I get a lot of questions from students about transitioning the club, and how this seems a common theme amongst most golfers who are serious about improving their golf swing.
I feel to teach a student properly, I need to fully understand each aspect of the golf swing. For me, while that may initially start with observation, it must be finished by personal demonstration and getting in touch with what is actually happening within the body on a biomechanical level. By demonstration, that means taking it to the golf course and hitting shots.
Over the last 6 months I have been working on several new techniques to not only better understand transition, but to improve my own golf swing.
Iām excited to share some new findings on what I feel will be an exceptional series of advanced module techniques that I feel will be a sure fire way to teach students the concept of super slotting the golf club.
I believe the techniques will be most beneficial to advanced students here who have done the muscular strengthening to handle the increased loading and range of motion super slotting sets up. (Module 1, 2 and 3 in particular)
While there have been a lot of excellent tips on how to deeply slot the golf club such as forearm rotation, show God the time, tucking the right elbowā¦ etcā¦ I think most instruction in this area still leaves the student feeling somewhat confused and incomplete. Iām confident Iāll be able to change this.
One of the popular mythologies of super slotting the club is that the players who do this have some kind of special or unusual wrist flexing abilitiesā¦ such as being able to touch the thumbs to the forearms and so onā¦ I can assure you all this is absolutely not a requirement to do so.
Another common belief is that the grip is somehow loosened at the top of the swing or that the left thumb must be moved off the club so that the shaft can fall into the gap between the index finger and left thumb. Again, this is not required. I donāt believe this would be desirable either.
Many believe that if you master this moveā¦ you will hit the ball greatā¦ again, I would say this is a misconceptionā¦
howeverā¦ when combined with other things, it can be very beneficial in the quest for better ball control and power in the golf swing.
Any time a swing change is implemented, other things will be both affected and required. Each new force will require an opposing force to basically counter balance.
Although a lot of the wrist angle we see in pictures looks a lot less than it really is because of the camera angle, still it appears to be less than the 90 degrees I can manage.
Lag, if you take your normal grip on the club, lift arms up so the left is horizontal and cock the club up as far your wrists will let it, what sort of left-arm/shaft angle does your flexibility allow?
Maybe 70 degrees. Nothing exceptional. Maybe even less than average. Camera angles can have some effect, but most golfers would look pretty dumpy - throwaway from the exact same camera angle.
I was reading an article Hogan wrote where he discussed usable forearm rotationā¦ and I had to ask myselfā¦ am I leaving a lot of that on the table? and the answer was yes, yes I am.
Ultimately you have to be able to get back to the ball from thereā¦ not as easy as it seemsā¦ and this is the downfall of most who attempt to super slot the club at transition. Most do it wrongā¦ and in the entirely wrong intention - direction.
There is absolutely nothing loose or flippy going on here. I am death gripping the clubā¦ nothing loose in the hands or fingers nor is the left arm bending to assist.
The beauty of this I have found is that if you can slot it hereā¦ you absolutely cannot get OTTā¦ it is just not possible. You can rotate level as hard and fast as you can musterā¦ and never worry about a pulled shot.
As much as it feels impossible to hit the ball leftā¦ it feels very difficult to hit the ball right because you can fire hands and pivot rotation so aggressively that you actually can feel like you are trying to hook the ball off the planetā¦ but you canāt because of the geometry you have set up for yourself. Itās really a brilliant moveā¦
This really isnāt just a āHoganā moveā¦ there have been many fine strikers in this deep. Some of the guys I played against on tour did this alsoā¦ and often they were the better ball strikers who didnāt need to grind 1000ās of balls after every round.
When done properly this can be very good technique.
steb,
Just in case you hadnāt thought of this
The way you grip the club with the left hand can change the angle significantly.
I believe lag has his club almost inline with the knuckles whereas a lot of golfers grip the club more or less diagonally across the palm of the hand.
It should be easier to get to 70 degrees for someone with a finger grip vs someone with a palm grip.
I actually measured that too, but thought Lag would have pretty much the same grip. I didnāt realize he held it more across the hand. Iām running 36 degrees diagonally.
The 12 degrees radial deviation I measured before is with the back of the hand flat, i.e. no cupping (wrist extension). I think itās only because cupping the wrist allows more radial deviation that I can even get a 90 degree shaft/arm angle.
Between 2 and 3 is radial deviationāthe 12 degrees max I have.
I can get much more ulnar deviation (1 and 2), about 45 degrees which is pretty normal.
I should mention the picture I had above was just to show the grip across the hand, not the radial deviation I was talking about prior. The pic actually shows a slight bit of ulnar deviation.
On the subject of lag angles, slotting and start downs there has been quite a lot of interest around the interweb in some conclusions drawn by Michael Jacobs / Brian Manzella on the traits exhibited by āgreatā or āhigh endā players. I might start a separate thread to look at some of their wider thoughts on hand paths, low points and releases. But just on the subject at hand I would be interested in thoughts on this video from 6.50 onwards and how it fits / contrasts with what you have been working on Lag:
And a pulled shot is exactly what I would expect trying to superslot at this time. And if there is anything I fear more, itās the pulled shot. I would think using proper ground force pressures would be paramount and maybe in a different way at transition to get the clubhead where it needs to beābehind you? Either way, Iāll wait until Iām further along in the ABS program and youāre ready to teach me. The key, as you mentioned, will be how you communicate the concept to us students.
No, that is not in anyway what I am doing or have been working on. But I donāt think he is trying to teach super slotting either, just helping players load better and not cast the club early. I watched the video and agree with what he is saying in that trying to crimp the shaft inward is not going to work very well. It appears that what he is saying is aimed at helping golfers in a more general sense, and in a good way.
Or any number of other thingsā¦ you have to do this properly, and also insert the proper opposing force which would not appear to most to be visually relevantā¦ but all the students even module #1 students are well on their way down this path.
I still have work to do to perfect the entire sequence in my own swingā¦ but itās really powerful stuff here, and I will continue down that path confidently now. The first time I felt it on the course was on 18 at Mare, I hit a drive 20 yards farther than I ever had and this was into a gentle breeze and fairways that were not particularly running out. Overall I have had some very nice ball striking rounds recently like hitting 17 greens up at Northwood and shooting a 5 under 67 on a little known Alister MacKenzie layout. Not a long course, but one of the tightest courses off the tee I have ever played. Hit every fairway. Ironically the only green I missed was on a par 5 where my second shot with a two wood went straight through a double dogleg resting behind a towering 80 foot high redwood tree.
It also can be applied to short iron shots. Iāll shoot and post some vids soon here of those as wellā¦
The first thing I would sayā¦ and I donāt mean to come across secretive or anythingā¦ (I have already worked with a student on this directly on the deck last week with impressive results) is that you donāt have to super slot the club to play good golf. This isnāt necessarily critical either to what I have put forth in the ABS module work. But as a teacherā¦ I like to be a practitioner of a concept alsoā¦ and one reason I donāt teach Moeās actionā¦ I could speculateā¦ sureā¦ and maybe better than mostā¦ but I am not interested in leaving out any details.
So to answer your questionā¦ right now I donāt know for sureā¦ but I would want students to complete or be working on module #7.
If I were to teach this independent of module workā¦ then I would say there are 4 drills that would need to be worked on.
One of those four would be module #1. But it would be much easier for a student to grasp and implement having worked through modules #5 and #6 also.
What I probably will do is offer this as an additional module detour for those interested in superslotting. Then based upon student results, determine if this should be worked into ABS curriculum as a more mandatory part of the program. I would only do this if the ball striking results were generally universally compelling.
So be patientā¦ but it is very exciting stuffā¦ at least for meā¦ and I feel I have a complete understanding of the mechanics of it now and also the drills needed to implement it. But like other thingsā¦ it takes time.
This is exciting and thanks for clarifying where this fits in the overall ABS program. As you wrote āyou donāt have to super slot the club to play good golfā but would it be fair to say that if you can super-slot the golf club your swing is going to work better under the gun/pressure?
Oh, Iām in alright. I think Lag knows this as Iāve been bugging him about it for the last month or so. Iāll stop now but please post more videos and continue to enlighten usā¦
but please post more videos and continue to enlighten usā¦