And yet Leadbetter helped Faldo build a swing that won him 6 majors and made him the #1 player in the world.
Lag will often cite Faldo’s motion as being correct.
There’s an awful lot of bashing of other people and methods going on at this site, perhaps we should respect people’s rights to a different opinion from one’s own?
Just to clarify: I hope my post didn’t read as a bash- it certainly wasn’t intended as such. It was more about a reliance on a coach(insert any coach here) or an aid instead of finding a way to rely on yourself. It seems to have inspired a bash in the follow up, but that wasn’t the direction I was going in. The thread title alone seems like it should inspire positivity- Comeback POY 2010?
B
Bom, my reply was more aimed at lecoeurdevie so I’m not accusing you of bashing.
I do find it ironic that teachers are getting bashed on this thread when ultimately Lag himself is a teacher teaching a method.
I agree that his physics make sense but I’m sure that Nick Faldo and Nick Price, who both became world #1s under Leadbetter’s tutelage, would have argued with you that Lead had the magic formula when he was their coach. Ernie Els did just fine with Lead coaching him to 3 majors as well.
Butch is getting criticised too yet Tiger won the 2000 US Open by 15 shots when being coached by him. Adam Scott was world no 2 or 3 under Butch’s (one good) eye. Phil Mickelson is #2 in the world and arguably playing the best golf of his life and being coached by Butch.
I think that sometimes everyone needs to draw breath before they post. One of the reasons that TGM students get bashed is because they adhere to the yellow book so dogmatically, lets not do that here.
I think that Lag is really at the forefront of what could be a new revolution, but we have to respect what has gone before.
Styles,
Your post makes solid points and I hope we will take it with the same good spirit motivating it.
Best to you.
Well said Styles. Yeah I didn’t feel like I was getting the blame there, I just wanted to clarify. The old intra net can be confusing sometimes like that…
I would add to your post on teaching that often the swing model of the time is a reaction to the one that has gone before it, and in many ways can be dependent on the supposed failings of the previous teaching.
You could say that part of Leadbetter’s legacy is solidifying the lower half of the body- both Faldo and Price could be seen as poster child(ren) for the overlap between the 70’s Nicklaus inspired leg drive and the more sturdy foundation of the 80’s and 90’s. When it became too far removed from that era and became a thing in itself, or the way people learned, some weaknesses could be seen. Some lifeless shoulder swaying and lunging going on trying to create some force. The mind and body will always try it’s best- even if we try to sabotage it. Just think of what it can do if you encourage it to do the right things! And even looking at Faldo now you can see that he’s almost trying to go back a bit and get his club zippier or something- it looks like he’s trying to move more.
Getting the legs too quiet in the backswing generally disconnects the upper and lower body and makes people sway in a search for power- then things like stack and tilt seem attractive because people can actually take divots and feel reconnected to the ball. And I’m not going to bash S&T- the results speak for themselves. Sorry 
Harmon probably got the arms back in play by liberating some right elbows etc. and brought some body speed back into it(not that that’s the essence of his teaching) I don’t know how anyone could look at Butches record over the last 15 years and find fault- he’s got to be doing something right! But again, I do think that they all have their place(some more so than others!) and are interwoven and dependent upon eachother a lot more than is realized. Like all learning, I suppose…
Cheers,
B
My prediction for Comeback POY… I seem to remember some guy named Hughes a ways back. My feeling is that he may be back sometime soon…maybe 2010?
Grad