My Swamp Experience
 

I left last Friday morning for the swamp after shoveling out of 6+ inches in the morning to make a delayed flight out of Baltimore. When I reached Atlanta it was sunny and beautiful...finally made it out to the golf center about 2:30ish. Yoda was waiting and I got to meet him and Ted (aka Luke the Nuke). We went up and did some initial filming and also got to see Ted hit a couple driver shots, which was the early highlight of the day (unbelievable how far he can hit it with the minimum motion he has -- he is a pure hitter and it almost looks like a 3/4 swing -- but doesn't sound like one!). The first thing I found out after viewing the tape was that I was loading for swinging on the backstroke, but hitting on the downstroke.

We headed down to the range and spent a painful couple of hours working on precision allignments (Yoda referred to it as an exorcism of sorts). Yoda had me make the following changes:

1. Change alignment to be more open to the left of the target---I would set up right of the target and thinking I was perfectly alligned but when Yoda would step into where my feet where and I would step back and look sure enough it was directly right.
2. When soleing/grounding the club I should do it lightly and more towards the toe (line the sweet spot of the club up on the ball and then let it drop to the ground which puts the clubface closer to the toe where it touches the ball).
3. BIG THING -- my head was leaning left at address and through the swing (right eye dominant) so this was the difficult thing to get used to setting up with a vertical head.
4. Right shoulder should be more back and left shoulder more forward (shoulders were pointing to the left).
5. Left hand grip should be more on top or vertical to ground.

I said painful because I would hit, Yoda would correct and then I would hear him say "setup and do it again"....over and over again until it became natural. The whole time I was not making solid contact with the ball at all.

When it was close to getting dark on Friday, the master started putting every thing back together again (he definitely had a timeline and a plan). He had me get out the driver and use the precision allignments we had gone over. Once I got into the allignments I just made a motion and the most incredible thing happened -- I WAS CRUSHING MY DRIVES!! I have never been able to hit a solid, compressed, and straight drive in my life...not on the range, not on the course, not anywhere, but Yoda had me saying "that's not me!" after every long drive.

I met Yoda and Luke the Nuke for the traditional Yoda breakfast at Cracker Barrell on Saturday morning. When we made it to the range on Saturday morning, we worked on extensor action, forearm tracing, and feeling PP#3. The last couple of months I had heard of PP#3, but never felt it conciously until Yoda had me directing it downward (to China as Ted says!) to the ball and I could actually feel it. I was hitting the best 8 and 5 irons of my life. I struggled with my hybrid 3 iron and driver on Saturday, but I feel I am definitely on the right track towards good golfing.

We finished up on Saturday with a short game session. I learned several different chips for different situations around the green and a new putting style. We went on to sand shots and that was where I was once again truly amazed at Yoda's teaching ability. I only knew 1 sand shot before which involved some sort of motion and some prayer. Yoda told me what to do and then I would swing and produce a long sand shot, then a medium sand shot, and then a high soft short sand shot...the amazing thing was he would tell me what to do but not what to expect, and then I would hit it long out of the sand he would say "thats your long sand shot"...it was simple adjustments that would dramatically change the result based on the shot you want.

Bottom line is, Yoda is the best instructor I have ever seen or heard. I am currently a 23 index and I left feeling like I was allready a 15 index (my goal for this year)...and I haven't even played a round this year!! Yoda and Ted (YodasLuke) are 2 of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and they sincerely take an interest in your improvement...not just filling time till the next lesson. When I was hitting the best drives of my life on Friday night, Yoda was smiling more than I was!!!

During some downtime in the instruction, I got to watch Yoda hit some irons and a driver and it was pure joy to watch his swing. I can't wait to make it back down there, especially since its snowing again up here! I am maybe the only student to ever get lost from the Cracker Barrell to the swamp (very short trip) but I hope Yoda will let me come back down!

Keith

Forgot to mention
 

My biggest thing I think I need to overcome and work on is the downswing waggle and making sure my right forearm traces the plane line and doesn't cover it.

Keith

Keith Of Arabia
 

Keith was a wonderful student. He is also very modest. He did everything I asked him to do, in spite of the fact that 'instant results' did not make their appearance. We started our first half-day with his Feet and ended it with the Pressure Points in his Right Hand. And his reward was commensurate with his effort: Those end-of-the-session drives into the fading sunlight were something to behold. I mean it. I even told him, "This is the part where Harvey Penick would say, 'I hope that made you as happy as it did me!'"

Back to his modesty...

We were about 45 minutes into our Sand Play lesson, and he had learned the basics of the shot. We had practiced short shots and long shots; soft shots and running shots; over bunkers with low lips and medium lips. Now comes the true test: An extremely deep bunker with the Ball at the bottom and a craggy, six-foot lip only five or six feet away. The Flag was cut just 10-12 feet from the front edge of the green. Keith took the Stance as learned; set his Clubface; used his 'V'-shaped Stroke with an abrupt Right Forearm Pick-up; delivered the Bounce of the Clubhead authoritatively into the Sand behind the Ball....

And holed it!

It was the last shot of the day, and what a memorable one it was!

Another satisfied alum!
 

Glad to hear you got everything you dreamed of out of the session!

I am at "Swamp + 2 months" and have really seen some results from the hard work. You will too!

More Swamp Stuff
 

Here's a really great thread on GEA following Keith's 'Swamp Visit' Post:

http://forums.prospero.com/golfequip.../?msg=169857.1

Enjoy!

Ripped Drives In The Sunset
 

Okay, guys, I asked Keith to send me his video of that 'End Game' session with Yoda. Move over 'Red Sails in the Sunset!' Here comes 'Ripped Drives in the Sunset!"

With all due respect to The Lone Ranger 8) ....

"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear..."

Keith and Yoda...

Ride again!

http://lynnblakegolf.com/Assets/Vide...iver_Small.wmv

Nice....Nice.....btw Yoda, since when did you become an automatic tee machine?;)

All kidding aside, did you have any other students there with you? Because in between some of those drives i heard some REALLY compressed balls just whizzing past the camera....well the sound was anyway. Had to be a flat left wrister with some down, out and foward NO DOUBT!

Side by Side Comparison
 

Man those drives felt good, especially since that the was the first time that had ever happened! Just goes to show you Yoda's teaching ability.

I forgot to mention earlier that when "Luke the Nuke" was showing me what a crushed drive looked like before my first lesson, he was using my driver!! ...of course the last couple months of never being able to hit that stinkin thing had led me to the conclusion that it must be defective equipment, but Ted proved that idea was definitely wrong with several 280+ drives...

I finished uploading all my lesson tapes to the computer and used V1golf (cheap home video swing analyzer software) to compare my 8 iron swings with Yoda last Saturday to swings I had taped at the range in December...right away I noticed a huge difference at impact. I saved a screenshot and uploaded it to the following link:

http://users.adelphia.net/~kpainter/...ySide8Iron.JPG

Here are the links for the 2 movie clips I used to make the screenshot above:
http://users.adelphia.net/~kpainter/...ter_Iron_2.avi
http://users.adelphia.net/~kpainter/...r_Iron_DTL.avi

The image turned out kinda small...sorry. You can probably tell, but the 1 on the right is from December and clearly shows an outside to inside path, where the 1 on the left shows coming from inside to square...I told Yoda and Ted before the lesson that I had used a swing analyzer that shows me coming out to in about 8-9 degrees on all my irons. BTW, did you notice the dowels at the bottom right hand of the screen...I don't think Yoda goes anywhere without those!!

The biggest change Yoda did with me is with allignments...a subject that isn't a lot of fun during a lesson, or to talk about either...in fact, there aren't many posts about it...but Yoda sold me on the importance of them. More than anything else I think that made the biggest difference.

Just viewing the tapes from last weekend I can tell that I still need to work on my RFP takeaway (definitely still way inside) and I am taking the club to far back (loading for swinging instead of hitting), but with the change of allignments, working on downswing waggle, and forearm tracing on approach, I got to feel what its like to hit on plane and hear compression (definitely addicting). Yoda is that good at figuring out what to fix first, and everything else will kinda will fall into place downstream.

Thanks again Yoda!

Keith

PS-If you couldn't tell, that was my orange Orioles hat! Go O's!!!

Orange You Glad You Asked
 

Keith,

Thanks for your enthusiasm and your posts. Regarding your orange Orioles hat, stay tuned: There may be sometning even more orange in your future!

Keith/Yoda,

What's the purpose of setting the left foot at address first then the right
foot? Very nice swing, you gotta love that compression.

Left foot at address
 

My problem was that I would step up to the ball with my right foot first and then move the left foot higher than the right and then move the right foot directly back which would point directly right of the target. I thought for sure that I was parallel to the target line, but when Yoda stepped where my feet were and I stepped back, sure enough I was pointing right of the target. I think Martee had a similair problem that was on that Martee makeover CD and was discussed on other posts.

Took me awhile to get used to the new feet allignment since it felt like I was pointing way left of the target...

Keith

Keith's Address Procedure
 

Actually, I teach stepping in first with the Right Foot with the Club in the Right Hand (and aligned with the Right Forearm to set up the Plane). And we had worked on that earlier. But, as we used to say in the church downhome, Keith had 'back-slid.'

At the close of the lesson, I was satisfied that he had worked out his own way to set his Feet and align his Stance. Also, he was now using his Right Forearm beautifully to set up his Plane and Impact Hand Location.

Yoda,
Thanks for the clarity. I use the right foot first and club in my right hand in my address/setup as well. But like Keith i have tendency to aim right, so would that drill of stepping in with the left foot first correct the alignment problems.

Reply to rangerover
 

Ooops, now I see what you were talking about. After I saw Yoda's reply I watched the tape again and sure enough I was stepping into it with my left foot -- which is definitely a lapse on my part. We spent many, many times practising looking at the target from behind, walking up to the ball while staying open, stepping first with my right foot , then placing the left and then moving the right directly back....this didn't show up on that video clip though!

Keith

The 'Right' Cure
 

No, rangerover: Stay with the Right Foot / Right Forearm formula. There was no 'Left Foot first' drill. There was only Keith executing an old habit but nevertheless achieving a new dead-on alignment! This happy circumstance was due largely to his growing sense of his Right Forearm Flying Wedge and its alignment with the Plane Angle and its Line. Also, we made liberal use of the dowel as an alignment aid in the earlier hours of the lesson.

Getting back to your problem: The long-term cure is to realize why you aim to the right and then to correct that root cause. And the reason is that your Computer has figured out that you (a) Bend your Left Wrist through Impact; or (b) Bend your Plane Line (usually at the Start Down); or (c) fail to grip the Club (at Impact Fix) with a slightly open Clubface when using Horizontal Hinging; or (d) do all three.

Any one of this incomplete list of malfunctions will cause the Ball to go left. And not just some of the time...but every time. Hence your Computer 'helps you out' by aiming right. And now the always Pulled Shot appears to go 'straight.'

But it isn't going straight: It's going left.

And that is what you need to fix in order to effect a permanent change in your Address alignments.

the process
 

what is the alignment process? I do the exact same thing. Just curious about how you corrected this aiming to the right.

Thanks

Yoda,
How would I figure out which one that I doing. I understand (A) & (C) but
(B) is the one I'm not clear on. Looks like I need to make an appointment
to visit the swamp.

The Bent Plane Line -- Explanation, Cause And Cure
 

Rangerover,

The Bent Plane Line means that instead of Tracing the original Plane Line through Impact, you Trace Outside-In (from above the Plane) or Inside-Out (from below the Plane). In other words, you are now Tracing an entirely new Plane Line and, in effect, have 'Bent' the original (either to the left or to the right).

Most high handicappers Bend the Plane Line to the left. In other words, they swing Outside-In and come in with the Right Forearm too 'high' (and pointing beyond the Plane Line instead of driving toward it). This usually results from the Flat Downstroke Right Shoulder Turn (see Photo 10-13-B-#3) that inevitably lifts the Hands Off Plane as well.

In turn, this Right Shoulder 'Spin-Out' is the product of faulty Hip Control, namely failure to lead the Downstroke with a slight Hip Slide parallel to the Plane Line. It is this move that both Loads the Lag and allows the Right Shoulder -- and with it the Hands and the Loaded Lag Pressure Point -- to be pulled Down Plane toward the Ball. Only when this is done can the Right Forearm return to its mandatory Impact Fix alignment through Impact.

The cure?

The Downstoke Waggle (3-F-5).

We do a lot of that down here in The Swamp. Y'all come! :D