I read Bobby Clampett's book, talked to KevCarter about that and he introduced me to the hallowed work of Homer Kelley. Then he conjured up a day with Yoda for us. I've been drinking the Kool-Aid ever since.
I am an absolute sucker for Basic Motion. Through basic motion I find I can isolate so many different components and work on just one particular component at a time. A year ago I would hit 10 sets of ten balls in my basement using BM. I would be lucky to hit 7 out of 100 as I would want to. Now my odds have increased significantly.
As a JV golf coach, I watched my guys on the range hitting balls and watching flight and not thinking at all of what the concepts were that I had tried to introduce. Now we go somewhere other than the range and do basic motion to work on our Feels. Then we go to the range and I get to see many more divots in front of the ball rather than behind the ball. Sure, not all of them are there yet, but many are and it is just a treat to see that Eureka look come over their face.
Yup, I'm very at home in TGM.
Trust me- Lynn is worth the cost, which is actually very reasonable.
I hope nobody got the wrong impression from my post- I agree that Lynn's rates are quite reasonable. I was just looking at some prices online. Butch Harmon-$5900 for three days at his school....wonder how much time those in attendance see Butch? David Leadbetter- 3 hours for $3900. WOW. Not to mention the quality of "information" is quite different.
I'm coming from the angle of an unemployed full time college student, where "2 eat for $20" at Applebees is extravagant
Last edited by faux_maestro : 04-19-2011 at 03:13 AM.
I hope nobody got the wrong impression from my post- I agree that Lynn's rates are quite reasonable. I was just looking at some prices online. Butch Harmon-$5900 for three days at his school....wonder how much time those in attendance see Butch? David Leadbetter- 3 hours for $3900. WOW. Not to mention the quality of "information" is quite different.
I can't speak for other teachers, but I'd also add that when Lynn is with you on the tee, he is totally engaged and 'on' the entire time. Not only is he great at what he does, he works very hard at it.
I started playing golf in 1998 at the age of 36. I, like many others, struggled with the instruction I was receiving. My first instructor showed me a picture of Tom Kite at impact in one of the rags and he actually said to me: "That is what I want you to look like at impact." He then told me to work on that. NO how to, just look at the picture and try to emulate what I saw. WOW - Needless to say I didn't go back to see him.
After a lot of study on my own, videos, books, golf rags,Golf Academy Live and a lot of practice I could shoot in the low to high 90's most of the time. Even got to where I shot in the 80's a quite few times, of course a score of 100 was always a couple of bad shots away because, I now know, I really didn't understand how to swing a club and when something went wrong, well, I had no clue what it was.
Second instructor was in 2000. I liked the instructor, taught me to slide hips to cure OTT move. Bought a series of lessons for 600 bucks or something like that and then bam, the next week the studio was closed and I couldn't find them anywhere, whole thing went bankrupt. Then went to the Tec guys, for me it was just a practice facility, instruction consisted of showing me videos of golfers and telling me to swing like them. Not really a pleasant experience at all.
Gave up game in 2003 for a couple of reasons, mainly because I was quite frustrated with not improving despite the money I was pouring into my game. New equipment, video this, book that, the latest training aid that would cure all that ailed my swing.
Played two or three times since 2003, then in January of 2011 I decided I was going to get back into the game. Played a round in February and sucked, bought some new irons, played a couple of times in March and actually improved from shooting 110 to 92, but I knew my swing was not good. Too inconsistent. I want to swing like a pro, or as close to it as I can get.
Was searching the Internet trying to find an instructor that could actually help my swing. I am a geek and always want to know the why and how, not just the what. I did an internet search, stumbled across Manzella's site and TGM. Liked what I read and researched about TGM.
I then stumbled across Yoda, and well I'm here and I ain't going nowhere else. I'm taking lessons from Yoda's Luke, well one so far, calling to schedule another. Plan on seeing him again and again and again... Ted is a super nice guy and very knowledgeable, I like the cut of his jib!
Everything I am learning about The Golfing Machine is helping me and my swing. Being here at LBG is a feeling of being home. Someone else said that already, I think. TGM explains all that I never understood or thought I could learn about the golf swing. Yoda is a great communicator, great teacher, he cares and he teaches! Yoda also cares about the the TGM heritage, keeping the history alive and from what I read, Yoda is keeping H.K.'s dream alive of what TGM should be, for all those who seek a great G.O.L.F. experience. All the great folks who are part of this special community of Lynn Blake Golf are also keeping the dream alive, sharing, talking, teaching, learning.
Earlier this summer I read an interview with Lynn Blake:
Q: "Is there a best way to apply these principles?"
A: "You bet. Start with the short shots, the little chips and pitches. Thousands of them. Here is where you learn the basics of grip, stance, posture, the stationary head, the straight left arm and the bending right arm, the right forearm position and right triceps extension, tracing the line, the impact hands location and clubshaft forward lean, and most of all, the motion of the hands through impact.
Here is where you rid yourself once and for all of the old ‘bending left wrist, flattening right wrist’ throwing motion at the ball. And you do it by concentrating on keeping the left wrist flat and accepting nothing less until it is. Only when you’ve mastered the flat left wrist should you expand the program to include the full pivot strokes. That’s because, without it, nothing else works very well, and more information means only more confusion.
Unfortunately, few instructors insist on this staged process and even when they do, most students won’t stick with it. And without this discipline, we come full circle to your first question: Nothing changes and handicaps remain high. The flip side of the coin is that, once mastered, this alignment becomes the gateway to a lifetime of better golf".
Then I watched a video on YouTube of Lynn demonstrating "basic motion".
I am an obsessive golfer, with the discipline to build a firm foundation for a sound swing. I have since hit thousands of 10-15 yard chips in my back yard, with a sand wedge, endless repetitions of basic motion.
In my first 5 rounds this year, my average score was 99.4. Last Sunday was a typical round, 99 with 41 putts.
This Thursday, I had a breakthrough. I shot 40-46=86, with 31 putts! I am beginning to feel like a player. I still had at least 4 or 5 shots where I threw the club from the top, resulting in pull hooks long and left. And I lost several strokes to my driver, which is going back into the basement! I can reach a 481 yard par-5 with two 6-irons, and an 8-iron.
Icing on the cake, when I got home Thursday, my mailman had delivered a copy of THE GOLFING MACHINE, my very own yellow book!
I am inching my way through chapter 14. I now have set my sights on breaking 80, which I have not done in almost 40 years.
I am 64, started in playing in 1956. My first lesson was with Lionel Hebert, although I honestly don't remember a word he said.
Ted is a super nice guy and very knowledgeable, I like the cut of his jib!
Hybrid Mode
