfitter comes up and says ‘Oh look at the classics, Hogans and persimmon. Stylin.’ I askd him what these things were supposed to be. ’ Hit one’, he says as he pulls out some POS that says 9 on it. I set it down and the lie on it I swear was pointing at my nose. The loft was more than my 4 wood and I think one of my grips weighs more than this whole club. I handed it back and told him I had no desire to hit giant pull hooks. I also asked him if he thought this was what golf was upposed to be.
I had overheard him pitching his schlock to some poor sucker going on and on about perfect launch angles and hangtime and all his other technobabble that turns 12s into 15s. I said after when he was pitching me if he really believed that. ‘You’ve been doing this a while. You’re pushing 60. Do you seriously want one of these things hitting it way up in the air up at Pauite where the wind is blowing 30, 40 mph all day long on 480 yard 4 pars? You think you can play golf like that? Here, hit this and you tell me.’ I handed him my 6 iron. He looks at it and then goes over to his mat sets it down and starts fidgeting like he’s under the lights at the precinct. Had no clue by eyeing it that it was 5 flat and weak. Tries a couple of practice swings and then puts a ball down. Bounces it like 6 inches behind the ball and almost whiffed it. ‘What is this thing?’
“This is a golf club. I don’t know what all this other stuff is. Maybe you need to learn the difference if they’re paying you to be an ‘expert.’”.
Lag is right. All this garbage is a bunch of frying pans. Hell even the irons are that bad. All the better for us because we get better as they get worse. Game on.
I respectfully request we move this post to the Equipment thread and award it "Post of the Year!!
Well done LCD,
robbo
Back to mod1 after a 3 week break, anthgolf on YouTube if interested.
Anthgolf
Watched your videos and just wanted to thank you for posting it. Helps me in my module work. You hit that bag pretty hard. I can’t offer any advice since I am trying to accomplish the same goal as you. I am still trying to figure it out.