great athlete, many considerations
 

Here's a great athlete that took a long hiatus from golf for years. He was a ski instructor, football player, baseball player, etc. I took him to a Titleist Performance Institute location and they said he had the greatest (initial) rotational shoulder speed of anyone they'd tested, including Tour players. And, he couldn't hit it out of his shadow. He was the poster child for over-acceleration.

One of the real problems with this guy was deciding on which side of the ball to put him. Years ago he'd played golf right handed, but he was only successful as a left handed batter in baseball. Right handed batting was unsuccessful. He throws right handed, writes left handed, kicks with the left foot, etc. It was apparent after a few lessons that it was going to be a tough road, because he was so comfortable batting left handed. The saving grace was that he could kill you with a baseball in his right hand. When hitting as a right handed batter, he had problems generating any speed. His Pivot didn't work well.

We had a breakthrough yesterday. We've changed too many things to count since we started. But, we were finally able to change his Start Down speed. It changed his loading and acceleration. Impact was infinitely better, and the ball was compressed.

In the pictures, I tried to synchronize his hands. Both were Total Motion, but it looks like a different person.

Looks like you did one hell of a job sorting through the various considerations for your student. Have you had his swing analyzed by TPI since the changes? If so, what did you find? Also, any chance you could include photos from the rest of the swing. Might be interesting to see the entirety of the downswing.

Thanks!

Matt

Nice job Ted. Anything specific that help him with the "Over-Acceleration issue"?

the hardest thing for him
 

This guy is a type AAAAAAAA personality. He's very successful in business. He usually comes flying in the gate of the range in his Porsche, on two wheels. He jumps out of the car with 30 seconds to spare before the lesson starts, ties his shoes with the phone still stuck in his ear, and grabs the clubs from the trunk. None of these things prepare him well for a slow Start Down. When he played football, his dad told him to hit the opponent as hard and fast as he could, before he was hit.

He took that same aggressive nature into golf, to no avail. So the hardest thing I ever asked him to do was to hit a Total Motion PW 20 yards. To him, it felt like it took two weeks to get to the ball. Success wasn't immediate, but he was finally able to hit it about 50 yards. In doing the drill enough times he acquired the ability to start slowly in the Start Down. Then, I had him trying to reach greater speeds AFTER Impact. When he did so, he was able to feel the heaviness of the club. It was something he had never felt. He's had a couple of practice sessions since the last lesson, and he can't believe how heavy Impact is feeling. He now has a kinesthetic understanding that acceleration is different than speed.

no return visit
 

We haven't returned to the TPI facility, yet. We wanted to fix some things.

I've been so busy this week with my regulars and those coming from different states (going to Augusta) that I've had no family time. So, if the boys nap today, I'll try to get some additional pictures posted.

This is mandatory meeting for all (and it is probably many of us) that have tendencies to overaccelerate--the menace that destroys all lag and drag.

I remember a friend came back from a PGA Tour event and said he gained 30 or more yards because he started to imitate their very gradual acceleration in the beginning of the downswing and then going close to full throttle near impact.

Thanks Ted!

Matt

those darn out of towners going to augusta - who could that have been? =) thanks for the help ted, and sorry to tie up your family time. it was great seeing you again and getting some more pointers. my brother's definitely more excited about playing, and even practicing, golf now. as i posted in the other thread, i'm thinking about coming down for the oct event. i'll see you around here, i guess!

-shao

best yet...
 

I hope you can come. It looks to be the best event we've done. I can't wait.

same guy, new pics
 

I've spoken about this guy many times. He's the poster child for hard work. He's the one that's changed his max driver speed from 84 mph to 107 mph. He's recently had some irons creep over 100mph. We've updated his irons and changed the shafts to match the increased load he's placing on the shaft.

When his alignments get a little off, he returns to slower speed swings. Then, the pictures on the right are the result. The pictures on the left are from our original meeting. The pictures on the right are from yesterday.

even the computer knows
 

It's funny how the LBG logo appeared on the second photo in each pair. Even the computer can pick out the good alignments. :laughing9

The computer didn't want to claim the pictures on the left.