While not taught traditionally, I have found value in working the SS techniques into the short irons as well. This wedge sequence was from today while shooting another SS supplementary video.
In some ways it’s much tougher to SS with a short iron particularly a wedge, because was are standing so much closer to the ball and don’t have a lot of room for the arms to work around our body as effortlessly as we would with a longer iron or wood. Other than a SW, the PW should be the heaviest club in our bag as far as dead weight. This is my Mac Split Sole just a hair under 18 ounces.
No accident all these great strikers worked the shaft at right angles to the spine, and had the grip end pointing off plane and above the ball from a DTL view before entering the impact arena.
Golf teacher Brian Manzella seems to have a different view of the swing than most modern teachers. Read some of his stuff before, but the Sergio swing fit here. Says Sergio would be pulling down at a 45 degree angle on the way down, same as Trevino in the picture Lag posted above. The move at transition reminds me of how George Knudson descibed pulling a rope.
When someone claims they know the answer to how to slot the club deeply, let’s see it. If you know how to do it… then you should be able to demonstrate it with relative ease… even as an instructor. However, slotting it deeply is only half of the equation. In and of itself, guarantees nothing.
Sergio like other greats has described pulling the chain downward toward the ground. I would include that thought also, but add another aspect to it when teaching this to students.
Most TGM instructors prefer the shaft working on plane at transition and on the downswing. But this limits forearm rotation and brings OTT much more into the picture with just the slightest “ballward” tug.
I just read that article by Manzella. boy has he changed his approach!!! I remember he used to teach all kinds of throws from the top. Still he present SS in a light way to think this and do that while in real life it takes tremendous effort to even have a slight hint of SS in your swing. I do however appreciate his mention of Sergio moving his hands away from his body as well as SSing it.
No doubt about that for those who know…
The idea that it is a simple move of a knee or an elbow or shift of the hips is absolute nonsense. If it was so easy, everyone would have “the God move”.
This by far the hardest move in golf… to SS the club an then get it back to the ball. Like Lag says many teachers cant do it themselves yet teach it! Personally i’m on my 8th month of SS and have moved the shaft about 1 inch lower dosent seem like much but feels like 2 feet and due to all the hard work in previous modules i can get back to the ball. With winter approaching and down time ahead now is my time to supercharge the SS drill and move downward toward the stone another inch.
You are right Lag, if you teach it you should be able to do it. Just wanted to post that as something different than the normal upright swing, good to see the word flat mentioned. We have to get you on there to straighten them out.
Two showed me some things about super slotting last year before he played the Australian Masters, think he was working on module 6. Of course when he was getting ready for the event he was practicing with some Hogan PC’s 7 flat and an inch short, no margin for error ballstriking.
The Chi is typically a Martial Arts term for a place inside your body located about 2 inches below the navel inside your core.
So from a DTL view, you would want the shaft dissecting this Chi area both pre impact coming into P3 and at impact as well.
The Chi is considered the true core energy center of a human in traditional ancient terms.
its no co-incidence that the body’s centre of gravity is the dan tien (or as lag refers to it, the chi core) chi or qi is basically our energy and lifeforce, and the dan tien is the focal point of this in our body.
makes an awful lot of sense to have the shaft plane dissecting the bodies centre of gravity at a 90 degree angle wouldn’t you agree?
She definitely has the right intuitive feeling for how the shaft should work through transition.
You still have to know what to do with it on the way down and post impact, and have the proper muscular strength and rotational speed to handle that kind of potential. Most would end up going down a different road into something more conventional for short term gains… but I agree, this is a golf swing that would be fun to work with over the long haul.
I would encourage her to keep the good stuff, and then learn how to really harvest that potential yield.
I just joined this site and all I can say is wow; I played golf seriously for 8 years and then stopped playing from 08-11, I started playing again in May of 2012 with an interest in learning how to strike the ball properly. Right now I’m a broke college student so I can’t afford to do any module work, but I’d greatly appreciate anyone’s opinion on how I can improve my swing. (fast forward to 2:15 to view swing)
You have a lot of good things going on.
There are always things to improve from a technical standpoint… but I don’t see any huge issues. Flattening the shaft out through transition would help, but is not an easy fix. Increasing vertical ground pressures would help if done in tandem with an increase in post impact pivot thrust. We have drills and protocols for teaching how to go about achieving all this… but I am sure there are other ways of going about things to get quality results.
Drink cheap beer, get the modules. Read what Lag put up in light bulb moments from his student about module 3, that is how I think of module 3. There is nothing better you can learn than what Lag teaches.
Thanks lag for the advice. I can’t believe how quickly you responded to my post,it really shows how much you care about helping people. Your advice about ground pressure seemed to click with another post I read about hitters having slow acceleration during the transition and greater acceleration post impact. Craig you hit the nail on the head, my miss tends to be a pull with my irons. Flatlies, I like the way you think haha, do you recommend natural light or busch light? Anyway I’ve posted a video of a practice swing and would like to know if I’m on the right track to super slotting the club. I don’t want to put in 1,000,000 practice swings ingraining the wrong thing. I think I’ll be hanging around this forum for a while and look forward to starting some ABS module work in the future.
Hi jb, personally I’d look at sorting your footwork out first. You need to have all the stars aligned to pull off super slotting the club.
The reason I guessed you hit a pull at times is through watching your footwork. Notice the angle of your right shoe at the finish. This to me indicates a ‘spin out’ move. Don’t get me wrong you can play good, powerfull golf this way but you’ll have to live with the stray left shot.
Don’t wanna hi-jack this thread but it’d be interesting to see a caddy view of your swing. I’ll wager your left hip & knee don’t pass over your shoe? The practice swing looks much improved, but making that part of your swing DNA is the battle to fight. Lag will show you how.
Welcome to the foums btw, if you’re serious about golf, you’re home
